This is a mixed bag of different takes, titles, science and poetry, my favorite type of mix up!
Let’s start with early readers:
Chess for Babies by Levy Rozman (Author)
A brand new baby nephew has entered my life, and his dad loves chess. I had to check this book out!
How do you explain chess to babies, you might ask? This simple, yet adorable board book begins with the basics: the names of the pieces, how they move, and what it takes to win.
(You’ll understand that part better when you grow up, baby).
The illustrations are on soft pastels, and the centerpiece is the chessboard in bold black and white squares. Baby can trace each of the pieces’ movements on the chessboard and get to know and recognize each piece.
A lovely move to get to know how chess works!
Chess for Babies is available since March 03, 2026,
Publisher: Ten Speed Young Readers
Pages: 20/ Board book
EAN/UPC: 9780593837832
Up next, a book about flowers:
Flowers for Mama Deborah Freedman (Author)
Mother’s Day is fast approaching, and all kittens are preparing gifts for their sweet Mama Cat. The theme is flowers. Some kittens are very good at drawing them and stamping them. Others stitch them, and one even thinks up a song about them.
However, Oleander wants a real flower, so he plants a seed, hoping for it to spring on time. The surprise is Mama’s response to the lack of flowers thereof, because, you may be surprised to know, flowers need time to sprout! I loved the illustrations on this one, especially the puzzled face of hopeful Oleander.
Flowers for Mama will be available on March 31, 2026.
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Pages: 40 Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780593695494
Now for a pet adoption story:
My Someone. A Pet Adoption Story by Yuko Torii (Author)
I have to say that the take is not as nuanced as I would like (I can’t recommend The Guard Dog story by Patrick McDonnell enough), but the illustrations are lovely and told from the dog’s point of view.
Hungry, alone, and cold, he wanders the streets and wishes for a special someone.
The little stray dog will get caught by animal rescue, cleaned, vaccinated, and scrubbed. And boy, does he get to have fun when he then gets adopted!
My Someone is on sale since March 03, 2026.
Published by Rise x Penguin Workshop
Hardcover | Pages: 32
ISBN: 9780593887271
Up next, a beautiful poem adaptation:
Goldfinches Mary Oliver (Author), Melissa Sweet (Illustrated by)
I am so grateful for Mary Oliver, what a poet she is! Always attuned to the little, most important things.
This poem of hers about how the goldfinches prepare their nests is wonderful, and Melissa Sweet has done a tremendous job by making it look like a field notebook, an art sketchbook, a journal beset by beauty.
In it, the relationship between the goldfinches and the soft thistles is carefully observed.
In the fields we let them have— in the fields
we don’t want yet—
where thistles rise out of the marshlands of spring, and spring open— each bud a settlement of riches—
a coin of reddish fire— the finches
wait for midsummer, for the long days,
Mary Oliver
Goldfinches is be available since March 03, 2026.
Publisher: Viking Books for Young Readers
Pages: 40 Hardcover
EAN/UPC: 9780593692417
Up next, a book about Greenland:
Seasons by the Lake. Adventures in Greenland by Naja Lund Aparico (Author), Alex Nees (Illustrated by)
Two Inuit siblings, Minik and Nuka, eagerly await seasons to unfold in their Greenland landscape. They play with everything that surrounds them and enjoy icebergs, crowberries in the spring, extremely long summers, and the curious and joyous custom of dime throwing, when grandparents celebrate their grandchildren’s achievements by throwing fistfuls of coins into the air.
Even the long, dark winter has its perks, as it allows Arsarnerit, Aurora Borealis, to shimmer above, when they sit by the fire and tell Inuit myths.
All seasons by the lake have something special and unique to each of them.
Seasons by the Lake is on sale since March 17, 2026.
Published by Dial Books
Hardback | Pages: 40
ISBN: 9780593695586
Up next, a famous legend:
The Children of the Sun. An Inca Legend Micaela Chirif (Author), Juan Palomino (Illustrated by), Lawrence Schimel (Translated by)
Bolivia and Peru share a legend brought by the Incas about how the mysterious first city came to be, how the gods created a man and a woman out of the waters of the lake, and sent them on a special quest to find the best place to start a brand new life.
Peruvian author Micaela Chirif does an outstanding job of retelling this classic story: Once created, the children of the Sun set out to find the perfect spot, and the people of the earth follow them.
I understand how Palomino might have wanted to steer away from traditional Inca paraphernalia and make it look like a far-off, small people walking into a barren land, but I felt that the illustrations lacked focus; the people were simply too far away!
The Incan empire once ruled western South America. They had lots of gold and extraordinary pottery and textiles, the purported amazing constructions, and created roads to be run on foot by the chasquis (swift messengers), some of which are still used to this day for hiking expeditions.
The Children of the Sun is on sale since March 31, 2026.
Published by Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Hardcover | Pages:44
ISBN: 9780802856548
Now for an act of bravery:
Music of the Bells Anitha Rao-Robinson (Author), Chaaya Prabhat (Illustrated by)
Neela recently moved from India to the US. In her homeland, she used to dance Kathak–a classical dance that uses movement and bells attached to ankles to tell a story.
Now, her family has moved, and she goes to ballet classes, like the other kids in her school. This is a classic tale of loving the new but feeling homesick for what you used to do back home.
However, the annual showcase is fast approaching, and Neela decides to do a brave thing: introduce Kathak to her new friends. Her fear of them seeing it as strange shouldn’t have worried her, because they will love hearing the music of the bells!
Music of the Bells is on sale since March 17, 2026.
Published by Viking Books for Young Readers
Hardcover | Pages: 40
ISBN 9780593624371
Up next, fabulous creatures from around the world:
Fabulous Creatures. Legendary Animals from Around the World Cornelia Funke (Author), Anna Schmitt Funke (Translated by), Ruby Warnecke (Illustrated by)
Cornelia Funke and Ruby Warnecke have done a wonderful job rounding up some famous Western and Eastern beasts from traditional folktales.
To the unicorns and griffins from European lore, they add Thunderbirds from native America, giant Asian monsters such as the Barong, and some mysterious creatures you might have never encountered before, like the Tumu-Rai’i Fenua, a giant kraken from the Pacific.
Fabulous Creatures will be available since March 31, 2026.
Published by NorthSouth Books
Hardcover | Pages: 48
ISBN: 9780735845916
Finally, a graphic take on existential anguish:
How to Survive the End of the World. A Graphic Exploration of How to (Maybe) Avoid Extinction by Katy Doughty (Author)
I enjoyed this book, but kept thinking that you need a bit less fatalism for adolescents.
Let me explain: the questions about extinction are all valid, and the author is right, we can die off by a host of variables: earthquakes, volcanic activity, plagues, meteorite strikes, diseases, and even AI can finish us. Katy Doughty has done a great job mixing science, history, and the graphic novel to begin approaching these themes.
But something we encountered using a philosophical approach for children is that there is a big existential angst that follows suit, and that it is a difficult thing to absorb for them emotionally. If you feel that you are not important and play an important role in the Universe, you feel a sense of loss that is almost unbearable.
Global warming, alien invasion, how are we going to leave the worlds stage are all valid questions, and asking scientist hold surprising answers, some more connected to a logic that is not centered in us as human beings than others I personally enjoyed her musing about immortal bodies and evolving to something that might not even be recognizable as human, but kept thinking about how interconnectedness, validation, mutual support and harmony can define change beyond science.
We can survive together; there is hope at the end of the book, but the dry humor and fatalism of the different and increasingly horrific scenarios can be a bit daunting to sensible souls.
How to Survive the End of the World will be available since March 31, 2026.
Published by MITeen Press
Hardcover | Pages: 256
ISBN: 9781536232790
