Myrick Marketing/Publisher Spotlight Publishing Preview: Tiger Tales, Toon Books, and Walker Books (Summer/Fall 2025 & Winter 2026)(Part Five)

No time for chitter-chatter! We’ve more books to show you! If you’d like to see what we covered previously, check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 of this series so far!

No More Mr. Mice Guy by Fiona Ross

ISBN: 9781664300743

Publication Date: July 1, 2025

I think I saw an announcement in PW Children’s Bookshelf recently that someone is doing a kids’ version of Rebecca in which an adopted animal is haunted by the specter of a previous pet. I sort of love the idea of taking classic texts and making them kid-friendly. Take Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Remember the old Looney Tunes about that book? Well, that’s very much the in the same vein as today’s offering. Proffering a resplendent electric lime green just shy of burning out your eyeballs, in this story a polite mouse gets infected by slime green mold and turns into a Mr. Hyde like variation. Warning: Lotta green inside.

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Squirrel and Bird by Laura Baker, ill. Stacey Thomas

ISBN: 9781664300866

Publication Date: August 19, 2025

We’ve all heard of unreliable narrators, but what about biased narrators? Where do they fall on the narrator spectrum? This is the story of two good friends, in the “odd couple” genre. Squirrel is the extrovert and Bird prefers to take it all in and be quiet. What’s interesting is that the narration of the story starts to make assumptions about both of them. Bird in particularly is annoyed by being labeled in inappropriate ways. In the end, the book shows a healthy way of respecting different strengths (and maybe turning off your interior monologue).

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Hank Meets Frank by Maudie Powell-Tuck, ill. Duncan Beedie

ISBN: 9781664300729

Publication Date: September 16, 2025

Hank’s back! Turns out the only thing worse than a naughty goose is a naughty bluebird. Particularly if it’s of the cute variety. Frank seems so sweet but only suspicious Hank knows better. When their rivalry erupts into all out war, things escalate until they both realize they share a common enemy. For my part, I can never think of Frank without thinking of Untitled Goose Game (and the subsequent Daniel Lavery piece “I Am the Horrible Goose That Lives in the Town“).

Oh! And there’s even a Frank plushie out these days. You know they don’t just make those for every picture book character, right?

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The Fire-Breathing Duckling by Frank Cammuso

ISBN: 9781662665332

Publication Date: August 5, 2025

I’m getting hints of Walt Kelly and Jeff Smith with this next title (but I repeat myself). Frank Cammuso is an old hand at the TOON Books game, having worked with them extensively in the past. This particular story is familiar, I know. We’ve seen it replicated in everything from Guji Guji to that old Disney short Lambert the Sheepish Lion (which this feels closest to, right down to the look of the wolf). It’s definitely the ugly duckling story, only this time the main character is no swan but a dragon. It can be hard finding comics for our younger readers. This little tale fits the bill perfectly.

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Calamity Before Jane by Noah Van Sciver

ISBN: 9781662665400

Publication Date: December 2, 2025

Look, I’ll level with you. I honestly don’t think I know all that much about Calamity Jane. I know that there was a terrible musical movie about her, and I know what he looked like, but that’s about it. No idea why she was famous or even how. Now Noah Van Sciver, who did a similar Paul Bunyan history for TOON Books, is de-mythologizing her story. This promises to be an interesting way of tackling history.

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Ducky the Spy by Sean E. Avery

ISBN: 9781760659356

Publication Date: September 9, 2025

I’ve had the pleasure of reading this one already, and I can attest that it is thoroughly and utterly hilarious. Walker is pitching this as a readalike for Dogman which, sans the literary references, isn’t a bad pairing. Currently the book is a kind of graphic novel easy reader, full of bold illustrations, a copious gags. And snark! Don’t forget about the snark. There’s a bit more flatulence jokes than I like in my kids books, but you can’t deny the universal appeal. Best of all, mysteries will be solved. And yes, if you’re staring at the name of the author with a puzzled look upon your face, he’s the same guy who did that penguin-rific picture book, Frank’s Red Hat, from earlier this year.

Thanks as always and as ever to Ellen Myrick and all the time and attention she pours into these previews.

Filed under: Publisher Previews