Publisher Preview: Transit Editions (Spring 2026)

Can you tell that I’m desperately trying to get in the last of some really stellar small publisher previews before December hits? I could wait until January to run this one, but here’s the thing. Transit Editions? They don’t do a lot of children’s books, but the ones that they do do? Incredible. I mean, legitimately some of the best stuff I’ve seen. And this tiny preview is a pitch perfect example of that. These books… wow.

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The Fountain by Lisa Loffredo

ISBN: 9798893380897

Publication Date: April 7, 2026

Before we go any further, please take a moment to admire these endpapers.

Thank you.

While this title is an English language original to Transit Editions, ironically this is a book that came to them from Bologna. You see, Lisa Loffredo was selected as an illustrator for the big illustration show that the Bologna Book Fair puts such time and energy into, and when Transit laid their eyes on these images, they immediately knew that they wanted to have it. Pitched as a kind of tribute to Tomi Ungerer’s The Hat, one day a fountain appears suddenly and mysteriously and all the residents of the town are offered wonderful gifts. They just don’t always understand the meaning of those gifts. Now I took one look at this highly detailed art, and my first thought was: Adventure Time. After all, this is the kind of book where the citizens can be everything from badgers in pants to walking clouds to guys with butterfly wings. It’s also the kind of book that rewards multiple re-readings. It’s doesn’t solve its own mystery,. but it gives something different to think about to readers of different ages. Unconventional! And stylistically it owes a lot to Ungerer while at the same time looking like (their words), “a show that would have aired very late at night on Cartoon Network.”

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The Muéganos by Jaque Jours

ISBN: 9798893380873

Publication Date: May 5, 2026

Truth be told, I’m also rather fond of these endpapers too:

So this one broke my little heart. I will endeavor to explain.

Much like the aforementioned The Fountain, this is also an English original. And the book itself came to Transit in an unusual way. Jaque is Mexican lived in NYC for a time. One day she approached Transit Editions at their booth at the Brooklyn Book Festival with a matchbook sized chapbook of the art for this book. And, as luck would have it, they were actually very interested in what she had to show them since it was clearly the mark of a really talented illustrator. They’ve been working with her for the past two years since and this is her first book. The first thing to know is that muéganos are little fried dough balls stuck together with honey, like this:

Sort of like monkey bread. In this book, the Muéganos are a family this is literally stuck together. They do everything together. They live in a house outfitted for them. They have five beds, all in a row. At the table there are five chairs, all on the same side. One of the daughters, Julia, finds it a little tiresome. One day they’re at the museum and something catches Julia’s eye and she literally breaks apart (over the book’s gutter!). So this is a book about the pain and anguish and excitement of growing up and growing apart from the people in your family. Or, the way I look at it, this feels like the kind of picture book you might actually want to hand a graduating high school senior. To create some of the art in this book, Jacque actually smashed ceramic plates and then illustrated the smashed pieces. She was commissioned by Books Are Magic to illustrate their front window with this spread of Mueganos. The book ends with this pair of spreads where we see Jaque and her family:

She feels she is very much part of a “muéganos family”. Oh! And it’ll be simultaneously released in Spanish as well!

So why did this book break my heart in two? Well, I got very excited when I heard that she’d been living in NYC. My first thought? “Caldecott contender!” That is… until I learned she’d moved back to Mexico and is no longer eligible for that award.

*sigh*

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A Party for Mousse by Claire Lebourg, translated by Sophie Lewis

ISBN: 9798893380507

Publication Date: July 7, 2026

Recently my library did a purge of the lesser loved Holiday Books in the Holiday section of our children’s room. New Year’s Eve? I mean, there were, at most, three or four titles in there. Really, New Year’s Eve isn’t one of the more beloved titles for children’s books.

Until now.

Meet the fourth (and final?) volume in the Mousse series. As the book opens, Mousse is preparing for Christmas time. He’s getting his house ready for the holidays, he looks for a fir tree, and then a bouche de Noel. Just a small one, of course. He’s completely prepared for a solo holiday, but then his sister invites him to the city to join her and his niece Pistachio. Mousse hems and haws but ultimately he decides that he loves them more than staying by himself so he heads to the city for Christmas. There, Pistachio greets him with an itinerary for exploring the city. They go to the seaside, to a coffee shop, and even a bauble shop where he can see painted sea things. In this way she gives him little bits of home in this new environment. He has a lovely time (she knows him well) and they go to her house make a Christmas dinner of his favorite dish (with a walnut pesto). In return, he invites them to his house for the New Year. Upon returning home he finds a note from his friend Barnacle who says he wants him to host a New Year’s party. Now by this point in the series, Mousse knows Barnacle well enough to know what he might be getting into if he agrees to this. With Pistachio they do errands around town, and they make the dessert themselves. And yep, sure as shooting, not only has Barnacle brought a “few” people, he’s invited pretty much everyone he’s ever met. Fortunately, because Mousse has learned and grown during this series, there’s plenty of food and everyone has a great time. While everyone parties, Mousse goes out to the beach and greets the new year from the beach with arms held high. It’s a lovely holiday story that caps off the Mousse series for the time being, ending on a lovely triumphant note.

And that is that! Huge thanks to the team at Transit Editions for showing me their latest titles. I can’t wait for any of them!

Filed under: Publisher Previews