Publisher Preview (Fall 2026): Post Wave, Tapioca Stories & Walker Books

Just a l’il preview today. Something to get you through that transition from summer to fall that we’re all experiencing. Plus, I know that I shouldn’t have favorites, but you have GOT to see some of the stuff that is coming out in this preview. Enjoy this dip into the new season:

The Green Child by Hollie Hughes, ill. Britta Teckentrup

ISBN: 9798895090749

Publication Date: August 25, 2026

Okay, fine, we’ll have a couple late summer titles in here as well. It’s all to the good. And starting off with something illustrated by Britta Teckentrup is always an excellent idea. The woman knows how to illustrate, by gum. Here we have a lightly environmental tale that travels through the seasons with a child of nature. In the spring, the Green Child wakes up and everything is great. Great, that is, until the days start to get way too hot for way too long. Now how many of you started creating storywalks on the regular after the pandemic? This book would be ideal for such a thing. Just an idea.

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Something in the Darkness by John Dougherty & illustrated by Matt Schu

ISBN: 9798895090947

Publication Date: August 25, 2026

I have really and truly been enjoying the Halloween and Halloween-adjacent (creepy without explicitly mentioning the holiday) picture books coming out this year. I just read this one during my lunch the other day and it is a hoot (pun kinda sorta intended). A book unafraid to lean into the scary factor of Halloween. The tension just builds and builds and builds until you get this twist ending that I guarantee no one will see coming. Plus you’ve Matt Schu doing the art. You remember Matt, right? I mean, he’s done a ton of stuff, but the most recent book of his that I enjoyed was art for The Tontine Caper. With this book he gets to really lean into the atmospheric details. Gorgeous art and a perfect readaloud.

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Mountain Boulder Pebble Sand by Rebecca Van Slyke & illustrated by Danielle Ridolfi

ISBN: 9798895090886

Publication Date: October 06, 2026

You’ve got your water cycle. You’ve got your wind cycle. Now let’s get a book that goes into the rock cycle, shall we? Even without a scientific background, I’m sure you can work out what that would be. Boulder falls from mountain to become rocks which become pebbles which become sand which is compacted back into rock. Good stuff with beautiful art, and YES! There will be backmatter. Thank goodness.

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Footprints: Walk the Path of Our Earliest Ancestors by Stephen Davies & illustrated by Kalina Muhova

ISBN: 9798895090800

Publication Date: September 15, 2026

Okay, I am legitimately excited about this particular book. Do you remember that fantastic wordless picture book Afterward Everything Was Different? Well, I enjoyed this book in many of the same ways that I enjoyed that one. This one, however, has more of a nonfiction bent. Perfect, then, that it should come out in the same year as Marc Aronson’s older nonfiction work Reading the Bones: Homo Naledi and the Mysteries of Human Evolution. In both books a particular anthropologist gets named checked (I won’t give away who). Of course this title reads a bit younger than Marc’s, but I still think that these could make a great pairing. Have your fifth graders read this book first. Then hand them Marc’s title for info on how we know what we know about them. This title, of course, focuses on the Australopithecus afarensis (not one of our direct ancestors) but you’ll know them better as the people of Lucy. And Lucy hasn’t had a book of her own lately. Plus the action sequences are something else. You gotta see this.

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A Dog Feels Like Sitting / Se siente un perro sentado by David Wapner, ill. Isol, translated by Kit Maude

ISBN: 9798993082028 English/
ISBN: 9798993082035 Spanish

Publication Date: September 1, 2026

Dog book alert! I have some co-workers who cannot resist a tale with a pup. Particularly when it’s a realistic pup tale. This book (translated by Kit Maude who also translated the Batchelder winning title Croco) will be coming out in English and Spanish simultaneously. It’s not an overly complex picture book, this one, and that is a-okay. Sometimes simplicity is best.

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Yum Yum Dim Sum by Felicity Yeoh & illustrated by Jasper Shaw

ISBN: 9781664301047

Publication Date: November 17, 2026

You hungry? You wanna be? Cause I have to warn you with this next one, it’s kind of delicious looking. With its focus squarely on Chinese culture, family, and finding your place, a young girl arrives at lunch in a restaurant, but discovers that she can’t read the Chinese menu. Her aunt whisks her away and in a bit of magical realism introduces her to different dishes. The author Felicity Yeoh is, believe it or not, the niece of Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh (wowzah!), so that’s pretty cool. Meanwhile, the backmatter includes an Author’s Note that gives a description of each dish featured in the story, the Chinese name of each food, and a pronunciation guide.

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A Is for A Rabbit’s Tale by Jackie Hosking, ill. Lucinda Gifford

ISBN: 9781761603549

Publication Date: August 04, 2026

I was playing around recently with the idea of writing an original alphabet picture book, and you know what I ultimately decided? That creating an original alphabet title is almost impossible. How can it be done with any originality at all? That’s why I’m grateful for books like this next one. It’s a narrative abecedarian tale (if you want to get fancy about it) and everything has something to do with a rabbit. Do I think it’s fair to say “A is for A rabbit?” I do. I mean… it’s true after all.

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Something Terrible series by Sally Barton & illustrated by Christopher Nielsen

Tim Tie-Your-Shoelaces

ISBN: 9781761603563

Becky Brush-Your-Hair

ISBN: 9781761603570

Publication Date: October 6, 2026

Think of this series as Mrs. Pigglewiggle meets Jasper Rabbit. Actually, come to think of it, maybe Struwwelpeter is the best pairing to consider here. Essentially, these are tales of kids who purposefully neglect the essentials of hygiene only to face dire consequences as a result. Alas, everything turns out all right in the end (so… not like Struwwelpeter) but along the way you get some pretty freaky deaky stuff.

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That’s it for this time around. A big thank you to Ellen Myrick and the folks at Publisher Spotlight for this glimpse into the fall season today.

Filed under: Publisher Previews