10 Great New Children’s Books Out in July 2026

I’ve got a quick challenge for you, children’s book fans: Close your eyes, clear your mind, and visualize an illustration from a picture book you loved as a child. (Then open your eyes again, please, so you can read the rest of this column.)

Okay. How’d it go? Did you remember the colors of your illustration, or the style the artist used? Could you remember how you felt when you looked at the very hungry caterpillar’s four ripe strawberries, or how the sight of Max’s boat transported you into a world where the wild things are? If you could reach back across the years to conjure up an image you loved when you were young, then you’ll know how powerful the visual art of children’s books can be. From picture books for little ones to graphic novels for older kids and teens, modern children’s books put great art on display, and this month, I’m sharing a bunch of wonderful new illustrated stories for you to share aloud or read on your own.

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Jaque Jours, The Muéganos

Transit Children’s Editions, July 21

Recommended for ages 3 and up

Muéganos are a traditional Mexican sweet: squares of dough bound together with a sticky syrup. In author-illustrator Jaque Jours’ new picture book, the Muéganos are also a family so close-knit that they are literally stuck together. The five Muéganos (Mamá, Papá, and three children) go everywhere and do almost everything together. They are never alone, and for the most part, that’s how they like it. But Julia, the daughter at the end of the family bunch, sometimes thinks that life can be a little boring. On a fateful trip to the museum, Julia wants to see a different exhibit than the one her family is heading toward, and the Muéganos’ sugar-tight bond finally cracks. Can it be repaired? Should it be? This beautifully illustrated story is thoughtful, unique, and never too sticky-sweet.

Sophie Blackall, Story Rug

Illustrated by Phoebe Wahl

Little, Brown, July 14

Recommended for ages 4-6

Talented picture book creators Sophie Blackall (Hello Lighthouse) and Phoebe Wahl (Little Witch Hazel) team up for a cheerful tale about the kids in Class 203, who are learning to braid. They are in a “braiding CRAZE,” in fact, braiding every braidable thing they can find in the classroom. When their teacher, Ms. Morena, snips up a whiteboard rag for Noah to braid, Noah ties on a bit of his dad’s old shirt to make the braid even longer. Soon, the other kids are bringing in their own precious objects (baby blankets, an old yellow sari, a stained tablecloth) to add to the braid. When they discover that their epically long braid can be spiraled and stitched together, they’ve got a classroom rug full of shared memories, perfect for sitting on to listen to Ms. Morena’s stories. The clever text ends with instructions for making your own braided rag rug.

Yevgenia Nayberg, Another Tongue

Neal Porter Books, July 14

Recommended for ages 4-8

What’s your mother tongue? What’s it like to move to a different country where you don’t understand the language? And if you become bilingual, does that mean you have two tongues? Through conversational text and witty artwork, author-illustrator Yevgenia Nayberg helps young readers think about how they learned their first language and what it might feel like to learn a different language in a new place. My favorite spread, about linguistic mix-ups, features a tour guide welcoming visitors to the “Vampire State Building.”

In an author’s note, Nayberg shares her own experience moving to the United States and learning English at age nineteen. You can read more about Nayberg’s childhood in her graphic memoir, Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters, published earlier this year.

Celeste Pewter, The Great Pumpkin Pancake Party

Illustrated by Kelly Wu

Henry Holt and Co., July 7

Recommended for ages 4-8

In this warm-hearted picture book based on debut author Celeste Pewter’s own family memories, a girl named Lilly describes how Lao Ye, her grandfather who’s recently come to the United States from China, plans to throw a big Halloween party for all the neighbors. Lao Ye fills his car with pumpkins, but instead of carving them into jack-o-lanterns, he transforms them into pumpkin-egg pancakes using a beloved family recipe. Lilly worries that the neighbors won’t like eating foods that are unfamiliar to them, but it’s Lao Ye’s gift of a meal prepared with love that end up bringing the community together. Readers can follow the recipe in the backmatter to enjoy a few of Lao Ye’s pumpkin pancakes in their own neighborhood.

Lauren Castillo, School for Woodland Creatures (Our Friend Hedgehog #3)

Knopf, July 14

Recommended for ages 5-9

For readers who love the warmth and gentle humor of Winnie-the-Pooh, try the Friend Hedgehog series, written and illustrated by Caldecott honoree Lauren Castillo. The stories feature a human girl named Annika Mae and her troupe of forest animal buddies. In this new installment, like Christopher Robin before her, Annika Mae goes off to school, leaving Hedgehog and her other friends wondering how to fill their days. They decide to form a school of their own. Beaver will teach building and Owl will teach Beginner Vocabulary, but what can Hedgehog teach? With short chapters and full-color illustrations, the Our Friend Hedgehog books are great for read-alouds or as a bridge to reading longer stories independently.

Gary Golio, Silence Sounds Simple: A Day in the Life of John Cage

Illustrated by Andrea D’Aquino

Calkins Creek, July 7

Recommended for ages 7-10

Silence Sounds Simple uses the picture book medium to express the musical philosophy of composer John Cage, whose most famous work is 4’33”, four minutes and thirty-three seconds during which the musicians are silent and the sounds of the surrounding world become music. In this book, Gary Golio’s lyrical text harmonizes with Andrea D’Aquino’s colorfully painted, collage-style artwork to show young readers how Cage heard music in “the click of a clock / the ring of a bell / a yawn a groan a giggle.” More of an impressionistic composition than a biography, Silence Sounds Simple would be a delight to read aloud to young children. There’s also extensive endmatter for readers who want to learn more about Cage’s life and work.

Sumayyah Beck, Airrelle of the Maroon Witches

Holiday House, July 14

Recommended for ages 8-12

This middle grade novel isn’t illustrated, but I had to include it in this month’s column because I love the fresh, atmospheric worldbuilding in this story about a young girl taking her first steps toward her lifelong dream of becoming a witch. Airrelle Bookman lives in Missen Dessalin, a hidden community in Southern California that’s separated from the regular world, the Overside, by a magical barrier called the bomawall. Both of Airrelle’s parents are full witches, and Airrelle is thrilled when a chorus of talking birds appears and lets her know that it’s time for her own magical initiation to begin. The novel follows Airrelle through her witchy trials and training, all in a vivid new magical world that’s a delight to visit.

Abby Denson, My Tokyo Summer

Illustrated by Utomaru

Graphix, July 7

Recommended for ages 12 and up

In this graphic memoir set in the 1980s and ’90s, two young cartoonists connect across continents and come together for a life-changing summer. Abby, who lives in the United States, loves comics and dreams of going to art school. Yuuko, who lives in Japan, loves manga and dreams of visiting the United States. When Yuuko comes across one of Abby’s comics on a trip to New York City, she decides to write to Abby, and the girls become long-distance pen pals. Later, Abby enrolls in a summer program in Japan, and the two friends finally meet in person. With a shared love for art and a genuine interest in each other’s cultures, Yuuko and Abby combine their talents to create a comic to sell at a convention in Tokyo. Hand this book to artistic kids with big dreams, or to any reader who loves to travel, explore, and create.

Megan Kearney, Corpse de Ballet

First Second, July 7

Recommended for ages 14-18

After reading Mariko Tamaki and Nicole Gough’s This Place Kills Me last summer, I was in the mood for more mysterious graphic novels set at boarding schools, so I’m excited to pick up Megan Kearney’s Corpse de Ballet. This young adult psychological thriller takes place at an ultra-competitive ballet school, Saint Anselmus, where Rosamund arrives as a transfer student after another girl, Giovanna, withdraws under mysterious circumstances. As Rosamund and her classmates prepare for their performance of Coppélia, they also try to find out what’s happened to Giovanna, and things start to get uncanny, maybe even supernatural?

Renée Nault, Salvage

Ten Speed Graphic, July 21

Recommended for ages 14 and up

Salvage, Renée Nault’s debut original graphic novel, takes place in an imagined future where sea levels have risen and much of the world as we know it is underwater. Poorer people like Paolo live in the Flats at the water’s edge, making their living by diving into abandoned buildings below the surface and retrieving whatever treasures they find there to sell to the rich people in the glitzy, materialistic Uplands. When Paolo finds an immaculate set of stylish vintage clothes on a dive, he decides to put them on and pretend for just one night that he belongs in the Uplands. There, at an exclusive club, he falls for a girl named Jules who lives a life very different from his. Throughout the book, Nault’s luminous artwork invites readers to lose themselves in Jules and Paolo’s world.