10 Great New Children’s Books Out in April 2026

This month, I’ve been thinking about the joys of interactive books, those books that welcome readers in and treat them as active participants in the world of the story. Some kinds of books are obviously interactive, like choose-your-own-adventure-style novels and lift-the-flap board books. Other books can be more subtly welcoming in their design or content, allowing characters to address the reader directly, or giving readers a mystery or puzzle to solve. And readers themselves have the power to interact more deeply with any book they love. When I speak at elementary schools, students love to tell me about how they’re writing fanfiction, turning the plots of adventure novels into recess games, or pursuing other projects inspired by their favorite stories. This is the kind of news that makes us children’s authors genuinely giddy.

Fortunately, there are lots of new and upcoming children’s books that encourage interactivity, from picture books that break the fourth wall to code- and cipher-filled YA mysteries that invite readers to play along. Here are ten new titles with interactive potential that I’m looking forward to reading this month.

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Caspar Salmon, Now You Know Your ABCs (Or Do You?)
illustrated by Matt Hunt
Nosy Crow, April 7
recommended for ages 4-8

I’ll confess that when I was a new parent, I didn’t love reading alphabet books to my kids. The ABCs are important, sure, but they don’t have much zing to them. No surprises. No twists. No chase scenes through Europe or magic carpet rides.

Fortunately, a few innovative picture books have shown up recently to delight young alphabet learners and exhausted grown-ups alike, and Now You Know Your ABCs (Or Do You?) is one of my favorites. It starts out innocently enough—A is for “apple,” B is for “ball”—but when D turns out to be not for “dog” but for a dangerous wolf, the real shenanigans begin. The wolf chases you through the alphabet while you shriek (E is for “Eek!”) and attempt to flee the country (F is for “France”). My children now know their ABCs, but I’m still excited to read this book aloud to them and watch them giggle.

Maya Myers, Good Morning, Morning!
illustrated by Jennifer K. Mann
Neal Porter Books, April 7
recommended for ages 4-8

Early one morning, when “the sky is just thinking about daytime,” a child slips out of bed and ventures into the fields and forests outside their home. There, all sorts of marvels are waiting to be discovered: spider webs and dewdrops in the grass, spongy moss pillows, chattering birds and squirrels, and a mushroom fairy ring. The child and their pet cat explore each wonder almost meditatively until the sun rises and the day’s joyful fun can begin. This is a picture book that feels truly immersive: Maya Myers’ text captures the particular magic of waking up early on a summer’s morning, and Jennifer K. Mann’s artwork allows readers of all ages to see the natural world through a child’s eyes.

Audrey Perrott, Once Upon a Tail (Once Upon a Tail #1)
illustrated by Charlene Chua
Abrams Fanfare, April 21
recommended for ages 6-9

Early reader graphic novel series can be game-changing for kids who are reading independently but who find traditional chapter books a little intimidating. For my young reader who loves Narwhal and Jelly and Elephant & Piggie, I’ll be picking up the medieval-flavored Once Upon a Tail series, which kicks off this month. Poppy, a pink dragon, and Wallace, a knightly horse, are the best of friends, but like many beloved kidlit duos before them, they have their disagreements. (Is peeling a banana in 3.2 milliseconds really a superpower? Is it possible for a dragon to get a haircut?) I particularly love the smart, fourth-wall-breaking humor and the energetic full-color artwork that welcomes kids into the story.

Meg Wolitzer and Charlie Panek, Found Sound
Dutton, April 21
recommended for ages 7-11

I’ve enjoyed Meg Wolitzer’s fiction for adult readers and am looking forward to checking out the new middle grade novel that Wolitzer coauthored with her son, sound editor and music producer Charlie Panek. Found Sound is a story about two kids, Felix and Marigold, and a seemingly dull summer vacation that’s upended when the kids find an old wooden box that says OPEN ME. Inside they find an audio recorder and a mysterious message that leads them around town on a sound-themed treasure hunt. As Felix and Marigold follow the clues and puzzles, they can’t help wondering what might lie at the end of the hunt, and who the anonymous puzzle constructor could be.

Linda Sue Park, Just One Gift
illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng
Clarion, April 7
recommended for ages 8-12

Told in linked poems inspired by the short Korean verse form of sijo, Just One Gift visits Ms. Chang’s first-period Language Arts class on the day they’re challenged to answer a question: If you could give a person in your life just one gift, what would it be? Each kid considers what might matter most to their chosen person, from the simple (a signed baseball) to the complex (plane tickets for teachers who can’t afford to visit their baby granddaughter in Nepal) to the impossible (the return of a beloved family member who died in infancy). Without any preachiness, this illustrated companion book to Park and Sae-Heng’s The One Thing You’d Save encourages young readers to think generously and empathetically about their own communities.

Katharine Orton, The Traitor Moth
Simon & Schuster, April 7
recommended for ages 8-12

If your young reader is a fan of the Warriors series who’s looking for something new to read, hand them The Traitor Moth, a new epic fantasy adventure set in the insect world. Our tiny hero, Catclaw, is a young moth and a member of the Dreamkins, a noble moth clan that has gone into exile after its former master betrayed the clans’ queen. Now the few remaining Dreamkins are struggling to survive. When Catclaw has a prophetic vision that warns him of danger threatening all five clans, he’s launched on an adventure to save his fellow moths, even those who don’t believe that his visions could possibly be real. This book has massive kid appeal, and I look forward to passing it along to my own middle grade reader.

Emily B. Martin, Nell O’Dell Hates Quests
Candlewick, April 7
recommended for ages 8-12

What’s more fun than a tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure about a heroine who would prefer not to be starring in a fantasy adventure at all? Nell O’Dell’s family owns the inn that stands at the Golden Crossroads, the place where all proper magical quests must begin. Plenty of would-be heroes pass through the inn on their way to save the world, and Nell is responsible for keeping the place running, serving food, and making sure all those annoying questers don’t cause too much chaos. When an apparent bureaucratic mix-up threatens the inn’s future, Nell is charged with delivering the paperwork to clear up the mess—but it’s not a quest, and Nell is not a quester herself, no matter how many adventures keep happening to her along the way! Fantasy fans who like watching tropes get overturned like tavern barstools will especially enjoy this one.

Marieke Nijkamp, Clock Hands
illustrated by Sylvia Bi
Greenwillow, April 21
recommended for ages 8-12

When I select children’s books to feature in this column, I sometimes chat with actual children about what their most anticipated upcoming reads are, and Clock Hands is my in-house fourth-grader’s inspired choice. It’s a companion volume to the popular graphic novel Ink Girls, set in an Italian Renaissance-inspired city-state where trade guilds wield great influence and those outside the guilds struggle in the margins of society. In Clock Hands, young Vale can’t afford to join any of the guilds as an apprentice or learn a trade of their own. When a clockmaker arrives in the city and notices Vale’s talent, he agrees to take Vale on in his workshop. Vale and Stella, the clockmaker’s daughter, become friends and must work together with the rest of the guildless to protect their community against discrimination and violence.

Diana Peterfreund, Ellen Poe: The Forgotten Lore
Running Press Kids, April 7
recommended for ages 13 and up

If you want to win my heart as a reader, all you really have to do is include the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe as a character in your novel. When 16-year-old Ellen Reynolds moves into a Poe-themed bed and breakfast, she isn’t expecting the ghost of the long-dead writer to appear to her and ask her to decipher the cryptic messages in his journal. But Ellen is rumored to be a descendant of the Poe family, and, like her famous forebear, she seems to have a particular connection with the spirit world. I’m excited to see how author Diana Peterfreund weaves elements of Poe’s literary legacy into a fun modern-day mystery for readers who may be meeting “Eddy” for the first time.

Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss, The Escape Game
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, April 7
recommended for ages 14 and up

Those of us who’d rather skip escape room outings to stay home and read can still get our puzzle-based thrills through books like The Escape Game, Marissa Meyer and Tamara Moss’s highly anticipated new young adult novel about a murder on the set of an escape room-themed reality TV show. In the final episode of last season’s show, contestant Sierra Angelos discovered her sister Angela dead in a coffin. Now, improbably, the next season is filming, and Sierra is back on set to discover her sister’s killer—even though everyone thinks that Sierra herself must have committed the murder. With fellow contestants Adi, Carter, and Beck, Sierra has to solve an increasingly tricky series of escape room puzzles and try to stay alive as she brings a murderer to justice.