10 Great New Children’s Books Out in June 2026

In the world of children’s literature, there’s been some recent debate about whether children’s books are mostly any good. This, dear reader, is a question that I feel particularly qualified to answer: I have spent forty years reading children’s books for fun, twenty years working in children’s publishing, and the past two and a half years reading dozens of new releases each month as I’ve worked on this column, so you can trust me when I say that I have read a lot of children’s books. And do you know what? In my professional opinion, they have been pretty great.

I don’t love every book I read, of course. I am picky and opinionated, and many stories aren’t the right fit for me. (Please don’t ask my children about the picture book that I had to hide from them because its uber-casual approach to poetic meter was making my brain melt!) But a lot of books of which I’ve been skeptical have taken me by surprise with their wit and beauty. Even when a story doesn’t match my tastes, I can imagine a kid somewhere in the world who will adore it. I can imagine a kid who will pick up that book and, in that moment, become a lifelong reader.

This ability to turn humans into readers is the unique magic of children’s books—yes, even the books that adults might not love. This is why I write for children and why I believe so strongly that every child should have access to a wide and diverse selection of literature, whether that’s at school, at the library, in their home, or elsewhere in the community. If you, too, believe in raising a new generation of lifelong readers, you can start by reading and sharing a few of these ten new books publishing this month, all of which look excellent:

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Mimi May, This is What a Slug Does

Illustrated by Aniek Bartels
Post Wave, June 23
Recommended for ages 3-5

Young readers who love collecting creature factoids will be thoroughly entertained by this funny nonfiction picture book, the first in a planned series about the weird ways of animals. In this initial outing, a slug named Simon demonstrates a few of his species’ more unusual traits: He covers himself in a protective layer of slime, sniffs out a mate with his face tentacles, and even retracts his own head to stay safe from a hungry mole. I particularly like Aniek Bartels’s illustrations, which give Simon a real sense of personality (and a stylish blue hat). Brief endnotes are included for extra-curious readers.

Casey Lyall, Whale, That Was Unexpected

Illustrated by Kathryn Durst
Tundra, June 30
Recommended for ages 3-7

Maude, the unlikely heroine of this maritime picture book, stole my heart from the moment I met her. In braids and a bright yellow fishing bib, with her dog Claude at her side and a witty interjection always on the tip of her tongue, Maude climbs onto her trusty little boat and sets a course for the open sea. Although Maude thinks she’s seen everything, she’s not prepared to be swallowed by a whale, and she’s temporarily at a loss for words when the whale swallows a crab, an octopus, a goat, and several other creatures, all of whom join Maude and Claude in preparing their final farewells. The jaunty, well-executed rhyme and cartoon-style artwork will keep kids giggling as they wait to find out if Maude and the crew will make it home in time for dinner—or become dinner themselves.

Bonsoir Lune, Watermelon Pool

Translated by Frances Cha
Dial, June 2
Recommended for ages 4-8

When an impossibly large watermelon ripens and splits in half, everyone in town is thrilled: The watermelon pool has opened for the summer! Grown-ups bring a ladder to climb into the enormous fruit, kids gather up their inflatable toys, someone makes a waterslide out of a piece of rind, and the whole community spends the day splashing in the juice and pulp (being careful to remove the seeds first). Watermelon Pool was first published in Korea in 2015, and this new English translation brings its wonderfully surreal story and artwork to a new audience of imaginative young fans.

Daniel Nayeri, The Sweetest of Lemons

Illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell
Levine Querido, June 2
Recommended for ages 4-8

National Book Award winner Daniel Nayeri turns his attention to the art of the picture book in The Sweetest of Lemons, gorgeously illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell. The story takes place in Iran, where both Nayeri and Bell lived as children, and the creators’ affection for the setting shines through in their work. On a trip from the city of Isfahan to his grandfather’s farm, the young narrator and his parents stop to see family friends, Abbas, and Saba, whose home is full of love and storytelling. As Abbas tells the tale of a young man who must venture into other worlds to steal back a magical lemon from the giant who’s taken it, the narrator—and readers—are drawn into the enchanting, comforting world of a shared story.

Kathryn D. Sullivan and Michael J. Rosen, How to Dive to the Deepest Place on Earth

Illustrated by Michael J. Rosen
MIT Kids Press, June 30
Recommended for ages 7-9

Astronaut and oceanographer Kathryn D. Sullivan holds the record for being the “most vertical person in the world” because of her travels far above and below Earth’s surface. In this fact-packed autobiographical text, Sullivan and co-author Michael J. Rosen take young readers onboard the submersible Limiting Factor and down through the ocean to Challenger Deep at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Sullivan’s first-person account of the journey is complemented with plentiful infographics, sidebars, illustrations, and photos that will teach readers of all ages more about our planet’s oceans than you’d ever dreamed of learning. (To learn what it’s like at the other extreme of vertical exploration, check out Sullivan and Rosen’s 2024 collaboration, How to Spacewalk.)

Laurent Galandon, Journey to Tomioka

Translated by Anne and Owen Smith
Illustrated by Michaël Crouzat
First Second, June 9
Recommended for ages 8-12

I’m looking forward to picking up this new graphic novel from French creators Laurent Galandon and Michaël Crouzat, set against the backdrop of the 2011 accident at a nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan. After losing their parents in that tragedy, Osamu and his older sister Akiko live with their only remaining relative, their grandmother, Bā-chan. Two years later, when Bā-chan dies, Osamu and Akiko decide that it’s their responsibility to return her ashes to the family farm in Tomioka. But Tomioka is close to the area where the nuclear accident occurred, and it’s not safe to travel there. Undeterred, the siblings set off on a perilous journey, helped and hindered by both natural and supernatural elements along the way.

Niki Smith, Midsummer Sisters

Graphix, June 2
Recommended for ages 9-12

Longtime stepsisters Kenzie and Quinn are closer than close—but with their parents considering divorce, the girls face the awful possibility of being separated. During this turbulent summer in their lives, their grandmother invites them to her home in the Outer Banks, North Carolina’s barrier islands where wild horses roam free. Quinn and Kenzie are determined to enjoy what might be their last summer as sisters, and Niki Smith’s graphic novel follows them as they explore their new surroundings, hunt for fossils, protect a newborn foal, and navigate their own nuanced emotions about family and growing up.

Aida Salazar, Stream

Scholastic, June 2
Recommended for ages 10 and up

Aida Salazar writes warm, thoughtful verse novels about kids who’ll feel instantly relatable to many middle grade readers. In her latest, Stream, Salazar brings together two protagonists from her previous books: Elio from Ultraviolet and Celi from The Moon Within. The summer after eighth grade, both Celi and Elio have tech-centric plans (making content for social media in Celi’s case, gaming in Elio’s), but those plans are upended when their families separately crack down on screen time and send both kids to Mexico to experience life in the analog world. Elio and his friend work on a service project in a rural community, while Celi learns traditional medicine. In this screen-free environment, the two narrators meet and form a friendship that strengthens them both.

Israel Moya, Monarchs in the Wild

Tu Books, June 2
Recommended for ages 13-17

Israel Moya’s debut novel caught my attention from page one with its strong narrative voice. The story, set in rural California in the 1990s, opens as seventeen-year-old Cal finds the body of his high school classmate, Nora, lying across the train tracks. Did she fall from the pedestrian bridge above, or was she pushed? The police are suspicious of Cal, which is the last thing he needs; he already has a bad reputation in his small town, and he’s not sure what will come next for him after high school graduation. But the aftermath of Nora’s death forces Cal to find a new way forward, and his emotions surrounding his journey to adulthood feel both specific and universal.

DeAndra Davis, The Lovers, the Liars, and Me

Atheneum, June 23
Recommended for ages 14 and up

DeAndra Davis won the Morris Award for her first young adult novel, All the Noise at Once, and I’m excited to read her next offering. The Lovers, the Liars, and Me is a coming-of-age story about high school valedictorian Jaliya, who travels to Jamaica during the summer before college to visit family and search for answers about her estranged mother’s disappearance. On the trip, Jaliya reconnects with Andre, her childhood crush—and also starts to fall for a new acquaintance named India. The novel follows Jaliya as she tackles complicated questions of sexuality, culture, and family relationships on her way to a more confident understanding of her own identity.