• Body Count by Andy Schlebecker, David Chippendale, and V. Vireak
  Two college students have their spring break road trip interrupted by a zombie apocalypse, which leads them to confront their hometown’s homophobia.
  HarperAlley, Spring 2028
• The Cursebreakers by Alex Kahler and Meghan Boehman
  A group of teens battle the ancient evil that haunts a mansion full of artifacts.
  Andrews McMeel, Summer 2027
• Perfect Season by Rebekah McKendry, David Ian McKendry, and Fern Roberts
  A new girl finds out the high school football team would do anything to win, including human sacrifice.
  McElderry Books, Spring 2028
• Too Big to Say by Phil Bildner and Mike Curato
  This novel with graphic novel elements is about two friends hiking up a mountain and discussing big decisions.
  Little, Brown, Winter 2027

Source: Publishers Weekly Rights Report, December 1 and December 8

Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures The Training Sessions from Dark Horse Comics tops this week’s list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, along with a new Christmas tale from Keenspot Entertainment. Other highlights include the second volume of Cosmic Cadets from IDW Publishing – Top Shelf Productions, while Papercutz releases New Adventures of Zootopia 2 Volume 1 Better Zoogether just in time for the release of the movie Zootopia 2.

The List:

DARK HORSE COMICS
Star Wars Young Jedi Adventure The Training Sessions HC, $8.99 **Weekly Pick**

DC COMICS
C.O.R.T. Children Of The Round Table #4 (Of 6), $3.99

IDW PUBLISHING
Street Sharks #3, $4.99
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Saturday Morning Adventures Volume 2 #31, $4.99

IDW PUBLISHING – TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS
Cosmic Cadets Volume 2 Accused GN, $14.99

KEENSPOT ENTERTAINMENT
Zor Saves Christmas #1, $5.99 **Weekly Pick**

PAPERCUTZ
Disney Fairies 4-In-1 Volume 5 TP, $9.99
Dogmatix And The Indomitables 3-In-1 Volume 1 TP, $14.99
Loud House Volume 25 GN, $7.99
New Adventures Of Zootopia 2 Volume 1 Better Zoogether TP , $9.99

The Pick:

Star Wars Young Jedi Adventures The Training Sessions HC – Dark Horse Comics releases a collection of short stories about three Jedi younglings. Kai Brightstar, Lys Solay, and Nubs seek out new missions and challenges that require their Jedi skills. With the help of their friend Nash Durango, pilot of the Crimson Firehawk, and her trusty droid companion RJ-83, the younglings set off across the galaxy to learn the ways of the Force. The trio of stories includes “The Trees of Kashyyyk,” with Kai, Lys, and Nubs racing Wookies to climb the tallest trees on Kashyyyk; “Sky Parade Rescue,” featuring Nubs and Jedi padawan Qort rushing to rescue a Republic ship from disaster; and “Scavenger Hunt,” which sends the younglings on a scavenger hunt in a stinky swamp full of monsters. Young readers will love following these Jedi younglings as they travel the stars in search of adventure.

Zor Saves Christmas #1 – Keenspot brings back the littlest hero of them all in a Christmas tale for all ages. Little Zoe Richardson tends to lose things, but she has a magical friend made from her teardrops, ZOR! When she loses her ticket to see Santa Claus she has nothing to fear as ZOR returns, ready to help save the (holi)day. In a bustling shopping mall, the little hero must get past the trampling feet of shoppers, eager kids, and feisty felines to help Zoe keep her appointment with Santa! Readers of all ages will enjoy this new Christmas tale.

Detective Stanley and the Mystery at the Museum
by Hannah Tunnicliffe and Erica Harrison
Flying Eye Books, $12.99 paperback
Publisher’s Rating: Ages 5-9

Detective Stanley is an adorably determined retired detective who finds himself investigating once again when something is stolen from the museum. He has to find out what’s really going on while avoiding being framed! His world feels comfortably Richard Scarry-like, with various animals and roles in the background.

It’s a great short read, with plenty of twists, as well as puns and amusing nods to the genre for those who pay attention. For instance, Stanley lives at 221 Barker Street and is reading Cat Among the Pigeons (the Agatha Christie classic). The exhibit at the Museum is by Bleat Mondrian, a goat, and there are background pages included on Piet Mondrian’s life and works. There’s a second book coming next year, Detective Stanley and The Green Thumbed Thief, which is something to look forward to. Detective Stanley and the Mystery at the Museum is lots of fun and an excellent introduction to mystery stories for young ones.

Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat
by Li Chen
Andrews McMeel, $24.99 hardcover, $12.99 paperback
Publisher’s Rating: Ages 8-10

Kitten Beans loves detectives. He wears a trench coat and fedora to better mimic the hard-boiled investigator he wants to be. But one morning, his hat has gone missing! He sets out to find it, meeting all kinds of characters—a bird mom, twins in the park, a magician, a community gardener, a jazz singer, a fishmonger, a snooty antique store owner, and more—in a very packed day of encounters. This isn’t a mystery so much as a shaggy-dog Rube Goldberg-style “and then the hat was picked up by THAT person!” extended tale.

Beans is a bit silly, and readers may enjoy realizing they know more than he does about what’s going on. The elements here have been kiddified, but for example, substituting a juice box straw for a cigarette in the classic noir look is funny. There is a bit of “this couldn’t happen in reality” when it comes to magic, but we are starting with talking cats who wear clothes, so…

The second book, Detective Beans: Adventures in Cat Town, is already out.

Who Killed Nessie?
by Paul Cornell and Rachael Smith
Avery Hill Publishing, $19.99

Lyndsay is a new employee at a deserted lakeside Wisconsin hotel. She’s been left alone this weekend, when the only guests are there for a very special convention. It takes Lyndsay a while to realize that all the attendees are cryptids and other supernatural creatures, including Bigfoot, fairies, a mermaid, the Kraken, the Wendigo, the Jersey Devil, Baba Yaga, and a whole lot more. Plus Bob, the Beast of Bodmin Moor, who’s basically a talking cat, and darned cute.

Then the Loch Ness Monster is murdered. Lyndsay has the weekend to solve the mystery, complicated by the many shapeshifters at the weekend, while the attendees continue with their panels and debates. Smith’s fluid art makes this all kind of cuddly, even though there are deaths involved. (This book has the most adorable version of Cerberus ever.) It’s a terrific idea for an escapist mystery, comfortably drawn and easy to get sucked into. Once it’s been read, another pass through is worth it just to identify all the creatures in the panel backgrounds.

Who Killed Nessie? is also appealing in its everyday, relatable use of fantasy elements, where these magical creatures are beings just like anybody else, partying at a weekend convention and caught up in their own drives and grudges. An excellent example of supernatural mystery that still plays far and doesn’t require the investigator being put in harm’s way to find the solution.

The Nefarious Nights of Willowweep Manor
by Shaenon K. Garrity and Christopher Baldwin
Margaret K. McElderry Books, $24.99 hardcover, $14.99 paperback
Publisher’s Rating: Ages 12+

The sequel to The Dire Days of Willowweep Manor moves from the Gothic to the mystery genre.

As we’re reminded in the prequel chapter, Willowweep is a mini universe shaped by our collective unconscious. In this volume, survivors from another universe have sought refuge in the stately manor. They are:

• Crickers, an idiot fop, and his comedy relief dog Jerome
• Maybury, the butler
• Miss Meadowsweet, the village spinster
• Colonel Shotcroft
• a “capable young lady” wearing a cloche hat

Their appearance means a conservatory also appears in the manor, and then someone gets a dagger in the back. Our lead, Hayley, moves from interdimensional science adventurer to detective as characters start disappearing. Others try reading mystery novels to better understand the new rules of the universe.

Cuthbert, the easygoing youngest brother of the Willowweep family, hits it off with Crickers immediately, as they’re both rather Bertie Wooster-like, and their pairing provides much of the humor. This series, although devoted to the appeal of a particular genre, manages to combine a bunch of them, with suspense, adventure, science fiction, comedy, and a bit of romance all included.

The love of genre that made the first book so appealing isn’t as visible here, as Hayley admits she doesn’t know mysteries very well. But the elements work together well enough, with some detecting and some world-saving and some heartwarming emotion all on view.

The Great British Bump-Off
written by John Allison; art by Max Sarin
Dark Horse Books, $19.99
Publisher’s Rating: Ages 12+

There are so many wonderful things in this story:

• A determined student detective investigating
• A weird and unusual range of contestants in a
• British baking show competition
• Where a jerk baker is poisoned
• Plus jokes about odd and old-fashioned expressions and other obscure topics
• And a cat co-host
• All cartooned with feeling and detail.

I wanted to spend a lot more time with these characters in this situation. It’s so entertaining and hilarious. Thankfully, there’s a sequel out now, Kill or Be Quilt.

Most readers probably know artist Scott Campbell, sometimes known as Scott C., from his picture books. He wrote and drew Hug Machine and illustrated such books as Skulls, Zombie in Love, and XO, Ox. That or, perhaps, from his Great Showdowns books, wherein he boils various films down to their core conflicts, drawing opposing characters standing on opposite sides of the page, looking blankly at one another. (If you haven’t read any of those, they are much funnier than I’m making them sound.)

As accomplished an illustrator and artist as Campbell is, he’s also a cartoonist, and he’s got a new comic book for kids out. And it’s a silly one. His Cabin Head and Tree Head stars two friends with those names, both of them quite abstract humanoid characters with, well, with a cabin and tree on their heads, respectively.

The pair live in a world of similar “Heads” of various sizes and colors, all with something on their head by which they are identified. So there’s a Pool Head, who has a swimming pool for a head (complete with little human beings playing in it). And Automobile Head, who has an automobile on his head. And…well, you get the idea at this point, right?

It’s basically our world, only everything in it—buildings, vehicles, objects—is atop a Head’s head, human beings seemingly living obliviously in those buildings, driving those vehicles and using those objects.

This idea has apparently been with Campbell for a while now. In the 2007 fourth volume of editor Kazu Kibuishi’s Flight anthology, Campbell drew a 14-page short story called “Igloo Head and Tree Head,” which reads like a rough draft for the first story in Cabin Head, as it includes some of the same beats and features some of the same characters. (Those Flight volumes are interesting to look at these days, by the way, as so many of the creators in the table of contents have since gone on to create a shelf full of popular kids comics; the volume with Campbell’s story, for example, also features a story by Raina Telgemeier.)

The 2025 book, in addition to changing the name of one of the main Heads (and, thus, the thing on its head), features slightly simpler designs, with brighter colors and more airy, breathable panels. It’s also much more leisurely paced. Still, it’s undeniably the work of Campbell, who has a very distinct style, mixing loose, super-cartoony designs and renderings with lovely watercolors.

The book consists of six short, silly stories (followed by a few far shorter, maybe sillier stories featuring various “Friend Heads”).

The first story, “Hellos,” has our leads greeting one another, and then, with Tree Head feeling “a case of the hellos coming on,” running around greeting all the other Heads, a nice introduction to this idiosyncratic world that culminates in a beautiful two-page spread full of the various Heads going about their days.

Other stories involve Cabin Head taking up painting and hanging his art on Brick Wall Head’s wall, Tree Head digging for treasure, various Heads sharing a great hiding spot until they pile up so high we meet the two biggest Heads of all get involved (Earth Head and Moon Head, I assume they are named) and Tree Head getting a “leafcut” from Garden Head, who has been using shears to create topiary on various Bush Heads.

The book’s final full story is “Bye-Byes,” wherein our leads try to say goodbye to one another and part ways, but it doesn’t quite take.

These are followed by a trio of short stories: “Story Time with Library Head,” “Pool Party with Pool Head,” and “Drawing Time with Box of Crayons Head.”

Like a sillier, hipper, absurdist comic book Frog and Toad, Campbell’s Cabin Head and Tree Head features two best friends going about their lives and enjoying one another’s company.

And should you find it charming, good news: Another book is apparently already in the pipeline. The last page features the title characters kneeling and each giving a thumbs up, along with the words “Cabin Head and Tree Head shall return for more wonderful book times!”

• Baby Teeth, by Sarah Mensinga
  Described as “Kazu Kibuishi’s Amulet meets Luke Pearson’s Hilda“, featuring a fairy heist and cover-up.
  Abrams/Amulet, Fall 2028
• Edgetown News, by Adam Shaughnessy and Jacob Chabot
  A boy blogs about a creepy New England town he’s just moved to.
  Union Square Kids, two books starting in Winter 2028
• Evil Squirrel, by Ellis Rosen
  Ruffles, the dog secret agent, works to stop an evil genius squirrel and his criminal organization of other creatures.
  Scholastic/Graphix, three books starting in Fall 2027
• Fang Files, by Huda Fahmy
  Described as “Sherlock meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer“, the lead is a Muslim boy who becomes a vampire at puberty and wants to help a haunted classmate.
  Dial, two books starting in Spring 2028
• Karate Road, by Rashad Doucet
  A boy and his older sister road trip to meet a karate master.
  Disney/Freedom Fire, 2027
• Leila Lives Again and Again, by Sloane Leong and Leslie Hung
  A girl’s new friend brings trouble.
  First Second, 2028
• Tales of Lake Eerie, by David M. Booher and Sarah Turner
  Three friends investigate a lake monster and strange occurrences in their coastal town.
  Oni Press, two books starting in Summer 2027

Source: Publishers Weekly Rights Report, November 3, November 10, and November 17

Wait A Minotaur (I Like To Read Comics) from Holiday House tops this week’s list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under, along with a Flying Eye Book that early readers will flip for. Other highlights include Archie’s Christmas Spectacular for 2025 from Archie Comic Publications. IDW Publishing releases the second volume of Sonic the Hedgehog Sonic Prime while Top Shelf Productions releases Volume 2 of Rose Wolves, Out of the Blue.

The List:

ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS
Archie’s Christmas Spectacular #1 (One Shot), $4.99 [Preview]

DC COMICS
Teen Titans Go #10, $2.99

FLYING EYE BOOKS
Spectacular Space Loop GN, $12.99 **Weekly Pick**

HOLIDAY HOUSE
Wait A Minotaur GN (I Like To Read Comics), $8.99 **Weekly Pick**

IDW PUBLISHING
Sonic The Hedgehog Sonic Prime Volume 2 GN, $9.99
Sonic The Hedgehog Volume 20 Cause And Effect TP, $16.99

IDW PUBLISHING – TOP SHELF PRODUCTIONS
Rose Wolves Volume 2 Out Of The Blue HC, $14.99

KEENSPOT ENTERTAINMENT
Robot + Girl #10, $5.99

ONI PRESS
Adventure Time (2025) #8, $4.99

The Picks:

Wait A Minotaur GN (I Like To Read Comics) – Holiday House releases an action-packed comic for early readers. It’s Nick’s and Gus’ first day at a new school. Nick’s not sure how to find their classroom, but the easily excitable and impatient Gus knows just what to do. He grabs Nick’s hand and charges straight into the building! Running through science class, dancing along with band practice, and bouncing around the gym seems fun, until they end up in the boiler room, lost. They don’t know where to go now, but Nick knows what to do: Wait a minute, calm down, and retrace their steps back to their classroom. The hilarious and slapstick illustrations will resonate with young comic readers and parents will love the subtle lessons of patience and critical thinking. This title is a must for any graphic novel collection.

Spectacular Space Loop GN – Flying Eye releases a title that flips reading on its head. Out in space, Cosmo and his team are ready to test his new jetpack. But an explosion with the pack sends Cosmo far off into space with no hope of communicating with his companions. He must now embark on his biggest adventure yet! Wacky encounters with aliens, destroyers, magicians, sewer mutants, and a friendly, slightly egg-like creature all await the brave space hero. Young readers will love the fun, fast space adventure that shows a change in perspective can change how you see everything!

Pushing Hope: an Illustrated Story of Survival

Story by Raymond Santana

Illustrated by Keith Henry Brown

Astra Books for Young Readers, published 10/28/25

Age rating: 14 & up

The story of The Exonerated Five (formerly known as The Central Park Five) is a well-known tale of injustice: Five Black and Latino teenagers were falsely accused of a horrific crime they didn’t commit. Pushing Hope is Raymond Santana’s story, a story of fear, survival, and salvation told through gritty art courtesy of Henry Keith Brown. Everyone should have this book in their collection.

Like the crime itself, Santana’s story is not for the faint of heart, and Brown’s illustration matches that intensity. The interrogation that Santana goes through was harrowing to read. Even more intense was the bold art and lettering that conveys each emotion everyone involved experienced. From the interrogation to his time in prison, Santana doesn’t hold back as he discusses the tough transition even after his release. Using art to help him during his incarceration, Santana uses that skill as his escape from reality which leads to the creation of his fashion line, Park Madison NYC. 

Overall, this is a story of finding hope and salvation during the harshest of times. I recently hosted a TeenLIVE author talk with Raymond Santana and Henry Keith Brown. At the event, Santana told the audience that even though he was exonerated and the real perpetrator was caught, there are still those who think, despite the overwhelming evidence, that he and the other Exonerated Five are guilty. However, Santana’s story and quest for justice is not over. Through Pushing Hope, we see resilience and courage to tell an inspiring story in the face of racism and injustice.

This is a story not to pass over and will hopefully initiate more conversations on jumping to conclusions based on race and fighting for justice.

Today we have a new graphic novel to announce: Penny and the Yeti, by writer Jimmy Gaspero and artist Amber Akin, coming from Papercutz on April 21, 2026. Pitched at early readers, ages 6 to 9, it’s the story of a girl with family problems and a magical friend. Here’s the publisher’s description:

Penny has a super normal life. She lives with her parents and big sister Peri. Her favorite thing is when she and her sister draw and color together, especially when Peri draws monsters she calls “cryptids,” amazing creatures Penny couldn’t even imagine! Penny thinks life is pretty great.

The only real problem is Penny’s parents argue…a LOT. Penny wishes her parents would stop, but what can she do? That’s when Yeti shows up, right out of one of Peri’s drawings and smack into Penny’s life! With Yeti’s help, Penny comes up with a plan to get her parents to stop fighting. Penny, however, soon finds out that her parents may need more help than even a magical Yeti can provide…

The story actually started out with a converation between Gaspero and his daughter; they came up with a tale of a girl and a yeti who went out to lunch at a diner, and it grew from there, first into a four-page comic and now into a complete graphic novel. “I hope readers have fun with Penny and the Yeti,” Gaspero said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “I hope they see themselves somewhere in the story. I hope this is a book that kids read on their own or with their parents. I hope readers know that sometimes being a family takes work, and that’s okay. I hope every Penny out there has a friend like Yeti for both fun and support, and I hope every Penny has a Peri that will stand up for them when it matters most.”

For more stories about kids and cryptids, check out my Stellar Panels column “Cryptids & Critters: Monster Tales Reimagined” at SLJ!

Sheeta’s Little Big World Volume 2 from Kodansha Comics tops this week’s short list of new comics, manga, and graphic novels for readers 12 and under. Other highlights include a new Max and Chaffy volume from DK Flip, Search for the Ice Chaffy. Marvel Comics finishes the mini series Uncle Scrooge Earth’s Mightiest Duck with issue #4, and Papercutz releases a new volume in the series Casagrandes, Freezing and Frio.

The List:

AMULET BOOKS
Are You Afraid Of The Dark Volume 3 Tale Of The Vanishing Circus HC, $16.99

DK FLIP
Max And Chaffy Search For The Ice Chaffy GN, $12.99

KODANSHA COMICS
Sheeta’s Little Big World Volume 2 GN, $11.99 **Weekly Pick**

MARVEL COMICS
Uncle Scrooge Earth’s Mightiest Duck #4 (Of 4), $4.99

ONI PRESS
Adventure Time Volume 1 Best Of Buds TP, $19.99
Biker Mice From Mars (2025) #6, $4.99

PAPERCUTZ
Casagrandes Freezing And Frio GN, $7.99

The Pick:

Sheeta’s Little Big World Volume 2 GN – Kodansha releases the second of this three volume adventure series that will charm readers. Little Sheeta has left the littlefolk town, built in a hollowed-out log, to search for his friend Nala. Standing no taller than a blade of grass, his journey into the wide world is filled with dangers from rats, ants, weasels, and other littlefolk with their own priorities. Sheeta and his companion Izuna happen upon a little girl named Kugel. She is from a village built of hardened earth inside a tree hollow, where the townsfolk process the tree sap into the most amazing syrup! But now ants, attracted by the syrup, have broken through the walls and are forcing Kugel and her people out. Despite the wishes of the village chief, who is also Kugel’s mother, Kugel is determined to stay and fight for her home! Taking inspiration from The Borrowers and Studio Ghibli, this title will enchant readers young and old.

Go-Man: Champion of Earth

Cartoonist Hamish Steele’s Go-Man is a love letter to Japanese pop culture, most specifically its giant monster movies and Super Sentai and Ultraman TV shows. Steele liberally borrows inspiration from these to concoct an original story that still manages to feel fresh, even, perhaps unexpectedly, unique.

This is thanks in large part to the fact that all of the colorful ingredients serve a story of personal drama, involving the sorts of characters we don’t often see explicitly represented in media that much.

Steel’s protagonist is Tobi, a friendless young boy who lives in Model City 3, one of several futuristic cities maintained by constantly-repairing-things robots, cities that were built specifically to be resilient to attacks by giant monsters, a now-common occurrence.

Despite his young age, Tobi lives alone, his scientist mother having died and his very important, very busy father living on the moon for work. But he does have a smart house full of smart appliances to watch over him, and he’s downloaded his mother’s super-advanced computer into a toy robot monkey named Okidoki.

Those giant monsters I mentioned are actually referred to as “Giant Organisms”, or “G.O.s” for short, and Tobi’s mother was researching how they came to be before her death. She discovered it was through ingesting a glowing flower called mana and, in the midst of a G.O. attack on his way to school, Tobi consumes his mom’s only mana sample, growing to skyscraper size (and gaining a costume in the process), becoming a G.O. human…but “Go-Man” is a lot more catchy, isn’t it?

Shortly after, Tobi makes his first real friend, Grace, a classmate who is obsessed with a Sailor Moon-like TV show and is also Go-Man’s biggest fan. Once she discovers Tobi’s secret, she helps coach him on being a superhero, which of course involves poses, catchphrases, and a theme song.

In addition to his controversial new role as a super-hero—some think he’s just another G.O. to be fought and destroyed—Tobi must navigate his fraught relationship with his absent father, wrestle with the politics of the color-coded team of heroes who pilot insect-themed giant robots to fight the monsters, deal with an alien incursion, and try to adjust to having a friend.

Though the back cover and the solicitation copy refer to Tobi as autistic, this doesn’t actually come up until very late in the book, when Grace off-handedly refers to the two of them as “the two autistic nerds in class”, and Tobi is surprised to hear that word.

This leads to a short, awkward conversation, concluding with Grace saying, “Look, I can’t diagnose you, but in my humble, autistic opinion, you definitely seem to have a few obvious traits.”

This gives new meaning to Tobi’s reference to Go-Man as “just a face I put on” for the world (one side effect of which is that it completely physically exhausts him), and Grace’s mention of the real her versus a mask she wears.

There is quite a bit yet to be resolved by the end of the book—including a cliffhanger involving Tobi’s bully and a baby G.O.—but then, there is a “Volume 1” on the book’s cover.

Despite all of the obvious influences from Japanese pop culture, this is very much a western comic book, presented in brilliant full color and with steady, straight, square panels that flow at a regular, leisurely pace from one to another. Steele also steers clear of stereotypical manga storytelling elements, like speed lines, sweat drops, veins denoting anger and so on.

The cast is also remarkably diverse, populated with all sorts of people with various skin and hair colors, suggesting different ethnicities and nationalities. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the make-up of the RoBug team, the Super Sentai-inspired mech pilots and monster fighters. Rather than looking like five identical people in color-coded costumes, they have a remarkable variety of traits for a type of team known for its uniformity, ranging from the short, blue-haired Caucasian guy with bad-boy stubble who pilots RoBug Blue to the big, tall, dad-bodied Black guy with a full, bushy beard who pilots RoBug Pink.

Rather than manga then, Go-Man looks and reads more like a modern Western cartoon show, albeit one that plays out on paper rather than a screen. It all makes for a rather delightful all-ages comedic adventure comic.