New Children’s Book Releases for October 13

For anyone looking to explain or help little ones process grief, there’s this new picture book about a boy and the gorilla who helps him process his mother’s death. This is an honest and reassuring book about grieving that encourages that boy to open up to his father so they can both work through their grief together.

On their grandma’s birthday cousins Ginger and Chrysanthemum team up to make it special. But they each have their own ideas for how that should go. Ginger is impulsive and spontaneous while Chrysanthemum is calm and precise. When an accident with the cake threatens to send their grandma’s birthday into a spiral, the girls put their heads together to fix it.

When the librarian gives Kitoo a book about ice hockey, he’s enthralled, but in Kenya, it’s unlikely he’ll ever see hockey played in person. When Kitoo finds rollerskate, he practices skating until he’s good, and though he still doubts his ability to ever see ice in real life, with some help from his friends he gets to visit the only ice rink in East Africa.

There’s a lot of news out there right now, and it’s important that kids know how to parse credible from what isn’t. This nonfiction title goes into the history of news and propaganda, giving kids a nice primer into analyzing and understanding the news.

In 2018, twelve boys (all from the Wild Boar soccer team) and their coach were trapped inside a cave in northern Thailand. And the whole world watched as they were eventually rescued. This is the retelling of their experience, and the daring rescue, packed with suspense and tension.

If you thought all the spooky books had hit shelves already, here’s at least one more to get young readers in the mood for spooky season. Years after their parents left Straygarden Place, they warned their daughters Winnow, Mayhap, and Pavonine not to go outside. And they haven’t. Until one day Winnow ventures outdoors and falls ill. Now she’s turning silver and unable to speak, while it appears there’s another girl in their house, and Winnow’s droomhund (a little dog that has bonded to her) is somehow missing.

This final book in the Zora and Me trilogy, which is a fictional account of author Zora Neale Hurston’s life, follows best friends Carrie and Zora on a mystery. There’s a violent lynch mob threatening their hometown, while talk of grave robbers and hoodoo only ramps up tension in town where Zora’s father is running for mayor and her mother’s health is failing.