LIONEL MESSI’S WORLD CUP TRIUMPH de Chris Barish & Nate Sweitzer

This thrilling new nonfiction graphic novel series offers a front row seat to the greatest moments in sports history, starting with Lionel Messi and his triumph in the 2022 FIFA World Cup against French superstar Kylian Mbappé.

LIONEL MESSI’S WORLD CUP TRIUMPH
(History’s Greatest Games #1)
by Chris Barish
illustrated By Nate Sweitzer
Abrams Fanfare, March 2026

Age Range: 8 – 12

It’s the 2022 FIFA World Cup final, and Lionel Messi—one of the greatest players to ever take the field—is one match away from victory. Despite his many awards and accolades, Messi has never been able to add a World Cup trophy to his collection. If Argentina wins, this would be a historic moment not just for the country, but for the entire legacy of soccer on the international stage. Travel back in time to learn how the World Cup began and see the incredible players—from Maradona to Mbappé—who built it into the global phenomenon we know today. 

This exciting new graphic novel series offers a portal to the past, putting young readers in the middle of the most epic moments in sports history. Along with action-packed games and nail-biting victories, this series zooms out to explore the incredible backstories, social and political issues, and larger historical context that truly make these games the greatest in history.

This will be the first graphic novel to tell his incredible story for middle-grade readers. Along with play-by-play scenes from actual games, Chris Barish expertly adds trivia, fun facts, and historical context that soccer fans will love.

When Chris Barish is not reading about sports or history, he’s writing about sports history. Much like the first person who ever put together the chocolate and the marshmallow, he realized that it was possible to combine his two favorite things to make an even cooler thing. Barish currently lives in New York with his family, in a house filled with sports gear, books, instruments and lots of muddy boots. 

Nate Sweitzer became an illustrator shortly after he could hold a pencil. His work bridges the past and present, blending techniques from art history with fresh approaches from the digital world. He brings human stories to life with dynamic illustrations full of action, suspense, and striking perspectives. A lifelong fan of history and sports, Nate draws inspiration from the drama of real-life events and athletes competing at the highest level. He works out of his studio in New York, creating artwork for books, magazines, and posters. When he’s away from his desk, you’ll likely find him exploring the outdoors, watching sports, or stubbornly refusing to change his guitar strings.

THE INFORMATION STATE de Jacob Siegel

We’re constantly told that disinformation is everywhere and that it’s ruining our democracy. But what if the war on disinformation itself is really just a weapon to squash any and all legitimate dissent?

THE INFORMATION STATE:
Politics in the Age of Total Control
by Jacob Siegel
Henry Holt, March 2026
(via Javelin)

THE INFORMATION STATE is an incisive examination of how we reached the point where anything that contradicts the dominant narrative can be labeled dangerous disinformation. Tablet writer Jacob Siegel charts how a technological infrastructure built to make society more rational and progressive has steadily replaced democratic freedoms with systems of digital control. Instead of competing for voters’ support, the Information State uses censorship, mass surveillance, and algorithmic manipulation to shape public perceptions as it tries to engineer reality.

An alliance between government and tech companies formed to wage the war on terror has evolved into an unholy new kind of technocratic state and turned against America’s own citizens. In short, the information war came home and completely overtook American politics during the hyperpolarization of the Trump era and the isolation of the Covid pandemic. THE INFORMATION STATE is an urgent, necessary book that sounds the alarm on where society is headed in the age of AI if we don’t relearn how to think for ourselves and ask searching questions about whether information can ever be a substitute for truth.

Jacob Siegel is a contributing editor at Tablet. He is a US Army veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He edited and contributed to Fire and Forget: Short Stories from the Long War, the first anthology of fiction by veterans of the global war on terror. Since 2013, he has worked as a journalist and essayist covering war, digital technology, and the convulsions in the American scene.

THE INVISIBLE LIST de Ravi Gupta

A manifesto in defense of turning your hobbies into passions and becoming a lifelong learner along the way.

THE INVISIBLE LIST
by Ravi Gupta
Harmony/PRH, publication date TBD
(via Javelin)

Ravi offers readers a battle-tested formula for how to reclaim your time, follow your dreams, and remake yourself as a lifelong learner by pursuing a different goal from your bucket list of deferred passions each and every year.

Packed with concrete, actionable advice for how you can master one passion a year, from whittling down your choices, to the habits necessary for success, to dealing with the constraints that life throws your way, to crossing the finish line, THE INVISIBLE LIST is a winning formula that teaches you how to master new skills and reshape your own sense of what you can achieve. It’s Oliver Burkeman’s 4,000 Weeks, meets Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project, with a dash of Atomic Habits thrown in.

Ravi Gupta is a serial social entrepreneur dedicated to reforming civic institutions. He is the cofounder and CEO of The Branch, a media company committed to combating online polarization. In addition, Ravi serves as the CEO and founder of Squadra Health, a company focused on longevity and wellness. Before these ventures, he cofounded Arena, where he led efforts that helped elect dozens of candidates and launched one of the largest campaign-staffer training academies in political history. Earlier in his career, Ravi founded and served as CEO of RePublic Schools, a network of charter schools in the South, and established Reimagine Prep, Mississippi’s first charter school. He also played key roles in Obama’s first campaign and first term, serving as an assistant to Chief Strategist David Axelrod and Ambassador Susan Rice. A native of Staten Island, Ravi graduated from Yale Law School and Binghamton University. He’s won numerous awards, including the Truman Scholarship, the Webby Award, and Binghamton’s University Medal, along with recognition in Forbes’s “30 Under 30” and Crain’s “NYC 40 Under 40.”

GROW de Justina & Ronnie Blakeney

Designed to encourage and activate personal growth, this imaginative deck and guide combines the wisdom of a self-help book with the magic of oracle cards to help readers find purpose and focus on personal transformation.

GROW:
Pathways to Passion, Purpose & Peace Guidebook & Card Set
by Justina Blakeney & Dr. Ronnie Blakeney
Abrams, January 2026

GROW is a cosmic companion to help you navigate life’s in-between moments—when you’re craving change, clarity, connection, or a way back to yourself.

Created by Justina Blakeney and her mother, developmental psychologist Dr. Ronnie Blakeney, Grow helps you find insight and a soulful path forward.

Each oracle card, along with the companion 228-page guidebook, offers guidance and nourishing daily practices to ground you and to uplift your spirit. Readers can start anywhere and return again and again to what feels healing and helpful.

Pull a card to awaken the magic within. Share with loved ones to grow together in wisdom and wonder.

Includes: Guidebook and 50 oracle cards with hand-painted artwork by Justina.

Justina Blakeney is a visionary artist, designer, and New York Times bestselling author. As the founder and creative force behind Jungalow®, she’s celebrated for her bold use of color, pattern, and plants to inspire soulful, joy-filled living. Her work—spanning art, writing, and interior design—celebrates the wild beauty of nature and the transformative power of creativity. 
Dr. Ronnie Blakeney is a Harvard-trained developmental psychologist, mother, grandmother, and lifelong guide for growth and healing. From consulting at the White House to founding a therapeutic school for adolescent girls, her work bridges deep emotional wisdom with practical tools for change. She’s helped thousands navigate life’s challenges with more courage, clarity, and heart.

GROW is their first creative collaboration—a soul-nourishing project decades in the making. Blending art and science, intuition and insight, it’s a heartfelt invitation to awaken the wisdom within and live more meaningfully, boldly, and beautifully.

OPERATION SPARROW de Jason Bell

The first book to tell the full story of one of the greatest yet most unknown operations of WWII.

OPERATION SPARROW:
The Incredible True Story of the Spies Who Tricked Hitler and Won the War
by Jason Bell
Hanover Square Press, Fall 2026
(via Vertical Ink Agency)

Three American special forces parachute into Nazi-allied Hungary in the dead of night, spring 1944. The three-man team is designed to look like the spear’s tip of an Allied invasion to help Hungary extract itself from Hitler’s grasp. The leader of the first Sparrow team is iron-jawed, barrel-chested Florimond Duke: all-American football player, big-time New York advertising executive, and knowing volunteer for a likely suicide mission, but he takes the risk because there is no one better suited for selling the Nazis on a lie. If their plan succeeds, they will be captured by the Germans, and Hitler will be fooled into sending reinforcements far from the coming Allied invasion at Normandy to counter a make-believe invasion instead of the real one. If it fails? German armor will destroy the coming Allied landing in France, and the war could be lost. But against enormous odds, Sparrow’s first stage is completely successful – the Nazis divert twelve divisions to counter the fake invasion. The next stage is Canada’s daring mission to keep Hitler’s forces pinned down – it is like Canada’s invasion at Dieppe, except an unmitigated success. Hitler was completely convinced by the plot, and the Canadian forces made him pay a high price for his mistake. Operation Sparrow was one of the most astoundingly risky and successful missions of WWII, yet its story has not been told, and Jason Bell’s OPERATION SPARROW will be the first book to tell the full story of one of the greatest yet most unknown operations of the war.

Jason Bell, Ph.D. is a professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick, Canada. He has served as Fulbright Professor at Göttingen in Germany, and has taught at universities in Belgium, the United States, and Canada.