Archives de catégorie : Bologna 2026 Children’s & YA

PROBLEMATIC FAVE d’Amber Clement

A speculative dark romance for those readers who think « I could fix him » when you know you really can’t. For fans of Bad Romance by Heather Demetrios and Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson, a perfect escapist read for those who have daydreamt of their favourite character appearing in real life.

PROBLEMATIC FAVE
by Amber Clement
on submission
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Like so many teens, fifteen-year-old Emilia Michaels just wants to be seen and loved by someone unconditionally. Even though her longtime crush Bryan Cook seems either cruelly aloof or hopelessly oblivious, Emilia knows she can always turn to her favorite fictional fave, Hayden Frost. Sure, Hayden is technically the villain of Boyfriend Academy, the dating simulation game that Emilia and her friend Darla are obsessed with, but who can blame her? Villains are hot, passionate, and Hayden only murders people around the playercharacter because he’s so madly in love with them.

But Emilia is devastated when she overhears Bryan calling her an “annoying bitch.” To console herself, and with Darla’s encouragement, she uses a newly-gifted drawing pen to illustrate a self-inserted webcomic in which Hayden transfers to her high school and falls in love with her. Rushing around at school the next day, Emilia nearly collides with a boy, and she can’t believe who she’s looking at. The boy is none other than Hayden Frost, himself. And just as she drew in her webcomic, he falls for her at first sight, and she finally has someone who cares only for her.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for Hayden’s murderous nature to emerge, leaving Emilia to rationalize his actions as his way of “protecting her.” What begins as a beautiful, fulfilling courtship quickly spirals into a dark romance with an ever-rising body count––and if Emilia doesn’t figure out how to stop Hayden, his jealous temper could lead him to kill anyone and everyone who stands in the way of his happily ever after with her.

Amber Clement is the author of Fortune’s Kiss (Union Square & Co., 2024). She is a dreamer and a gamer. She lives in Northwest Indiana with a Pomchi who loves to sploot. When she’s not writing, she may be spotted exploring the city in search of new inspiration. Her favourite stories are full of glitter, determined girls, and captivating villains.

EVERYTHING I NEVER WANTED de Meredith Tate

EVERYTHING I NEVER WANTED
by Meredith Tate
on submission
(via Mushens Entertainment)

Maggie Duncan wants three things: for her overprotective mom to stop micro-managing her life; for hot guitarist Brad Hayes to fall madly in love with her; and to be accepted into the prestigious film program at UCLA to follow her dream of becoming a famous director. With the help of her lifelong BFF, Camille, and her next-door neighbor, Caiden, Maggie’s been filming a documentary for the past year to use as a submission into the film program.

On Maggie’s seventeenth birthday, the unfathomable happens: Brad invites her to party at the quarry with his friends. Unfortunately, the even-more-unfathomable happens: Maggie’s mom says no. Desperate, Maggie convinces a reluctant Camille to sneak out anyway. But the night ends in disaster when Camille sustains a serious injury, they get caught, and the whole thing escalates into a blow-up fight between Maggie, Camille, and her parents. Furious, Maggie makes a birthday wish to be a legal adult—only to magically wake up a year later, on her eighteenth birthday.

Meredith Tate grew up in Concord, New Hampshire, where she fell in love with her two passions—writing and traveling. Meredith earned her master’s degree in social work before switching career paths to pursue her true dream of telling stories. She has lived in five states and three countries and currently resides in New Hampshire with her husband, son, and spoiled rescue dog.

POSSESSION ISLAND de Sarah McCarry

Women bite back in this queer gothic thriller, perfect for fans of Interview with the Vampire and Plain Bad Heroines.

POSSESSION ISLAND
by Sarah McCarry
Saturday Books, December 2026
(via Writers House)

It wasn’t easy for Angela Bell growing up on Possession island, the remote Pacific Northwest setting of her late mother’s wildly popular vampire novel. When she returns home from college and her estranged best friend, Mo, is murdered, she’s forced to reckon with yet another loss—and finds herself in the crosshairs of the bungled police investigation.

Sally Raleigh has longed to leave the island for years, but she’s trapped by her father’s declining health and her devotion to her charismatic twin brother Adrian. The last thing she needs is her high-school nemesis Angela back in town. But Sally is also devastated by Mo’s death, and finds herself forging an unlikely alliance with her former enemy to find Mo’s killer.

As Angie and Sally delve deeper into the island’s sinister underbelly, they must confront just how far they’re willing to go to protect the people they love. And they’ll soon find that the secrets they’ve been keeping from each other won’t stay buried for long….

Sarah McCarry is the author of the novels All Our Pretty Songs, Dirty Wings, About A Girl, and The Darling Killers. Her work has been shortlisted for the Lambda Award, the Norton Award, and the Tiptree Award. She received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Joint Quantum Institute, the Launchpad Writers’ Workshop, and The Arctic Circle. She’s taught letterpress printing, writing, and zine-making across the United States.

ROBIN SERIES de E.B. Goodale

From the creative mind of award-winning author-illustrator E. B. Goodale, Robin is a young child experiencing little triumphs in big ways.

ROBIN SERIES
by E.B. Goodale
Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2026

ROBIN AND THE STICK (April 2026)

Reflecting all of the awe, frustration, and delight inherent in a preverbal child’s perspective of the big world around them, award-winning author-illustrator E. B. Goodale’s Robin marks the debut of an irresistible and relatable character whose bite-size, everyday adventures are perfect for the littlest littles. Robin had a stick. Robin always had a stick. One day, there at the end of the street was the biggest stick, the BEST stick, Robin had ever seen. Every morning, Mama tells Robin, “Today you are the biggest you’ve ever been!” But when will Robin be big enough to lift that stick?

ROBIN AND THE MOON (October 2026)

Robin goes on a dreamy nighttime adventure. Reflecting all of the imagination, wonder, and delight inherent in a preverbal child’s perspective of the big world around them, award-winning author-illustrator E. B. Goodale’s Robin is an irresistible and relatable character whose bite-size everyday adventures are perfect for the littlest littles. Out the bedroom window, Robin noticed the moon all tangled up in the branches of a tree. The moon is stuck! “Don’t worry about the moon,” Mama soothed. But Robin was worried. As Robin drifts off to sleep, bedtime anxieties fade into a dreamy nighttime adventure . . . Can little Robin free the big moon?

E. B. Goodale can often be found wandering in her local arboretum, looking for the perfect stick. She is the author/illustrator of The Moon Remembers, Also, and Under the Lilacs, and has illustrated many other books for children, including Windows by Julia Denos, and The Bees of Notre-Dame by Meghan P. Browne. She lives with her family under a big old tree in coastal Massachusetts.

YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS de Aaron Starmer

In the latest middle grade speculative novel from Spontaneous author Aaron Starmer, Roman follows the twisted threads of bizarre family legends and magical secrets to write his own chapter in his peculiar family narrative.

YOU ARE NOW OLD ENOUGH TO HEAR THIS
by Aaron Starmer
Penguin Workshop, March 2026
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

There’s always more to the story.

The Toe Beast looms large in the Barnes family lore—a tale concocted by twelve-year-old Roman’s grandpa to explain his missing toe. But Roman has never actually heard the full story, and after his grandpa dies suddenly, it seems like he never will.

That is, until Roman is tasked with clearing out his grandpa’s house, and stumbles upon some strange things. An old mason jar full of formaldehyde, a mysterious handwritten book about a girl and a pack of dogs, a rusty metal bucket with peculiar abilities. And they all tie back to extraordinary secrets from the distant past.

By unraveling even more unbelievable stories that have been hidden from him, Roman is forced to rethink how he fits into his family’s history. Now it’s up to him to see his own story through to the end. Because the Toe Beast was only the beginning . . .

« A triumph of imaginative storytelling… »—Booklist, starred review

« Roman’s curiosity about his family and his place within it propels him on an unsettlingly strange and seemingly disjointed journey that Starmer cleverly conjures into a cohesive, genuinely touching narrative. »—Publishers Weekly, starred review

« Starmer’s latest calls to mind Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me in the way the intricate plot similarly—and bafflingly—comes together with surprising twists… Intriguingly bizarre and wholly original. »—Kirkus

« Starmer (Night Swimming) combines magic, whimsy, and the unexpected in this exploration of one family’s history. »—School Library Journal

Aaron Starmer is the author of more than a dozen novels for young readers, including Night Swimming, A Million Views, Spontaneous, The Only Ones, and the Locker 37 series. He lives in Vermont with his wife and two children.