Archives de catégorie : Frankfurt 2026 Children’s Fiction

SHOULD HAVE BENS d’Elle Gonzalez Rose

The Do-Over meets See You Yesterday in this paperback original romance full of second chances, parallel lives, and a first love that keeps finding its way back.

SHOULD HAVE BENS
by Elle Gonzalez Rose
HarperCollins Children’s, July 2027

Photo credit: Kristen Pierce

Carmen’s life is always on the move: new towns, new schools, and relationships with expiration dates. Her only constant has been her best friend Benny—until she broke both their hearts. Then, days after her latest move, she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. One where she said yes to a different Ben. Then another. And another…

Each reality shows Carmen what could have been, and no matter where she lands, Benny Cortez is always there. If she can end the time jumps, will she find her way back to him—or realize he’s the one “what if” she can’t rewrite?

MULTIVERSE ROMANCE WITH A TWIST: A heartbroken girl cycles through alternate lives with every “should have” Ben, turning second chances into a sweeping, emotional love story across realities.

TIKTOK-FRIENDLY TROPES: Second chances, friends-to-lovers, and alternate realties make this a perfect read for fans of THE DO-OVER and crossover readers who loved THE HUSBANDS.

AN IRRESISTIBE INCLUSIVE ROMANCE: This high-concept love story also delivers the voice and visibility that Latine teen readers continue to search for.

LAYERS BENEATH THE ROMANCE: Beneath the sliding-door concept, SHOULD HAVE BENS gains extra emotional heft by grappling with Carmen’s constant uprooting, fear of attachment, and what it takes to finally choose love.

Elle Gonzalez Rose is an award-winning author of several books for teens including Marisol Acts the Part and I Didn’t Do It. Hopefully by the time you’re reading this she’s able to do a pull-up.

IMAGINE US PERFECT de Jas Hammonds

Sold in a heated US auction, this speculative YA standalone fuses the grounded future setting of Black Mirror and the lurking horror of generative AI, with an added twist of toxic wellness culture. A girl spends an explosive weekend at at a high-brow wellness retreat that is supposedly designed to bring families back together…but continues to break her own apart.

IMAGINE US PERFECT
by Jas Hammonds
Random House, Fall 2027
(via Writers House)

Photo Credit: Kay Ulanday Barrett

Fifteen-year-old Mel Cooke is bummed when her parents whisk the family away on an impromptu trip at the beginning of winter break. She’d planned on spending the vacation devising a plan to come out as queer to her family with the help of her best friend. But tension has been building in the Cooke family for months—especially between Mel and her older sister, Maya–and Mel’s parents are insistent that this getaway is necessary.

When the Cooke family arrives at the remote Figment Falls Wellness Center, Mel quickly realizes this is no ordinary vacation. Mel’s parents have signed up for an experimental therapy program designed to bring families closer. Everyone will get a chance to privately share how they wished their family members looked and acted against a backdrop of their perfect day. The scenarios will then be uploaded to a simulation for the entire family to experience together. But to ensure everyone has the opportunity to live their truth, only the person who constructed the day is free to speak and act as they wish—everyone else is beholden to the constructor, a bit like puppets, and must save their opinions until the day is over. As they work through the scenarios, the family is assigned a grade to reflect how “healed” they’re becoming, with the ultimate goal being a perfect 100%.

Mel’s earlier apprehension is suddenly replaced with excitement. This could be the perfect opportunity to come out to her family and fix her fragile relationship with Maya. So, during her intake session, Mel constructs a day where she comes out as queer and her family accepts her. She even starts to see Figment Falls as the magical place it promises to be—undoubtedly influenced by Audrey, a cute girl who is also undergoing therapy and is constantly singing Figment Falls’ praises. Mel becomes obsessed with making sure her family comes out as a shining example of an “A+” family.

But as the days unfold and everyone’s expectations and dreams are revealed, Mel realizes everyone in her family wants her to be someone she’s not. Buried secrets are dragged to the surface as the line between Mel’s real life and the simulations becomes increasingly blurred. When Mel’s parents reveal their time at Figment Falls is their last-ditch effort before divorce, Mel must decide if fixing her family is worth shrinking herself—or if the illusion of perfection is good enough.

Praise for Jas Hammonds:
Coretta Scott King John Steptoe Award for New Talent Winner
People Magazine Best Book of the Year
Kirkus Best Book of the Year
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
Reader’s Digest Best Book of the Year
A Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee
A Junior Library Guild Selection
An ALA Rainbow Book List Pick
A YALSA Top 10 Fiction Book

Jas Hammonds (they/them) was raised in many cities and between the pages of many books. They have received support for their writing from Art Omi, Baldwin for the Arts, Boyds Mills and more. They are also a Lambda Literary Fellow and a MacDowell James Baldwin Fellow. Their bestselling debut novel, We Deserve Monuments, won the Coretta Scott King – John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Their second novel, Thirsty, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. They live in New Jersey.

YOU AND I ARE EARTH de Kerilynn Wilson

As sixteen-year-old Ria sets out to prove her missing grandfather’s wild theories about the flying jellyfish of local lore, she discovers that reality can be far stranger—and more dangerous—than anything she imagined. This eerily beautiful and distinctive graphic novel from an award-winning creator is for fans of Lee Knox Ostertag, E. M. Carroll, and Tillie Walden.

YOU AND I ARE EARTH
by Kerilynn Wilson
Greenwillow, March 2027
(via Writers House)

A year ago, Ria’s whole life changed. Her grandfather—a noted marine biologist—went missing, presumed dead, in Siren Cove. And her grandmother, who Ria rescued from the water, hasn’t been the same since.

Most people in town avoid Siren Cove. They believe in the rumors about the flying jellyfish and the disappearances just enough to stay away. But Grandad was convinced those creatures held the key to curing his wife’s failing memory. Now it’s up to Ria to prove it, no matter what anyone else thinks. She’ll sneak out of the house, she’ll lie to her parents, she’ll pull away from her best friend, Mena. Whatever it takes.

But Mena’s not about to let Ria sacrifice her own life, her own happiness, chasing a myth. So she accompanies Ria on one last trip to the cove, to help her friend move on.

What they find is impossible. What they experience is indescribable. What they discover is that the bonds of friendship are the strongest on earth.

Kerilynn Wilson’s sophisticated, haunting artwork and nuanced characters tell a story of friendship, loss, and healing. You and I Are Earth is a striking, sometimes surreal graphic novel from an award-winning creator that will appeal to fans of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Black Mirror, and Stranger Things.

Kerilynn Wilson is an author-illustrator with a love of the weird and wonderful. She is the creator of the acclaimed picture books A Monstrous Bedtime and One Foggy Christmas Eve, as well as the award-winning graphic novel for teens The Faint of Heart. She lives in Oregon City, Oregon, but her mind tends to wander to made-up places in her head filled with flying jellyfish and birds that eat the stars.

UNFINISHED de Nidhi Chanani

A tender YA graphic novel that traces grief, friendship, and the healing power of storytelling, following a boy who learns to navigate loss by finishing the comic his brother left behind.

UNFINISHED
by Nidhi Chanani
Atheneum/Simon & Schuster, August 2027
(via Writers House)

Sanjay Lal was never supposed to become older than his older brother, Jeevan. But three years ago, Jeevan died, and now, Sanjay is hit with overwhelming grief that he doesn’t know how to handle. His parents have sent him back to group counseling where he finds kinship with fellow group member, Ruchi, a bold, fat, beautiful teen who bakes to cope with her own loss.

But Sanjay doesn’t really know how to talk to girls, and his home life isn’t any better. Jeevan was the social brother, not Sanjay. How is Sanjay supposed to navigate new friendships and silent family dinners without him? For Sanjay, a historical comic about an unknown group of Indian freedom fighters becomes his lifeline. Jeevan began the comic before his death, setting out to tell the story of how the Ghadar Party made their mark in 1913 San Francisco, but like Jeevan, they were never able to finish their work.

With humor and hope, UNFINISHED interweaves Sanjay’s story and the story within the comic, all while showing the process of comic book making, from thumbnails to inks and finally full-color. Through finishing Jeevan’s comic, Sanjay begins to process his grief and uncover an astonishing truth about his brother, community, and the power in documenting stories to remember.

Nidhi Chanani is a freelance illustrator, cartoonist, and writer. Born in Calcutta and raised in suburban Southern California, she creates because it makes her happy—with the hope that it can make others happy too. Her debut graphic novel, Pashmina, received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, was a JLG Selection, a YALSA Top Ten Great Graphic Novel for Teens, and was reviewed in the New York Times, among other honors. She has a number of other comics and picture books out in the world as well, including Binny’s Diwali, Jukebox, and What Will My Story Be? Chanani draws and dreams every day with her husband, kid, and their kittens in the San Francisco Bay Area.

DEPARTMENT OF TREASURE de Steve Sheinkin

Award-winning and best-selling author Steve Sheinkin’s new middle-grade novel follows a group of friends as they set off on an unauthorized road trip in search of a legendary buried treasure. Drawing from the very true story of the Scottish privateer William Kidd, this comedy-adventure is perfect for new and established fans.

DEPARTMENT OF TREASURE
by Steve Sheinkin
Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan, Fall 2027
(via Writers House)

Photo credit: Rob Spring

Sam Sparkler dreams of becoming one of the world’s great treasure hunters. One day. For now, he’s content with metal detecting after lunch at school, digging up a coin on a lucky day. Not the most exciting life, but it’s tough enough adjusting to this new middle school, living with his mom’s new husband. But things start looking up when Sam’s nineteen-year-old step-brother, Tristan, comes into town. Tristan— who fancies himself a modern-day knight, traveling the land in his ice cream truck—is desperately in debt and has agreed to stay with Sam while their parents are off on a long weekend in Florida. It’s the recipe for the perfect adventure.

Inspired by a chapter in his favorite treasure book, Sam proposes a wild idea: solve the mystery of Captain Kidd’s buried treasure! Tristan needs the money, and Sam can’t pass up the chance to follow his treasure-hunting dreams. Rounding out the crew is Smiley Cortez, a clever girl Sam sort of knows from math class. She’s absolutely, one hundred percent joining this quest, invited or not.

But the team quickly discovers they’re not alone in their search. They have a dangerous rival: a disgruntled nonfiction author named Byron Bellamy. A letter buried in Bellamy’s files sets off a chase for clues that leads to a midnight showdown on New York City’s Governors Island, where the notorious Captain William Kidd just may have hidden his loot in the summer of 1699. Drawing on the true history of Captain Kidd, this is a story celebrating the fact that great treasures are still out there, sleeping below the ground. And adventure lives on, lurking under the surface of everyday life. As Sam has been known to say—What’s the point of a fantasy that can never come true?

Steve Sheinkin is the author of fast-paced, cinematic nonfiction including Bomb, Fallout, Undefeated, Born to Fly, The Port Chicago 50, and Impossible Escape, as well as The Bletchley Riddle, a middle grade historical mystery written with Ruta Sepetys. Steve’s accolades include a Newbery Honor, three Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, a Sibert Medal and Honor, three National Book Award finalist honors, and the Margaret A. Edwards Award. He lives with his family in Saratoga Springs, New York.