The Best Upcoming Children's Books to Read This Autumn
This autumn's children's list has an unusually confident range to it, gentle picture books about loss and community sitting alongside twin detectives, a lizard with genuine comic timing, and a visual tribute to David Bowie built for readers who have never heard a note of his music.
Photo: Mikhail Nilov / Pexels
Autumn is when children's publishing tends to bring out its most ambitious work, timed for the school term ahead and the reading habits it rebuilds after a loose summer. This year's crop earns that timing. Fresh middle-grade mysteries sit alongside imaginative time-travel fantasy and picture books willing to sit with genuinely difficult subjects rather than smoothing them over. Here is where to start, by age and by mood.
Picture books
Grace Lin's The Little Stone Buddha is the gentlest entry on this list and possibly the most quietly ambitious. It tells the story of a neighbourhood coming together around a fallen statue, and Lin uses that small, specific event to say something larger about community without ever tipping into the sentimental. It is the kind of picture book that works as well read aloud to a four year old as it does handed to an eight year old to read alone.
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Editor-in-Chief
Editor-in-Chief of Rich Woman Magazine, founder of Sovereign Magazine, author of many books, Dr Marina Nani is a social edification scientist coining a new industry, Social Edification. Passionately advocating to celebrate your human potential, she is well known for her trademark "Be Seen- Be Heard- Be You" running red carpet events and advanced courses like Blog Genius®, Book Genius®, Podcast Genius®, the cornerstones of her teaching. The constant practitioner of good news, she founded MAKE THE NEWS ( MTN) with the aim to diagnose and close the achievement gap globally. Founder of many publications, British Brands with global reach Marina believes that there is a genius ( Stardust) in each individual, regardless of past and present circumstances. "Not recognising your talent leaves society at loss. Sharing the good news makes a significant difference in your perception about yourself, your industry and your community."
