FEBRUARY 2, 2026 • SPRING CHILDREN’S PREVIEW
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SPRING CHILDREN’S PREVIEW
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WE HIGHLIGHT SOME OF THE SEASON’S BIGGEST TITLES FOR KIDS AND TEENS
FEBRUARY 2, 2026 PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM
Spring 2026
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FEBRUARY 2, 2026 3
VOLUME 273 • NUMBER 5 • ISSN 0000-0019
CURRENTS 6 …The Week in Publishing Among the headlines,
REVIEWS
Fiction 84 …General Fiction 87 … M ysteries & Thrillers 90 …SF, Fantasy & Horror 92 …Romance & Erotica 94 …Comics Nonfiction 96 …General Nonfiction 103 …Health, Home & Hobbies 104 …Food & Cooking
the book world rallies to support Minneapolis, and Bob Miller departs Phaidon for a new venture. 8 …Comics Relief In the wake of Diamond’s collapse, Independent Publishers Group is gunning to become the next go-to distributor for graphic novels. 10 …Bestsellers 12 …Deals Mira snaps up Jasmine Mas’s romantasy duology, and Penguin Press takes new nonfiction from MS NOW host Chris Hayes.
TM
Children’s & YA 105 …Picture Books 109 …Fiction 112 …Comics 112 …Nonfiction BookLife 113 …Paid Reviews HOW THIS BOOK WAS MADE
FEATURES
20 …Going Graphic The romance genre continues to reign supreme, with one particular format growing in popularity: graphic novels for teens. 24 …Children’s Books for Spring A selection of some of the season’s biggest titles.
120 …We look at Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean.
PEOPLE 14 … Interviews
We talk with authors Anna Badkhen and Lucy Ashe, and with the new president of Franklin Siegal & Yanez. 16 … Profile Jasmine Warga revisits familiar themes in her forthcoming middle grade novel—this time with animals.
Cover illustration by MIKA SONG
FEATURED REVIEWS
85 … Transcription by Ben Lerner 99 … Prophecy by Carissa Véli 112 … Piper at the Gates of Dusk by Patrick Ness
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FEBRUARY 2, 2026 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 5
Cover Artist MIKA SONG
TO KICK OFF OUR SPRING CHILDREN’S PREVIEW ISSUE, WE TALK WITH THE EISNER AWARD NOMINEE ABOUT HER QUIRKY BRAND OF STORYTELLING AND HER JOURNEY FROM ANIMATION TO ILLUSTRATION.
followed, featuring the squirrel pals in food- centric adventures—each with titles catering to kids’ appetites for puns. Continuing the culinary critter theme, her 2025 standalone graphic novel Night Chef is subtitled An Epic Tale of Friendship with a Side of Deliciousness! The book, published by Random House Graphic, stars a raccoon who covertly lives inside a fine French restaurant and dreams of becoming a chef. It has drawn comparisons to Ratatouille and animated films by Studio Ghibli—fitting, given Song’s previous career. When asked about her childhood taste in stories, the author names the Pippi Longstocking and Ramona Quimby books, and Charlotte’s Web . “They’re all sort of about outsiders—and funny.” In terms of picture book inspiration, she says, “ The Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrix Potter really made an impression on me as a kid. I liked that the mice sneaked around while the people were away.” Her Norma and Belly books and Night Chef also trace the secret lives of animal characters. In addition to her solo projects, Song is the illustrator of Jenn Bailey’s picture book A Friend for Henry and its spin-off chapter book series, about a boy on the autism spectrum and his classmates. The series continues this spring with book four, Henry Upside Down (Chronicle, Apr.). Song praises Bailey’s writing as a key part of what makes the series special. “She’s so sensitive and attuned to character development.” Before they met in person, Song sensed that Bailey intuited “what would be fun for me to draw,” whether that’s dinosaurs sprinkled on ice cream or a school garden with a worm bin. “It’s like a gift.” Song is currently at work on a new solo series for Random House, with a planned three-book arc, “about a girl who has this amazing robot that she’s just using as a vacuum cleaner—so she has to realize its potential, and her own,” she says. The book requires a transition in style. For Norma and Belly, the illustrator used a dry-brush technique, “which is very scratchy looking, and which fits perfectly for squirrels. But then for humans, we’re a little smoother, a little less hairy”—well, some of us. —EMMA KANTOR
a
UTHOR-ILLUSTRATOR Mika Song is accustomed to pivoting. She grew up in Manila and Honolulu before moving as a young adult to New York City to study art at Pratt Institute, where she started off in printmaking, later switching to illustration
and then animation. Speaking with PW from her Queens apartment/studio, she says, “My favorite thing about animation is storyboarding, which is probably the closest part of the process to picture books.” She also credits her experience in the medium with developing a cinematic language that lends itself to graphic novels. While working for an educational website, Song began creating autobiographical comics on the side, which she shared with colleague Amber Alvarez (who would also go on to create picture books). “She was like, ‘You know, you should try writing stories for children,’ ” Song says. “It had never occurred to me before that. It was actually really fun—I just kept coming up with more stories.” Before long, she was querying, and one of those stories caught the eye of agent Erica Rand Silverman. Song has gone on to make what she describes in her bio as “children’s books about sweetly funny outsiders.” She’s the creator of the Norma and Belly graphic novel series, the first of which, Donut Feed the Squirrels , earned a 2021 Eisner Award nomination. Three more Norma and Belly books
6 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEBRUARY 2, 2026 Currents
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THE WEEK IN PUBLISHING 1/24 – 1/30/26
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NYPL EXPANDS INSTANT ACCESS
The New York Public Library announced last week that it would provide limited- time immediate access to digital copies of more than 100 titles in its collection, through February 14. Library card holders were quick to make the most of the offer, notably for e-book and audiobook editions of the ice hockey romance Heated Rivalry , as well as the other five novels in Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series. After mayor Zohran Mamdani urged New Yorkers to stay home during a historic winter storm and “take advantage of our public library’s offer of free access to Heated Rivalry ,” NYPL spokes- woman Lizzie Tribone said downloads of the book rose by more than 500%. The NYPL’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture also announced that cardholders were granted access to e-book and audio- book editions of 100 books by Black authors, curated by the center for its centennial and Black History Month, through February 28. The Schomburg Center’s 100 Black Voices list includes books by Maya Angelou, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Franz Fanon, and Toni Morrison. — EVA BARON
Greg Ketter of DreamHaven Books and Comics in Minneapolis walks through clouds of tear gas on January 24, near where Alex Pretti was killed by ICE agents. INDUSTRY RALLIES BEHIND
ITH VIOLENCE AND PROTESTS roil- ing Minneapolis amid the ongoing ICE crackdown in the city, support from publishing professionals and book lovers alike poured in over the past week. On January 29, a two-day online auction organized by the group Publishing for Minnesota went live to raise funds for nonprofits provid- ing aid to Minnesotans, as well as to immigrants nationwide. The group was founded by Mabel Hsu and Zoey Cole of Sourcebooks and Zando, respectively, who are joined by Ben Rosenthal, also of Sourcebooks; Scholastic’s Katie Heit; and author- illustrator Laura Sandoval Herrera. At press time the auction had MINNEAPOLIS w nearly met its $115,000 goal and included more than 550 items and services donated by authors, editors,
agents, and illustrators, including Little, Brown Books for Young Readers editor-in-chief Alvina Ling; Henry Holt editor Anna Montague; Massie McQuilkin & Altman agent Michael Taeckens; and PBS resident librarian Mychal Threets. DreamHaven Books and Comics received an influx of orders and a $5,000 donation via a long- dormant GoFundMe campaign after images of store owner Greg Ketter braving tear gas and cursing ICE agents circulated on social media. (Ketter said the donation funds will go to local food pantries.) According to Ketter, DreamHaven’s sales are 10 times that of a typical January. “We’re trying to keep up,” he added. He’s not the only one. Victoria Ford, owner of Comma: A Bookshop, also made waves after post- ing about her store’s anti-ICE efforts, such as mutual aid fundraising and distributing whistles. “That gave us national attention,” Ford said. “Since then, we’ve been shipping hundreds of orders from around the country.” —CK
FRANKFURT FINDS NEW FAIR DIRECTOR Joachim Kaufmann, the longtime head of German publisher Carlsen Verlag, has been appointed as the next president and CEO of the Frankfurt Book Fair. Kaufmann will take over after this year’s fair and succeeds Juergen Boos, who has held the role since 2005. In his two-decade tenure as CEO of Carlsen Verlag, the Hamburg-based subsidiary of the Swedish Bonnier Group, Kaufmann helped to grow the house into one of Germany’s largest trade publishers and was responsible for Bonnier’s expansion into new markets, including Poland and China. “Few leaders in our world of books are as capable as he is of inspiring people with his ideas and convictions,” Boos said of Kaufmann, in a statement. “He and the strong culture of collaboration within the Frankfurter Buchmesse team are an ideal match.” — EN
FEBRUARY 2, 2026 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 7
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Edited by SOPHIA STEWART “SHOUTOUT TO NYPL FOR SO ENTHUSIASTICALLY AND EFFICIENTLY GIVING THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT—IN THIS CASE, SPICY GAY ICE HOCKEY ROMANCE.”
Weekly Record
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NEW CHAPTERS FOR PHAIDON, BILL MILLER
S&S MAKES JOB CUTS Simon & Schuster cut more than a dozen jobs last week, mainly on the editorial side. Following an initial round of layoffs, which an S&S spokeswoman described as “limited” cuts in response to shifting market conditions, the publisher made further reductions in its adult and children’s divisions. Among those let go were Eamon Dolan, VP and executive editor at the flagship imprint; Scribner editorial director Colin Harrison; Laurent Linn, art director for the children’s division; and Rebecca Kuss, executive editor at Aladdin. The spokeswoman declined to provide further comment on the reductions. One agent told PW that the layoffs have left her “reeling.” — JM TOP CHILDREN’S PRIZES ANNOUNCED The American Library Association presented its Youth Media Awards, children’s publish- ing’s highest honors, on January 26. Renée Watson took home the Newbery Medal for outstanding contribution to children’s litera- ture for her middle grade novel All the Blues in the Sky . “It’s an incredible honor that my words are going to be resonating with young people for years to come,” Watson told PW . Illustrator Cátia Chien received the Caldecott Medal for distinguished picture book for children for Fireworks , written by Matthew Burgess, and Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories , edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith, won the Printz Award for excellence in YA literature. — NodB The American Booksellers Association announced on January 28 the revival of its Indies Choice Book Awards, a literary prize program founded in 1991 and presented at the now-defunct trade show BookExpo. The prizes have not been given since 2019. The revamped awards will include seven categories—adult fiction, adult nonfiction, picture book, middle grade, YA, debut adult book, and debut children’s book— and carry a $2,000 purse for each winning author and illustrator. Nominees will be selected by ABA member bookstores from titles included on the ABA’s Indies Next, Kids Indie Next, and Indies Introduce lists. — CK ABA REVIVES BOOK AWARDS
BOB MILLER HAS stepped down as CEO of Phaidon Press to start a new endeavor, with Philip Ruppel being tapped to replace him. Miller—a veteran publishing execu- tive who founded Macmillan’s Flatiron imprint in 2013—took the helm at Phaidon in January 2025 and is depart- ing the post to launch his own firm, Bookswork Press. Miller told PW that, though he enjoyed his time at Phaidon, he realized he missed being directly involved with
Bob Miller
the editorial process. With Bookswork, an independent book and creative development company for authors and publishers, he aims to “develop ideas into great books.” His goal is to do “deep dives” into different book projects and then bring those projects to agents or publishers. Miller said he is in talks to work on projects with Brad Meltzer, a former Flatiron author, and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, whom Miller knows from his days at Hyperion. “I’ve always loved discovering what the DNA of every book is and how to translate that,” Miller said. Ruppel joined the century-old art book publisher as COO in 2015. He led the acquisition of the Monacelli Press, now an imprint of Phaidon. Prior to joining Phaidon, Ruppel spent more than two decades at educa- tion publisher McGraw-Hill, where he served as president of McGraw-Hill Professional and McGraw-Hill International. — SLS, JM
Top 10 Overall Bestsellers, January 18–24
RANK TITLE
AUTHOR
IMPRINT
UNITS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Woman Down
Colleen Hoover Peter Schweizer
Montlake
53,478 39,890 36,403 33,517 32,382 30,761 26,605 26,373 24,729 22,156
The Invisible Coup
Harper
Twelve Months Heated Rivalry
Jim Butcher Rachel Reid Mel Robbins
Ace
Carina
The Let Them Theory
Hay House Ballantine
Half His Age
Jennette McCurdy
Theo of Golden
Allen Levi
Atria
The Correspondent
Virginia Evans
Crown
The Housemaid
Freida McFadden
Grand Central Pine & Cedar
10
My Husband's Wife
Alice Feeney
INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY CIRCANA BOOKSCAN. COPYRIGHT © 2026 CIRCANA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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IPG has been aggressive in targeting publishers that were previously with Diamond’s book distribution arm, in an effort to bulk up its once marginal graphic novels business. IPG has signed nine publishers since it began direct- market distribution of graphic novels in September 2025. The company will also distribute graphic novels to library channels, as it does with other formats. “We already had some really great graphic novel and manga publishers, and it was a growing category for us,” said IPG CEO Joe Matthews. Once Diamond started wob- bling, he added, IPG began actively courting its clients and “suggesting they consider using us for distribution.” Matthews also had the sales team call up 350 comics shops around the country to gauge their interest in partnering and started sending them IPG’s bimonthly catalog. SHP Comics had been using Diamond for its fledgling graphic novels business and Lunar for floppies when the former collapsed. SHP signed with IPG for graphic novels distribution last month. Founder Shawn Hainsworth said he’s particularly excited about using IPG to find new readers through libraries. YA fantasy, sci-fi, and action-adventure graphic novels publisher Battle Quest Comics also signed a bookstore distribution deal with IPG last month. Andrew Kafoury, BQC’s publisher and creator of its flagship title No’Madd: The Unconquerable , is hopeful that the deal, BQC’s first for books, will boost sales. “I think the direct market is going to be served very well by IPG, because IPG cares about getting quality stories out to people,” he said. Kafoury noted that some indie publishers, including BQC, were not large enough to be accepted by Lunar. “I feel like IPG is stepping in to make sure that those smaller publishers don’t get lost,” he said. Without a doubt, distribution for small publishers has become more difficult in recent years. As book prices fail to keep up with rising costs, small distributors have been forced to consolidate and drop low-price formats, including mass market paperbacks and floppy comics. The economics of floppy comics in particular makes that format untenable for IPG to carry, Matthews explained. After 53 years in the business, IPG is now the “last full- service independent distributor that covers all channels,” Matthews said. But like other distributors, it’s facing head- winds, and in August it laid off some employees and cut titles from its publishing arm. “We think independent publishing is critical for a great culture,” Matthews said. “Very often it’s the small publisher that discovers an author who, by their third or fourth book, maybe is picked up by a huge house with a huge advance, but they would have never gotten their start without a dis- tributor willing to take risks on an indie startup publisher.” Indies still face many challenges in the post-Diamond world, Hainsworth said. “It’s hard. There’s not one distribu- tor that’s doing all the things that Diamond did, and the industry wasn’t robust enough with other distributors.” He added, “I think there’s a real reshuffling going on now.” —SAM SPRATFORD
COMICS RELIEF
In the wake of Diamond’s bankruptcy, Independent Publishers Group is gunning to become the next go-to distributor for graphic novels IPG EYES GRAPHIC MARKET
IPG has made a concerted effort in the past few months to work with more comics shops as it expands its graphic novel distribution program.
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INCE Diamond Comic Distributors filed for Chapter 11 bank- ruptcy last January, the direct sales market for comics has been in turmoil, with publishers that relied on Diamond left to fend for themselves. A handful of companies have stepped in to pick up the pieces as the distributor, which once held a near monopoly on the direct market, continues to be embroiled in messy, drawn-out legal pro- ceedings, making it something of a punch line among industry insiders. Unsurprisingly, Lunar Distribution, a comics distributor
and longtime competitor of Diamond’s, has been quick to snap up former Diamond clients, signing Mad Cave Studios, Massive Publishing, and Vault Comics, among others, in early 2025.
But another, less expected entrant is looking to fill the Diamond-shaped void: Independent Publishers Group. One of the nation’s oldest distributors of indie presses, IPG didn’t have a significant presence in the comics space, until now. Jeremy Atkins, a comics marketing veteran who works for several of IPG’s client presses, said
IPG CEO Joe Matthews
ALAN RODERICK-JONES A lan Roderick-Jones is one of those rare entertainment industry hyphenates whose illustrious career has never been told before. A London and Hollywood production designer, art director, artist, director and producer Alan’s career spans over five decades. His contributions include such film classics as The Lion in Winter, Nicholas and Alexandra and Papillon. One of the unsung heroes of the design team for the original Star Wars classic (A New Hope), Alan’s professional intersections include film industry icons such as Peter O’Toole, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Katherine Hepburn, Sophia Loren, Marlon Brando and producer Sam Spiegel…as well as the legendary Charles Chaplin. More than just a fascinating professional saga, Alan’s memoir, The Empty Stage is also a warm personal story and a spiritual journey filled with humor, warmth, humanity and visionary perspectives of a world as it can be. Already a hit with “the inner circle” The Empty Stage is a book that will delight (but not surprise) all those who know Alan well.
CONVERSATIONS WITH EINSTEIN A thought-provoking and illuminating exploration of consciousness, science, and the unseen. Alan Roderick-Jones invites readers to question perception, examine the nature of being, and consider the mysterious interplay between matter and awareness. Insightful, imaginative, and quietly profound, Conversations with Einstein opens a window into the subatomic, the intuitive, and the infinitely interconnected.
IRENIC PRINCIPLE: FICTION: THE PRECURSOR OF FACT
Irenic Principal is a profound, cinematic novel that transcends science fiction and political thrillers. Through the brilliant, flawed Dr. Jessica Peake, Alan Roderick-Jones explores humanity, conscience, and courage against a backdrop of war, power, and personal sacrifice. Urgent yet timeless, intimate yet epic, this is a story that lingers long after the last page.
THE EMPTY STAGE: A MEMOIR Alan Roderick-Jones is a rare entertainment industry polymath whose five-decade career as a production designer, art director, director, and producer spans London and Hollywood. His work includes The Lion in Winter, Nicholas and Alexandra, Papillon, and contributions to the original Star Wars: A New Hope. The Empty Stage, his memoir, blends personal warmth, humor, and spiritual insight, offering both a fascinating professional saga and a heartfelt journey.
www.alanr-jartisan.com/
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10 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEBRUARY 2, 2026
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AGE OLD TALE Former child actor Jennette McCurdy lands at #2 on our hardcover ction list with Half His Age . It’s “a provocative debut novel,” according to our review, in which a high school senior falls for her creative writing teacher. The review praised the “many clear-eyed depictions of the characters’ transgres- sions, particularly when they meet for sex and their mutual desire reaches a disastrous boiling point.” McCurdy made a splash
Hardcover Frontlist Fiction
Hardcover Frontlist Nonfiction
Twelve Months Jim Butcher, Ace (36,403 units)
1O The Invisible Coup Peter Schweizer, Harper (39,890 units) 2 Stop, in the Name of God Charlie Kirk, Winning Team (18,301) 3 Of Course It’s Good! Jessica Secrest, Page Street (14,713) 4 The O cial We Do Not Care Club Handbook Melani Sanders, Harvest (13,084) 5O Your Roots Don’t Define You Chris Appleton, Hanover Square (11,366) 6 The Next Renaissance Zack Kass, Wiley (9,434) 7 Enough Jastrebo /Winfrey, Avid Reader (7,268) 8O The Healing Power of Resilience Tara Narula, Simon Element (6,163) 9 1929 Andrew Ross Sorkin, Viking (5,322) O Football Chuck Klosterman, Penguin Press (5,186) Nobody’s Girl Virginia Roberts Giu re, Knopf (5,053) Eat Yourself Healthy Jamie Oliver, Flatiron (4,731) The Simple Path to Wealth JL Collins, Authors Equity (4,310) How to Test Negative for Stupid John Kennedy, Broadside (4,157) O Big Trust Shadé Zahrai, HarperOne (4,139)
1O 2O 5O
Half His Age Jennette McCurdy, Ballantine (30,761) 3 The Correspondent Virginia Evans, Crown (26,373) 4O My Husband’s Wife
Alice Feeney, Pine & Cedar (22,156) The Things We Leave Unfinished (signed) Rebecca Yarros, Amara (13,892) John Grisham, Doubleday (10,688) 7 The First Time I Saw Him Laura Dave, Scribner (10,375) 8 Alchemised SenLinYu, Del Rey (9,550) 9 The Secret of Secrets Dan Brown, Doubleday (9,537) Anatomy of an Alibi Ashley Elston, Viking/ Dorman (8,301) The Intruder Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen (6,864) O The Elsewhere Express Samantha Sotto Yambao, Del Rey (6,266) 6 The Widow
BEST TRESSED Celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton debuts at #5 on our hardcover nonfiction list with Your Roots Don’t Define You , “a glossy yet sincere guide to personal transformation,” per our review. “Drawing from his years styling the likes of Kim Kardashian and Jennifer Lopez, Appleton highlights the links between external and internal change.” While the review found that he “sometimes stretches the hair- cut analogy to its breaking point,” it also noted that “his conversational tone and enthusiasm for helping others are infectious, and his client stories yield surprisingly tender insights into the complexities of identity and self-perception.” with her 2022 memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died , which has sold 1.2 million print copies, and is the writer, executive producer, and showrunner on the forthcoming Apple TV adaptation, which stars Jennifer Aniston as her mother.
MAKINGT CKS Pulling into the #12 spot on our hardcover ction list, Samantha Sotto Yambao’s The Elsewhere Express is a “high- concept romantic fable,” according to our review. Yambao “delivers a dreamlike, whimsical, and wildly imaginative trip through time and liminal space that occasionally raises more questions than it answers.” It follows the 2025 portal fantasy Water Moon , which our review called a “thought-provoking exploration of regret, choice, and free will.” First-week print unit sales for the new book are up 41% compared with her previous book.
UP
The Devil’s Daughter
Danielle Steel, Delacorte (6,158)
Always Remember
Charlie Mackesy, Penguin Life (5,499) Brimstone (deluxe ed.) Callie Hart, Forever (5,492)
INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY CIRCANA BOOKSCAN. COPYRIGHT © 2025 CIRCANA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COPYRIGHT © 2026 CIRCANA.
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Edited b CAROLYN JURIS “JUST IN TIME FOR ME TO NOT WATCH THE SUPERBOWL (GO BILLS), CHUCK KLOSTERMAN’S PW -STARRED FOOTBALL LANDS AT #10 ON OUR HARDCOVER NONFICTION LIST. “
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Trade Paperback Frontlist
Children’s Frontlist Fiction
Children’s Picture Books
1 Woman Down
1 Big Jim Believes (Dog Man #14) Dav Pilkey, Graphix (13,909 units) 2 Talons of Power (Wings of Fire Graphic Novel #9) Sutherland/Holmes, Graphix (12,184) 3 Partypooper (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #20) Je Kinney, Amulet (11,999) 4 Powerless Lauren Roberts, Simon & Schuster (7,228) 5 Sunrise on the Reaping Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Press (6,791) 6 Wuthering Heights Emily Brontë, Pu n (5,276) 7 Darkstalker (Wings of Fire: Legends Graphic Novel #1) Sutherland/Parker, Graphix (5,010) 8 Meet Cute: Count Down to Valentine’s Day Jennifer L. Armentrout, Clarion (3,376) 9 The Rose Bargain Sasha Peyton Smith, HarperCollins (3,040) Crowntide (Lightlark #4) Alex Aster, Amulet (2,980) Sunrise on the Reaping (collector’s ed.) Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Press (2,822) Nothing Like the Movies Lynn Painter, Simon & Schuster (2,881) The Prophecies Begin (Warriors Graphic Novel #3) Erin Hunter, HarperAlley (2,816) Fearless (Powerless #3) Lauren Roberts, Simon & Schuster (2,646) Fake Skating Lynn Painter, Simon & Schuster (2,551)
1 Little Blue Truck’s Valentine Schertle/McElmurry, Clarion (18,591 units) 2 Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse! Numero /Bond, HarperCollins (14,636) 3 For the Fans! (KPop Demon Hunters) Angela Song, Golden (12,662) 4 You’re My Little Cuddle Bug Edwards/Marshall, Silver Dolphin (11,318) 5 I Love You to the Moon and Back Hepworth/Warnes, Tiger Tales (10,910) 6 Dr. Seuss’s Who Loves You? Dr. Seuss, Random House (10,201) 7 I Love You Like No Otter Rossner/Hanson, Sourcebooks Wonderland (10,016) 8 Llama Llama I Love You Anna Dewdney, Viking (8,694) 9 Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Martin/Carle, Holt (8,686) The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle, Philomel (8,611) Peekaboo: Love Reid/Arrhenius, Candlewick (8,590) The Very Hungry Caterpillar’s Peekaboo Valentine Eric Carle, World of Eric Carle (8,026) How to Catch a Loveosaurus Walstead/Elkerton, Sourcebooks Wonderland (7,765) The Rainbow Fish Marcus Pfister, NorthSouth (7,128) Chicka Chicka I Love You Martin/Archambault/Chung, Little Simon (7,043)
Colleen Hoover, Montlake (53,478 units)
2 Theo of Golden
Allen Levi, Atria (26,605)
3 Dungeon Crawler Carl Matt Dinniman, Ace (16,342) 4 The Housemaid Freida McFadden, Grand Central (10,742) 5 The God of the Woods Liz Moore, Riverhead (8,137) 6O Catch Her If You Can Tessa Bailey, Avon (6,941) 7 The Surrogate Mother Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen (6,589) 8 People We Meet on Vacation (media tie-in) Emily Henry, Berkley (6,409) 9 Remarkably Bright Creatures Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco (6,306) The Tenant Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen (6,271) The Atomic Habits Workbook James Clear, Avery (5,673) O Gachiakuta, Vol. 9 Urana/Andou, Kodansha (5,658) The List of Suspicious Things Jennie Godfrey, Sourcebooks Landmark (5,328) Caught Up Navessa Allen, Slowburn (4,906) The Crash Freida McFadden, Poisoned Pen (4,826)
Twelve Months , Jim Butcher’s 18th urban fantasy featuring professional wizard Harry Dresden, is #1 on our hard- cover fiction list. Our review notes that the author shifts gears in this installment, “focusing on the character’s struggles, over the course of one year, to come to terms with recent devastating events.” The result is a “more intimate, and ultimately more optimistic, outing.” Stops on Butcher’s book tour included a sold-out event at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego (above) and an appearance at Powell’s in Portland, Ore., where (below, from l.) Bridget Schuch and Travis Brueckner, the creators behind the Bricksonian social media accounts, presented Butcher (below r.) with a custom-made Harry Dresden Lego mosaic.
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“MIRA’S MOVE TO LURE JASMINE MAS AWAY FROM HARLEQUIN IN A SEVEN-FIGURE MEGA- DEAL CONFIRMS THAT ROMANTASY IS STILL A RED-HOT COMMODITY.”
Edited b SOPHIA STEWART
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IN BRIEF Judy Clain at Summit netted U.S., Canadian, and open market rights to Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID , by former senior USAID o cial Nicholas Enrich , from David Patterson at Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, for an April 2026 release. • Sierra Hahn at Archaia acquired world all- language rights to A Confederacy of Dunces: The Graphic Novel , adapted from John Kennedy Toole’s Pulitzer-winning novel by author and illustra- tor Albert Monteys , from Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein at McIntosh and Otis, for a fall 2026 release. • Callie Garnett at Bloomsbury picked up North American rights to National Book Award finalist Laird Hunt ’s Final Night , a work of historical fiction following a group of interlocking characters during the Battle of Crete in WWII, from Anna Stein at CAA, for a spring 2027 release. • Pippa White at Lake Union preempted world rights to Kathleen Fox ’s adult debut, Evie Walters Takes the Wheel , about a 71-year-old widow who hits the road in a camper van to reclaim her independence and find her long-lost first love, from Leslie Zampetti at Open Book Literary, for a fall 2026 release.
Cat Clyne at Mira landed North American rights, in a two-book deal via an exclusive submis- sion, to The Emperor’s Enemy by Jasmine Mas (pictured l.) from Kimberly Whalen at the Whalen Agency. The novel kicks o the Blood of Hercules author’s new romantasy duology, Unsurvivable Love Duet, “set in a world full of dark magic, rebellion, and vicious
rivalry,” per the publisher. HarperVoyager UK preempted U.K. and Commonwealth rights, and Verso preempted French rights. Publication is set for fall 2026.
George Washington’s cherry tree and Sacagawea as willing guide to immigrant deportation and post-9/11 surveillance.” No pub date has been announced. Scott Moyers at Penguin Press took world English rights to The Innocents: Murder, Mafia, and the True Tale of an American Lynching by Chris Hayes from Will Lippincott at Aevitas Creative Management. The MS NOW host’s latest, per the publisher, is “a narra- tive history of the largest mass lynching in U.S. history, of a group of Italian men in late-19th-century New Orleans—a story that both deepens and challenges some of our most fundamental frameworks for making sense of issues of justice, race, anti- immigration panic,” and more. Publication is planned for spring 2029. Annie Chagnot at Park Row won North American rights to Leslie Wolfe ’s The Body Keeper , along with two back- list titles, from Robert Gottlieb at Trident Media Group. The suspense novel, per the agency, follows “an FBI special agent who infiltrates an organ tra cking ring in order to find her husband.” Release is set for August 2027.
Kate Roddy at akaStory bought North American rights, at auction, to The Paris Proposal and two other romance novels by Kristen Gordon Chaudière and Erin Baldwin from Stephen Barbara at InkWell Management, on behalf of Chaudière and editor Jenna Brickley at IP packager StoryGiants. Lauren Spieller at Folio Literary Management represents Baldwin. The novel, per InkWell, follows Jess, “a Filipino American woman on a work visa in Paris who devises a scheme to marry a Frenchman to extend her stay at the Louvre—but who gets more than she bar- gained for when sparks fly as her type-A ambition and her fake husband Theo’s laissez- faire ways collide.” A spring 2027 release is planned. Ibrahim Ahmad at Viking landed world rights to Jermaine Fowler ’s The American Myth Machine: Power, Memory, and the Fight for the Past from Sarah Fuentes at UTA. The book, per the publisher, examines “how U.S. history gets written, erased, and weaponized, o ering new perspectives on our national origin stories and collective memory, from
From the top: Kristen Gordon Chaudière, Erin Baldwin, Jermaine Fowler, Chris Hayes, Albert Monteys, Laird Hunt, and Kathleen Fox
FEBRUARY 2, 2026 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 13
THIS WEEK • JASMINE WARGA SAYS FRIENDS MAKE US BRAVER • ANNA BADKHEN THINKS THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT • LUCY ASHE ISN’T BUYING THE SWINGING ’60S • FRANKLIN SIEGAL & YANEZ’S PRESIDENT ON FILLING BIG SHOES
“You don’t have to be perfect to be worthy of love. ”
—JASMINE WARGA author of The Unlikely Tale of Chase and Finnegan (Balzer + Bray, Mar.)
14 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEBRUARY 2, 2026 Peop e
In erviews
In To See Beyond , the former war correspondent examines how humanity processes despair and finds hope amid conflict and climate catastrophe. ANNA BADKHEN
There is a lot of sorrow in this book. How did you balance grief without succumbing to it? There is a lot of sorrow in this book because it’s a book about the world. I was thinking about the end of an era of
The new president and sole proprietor of the storied scouting agency, who took over last month following Todd R. Siegal’s retire- ment, looks back on the past 50 years in business—and ahead to the next 50. DANNY YANEZ F NKLIN SIEGAL & YANEZ You’re the agency’s third leader in 50 years. What does that continuity mean? It’s a big deal filling those shoes. One special thing is we’ve had some of the same clients nearly from the start. Our relationships with publisher WSOY Finland goes back to 1978, I believe, and with German publisher Heyne goes back to 1983. We’ve been exclusive with Universal Studios for film going on 26 years—I think that’s the longest New York–Hollywood scouting relationship at this point. We’ve managed to keep these relationships for decades, which speaks to everything Lynn and Todd built and what I’ve tried to main- tain over my 14 years with the company. How has the scout’s role evolved? We’re not agents, not salespeople—we’re advisers, consultants, and relationship builders at the intersection of domestic and international publishing. Technology has had an impact on that. Around 2019, 2020, we discovered Anna Todd’s After on Wattpad, sold it to two clients, and it became a #1 bestseller. Now we’re closely following social media discussions and trends. Zoom means we see our clients more often than just at London and Frankfurt, which was the norm before. What do people misunderstand about scouts? I don’t think it’s as mysterious as people imagine. We have conversations, read books, and try to make things happen. Yes, we’re competitive like most people in publishing, but it’s all in service of the same goal: finding good books and getting them into readers’ hands in every format possible. —ED NAWOTKA
dragons. I had this conversation with the Senegalese writer Louis Camara last spring. He said, “We live in a time of dragons, but the time of dragons will end.” Remember the last time you slayed a dragon? When you pinned it to the ground and you knew it was dead, and its massive tail was thrashing about, and it destroyed everything it reached? e dragon is done. I feel extremely hopeful. And I also feel devastated because no one should be paying this price. What is the dragon? Empire. Some call it patriarchy. Some call it capitalist colonialism. What gives you hope? I teach undergraduate students, and I hear a lot of young people and see a lot of young organizers. ey’re not like us. ey don’t think in hierarchical terms. ey don’t think that there has to be a leader and subordinates. So, I have many reasons to be hopeful. I mean, my god, even in Palestine kids are doing stunts and making music. How do these essays di er from journal- ism? I believe in miracles. ere is a lot of magic in this book, and journalism, the
prayers and dreams and even the magical properties of books. When I worked as a journalist, my task was pretty much to stick to the facts. e writer I am today, I think, my job is actually to see beyond the facts. Do you think journalism is up to the task of describing and explaining this moment? Journalism cannot be the only vehicle. I think theater is a vehicle, visual arts. We need all hands on deck. I was last a journalist in 2015. I stepped away from journalism because the format was insu cient for me. e last piece of journalism I ever wrote was not published because the magazine editor and I disagreed on the fundamental premise of the story, which was that the world is su ering as a result of a failure of love. e editor was like, Love is not a policy, what’s the policy? But love, to me, is a policy. JASMINA KELEMEN
way it has evolved, doesn’t believe in miracles. You can’t fact-check wonder. e book opens with a sojourn a friend of mine and I made to a market in Mali to purchase some lion fat for his arthritis, but also possibly for other kinds of protection. ere are conversations about
Bellevue Literary, Apr.; reviewed on p. 98
FEBRUARY 2, 2026 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 15
the pill, it imposes on her sense of who she is as an individual. The book is set in the 1960s, a much more recent time period than your first two novels. How did the research process differ? This time, I could ask questions of people who were coming of age in that era, including my parents. The “swinging sixties” was not everyone’s life. The transition from the conservatism of the 1950s to the changes of the 1960s was quite slow. Many women were very much still in the home, coming out of the rationing of the Second World War, focusing on getting married and maybe starting a career before they left it to have children. In your author’s note, you call the book “both a love letter to psychotherapy and a criticism of its fragile ethics.” What do you most admire about therapy, and what do you see as its potential hazards? There’s something very satisfying about the ability to go into our dream life to explore parts of ourselves that we prob- ably don’t like very much. I think that has made me a better writer. But there’s a huge vulnerability as a therapy patient. There’s a risk of retraumatization from therapy that’s too intense straight away. I struggled to cope with the way my therapist used the dynamic between us to uncover unresolved, difficult feelings from my past. I couldn’t understand whether I was failing at therapy, or whether my therapist was manipulating me. The more I asked, “What’s happening here? What is your method?” the less he would tell me, and I felt completely lost. Do you see the ending as hopeful? Yes! Evelyn’s path has been traumatic. Her whole sense of whether she can trust herself gets shaken to its core. When I was planning this novel, the ending I was considering wasn’t very satisfying. My agent said, “Try and imagine yourself forward: Where do you want Evelyn to be?” I felt the question was also, Where do I want myself to be? Despite everything that happens to her, Evelyn does ultimately learn to trust herself by the end. —VICKI BORAH BLOOM
LUCY ASHE The British author’s third thriller,
The Model Patient , explores the fraught dynamic between a young wife and her therapist in 1960s London.
Part of the novel hinges on the launch of the birth control pill. How did it feel to look back at that innovation from the vantage point of the 21st century? I feel saddened that we’re forgetting about how revolutionary this was for
Union Square, Apr.; reviewed on p. 88
women and their ability to have freedom in their lives. If we take away something that gives women the ability to control their own bodies, we’re going back in time. When Evelyn’s husband says she shouldn’t be taking
16 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEBRUARY 2, 2026
By JOANNE O’SULLIVAN “WARGA’S FAMILY RECENTLY ADOPTED A RESCUE DOG. HIS OINKLIKE SNUF- FLING MADE WILBUR THE PERFECT NAME, AN HOMAGE TO CHARLOTTE’S WEB . HER KIDS ARE ALREADY LOBBYING FOR A COMPANION FOR WILBUR. ‘PERHAPS THERE WILL BE A CHARLOTTE IN OUR FUTURE,’ SHE TOLD ME.”
Author Profile
A
MARS ROVER , a Syrian refugee girl, a cheetah, and a depressed teen: there are no obvious links between these disparate characters. But in the stories of children’s author Jasmine Warga, each is a touch- stone for exploring themes of home, belonging, and identity. Growing up in a small town out- side Cincinnati, Warga, 37, says she felt like an outsider. “Middle school
was hard for me. I was always really shy. I was one of the only kids who had an immi- grant parent, and we were the only Muslim family.” Her mother is American, but her father, whose family had previously been displaced from Palestine, had come to the U.S. from Jordan for his medical residency and fellowship. “Books were my comfort,” she says. “They saved me in lots of ways. They helped me understand that my world at that moment was small, but the world itself wasn’t small. I hoped I could write books like the ones I loved.” Warga recalls a career day at school when she wore a lab coat, as a nod to a possible future in medicine, following in her father’s footsteps. Instead of carrying a prescription pad, however, she carried a notebook, rep- resenting her dream of becoming a writer, although she wasn’t sure exactly what that would look like. After studying history and art history at Northwestern University, Warga, who currently lives near Chicago, started teaching sixth grade in Texas, reading aloud many of the books she’d loved as a child with her students as well as discovering new favorites. She later completed an MFA in creative writ- ing at Lesley University. Although she had planned to write for the upper elementary level, “the book that gets you in the door isn’t necessarily representative of all the work you’ve done before,” she says. Her 2015 debut novel, My Heart and Other Black Holes , was YA, written as a way to process grief from the loss of a friend. She
Books and Belonging Newbery Honor author Jasmine Warga revisits familiar themes in her forthcoming middle grade novel The Unlikely Tale of Chase & Finnegan — this time with animals
FEBRUARY 2, 2026 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 17 People
followed it up with another YA novel, Here We Are Now ” (2017). She had established herself as a writer to watch, but Other Words for Home , her 2019 middle grade novel in verse, became her breakout book. Centering on a Syrian girl finding her way as a refugee in the U.S., where she faces different kinds of conflict, the story offers messages of resilience and hope. It won a 2020 Newbery Honor, as well as a Walter Award from We Need Diverse Books and a Charlotte Huck Honor from the National Council of Teachers of English. Working with editor Alessandra Balzer at Balzer + Bray on seven of her books, Warga has continued to write stories that defy easy categorization. When the Balzer + Bray imprint moved to Macmillan last year, Warga followed her longtime editor. “She has a special gift,” Warga says. “She helps me understand what kind of book I’m try- ing to write and steers me in that direction.” The trust in their relationship is such that Warga says she can send Balzer a “messy”
belonging. Still, she says, she was “hesitant to write an animal story,” in part because of a certain pressure to represent her com- munity in her work, and the predominance of animal stories in children’s books vs. narratives that spotlight marginalized characters. Ultimately, Warga says, the story offers an opportunity to “expand the idea of what a diverse book is,” adding, “I’m bringing my lens to it.” Along with Chase & Finnegan , she’s releasing another middle grade novel this year: The Claiming , a mystery that’s part of Scholastic’s multiplatform series The Last Resort. She’s also working on a companion book for her 2022 novel A Rover’s Story . At a time when parents, teachers, and librarians have raised the alarm about declining middle grade reading habits, Warga says she’s intentional in her story- telling, aiming to reach readers “on a lot of different levels.” Making chapters shorter, for example, is one way to “invite all our
Balzer + Bray, Mar.
draft and feel exhilarated rather than flattened by Balzer’s “incisive” feedback. That supportive relationship has allowed her to stretch her wings with new kinds of stories, including her forthcoming release, The Unlikely Tale of Chase & Finnegan. As a fourth grader, Warga completed an assignment on Cathryn Hilker, who founded the Cat Ambassador program at the Cincinnati Zoo. Revisiting the zoo as an adult with her kids rekindled her interest in the zoo’s majestic cheetahs. Despite their reputation for fierceness, cheetahs are anxious creatures—especially while living in human care. So zookeepers have paired them with rescue dogs as buddies to keep them calm. This unlikely animal friendship seemed ripe with storytelling possibility for Warga, and the idea for The Unlikely Tale of Chase & Finnegan took shape. Her research led her into deep exploration of animal communica- tion. Because they bond early with humans and other animals alike, cheetahs introduced to dogs when young will be affectionate and playful with their new friends. Later, Warga says, cheetahs “grow into their grace.” This real-life transformation proved informative in shap- ing the arc of a story that explores how “friends make us braver.” Getting into the mindset of a cheetah was challenging. But there were “entry points that felt personal,” Warga says. For example, although Chase, her cheetah character, was born in a zoo, she knows there are others like her who come from somewhere else, not unlike many of the characters Warga has created who struggle for a sense of
kids in” to reading in a way that’s “welcoming and accessible,” keeping read-alouds in mind. She has heard from a number of parents and readers that Rover , about a Martian probe named Resilience , is the first chapter book that many of her readers read on their own. On the other hand, more advanced readers engaged with the book because of the subject matter. Keeping her books “high interest and paced in a way that builds a nice momentum” has proven to be a winning strategy, Warga says. “Hopefully, I’m writing books that have a literary quality, but are fun. I don’t think those things are mutually exclusive.” Warga, who is herself the mother of two middle grade readers, believes that kids in their tween years are drawn to literary fiction because they want to be challenged and are naturally thinking about the big questions at this particular time of their lives. Increasingly, though, she sees that kids are “carrying so much anxiety,” she says. “They feel so much pressure to be perfect. They are so afraid of making mistakes.” Through her works, she hopes to entertain and inspire wonder, but also to help young readers understand that, in her words, “you don’t have to be perfect to be worthy of love. It’s okay to be anxious. It’s okay to feel afraid sometimes. That’s what our friends and connection are for.” W
Joanne O’Sullivan is a journalist, author, and editor in Asheville, N.C.
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