108 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY FEBRUARY 2, 2026
make the problem smaller. With each push and pull away from the child’s residence, the object shrinks, possibili- ties grow, and partnerships are born. A squirrel helps navigate the object around a stone wall, and an initially grumpy-looking bear helps manufac- ture a string border protecting a fallen bird’s nest. Digitally finished mono- print, ink, and collage illustrations lend printmaking textures to the ball’s transformation from burden to tool, as the orange orb becomes both a guide to a sunset vista and a trail leading home. That’s how life works some- times, suggests this amiable portrait of thinking on one’s feet, by turning a “WHAT NOW?// into a THAT’S HOW!” Ages 4–8. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary. (Apr.) Three Pieces of Broken Glass Emily Barth Isler, illus. by Vesper Stamper. Abrams, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4197-7872-8 ★ ❘ A beloved relative’s treasured artifacts convey events personal and historical in this meaningful telling from Barth Isler ( The Color of Sound ), making a picture book debut inspired by a family story, and Stamper ( A Knot Is Not a Tangle ). An unnamed child narrator enjoys visiting Great-Grandma Inge, who “sets the table like it’s a special occasion... and serves our water in fancy glasses.” When the youth inadvertently shatters one of the rose-tinged vessels, the woman offers comfort, saying, “It’s not only good luck to break glass sometimes, but it’s also tradition,” and gestures to three shards on the windowsill. Depictions of the events behind each follow: one, part of a glass crushed under the bridegroom’s foot on Great-Grandma Inge’s wedding day, is a token of “all sixty-five years they were married, and... a reminder of their love.” The other two relate to difficult events of WWII. The first, from Germany’s Kristallnacht, was an indicator that “it was time to leave our home and find a new place, where we could be safe”; the other is a good luck piece that preceded the family’s wartime reunification. Watercolor and gouache
illustrations depict the past in b&w and the present in full color. Jagged cracks reflect destruction, separation, and the world coming apart, while transparent feathery washes back- ground rich, detailed scenes of new lives coming together. An author’s note concludes. Ages 4–8. Author’s agent: Emily Keyes, Keyes Agency. Illustrator’s agent: Lori Kilkelly, LK Literary. (Apr.) We the People Is All the People Howard W. Reeves, illus. by Duncan Tonatiuh. Abrams, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4197-7649-6 ★ ❘ A straightforward and inclusive message distin- guishes this powerfully wrought narrative definition of “we” from Reeves, making his picture book debut, and Tonatiuh ( Game of Freedom ), which opens with the U.S. Constitution’s Preamble. A clear concept serves as the work’s opening and concluding line, “ ‘We the people’ is all the people,” and unadorned language extrapolates in easy-to- understand descriptions. “We the people” includes those “next door,/ down the street,/ and across the country”; “living in houses,/ apart- ments,/ and in shelters”; worshipping in “churches,/ mosques,/ and temples”; and “who were here,/ who arrived later,/ who still come today.” Thinly outlined and digitally colored shapes in the artist’s signature style represent figures of various abilities, ages, genders, and skin tones interacting in concert and with the aim of mutual aid. It’s a clearly rendered tribute to community care and unity that’s anchored in hues of red, white, and blue. Includes creators’ notes. Ages 4–8. (Apr.) Fabulous Creatures: Legendary Animals from Around the World Cornelia Funke, trans. from the German by Anna Schmitt Funke, illus. by Ruby Warnecke. NorthSouth, $21.95 (48p) ISBN 978-0-7358-4591-6 Funke (the Inkheart series) presents 19 fantastical creatures from around the world in a handsome package that highlights both common and lesser-known entities. Each spread
introduces a single being via a handful of anecdotal-feeling first-person para- graphs (“Should a genie ever grant me a wish, I would wish for a dragon friend”), while full-bleed images from debut illustrator Warnecke fill the remaining space with spare colorblock images. An entry about the unicorn portrays a white, horselike figure dipping its horn into a pool amid blooming flora, while text challenges readers’ mental image of the animal: “Some have the legs of an elephant. In India, they are red and black and very aggressive. And in Russia their horn is split at the tip like a fork.” Other highlighted beings include the scaled, antlered skywalking Qilin of China, Finland’s forest-protecting bear Otso, and Indigenous North Americans’ rain-bestowing thunder- bird. An endnote cites that the author sought to limn the beings “without making them bringers of nightmares,” and gentle prose and graphical art succeed in rendering the entries as both approachable and intriguing for cryptozoologists of all ages. Ages 4–8. (Mar.) Truman Toad and the Quest for the Perfect Hug Oren Lavie, illus. by Anke Kuhl. Enchanted Lion, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5927-0459-0 ★ ❘ A self-obsessed protagonist makes narcissism absolutely ribbiting in this gaily cantankerous picture book. Google-eyed amphibian Truman Toad lives solo “in a little apartment with a giant mirror.” Fond of talking to his reflection, he spends hours chatting with it about “such pleasant topics as Toad Fashion, Swamp Culture, and the charm of Puddle Picnics,” writes Lavie ( The Bear Who Wasn’t There ), instantly establishing a feel for the character’s nature. Then a sublime dream sends Truman seeking what mirrors can’t provide: an ideal embrace. In elegant line work, saturated washes, and marvelously emotive characters that feel like a cross between the work of Arnold Lobel and James Stevenson, Kuhl ( Perfect Presents! ) follows Truman through a parade of
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