Our titles this year are other Kids-and-Companions approved!

 

January 2027: The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers

Johannes, a free dog, lives in an urban park by the sea. His job is to be the Eyes—to see everything that happens within the park and report back to the park’s elders, three ancient Bison. His friends—a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican—work with him as the Assistant Eyes, observing the humans and other animals who share the park and making sure the Equilibrium is in balance.

But changes are afoot. More humans arrive in the park. A new building, containing mysterious and hypnotic rectangles, goes up. And then there are the goats—an actual boatload of goats—who appear, along with a shocking revelation that changes Johannes’s view of the world.

Lushly illustrated with old world paintings and new artwork from Caldecott honoree Shawn Harris, this story about friendship, beauty, liberation (and running very, very fast), will make readers of all ages see the world around them in a wholly new way.

 

February 2027: We’re Not From Here by Geoff Rodkey

The first time I heard about Planet Choom, we’d been on Mars for almost a year. But life on the Mars station was grim, and since Earth was no longer an option (we may have blown it up), it was time to find a new home.

That’s how we ended up on Choom with the Zhuri. They’re very smart. They also look like giant mosquitos. But that’s not why it’s so hard to live here. There’s a lot that the Zhuri don’t like: singing (just ask my sister, Ila), comedy (one joke got me sent to the principal’s office), or any kind of emotion. The biggest problem, though? The Zhuri don’t like us. And if humankind is going to survive, it’s up to my family to change their minds. No pressure.

From the creator of the Tapper Twins, New York Times bestselling author Geoff Rodkey delivers a topical, sci-fi middle-grade novel that proves friendship and laughter can transcend even a galaxy of differences.

 

 

March 2027: Blended by Sharon Draper

Eleven-year-old Isabella’s parents are divorced, so she has to switch lives every week: One week she’s Isabella with her dad, his girlfriend Anastasia, and her son Darren living in a fancy house where they are one of the only black families in the neighborhood. The next week she’s Izzy with her mom and her boyfriend John-Mark in a small, not-so-fancy house that she loves.

Because of this, Isabella has always felt pulled between two worlds. And now that her parents are divorced, it seems their fights are even worse, and they’re always about her. Isabella feels more stuck in the middle than ever. And she is beginning to realize that being split between Mom and Dad involves more than switching houses, switching nicknames, switching backpacks: it’s also about switching identities. Her dad is black, her mom is white, and strangers are always commenting on her looks—calling her exotic and unusual. She knows they’re really saying she doesn’t look like her parents and are wondering about her race.

And when her parents, who get engaged at the same time, get in their biggest fight ever, Isabella doesn’t just feel divided, she feels ripped in two. What does it mean to be half white or half black? To half-belong to mom and half to dad? And if you’re only seen as half of this and half of that, how can you ever feel whole?

 

April 2027: Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

Kek comes from Africa. In America he sees snow for the first time, and feels its sting. He’s never walked on ice, and he falls. He wonders if the people in this new place will be like the winter – cold and unkind.

In Africa, Kek lived with his mother, father, and brother. But only he and his mother have survived, and now she’s missing. Kek is on his own. Slowly, he makes friends: a girl who is in foster care; an old woman who owns a rundown farm, and a cow whose name means “family” in Kek’s native language. As Kek awaits word of his mother’s fate, he weathers the tough Minnesota winter by finding warmth in his new friendships, strength in his memories, and belief in his new country.

Katherine Applegate is the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of beloved and award-winning books for young readers, including Pocket Bear, Odder, Crenshaw, Wishtree, Willodeen, and The One and Only Ivan, for which she won the Newbery Medal.

 

 

May 2027: The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart

Five years. That’s how long Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, have lived on the road in an old school bus, criss-crossing the nation. It’s also how long ago Coyote lost her mom and two sisters in a car crash.

Coyote hasn’t been home in all that time, but when she learns that the park in her old neighborhood is being demolished—the very same park where she, her mom, and her sisters buried a treasured memory box—she devises an elaborate plan to get her dad to drive 3,600 miles back to Washington state in four days…without him realizing it.

Along the way, they’ll pick up a strange crew of misfit travelers. Lester has a lady love to meet. Salvador and his mom are looking to start over. Val needs a safe place to be herself. And then there’s Gladys…

Over the course of thousands of miles, Coyote will learn that going home can sometimes be the hardest journey of all…but that with friends by her side, she just might be able to turn her “once upon a time” into a “happily ever after.”

 

June 2027: The Kid by Jeff Schill

It’s 1881 in Destiny, Colorado. Fourteen-year-old Henry Upton’s parents have died, and he’s trying to keep his three younger brothers together on the farm. Henry writes a story about The Kid, the fastest draw in the West, to keep people away from their parts. But his stories will soon put more than his family and the farm at risk.

Meanwhile, Herbert might lose his job as an editor at Gunslinger Magazine in Philadelphia if he can’t find out why the author of The Kid stories recently stopped sending them. The soft city slicker is headed out west to find the author.

And Snake-Eye Sam has set his sights on The Kid, whom he thinks is real. Sam has evil in his heart and jealousy in his veins. Breaking out of prison to shoot down The Kid is about the only thing that can cure the itch running down Sam’s spine.

Three storylines—plus Gunslinger Magazine‘s The Kid stories—intertwine and come together just as Snake Eye Sam and Herbert both arrive in Destiny. On Main Street at high noon, a master plan is put in place at the same time that Henry and the Destiny sheriff get what they need to keep the Upton brothers together.

 

July 2027: The Swifts: Dictionary of Scoundrels by Beth Lincoln

On the day they are born, every Swift child is brought before the sacred Family Dictionary. They are given a name, and a definition. A definition it is assumed they will grow up to match.

Meet Shenanigan Swift: Little sister. Risk-taker. Mischief-maker.

Shenanigan is getting ready for the big Swift Family Reunion and plotting her next great scheme: hunting for Grand-Uncle Vile’s long-lost treasure. She’s excited to finally meet her arriving relatives—until one of them gives Arch-Aunt Schadenfreude a deadly shove down the stairs.

So what if everyone thinks she’ll never be more than a troublemaker, just because of her name? Shenanigan knows she can become whatever she wants, even a detective. And she’s determined to follow the twisty clues and catch the killer. The Swifts is a celebration of words and individuality, packed with games, wordplay, and lots and lots of mischief as Shenanigan sets out to save her family and define herself in a world where definitions are so important.

 

August 2027: Olivetti by Allie Millington

Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindle family—the family he’s lived with for years. The Brindles are busy humans, apart from 12-year-old Ernest, who would rather be left alone with his collection of Oxford English Dictionaries. The least they could do was remember Olivetti once in a while, since he remembers every word they’ve typed on him. It’s a thankless job, keeping memories alive.

Olivetti gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest’s mom, Beatrice—his used-to-be most frequent visitor—only for her to drop him off at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him helplessly behind. When Olivetti learns Beatrice has mysteriously gone missing afterward, he believes he can help find her. He breaks the only rule of the “typewriterly code” and types back to Ernest, divulging Beatrice’s memories stored inside him.

Their search takes them across San Francisco—chasing clues, maybe committing a few misdemeanors. As Olivetti spills out the past, Ernest is forced to face what he and his family have been running from, The Everything That Happened. Only by working together will they find Beatrice, belonging, and the parts of themselves they’ve lost.

 

September 2027: The Lionharts by Mike Lawrence

Adventuring isn’t just in the Lionhart family’s blood—it’s the family business. Grammy and Baba Lionhart were once a famous questing duo—slaying dragons and fighting monsters, they were legends throughout the land.

Now their daughter, Lenna, has taken over the business, questing under the famous Lionhart name with her husband, Gerard, and their young sons, Alder and Flynt, are desperate to be included!

When their parents go missing after accepting an unusually high–paying job from a mysterious woman, the boys set out to find them, eager to prove they’re ready to carry on the family legacy. Nothing can shake a Lionhart, right? But Grammy and Baba know better and swiftly catch up with the boys, who have already gotten themselves in heap of trouble.

Along the journey, Alder and Flynt tackle big challenges and discover new skills, but as they get closer to finding their parents, they also unearth a secret that could tear their family apart and, even worse, bring the Lionhart name to ruin.

 

October 2027: Hide and Don’t Seek by Anica Mrose Rissi

A contemporary collection of original short stories that is sure to elicit chills, laughs, and screams, even from the most devoted fans of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark!

A game of hide-and-seek goes on far too long…

A look-alike doll makes itself right at home…

A school talent-show act leaves the audience aghast…

And a summer at camp takes a turn for the braaaains…

This collection of all-new spooky stories is sure to keep readers up past their bedtimes, looking over their shoulders to see what goes bump in the night.

So if you’re feeling brave, turn the page.

 

November 2027: A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat

All light in Chattana is created by one man — the Governor, who appeared after the Great Fire to bring peace and order to the city. For Pong, who was born in Namwon Prison, the magical lights represent freedom, and he dreams of the day he will be able to walk among them. But when Pong escapes from prison, he realizes that the world outside is no fairer than the one behind bars. The wealthy dine and dance under bright orb light, while the poor toil away in darkness. Worst of all, Pong’s prison tattoo marks him as a fugitive who can never be truly free.

Nok, the prison warden’s perfect daughter, is bent on tracking Pong down and restoring her family’s good name. But as Nok hunts Pong through the alleys and canals of Chattana, she uncovers secrets that make her question the truths she has always held dear. Set in a Thai-inspired fantasy world, Christina Soontornvat’s twist on Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables is a dazzling, fast-paced adventure that explores the difference between law and justice — and asks whether one child can shine a light in the dark.

 

 

December 2027: The Poet’s Dog by Patricia MacLachlan

Teddy is a gifted dog. Raised in a cabin by a poet named Sylvan, he grew up listening to sonnets read aloud and the comforting clicking of a keyboard. Although Teddy understands words, Sylvan always told him there are only two kinds of people in the world who can hear Teddy speak: poets and children.

Then one day Teddy learns that Sylvan was right. When Teddy finds Nickel and Flora trapped in a snowstorm, he tells them that he will bring them home—and they understand him. The children are afraid of the howling wind, but not of Teddy’s words. They follow him to a cabin in the woods, where the dog used to live with Sylvan . . . only now his owner is gone.

As they hole up in the cabin for shelter, Teddy is flooded with memories of Sylvan. What will Teddy do when his new friends go home? Can they help one another find what they have lost?

 

 

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