10 Upcoming Picture Books I Cannot Wait to Read Aloud #PB10for10

I wanted to publish my post about the picture books I plan on using with my students at the beginning of the year, but I don’t have 10 selected yet, not even close, I have 4, because I haven’t met the kids yet and so I don’t know which books we will need just yet. So instead, I thought I would throw a spotlight on a few picture books that I am so excited are coming into this world. These are the ones I have pre-ordered so I will not miss them when they are published. Perhaps you have heard about them too or not, but here they are in random order.

In this empowering ode to modern families, a boy and his father take a joyful walk through the city, discovering all the ways in which they are perfectly designed for each other.

Release date: November 5th, 2019

Tap, twirl, twist, spin! With musical, rhyming text, author Valerie Bolling shines a spotlight on dances from across the globe, while energetic art from Maine Diaz shows off all the moves and the diverse people who do them. From the cha cha of Cuba to the stepping of Ireland, kids will want to leap, dip, and zip along with the dances on the page!

Release Date: March 3, 2020

Feeling different, especially as a kid, can be tough. But in the same way that different types of plants and flowers make a garden more beautiful and enjoyable, different types of people make our world more vibrant and wonderful.

In Just Ask, United States Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor celebrates the different abilities kids (and people of all ages) have. Using her own experience as a child who was diagnosed with diabetes, Justice Sotomayor writes about children with all sorts of challenges–and looks at the special powers those kids have as well. As the kids work together to build a community garden, asking questions of each other along the way, this book encourages readers to do the same: When we come across someone who is different from us but we’re not sure why, all we have to do is Just Ask.

Release date: September 3rd, 2019

As a little girl, Teresa Carreño loved to let her hands dance across the beautiful keys of the piano. If she felt sad, music cheered her up, and when she was happy, the piano helped her share that joy. Soon she was writing her own songs and performing in grand cathedrals. Then a revolution in Venezuela forced her family to flee to the United States. Teresa felt lonely in this unfamiliar place, where few of the people she met spoke Spanish. Worst of all, there was fighting in her new home, too—the Civil War.

Still, Teresa kept playing, and soon she grew famous as the talented Piano Girl who could play anything from a folk song to a sonata. So famous, in fact, that President Abraham Lincoln wanted her to play at the White House! Yet with the country torn apart by war, could Teresa’s music bring comfort to those who needed it most?

Release date: August 27th, 2019

Riley wears whatever clothes feel right each day. On Monday, Riley feels shy and wears a bunny costume to school. On Tuesday, a scary trip to the dentist calls for a super hero cape. For a trip out with Otto and Oma, a ball gown is the perfect outfit.

This charming picture book is a gentle exploration of self-expression and source of encouragement for being true to oneself despite the expectations of others.

Release date: August 27th, 2019

Mars has a visitor.

It likes to roam…

observe…

measure…

and collect.

It explores the red landscape―
crossing plains, climbing hills,
and tracing the bottoms of
craters―in search of water
and life.

It is not the first to visit Mars.

It will not be the last.

But it might be…
the most curious.

Release date: October 29th, 2019

M is for Melanin
shining in every inch of your skin.
Every shade, every hue.
All beautiful and unique.

Each letter of the alphabet contains affirming, Black-positive messages, from A is for Afro, to F is for Fresh, to W is for Worthy. This book teaches children their ABCs while encouraging them to love the skin that they’re in.

Be bold. Be fearless. BE YOU.

Release date: October 1, 2019

Harpreet Singh has a different color for every mood and occasion, from pink for dancing to bhangra beats to red for courage. He especially takes care with his patka—his turban—smoothing it out and making sure it always matches his outfit. But when Harpreet’s mom finds a new job in a snowy city and they have to move, all he wants is to be invisible. Will he ever feel a happy sunny yellow again?

Release date: September 3, 2019

Bear just wants to water his flowers, but Rabbit needs to know: why? Bear is looking forward to a peaceful night of stargazing, but all Rabbit cares about is: why?

As the two friends spend time together through spring, summer, and into fall, Rabbit persistently and simply asks Bear why, encouraging the reader to figure out for themselves the reason for each question that Bear patiently answers, over and over again. . . until there’s a question that he has no answer for.

Release date: August 13th, 2019

Unicorns! You love them, but how much do you really know about them? Join Professors Glitter Pants, Sprinkle Steed, Star Hoof, and Sugar Beard, plus their trusty lab assistant, Pete, as they reveal mind-blowing unicorn facts never before available to the public! For example:

*  Buttercup Sparklecheeks was the first unicorn to trot on Pluto!
*  At one time in history, there were dino-corns!
*  One unicorn accidentally made it rain waffles for a week!
*  Unicorns have giant slides inside their homes!
*  Rare and exotic unicorns include the mer-corn and the hamster-corn!

Release date: September 3rd, 2019

At the mountain’s base sits a cabin under an old hickory tree. And in that cabin lives a family — loving, weaving, cooking, and singing. The strength in their song sustains them through trials on the ground and in the sky, as they wait for their loved one, a pilot, to return from war.

With an author’s note that pays homage to the true history of Native American U.S. service members like WWII pilot Ola Mildred “Millie” Rexroat, this is a story that reveals the roots that ground us, the dreams that help us soar, and the people and traditions that hold us up.

Release date: September 17, 2019

Writer, activist, trolley car conductor, dancer, mother, and humanitarian Maya Angelou’s life was marked by transformation and perseverance. In this comprehensive picture-book biography geared towards older readers, Bethany Hegedus lyrically traces Maya’s life from her early days in Stamps, Arkansas through her work as a freedom fighter to her triumphant rise as a poet of the people.

Release date: August 13, 2019

The creators of Pink Is for Blobfish are back, and they’ve brought 17 of their most revolting friends: there are slippery, slimy snot otters, gulls that projectile-vomit on command, fish that communicate via flatulence, and chipmunks that cultivate healthy forests by pooping a trail of seeds wherever they go. But there’s more to these skin-crawling creatures than meets the eye, and as zoologist Jess Keating explains, sometimes it’s the very things that make us gag that allow these animals to survive in the wild.

Release date: October 29th, 2019

With her new backpack and light-up shoes, Faizah knows the first day of school is going to be special. It’s the start of a brand new year and, best of all, it’s her older sister Asiya’s first day of hijab–a hijab of beautiful blue fabric, like the ocean waving to the sky. But not everyone sees hijab as beautiful, and in the face of hurtful, confusing words, Faizah will find new ways to be strong.

Release date: September 10, 2019

Okay, so this is more than ten, but the truth is there are just so many great picture books coming out and I cannot wait to add them to our collection. These books should be read aloud, shared, and celebrated in any way we can.