New Release Spotlight: November 2026, Week 2

Happy Veterans Day week and also Friday the 13th week! I’ve got nine new titles for you this week.

My top pick this week is Leaving Birdsong by Brenda Woods. I read a sample of this book, and the conversational flow and easy connections with other middle grade topics will make this a great read-aloud, even if it’s just excerpts. I’ve shared several books to pair with it in My Notes.

All the titles below (and more!) have been added to my New Release Spotlight Amazon List for November 2026. The list will grow throughout November 2026. Be sure to check it out because only about half of them were featured in November Spotlights, but all titles in the list meet or exceed my Spotlight criteria.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Emrys Swift is so dead. One hundred and fifty seven years worth of dead, to be exact. He’s a Revenant, nightcursed, destined to be stuck being seventeen forever. Hidden away, he spends his infinite days as an undead librarian of witchlore at the NeverEnd library–until a new Revenant arrives and magical artifacts start going missing, jeopardizing his beloved home.

Emrys’s mortal enemy and annoyingly attractive shapeshifter Aubrey Vale is determined to solve the mystery–with Emrys’s help. Suddenly Emrys and Aubrey are magically bonded together on a quest into the dark and frost-bitten world of night-kin.

But as Emrys and Aubrey interrogate ghosts and face drowning by mermaids, deathly creatures aren’t the only spectres haunting them. With the ghoulish Night Hunt chasing them down, can they outrun the secrets of Emrys’ death and Aubrey’s life? And if they can save NeverEnd’s future, can they have a future together?

Hauntingly gorgeous and tender, Emma Hinds’ Nightcurse is both a Gothic mystery and an enemies-to-lovers romance about navigating life and love in the face of death.

MY NOTES

This queer romantasy has a magical library setting and a starred Kirkus review. With undead teens, missing books, and a slow-burn rivals-to-lovers romance, this title is worth considering for teen readers who enjoy supernatural mysteries with a romantic subplot.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

It’s the summer before senior year, and Mar Ortega is holding a ticket out of town: an acceptance letter to a prestigious pre-college program at an elite art school in Baltimore. Suddenly, Mar’s deepest desires are within reach: studying illustration, making a real friend group … and maybe even using new pronouns?

At the Baltimore Institute of Art, everything feels perfect. Mar is thrilled by the artsy community and incredible, engaging instructors, but when the time comes to buy painting supplies, the hefty price tags feel like a slap in the face. In fact, everything about this college is expensive, and there aren’t many students that look like Mar. As the days go by, Mar begins to wonder if they truly belong at art school … but it’s also the only place they’ve ever felt truly at home. ?

Inspired by creator Christine Suggs’s own experience attending a pre-college art program, Luck of the Draw illustrates what can happen when reality becomes part of your dream.

MY NOTES

This graphic novel explores the high cost of college and its burden on working class families. The practical challenges of pursuing an arts education may appeal to teens weighing their own options after high school.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Housemaid Tansy’s days are all the same. Her only duties are to tend to her charge, old Lady Aster, and take care of their quaint cottage home. The seaside house is charming, peaceful, and above all, isolated. Tansy can’t remember the last time she left…or when she arrived.

Merit is a Carrion Knight. A servant of the dark entity the Unmaker, she has been raised to be a monster. But when she’s wounded during a routine raid, she stumbles through a mysterious door… and finds herself tumbling into the Oubliette.

When the two meet, an instant connection forms, and a crack appears in Oubliette’s perfect façade. As the bond between Merit and Tansy grows and powerful feelings rise to the surface, Tansy must question not only what she wants, but who she is. Because the origins of this charming world are darker than she could imagine—and the key to uncovering them might lie with Tansy herself.

MY NOTES

How gorgeous is that cover? The mix of cozy fantasy, darker secrets, and sapphic romance may appeal to readers who like a little menace beneath an idyllic setting. Also, it’s got a sentient house and cute animal companions. I can think of an exact reader I’d recommend this to!

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Adam has always been the kid who could draw. But this year, everything feels off.

His parents are fighting. A bully is picking on him. There’s a new artist in school. His life is changing . . . faster than he can keep up.

As Adam’s world turns upside down, he can feel his love of drawing slipping away. But who is Adam without art? 

MY NOTES

I like seeing an illustrated novel in verse with a boy as the main character. The illustrations and short poems could make this a good one to hand to reluctant readers and fans of Kinney’s Wimpy Kid series. It’s mostly free verse, but there are also shape poems (also called concrete poems), which are often taught in ELA poetry units.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Now that the Trojan War is over, Odysseus can’t wait to reunite with his family. He sets sail and expects to be home in just a few weeks―but over ten years of adventure lie ahead! Can the hero and his crew survive singing Sirens, escape witches and nymphs, outwit a man-eating Cyclops, and make it home to Ithaca at last? 

Author Nicolás Schuff and illustrator Mariana Ruiz Johnson transform Homer’s epic adventure for a new, younger generation in their spirited, action-packed graphic novel adaptation. Perfect for fans of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, this playful edition includes a fresh artistic interpretation, including bold graphics and engaging side panels introducing Athena, Poseidon, and other Olympians alongside their appearances in the story. 

MY NOTES

Considering the popularity of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey movie (2026), I’d expect this book to be especially popular right now. The Odyssey is always a great adventure story, and students tend to enjoy learning about it. I like that the short chapters, illustrations, and map give students an easy way to follow Odysseus’s journey. Keep it ready for a Greek mythology units, or recommend it to Percy Jackson fans who want to try one of the classics.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

It’s 1946 when eleven-year-old Abigail and her parents move from Birdsong, South Carolina, to Detroit, where her parents say there are more opportunities for people of color.

This promise is fulfilled when her father gets a good job at an auto factory, and on her visits to the city’s impressive library, where she not only gets to walk through the front door for the first time but also meets her first Black librarian.

And though her parents encourage her to focus on the new possibilities, it doesn’t take long for Abigail to see that some of the limitations imposed by segregation also exist in the North.

Abigail keenly observes it all, as she’s determined to become a writer, even though not everyone takes her seriously. The Motor City offers plenty of inspiration, and she writes poems about Caesar, her funny neighbor, and the goings-on at the fancy hotel for wealthy Black folks where her mom gets a job.

But before long, Abigail becomes more than an observer when a tragedy occurs after a homeless boy robs her.

When she and her friends set out to help the boy’s younger brother, she is confronted with uncomfortable realities about poverty. Throughout her summer of adventures and unexpected happenings, Abigail keeps her light shining as she reluctantly sheds her country-girl beginnings and starts to embrace Detroit as home.

MY NOTES

Brenda Woods earned a 2003 Coretta Scott King Author Honor for The Red Rose Box, and Leaving Birdsong received three starred professional reviews.

Leaving Birdsong has tremendous read-aloud potential. Chapters are short, and something happens in each one. If you need a First Chapter Friday read, this is a great choice because it does exactly what an engaging middle grade first chapter should do. In just a few pages, we meet Abigail and her parents, see what matters to them, and learn why they are leaving South Carolina for Detroit.

Need a short passage to read aloud in the library? Try the passage where Abigail is able to walk into a public library for the first time. She even meets a Black librarian! Her South Carolina town did not allow Black people to enter the public library. You could even pair this passage with the picture book Goin’ Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack (2001) or A Library by Nikki Giovanni (2022).

Leaving Birdsong is a great choice for a unit on the Great Migration. Pair it with Clean Getaway by Nic Stone (2020) or the picture book Ruth and the Green Book by Calvin Alexander Ramsey and Gwen Strauss (2010).

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

As a kid growing up in Burundi, Gaël was lucky enough to get bored. He didn’t have school in the afternoons, and his family didn’t have a computer or a television. So he had to learn to use his imagination to invent games and ways to pass the time: a mess of furniture in the living room became a jungle for his superheroes to brave; bananas leaves transformed into sailing ships.

With a poetic text from acclaimed Rwandan-French author, hip-hop artist, and musician Gaël Faye and featuring lush illustrations by award-winning illustrator Hippolyte comes Endless Afternoons, a journey into the magical world of a boring summer afternoon.

MY NOTES

Endless Afternoons mixes two things I love in read-alouds. One, it’s set outside the USA. As an international school librarian, I know how much living and traveling abroad changes your perspective. Many of our students won’t ever travel outside the US, let alone live in another country, so books can give students a glimpse of places they may never get to visit. If you need some recommended books set outside the USA, check out my Picture Books Around the World list! This is the first Burundi book I’ve added to the list!

The second thing I love for storytime is a music component. Endless Afternoons includes a QR code in the author’s note that links to the French song that inspired the book. How often do our students get to listen to songs in French?

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

They baked fresh challahs to celebrate the Sabbath. And they had one special tradition: as they baked, they sang prayers, kneading in notes of hope and their deepest wishes. But there’s only one communal oven! What happens to those prayers when everyone’s challahs get mixed up? What will become of each family’s wishes? 

Fortunately, an imaginative girl named Misah comes up with a beautiful solution for everyone!

MY NOTES

A second entry to my Picture Books Around the World list! This is also the first time I’ve added a book set in Libya. This book celebrates Shabbat, the weekly Jewish sabbath that begins Friday at sundown and ends Saturday after nightfall. Challah is a traditional bread served on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

PUBLISHER’S SUMMARY

Inspired by a line from Lewis Carroll, this book drifts gently into a forest blanketed in white. Snow falls like a soft hush, wrapping trees in stillness, tucking hares and voles into shelter, and cloaking a sly fox in mystery. From the frozen stillness of a regal stag to the swooping cry of a spotted owl, poet Kirsten Hall invites readers to pause, listen, and feel the enchantment of the season.

Award-winning artist Marc Martin’s shimmering illustrations capture the magic of nature held in snow’s gentle care. And when the snow disappears? The woods wait, longing for its return—until once more, the snow smiles and begins again.

Perfect for nature enthusiasts and children who yearn for snowy days, this loving ode to winter offers a glimpse into the beauty of stillness, the kindness of nature, and the timeless cycle of the seasons.

MY NOTES

Ooh, I do love unique narrators and settings! In The Snow Loves, the snow is the personified narrator! Set inside a snow globe on a desk, this book is a fun way to introduce the concepts of narration and setting with elementary readers.