Monthly Staff Picks | October, 2026

We’ve got a frightfully great batch of Monthly Staff Picks here at Little Village Toy & Book Store this October!

It’s a Double Creature Feature for our Adult Picks this month featuring stories that leap to life off the page and screen! First up we have ‘The Shadow Glass’ by Josh Winning; this fun fall fantasy-horror riff sees a young man return home only to find his father’s ‘80s puppet films (think Jim Henson’s fantasy classics) come from a world much more real than he ever could have imagined. And coming (very) soon is ‘Winterset Hollow’, available 10/6; Jonathan Edward Durham’s internet horror phenomenon finally gets a wide release! Journey to Addington Isle in this twisted tale that finds characters from a Beatrix Potter-esque nursery rhyme to be far darker and much more dangerous than they seem.

Brandon James Scott’s ‘The Skeleton and the Cat’ is our Picture Book pick for readers of all ages. The quiet life of a skeleton is interrupted by the knocks of a small black cat at her door in this story told through bite-sized vignettes which sees an unlikely friendship develop through the course of an unexpected day.

For Chapter Book readers we have ‘Ghoulia: Making New Friends Can Be Scary’. Join Ghoulia, a young zombie, as she sets out from her haunted manor to make friends on Halloween Night. This International favorite is a great seasonal tale about celebrating the things that might make us different.

The ‘Queens of the Crypt’ seek to save Widow’s Creek in our Young Adult selection this month. Artist and illustrator Dom&Ink makes their graphic novel debut with this eerie tale that sees a teen accidentally summons a group of undead Queens inspired by favorite horror icons.

Visit us in-store this October for 20% off all of these Monthly Staff Picks, while supplies last!

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Monthly Staff Picks | September, 2026

This September’s Monthly Staff Picks feature favorite returning authors and contemporary classics that make perfect additions to your late summer or early fall reading!

Since launching our Monthly Staff Picks with Charlotte McConaghy’s ‘Once There Were Wolves’ in January 2023, it has become an environmental fiction favorite and frequent bestselling title in our store ever since. This month McConaghy returns to our Adult Picks with ‘Wild Dark Shore’, as it hits shelves in paperback; this mysterious family drama sees a woman wash ashore on a remote island as a storm lingers on the horizon.

Author and Illustrator Lucy Fleming’s ‘Oak: The Littlest Leaf Girl’ is our picture book selection this month. Big changes are in store for the titular Oak and her forest dwelling friends as the air chills in this beautifully illustrated tale about the adventure that lies in life’s changes.

Our Middle Reader pick is the Japanese fantasy classic ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’, which inspired the beloved Studio Ghibli film, and follows Kiki and her cat Jiji as they leave for a new town, new friends, and new adventures… with plenty of magic in tow. Available in both a paperback and a Hardcover Deluxe Edition.

‘The Hate U Give’ is Angie Thomas’s award-winning novel and our Young Adult selection for September. This debut follows Starr Carter, a young woman torn between the two worlds of her poor neighborhood and the wealthy suburban prep school she attends, when tragedy strikes and she finds herself in the middle of it all.

Visit us in-store throughout September for 20% off all of these Monthly Staff Picks, while supplies last!

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New Releases | July 7th, 2026

• New Release List (Click to Expand)

  Activity Books

  • Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie: Official Activity Book - Golden Books (Author), Golden Books (Illustrator)

  Adult Fiction

  • Men in Love - Welsh, Irvine (Author)

  • An Infinite Love Story - Cleeton, Chanel (Author)

  • Bitter Sweet - Williams, Hattie (Author)

  • Finding Grace - Rothschild, Loretta (Author)

  • The Great Wherever - Sanders, Shannon (Author)

  • The Simp: A Novel Without a Hero - Sethi, Roshan (Author)

  • Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt - Reeves, Ben (Author)

  • Country People - Mason, Daniel (Author)

  • We Were Forbidden - Harpman, Jacqueline (Author), Schwartz, Ros (Translator)

  Chapter Books

  • The Princess in Black and the Trick-Or-Treating Trouble (Princess in Black) - Hale, Shannon (Author), Hale, Dean (Author), Pham, Leuyen (Illustrator)

  Children’s Art Books

  • Mega How to Draw (Pokémon)

  Coloring Books

  • Spooky Cutie: Coloring Book for Adults and Kids (Cozy Spaces Coloring) - Wyo, Coco (Author)

  • Wings of Fire Glow-In-The-Dark Coloring Book (Media Tie-In) - Sutherland, Tui T (Author), Walsh, Brianna C (Illustrator)

  Graphic Novels

  • A Super Scary Narwhalloween (a Narwhal and Jelly Book #8) (Narwhal and Jelly Book) - Clanton, Ben (Author)

  • Wolf's Belly - August, John (Author), Estrada, Simón (Illustrator)

  • My Tokyo Summer: A Graphic Novel - Denson, Abby (Author), Utomaru (Illustrator)

  • Offside: A Graphic Novel - Gonzalez, Christina Diaz (Author), Costa, Mari (Illustrator)

  • Unico: Lost (Volume 3): An Original Manga (Unico Awakening) - Tezuka, Osamu (Created by), Sattin, Samuel (Author), Gurihiru (Illustrator)

  • I Survived the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, 1941 (I Survived Graphic Novel #14) (I Survived Graphix) - Tarshis, Lauren (Author), Wartman, Peter (Illustrator)

  • Exit Elsewhere (Dragon Kingdom of Wrenly #13) - Quinn, Jordan (Author), Glass House Graphics (Illustrator)

  Horror

  • Fabulous Bodies - Tingle, Chuck (Author)

  • You Weren't Meant to Be Human - White, Andrew Joseph (Author)

  Just the Facts

  • Who Was Lizzie Borden? (Who Was?) - Belviso, Meg (Author), Who Hq (Author), Marchesi, Stephen (Illustrator)

  Literary Collections

  • I Want to Burn This Place Down: Essays - Kreizman, Maris (Author)

  Manga & Graphic Novels

  • Amazing Spider-Man: Torn (Amazing Spider-Man: Torn) - Straczynski, J Michael (Author), Perez, Pere (Illustrator), Hughes, Adam (Not Available)

  • Spider-Men: Worlds Collide [Marvel Premier Collection] - Bendis, Brian Michael (Author), Pichelli, Sara (Illustrator), Bagley, Mark (Illustrator), Pichelli, Sara (Not Available)

  • The Credits Roll Into the Sea Volume 1 (The Credits Roll Into the Sea) - Tarachine, John (Author), Tarachine, John (Illustrator), Allen, Jocelyne (Translator)

  • Batgirl of Burnside: DC Compact Comics Edition (DC Compact Comics) - Stewart, Cameron (Author), Fletcher, Brenden (Author), Koh, Irene (Illustrator), Tarr, Babs (Illustrator)

  • Batman and the Monster Men (New Edition) - Wagner, Matt (Author), Wagner, Matt (Illustrator)

  • One Piece, Vol. 112 - Oda, Eiichiro (Author)

  Middle Readers

  • The Chime Seekers - Montgomery, Ross (Author)

  • Sleepless - Korman, Gordon (Author)

  • The Trouble with Heroes - Messner, Kate (Author)

  • The Frog Princess and Peter Pan (Or, Wendy Darling and the Secret Prince) (Princess Swap) - Bussing, Kim (Author)

  My First Readers

  • DK Super Readers Level 1 Pokémon Pumpkin Party

  • DK Super Readers Level 2 Pokémon Explore Paldea

  Mystery and Thrillers

  • Stolen in Death (In Death #62) - Robb, J D (Author)

  • Billion-Dollar Ransom: A Thriller - Patterson, James (Author), Swierczynski, Duane (Author)

  • The Woman in Suite 11 - Ware, Ruth (Author)

  • Helpless - Knoll, Jessica (Author)

  • The Man - Sims, Laura (Author)

  Nature

  • Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature - Kaishian, Patricia Ononiwu (Author)

  Picture Books

  • The Skeleton and the Cat - Scott, Brandon James (Author), Scott, Brandon James (Illustrator)

  • The Teacher's Pet - Rissi, Anica Mrose (Author), Ohora, Zachariah (Illustrator)

  • Vampurr - Colón, Justin (Author), Wen, Lenny (Illustrator)

  • Fritz: A Mushroom Story - Garrity-Riley, Kelsey (Author)

  • We Are Lock, Shock, and Barrel (Disney Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas) (Little Golden Book) - Gilbert, Matthew J (Author), Robinson, Bill (Illustrator)

  • Mysterious Mittens: A Moontime Cats Halloween Story(Moontime Cats) - Morris, Jordan (Author), Mylie, Charlie (Illustrator)

  • Just for Today (a Maybe Tomorrow Book) - Agell, Charlotte (Author), Ramírez González, Ana (Illustrator)

  • How to Draw a Zombie - Abbott, Zoey (Author), Wagner, August (Author), Abbott, Zoey (Illustrator), Wagner, August (Illustrator)

  • A Day Off School - Jeffers, Oliver (Author), Waldron, Kevin (Illustrator)

  • All the Ways We Learn - Ito Ward, Chloe (Author), Apollonova, Yaroslava (Illustrator)

  • The Pup That Never Gives Up (Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie) (Little Golden Book) - Roth, Megan (Author), Golden Books (Illustrator)

  • Illumination's Minions & Monsters Little Golden Book (Little Golden Book) - Golden Books (Author), Golden Books (Illustrator)

  • Millie Fleur's Pumpkin Problem (Millie Fleur) - Mandin, Christy (Author), Mandin, Christy (Illustrator)

  Poetry

  • The Acrobat: Essential Poems - Szymborska, Wislawa (Author), Cavanagh, Clare (Introduction by)

  Romance

  • Manor of Decay (Threadmender Chronicles #2) - Martineau, Maxym M (Author)

  • The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy (Dearly Beloathed) - Knightley, Brigitte (Author)

  • The Fallen & the Kiss of Dusk: Book 2 of the Shadowborn Duet (The Crowns of Nyaxia #4) - Broadbent, Carissa (Author)

  • Most Ardently Yours - Sampson, Freya (Author)

  • The Farewitch of Foxe Holler - Goff, Ellen Pauley (Author)

  • The MASH Up - Meyers, Laura Marie (Author)

  Science Fiction & Fantasy

  • He Who Fights with Monsters, Book 1: Outworlder (He Who Fights with Monsters #1) - Deverell, Travis (Author), Shirtaloon (Author)

  • Dune: Deluxe Trade Paperback Edition (Special) (Dune) - Herbert, Frank (Author)

  Spinner Rack Books

  • How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words - Galer, Sophia Smith (Author)

  Social Sciences

  • How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words - Galer, Sophia Smith (Author)

  Spinner Rack

  • Big Dinosaur Adventure (Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie) (Pictureback) - Roth, Megan (Author), Random House (Illustrator)

  • Peppa Pig: Peppa Loves Unicorns and Mermaids

  Young Adult

  • Shadow Over the Pumpkin Queen (Pumpkin Queen) - Shepherd, Megan (Author)

  • Coming Out Perfect #1: A Graphic Novel - Mercado, Richard (Author), Mercado, Richard (Illustrator)

  • Heartstopper #6: A Graphic Novel (Heartstopper) - Oseman, Alice (Author), Oseman, Alice (Illustrator)

This Week’s Top 5 Picks

• Heartstopper #6: A Graphic Novel

  New York Times and Sunday Times Bestselling Author

  Heartstopper Forever movie coming soon from Netflix

  Boy meets boy. Boys become friends. Boys fall in love. The final installment in the bestselling LGBTQ+ graphic novel series about life, love, and everything that happens in between.

  Everyone in school knows Nick and Charlie. Everyone knows they're going to be together forever. But Charlie's busy with his bid to become Head Boy. And while Nick is preparing to leave for college, he's starting to wonder who he'll be... without Charlie.

  Contains discussions around mental health and eating disorders, and sexual references.

• Trouble With Heroes

  An instant New York Times bestseller!

  A USA Today bestseller!

  Read with Jenna Jr. Summer Reading List Pick!

  "Genuinely moving." --The New York Times Book Review

  "Explores the healing power of hiking." --NPR's All Things Considered

  Bank Street Best Children's Book of the Year Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year School Library Journal Best Book of the Year Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year: Middle Grade The Week Jr. Best Book of the Year Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year An NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book The Week Jr.'s Book Club Pick

  Bestselling and award-winning author Kate Messner takes readers on a heart-filling journey as a boy finds his path to healing.

  One summer.

  46 mountain peaks.

  A second chance to make things right.

  Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn is about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines . . . until now.

  Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he's in big trouble for knocking down some dead old lady's headstone. Turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual offer: she'll drop all the charges if he agrees to climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks in a single summer. And there's just one more thing--he has to bring along the dead woman's dog.

  In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails. At the top of each peak, he can see for miles and slowly begins to understand more about himself and his dad. But the mountains don't care about any of that, and as the clock ticks down to September, they have more surprises in store. Finn's final summit challenge may be more than even a hero can face.

• Country People

  A year in the life of a family as they strike out into the unknown (aka Vermont), leaving all the comforts of home behind--a rollicking, lyrical novel from Pulitzer Prize finalist Daniel Mason, the bestselling author of North Woods and one of America's greatest living writers

  Miles Krzelewski is a devoted husband, a doting father beloved for his outlandish bedtime stories, and the proud owner of a truffle-hunting dog in a land with no truffles. He is also a bit lost, twelve years late with his PhD on Russian folktales and increasingly haunted by a sense that he's become a disappointment to his family. So when his wife, Kate, accepts a visiting professorship at a prestigious college in the faraway forests of Vermont, he decides that this will be the year to finally move forward with his life.

  But Miles is a man of many enthusiasms, one who possesses, in Kate's words, a great capacity "to fall in with anyone, anywhere." And no sooner does he arrive than he finds himself entangled with a cast of characters as colorful as those of any of his folktales, from a ghostly tree surgeon to a scythe-mad biochemist, from a Shakespearean temptress to a photographer of snowflakes obsessed with chronicling, on thousands of index cards, the world's delusions in an Inventory of Wrong Ideas.

  The new friends, the enchanted woods, the histories: sure, no PhD, but all good fun. Until Miles stumbles upon a bizarre--perhaps ridiculous--local legend, which, he soon suspects, might not be just a legend after all.

  Joyous, absurd, and life-affirming, Country People is a luminous exploration of marriage and parenthood, the nature of belief and the power of stories, and the ways in which we find connection in an increasingly fragmented world.

• Millie Fleur's Pumpkin Problem

  New York Times bestselling character Millie Fleur has a BIG problem in this compact storybook perfect for the season! Includes stickers!

  Autumn has arrived, and the residents of Garden Glen are feeling dreary thinking about the gray months ahead. Lucky for them, Millie Fleur has a plan to bring color back to town. Her unusual pumpkin patch is sure to delight her neighbors.

  But when Millie Fleur's growing gourds take on a life of their own, she'll have to find a way out of this pumpkin problem!

  A new compact storybook featuring kid-favorite character Millie Fleur, Millie Fleur's Pumpkin Problem is the perfect pick for fall! Includes stickers!

• The Man

  PRAISED BY ANA REYES, MONA AWAD, ANDREA BARTZ, VANESSA CHAN, DANIELLE TRUSSONI, AND MORE!

  "Fiercely intelligent and deeply chilling. . . . The perfect book club read." --Ana Reyes, New York Times bestselling author of The House in the Pines

  From the highly acclaimed author of How Can I Help You, a New York Times Best Thriller of the Year: a singular take on the psychological suspense novel that follows a 1960s housewife turned amateur photographer who begins to fear for her life when she notices the dark silhouette of a man in the background of her self-portraits.

  The photos Judith Stanley takes are just for her, a private passion to fill her suburban days. But when she shares them with Paul Sorenson, her new photography instructor, she's unprepared to hear his astonished praise. "Stunning," he calls her photos. "Extraordinary." She has an uncanny eye, he says, and should consider publication. He could help. Except Judith has no interest in sharing her work; in fact, the mere idea of it frightens her.

  Still, emboldened by Paul's encouragement, Judith ventures out beyond her quiet neighborhood to the city in search of increasingly striking images. When she starts to notice the dark shape of a man in the corner of her self-portraits, Judith is certain he's an attacker from her past. She doesn't know why he has returned, but she's sure of his presence: the hoarse sound of his breathing, his hard grip on her elbow. Perhaps it would appease the man if she were to put her camera down and give up her private passion. But she can't; she refuses. Until one night when the man finally emerges from the shadows, and Judith's story suddenly and irrevocably becomes his own.

  Chilling and heart-poundingly propulsive, The Man is a phenomenal and timely novel exploring the inescapable fear of living as a woman, the tantalizing seduction of artistic freedom, and the very real dangers that lurk both inside and outside the confines of the mind. The Man marks Laura Sims as an extraordinary talent at the top of her game; and this, her third novel, is her greatest achievement yet.

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Monthly Staff Picks | July, 2026

New Monthly Staff Picks are here for July to help you beat the heat this summer!

Susie Dent’s mystery ‘Guilty by Definition’ is our Adult selection this month. The kick-off to a brand new series, this crime puzzler sees a letter arrive at the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary that begins the unraveling of the mysterious disappearance of one of their own. This fun, code-filled novel is perfect for word-nerds and British cozy mystery fans alike.

This month’s Young Adult selection is perfect for those looking for a beachy romance read; K.L. Walther’s ‘Summer of Second Chances’ is a Martha Vineyard set story of summer and young love as Olivia follows in her grandmother’s footsteps during a family vacation only to be reintroduced to a boy from her past who might be the key to opening her heart.

‘Norman and the Smell of Adventure’ is our pick for picture book readers this month. Norman is back in this Ryan T. Higgins sequel and he’s ready for an adventure, but when that means leaving behind his best friend Mildred, a tree, he learns that perhaps the best adventures are the ones that we share.

It’s a cryptid creature double feature for our Chapter Book and Middle Reader picks this month! ‘Big Foot and Little Foot’ is an early chapter book that sees a Sasquatch and a young boy’s worlds collide as they set out on an adventure in search of even more mythical beasts. ‘What Do We Know About Bigfoot?’ is perfect for fact finding fans as this favorite series follows the sightings, science, and lore of one of the world’s most recognizable cryptids.

Visit us throughout the month of July for 20% off of this month’s picks, while supplies last!

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Monthly Staff Picks | June, 2026

Little Village Toy & Book Shop’s Monthly Staff Picks for June are here!

As you may have seen last month, the Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Angel Down’ kicked things off a little earlier in May than expected but will continue as one of our Adult picks throughout June, too.

We’ve added an additional Adult title this month with ‘Ducks, Newburyport’ by Lucy Ellmann; another title that plays with form and function, like ‘Angel Down’, but in an entirely different setting. This Booker Prize shortlisted tome of a novel follows an American housewife’s stream of consciousness in a not-too-distant Ohio; it’s an ambitious but worthwhile effort for the author and readers alike.

Our Middle Reader and Picture Book Picks this month are a delightful pair with Katherine Applegate’s ‘Odder’ & ‘Odder: An Otter's Story’. ‘Odder’, for middle readers, is the bestselling novel told in verse that follows a remarkable otter off the coast of central California. ‘Odder: An Otter’s Story’ is a picture book adaptation of the novel sure to delight readers young and old. Both versions of this heartwarming tale inspired by the true story of a Monterey Bay Aquarium Program feature gorgeous illustrations from Charles Santoso.

And last but certainly not least, our YA selection this month is ‘Encore!’ (available 6/2). This queer graphic novel rom-com sees two former best friends reunite in high school after drifting apart during childhood.

Visit us this month for 20% off of our Monthly Staff Picks for June, while supplies last!

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Monthly Staff Picks | May, 2026

A new month means new Monthly Staff Picks, here’s what we're highlighting this May!

Romance readers, or perhaps those looking to expand their literary horizons, are in for a real treat with the latest from Chloe Liese, ‘Happy Ending’. The perfect rom-com to kick off your summer follows divorcees who meet when their ex spouses begin dating; what follows is a thoughtful friends-to-lovers, slow-burn tale of a bookseller, a chef, and a “two family” beach vacation that changes everything.

Author and Illustrator Robert McCloskey’s Classic ‘Make Way For Ducklings’ is our Picture Book Pick this month. This merry tale of Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings as they travel to make a new home of the pond at the Boston Public Garden is as heartwarming and meaningful as ever and sure to delight readers new and old.

Another classic, albeit, in a new form is our Middle Reader selection this month; ‘Heidi: A Graphic Novel’ sees the titular heroine sent to live with her Grandfather in the Swiss Alps and this familiar story is given new life as adapted by Mariah Marsden and beautifully illustrated by Elena Bia.

For YA readers, our Pick this month is ‘Happyhead’ from Josh Silver, a dystopian thriller set in an experimental mental health facility where not all is as it seems and the risks one boy is willing to take to escape. The first in a twist-filled duology that is sure to please dystopian fans looking for something new and perhaps a little different.

Visit us this May for 20% off this month’s selection of Monthly Staff Picks, while supplies last!

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