Monthly Staff Picks | October, 2026

October 1, 2026 Clare Brooks

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!

Monthly Staff Picks | September, 2026

September 4, 2026 Clare Brooks

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!

Monthly Staff Picks | July, 2026

July 3, 2026 Clare Brooks

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!

Monthly Staff Picks | June, 2026

June 2, 2026 Clare Brooks

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!

Monthly Staff Picks | May, 2026

May 1, 2026 Clare Brooks

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!

Monthly Staff Picks | April, 2026

April 2, 2026 Clare Brooks

Our Monthly Staff Picks this April are perfect selections for those looking for a great springtime read!

From bestselling author Kristin Harmel comes ‘The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau’, our Monthly Staff Pick for adults this month. This decades spanning historical novel follows Colette, a one-time jewel thief helping to fund the French Resistance during WWII, as the mysteries and tragedies of the past resurface when a long lost bracelet resurfaces in a Boston Museum.

‘Beatrix Butterfly Wings It for Once’ is our Picture Book selection this month. This bright and colorful tale from Maren Morris & Karina Argow features illustrations from Kelly Anne Dalton is perfect for Spring. When Beatrix wakes up on the wrong side of her watermelon bed and is daunted by a long to-do list it’s through her friends that she learns to find a way to improve a day that gets off on the wrong foot.

For centuries, these gated woods have protected mythical creatures; and for twenty years Brandon Mull’s ‘Fablehaven’ has been delighting readers of all ages. Our selection for Middle Readers this April, join siblings Kendra and Seth as they inherit the role of Fablehaven’s caretaker. When the rules are broken and a powerful evil unleashed, they must race against the clock to save worlds both new and old in the first entry of this beloved series.

Our Young Adult pick this month, journeys into a much, much darker forest in CG Drews’s ‘Don't Let the Forest In’. This psychological horror novel follows two friends as one discovers that the other has been fighting his dark fairy tale drawings and they must band together to destroy these increasingly strong monsters before they can destroy their creator.

Join us this month for 20% off of all four of this April’s selections and for much more!