Children's and YA Book Selection Spring 2026

Spring is here, and with it arrives a vibrant selection of new children’s and young adult books from Flanders. From a board book about the love between two penguins to a nonfiction book about migration throughout history: there is something here for everyone.

King penguin Quinn is looking for Pip among the many penguins in the bay. She doesn’t look at beaks, feathers or feet; she searches with her ears. By listening carefully, Quinn finds Pip. And she has a surprise. An endearing story in sparkling rhyme for the smallest of children that celebrates diversity, brought to life with enchanting, atmospheric illustrations.

Pablo is a word doctor. His room is full of little beds for the words that he’s caring for: wrongly pronounced, misunderstood, and almost forgotten words. Right on the top floor of the hospital lies the most special word of all: Darling. It was the pet name his parents used for each other, but it hasn’t been spoken for a long time. Can Pablo still cure it?

Deep under water, microplastics stick together to form colourful, surprising Things. As this evolution spreads onto land, a new species emerges that seems indestructible. Yet they struggle with a sense of emptiness. They dream of something more and what they invent is truly amazing: Life.

A highly original reversal of evolution that invites readers, with humour and imagination, to think about our throwaway society and how we treat the planet.

Atman goes to get a loaf of bread for himself and his dad, but he gets lost on the way back. Before he knows it, he’s been kidnapped by a female pirate captain who won’t be trifled with. Bart Moeyaert wrote ‘Atman!’ as a libretto, and it shows: the sentences flow and the rhythm is unmistakable. Mark Janssen goes to town with paint and coloured pencil. Together, they light-heartedly address sensitive subjects like uprootedness, loneliness and homesickness. ‘Atman!’ is a brilliant book that begs to be read aloud.

This beautifully illustrated book shows that migration is common to all eras. From prehistory to the recent past: the reasons for migrating were as numerous then as they are today. De Gendt and De Jongh in no way limit themselves to Western history, which makes the book exceptionally valuable. ‘On the Move’ is much-needed and shows convincingly, and with empathy, that all humans are migrants – or at the very least, descendants of those who once set out in search of a life elsewhere.

Transylvania, 1874. After losing his mother, Mika and his father take to the road and meet a small group of Rom, with whom Mika feels very much at home. But Ayan wants to travel on with his son alone. When he is arrested, Mika is left on his own. Marleen Nelen depicts the travelling life beautifully and brings nineteenth-century Transylvania completely convincingly to life. ‘The Birds’ is a moving, unostentatious adventure novel about freedom and finding your own way.

On 17 April 1685, the merchant ship Mytilida leaves on a transatlantic voyage with enslaved people, child sailors and one all-seeing mussel on board. This remarkable mollusc keeps a log, recording everything that goes on above decks and below, yet it knows nothing about slavery. This raw, poetic and visually powerful book provides a fresh, subversive view of slavery, gives full scope to voices that history has often left unheard, and creates a lasting impression.