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TBRainbow Alert!

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Middle Grade: January-June 2026

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Brady Mason’s Perfect Fit by Nicole Melleby (January 13th)

Brady Mason couldn’t care less about fashion. She likes what she knows: baseball, comfortable clothes, and pork roll with egg and cheese. When Brady’s friends notice that she looks strangely like fashion editor Elena Lavigne, they start the rumor that Brady is Elena’s long-lost daughter. They’ll make a few TikTok videos, get some fun buzz online about their similarities, and that will be the end of it.

But when a DNA test confirms that Brady is Elena’s long-lost daughter, she’s summoned to Manhattan to live with her. The only problem: Elena’s high-fashion life clashes with Brady’s tomboy antics, and Elena doesn’t know how to be a mother any more than Brady knows how to be a daughter. But the more time passes, the more Brady sees what they have in common, and she starts wondering…if she and Elena are both searching for a family, could the two of them be the right fit?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

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Cover Reveal

Exclusive Cover Reveal: Clock Hands by Marieke Nijkamp and Sylvia Bi

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Today on the site I am utterly delighted to be revealing the cover of Clock Hands by Marieke Nijkamp and Sylvia Bi, a middle grade graphic novel with a nonbinary protagonist releasing April 21, 2026 from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins! Clock Hands is a companion to Ink Girls, but can be read entirely on its own. Here’s the story:

Raising your voice can change everything.

Vale has always dreamed of being a metalworker’s apprentice. But in Siannerra, the guilds rule with an iron fist, and their apprenticeship fees are impossibly high. So Vale and their guildless family must make do with the pennies and scraps they’re able to cobble together from work on the docks or in the market.

Until Maestro Giuseppi arrives from abroad, determined to build the city’s first astronomical clock. He doesn’t care for fees or exclusionary practices—and he sees Vale’s talent. He invites Vale into his workshop, and for a while Vale believes all their dreams are coming true. But everything in Siannerra belongs to the guilds, and if anyone tries to break free, there are consequences. Sometimes the gravest of consequences. Still, Vale refuses to stop dreaming. Or fighting. With the help of their friends, they plan to take on the might of the guilds. And together, they may just be strong enough to bend iron to their will.

A stand-alone companion to the acclaimed Ink Girls.

And here’s the fabulous cover, illustrated by Sylvia Bi and designed by Sylvie Le Floc’h!

Illustrated cover of CLOCK HANDS, featuring three tweens on the edge of a brightly lit clockface over a darkened Renaissance-like town. The tweens all wear practical, medieval looking clothes. The boy on the left--Caliste--has brown hair, brown skin, and wearing a laced up shirt. He's sitting down with one knee pulled up. Vale, in the middle, has black hair and brown skin. They're standing, dreamily looking out over the city. They're wearing a blue tunic, patched up pants, and a necklace. They have a slight scar on their chin. And to the right is Stella, who wears her red hair in a braid with a headband. She has freckled white skin, and she's wearing a pink and green dress. She's standing next to Vale and has her hand on their shoulder. She's smiling.

Buy it: B&N | Amazon

Marieke Nijkamp (she/they) is the author of Splinter & Ash; Ink Girls, a middle grade graphic novel illustrated by Sylvia Bi; as well as several books for young adults, which include #1 New York Times bestsellers, a critically acclaimed anthology, graphic novels, and comics. She studied philosophy and medieval history, and when she isn’t writing, she loves to garden, roll dice, and daydream. Marieke Nijkamp lives and writes in Small Town, the Netherlands.

Sylvia Bi is the illustrator of the graphic novel Ink Girls, written by Marieke Nijkamp, and loves drawing stories with expansive, vibrant worlds, an undercurrent of chaos, and girls running on rooftops. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, she explores and shares diverse stories and experiences through the power of a (digital) pen. She is also a book designer, a frog enthusiast, and an avid earring collector. Sylvia Bi lives in Brooklyn, New York.