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Mix and Match Inventors by Jane Wilsher ill. Mar Hernández

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 2 Sep 2026

Publisher: Post Wave 
ISBN: 9781836271017

Here’s a clever twist on the usual mix-and-match animals/creatures concept…

 

 
 
 
 
 
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If you could invent anything, what would it be? If there were no limitations to your creativity, how far would you go? This book makes the reader the inventor, and with over 450 variations, the sky is the limit when it comes to the contraptions you can create. From star-powered submarines to dream-powered space rockets, and flush-powered bicycles to solar-powered toilets, you can create the wildest, most unbelievable inventions ever seen on planet Earth.

With bright, bold illustrations by Mar Hernández and brilliant facts, become the inventor of your own future.

Mar Hernández (Malota) is a Spanish illustrator based in València. She started working as a designer and art director until she decided to focus entirely on illustration. You can follow her on

 

 
 
 
 
 
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All You Can Eat by Anna Watanabe

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 1 Sep 2026

Publisher: Do Re Mi
ISBN: 9781917933049

Expect to see us recommending several books from Do Re Mi Books over the coming weeks. I’ve been sent a bundle of forthcoming titles and they all look delightful. Do Re Mi is a new independent children’s publisher based in London founded by husband-and-wife team Sam Voulters and Anna Watanabe, Do Re Mi is inspired by cute, weird and funny stories, and the charm and creativity of Japanese children’s publishing.

This chunky board books has been created by one of the publisher’s founders.
You can follow Anna Watanabe on

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Anna Watanabe (@massivecrush)

This robust miniature board book features 50 pages filled with food and funny characters. There’s so much to see, with each revisit a child will find more to explore.

Someone’s feeling hungry! What can they eat? Peas? Pizza? Croissants? Kimchi? There’s a world of flavour and colour in this playful introduction to the foods a little one might encounter. Japanese-American illustrator Anna Watanabe’s funny and colourful illustrations are a treat for babies and toddlers.

Inspired by a popular Japanese board book format, Chock-a-Block books are perfectly sized for little hands – ideal for reading, stacking, flipping and sharing, at home or on the go.

Check out this interview with both the founders:
https://childrensillustrators.com/interviews/anna__sam

The Bug Hotel by Manu Montoya tr. Tim Smith-Laing

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 28 Aug 2026

Publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 9781782695936

This is Manu Montoya’s first book as both author and illustrator. It explores flexibility, hospitality, and change in a unique and visually distinctive way.
See also illustrated by her:
What A Wonderful Phrase [ACHUKA Book of the Day 17 Aug 2021]

Meet the wonderfully diverse residents of the Bug Hotel and its cantankerous owner, Mr Beetle, in this whimsical picture book perfect for readers aged 5+!

Mr Beetle is very proud of his Bug Hotel.

He’s even prouder of the Book of Rules, which all his guests must follow.

But can any bug be snug without a little bit of freedom?

Manu was born in Medellín, Colombia, in 1990. She studied Graphic and Advertising Communication at the Universidad de Medellín, then went on to specialize in Art Direction with a Master’s degree at ELISAVA, in Barcelona. Since then, she has illustrated picture books and children’s books for leading publishers across Europe and around the world: Albin Michel Jeunesse, SM, Blackie Books, Penguin Random House, Usborne, Little Brown, Candlewick, Cataplum, and others.  Her work has been selected three times for the Illustrators Exhibition at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.

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A post shared by Manu Montoya Escobar (@manumontoyae)

 

Class Pets: Snack Attack! by Beach

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 27 Aug 2026

Publisher: Simon & Schuster 
ISBN: 9781398532588

We’ve been making a special effort to highlight graphic novels on ACHUKA this year. This one is published today!

The full Graphic Novels listing is to be fund under the Illustrated tab. Check it out now.

A new animal is arriving at St Bernard’s Academy, and the current class pets could not be more excited. That’s until who they find out their new friend is actually a terrifying, and very hungry, snake! He’s already eaten the headteacher and has his eye on some more furry snacks.  

It’s up to the class pets to join forces and save the day, but everything they know will be tested in an epic fight to survive. Can Goldie the fish find a use for school cafeteria food? Will Mrs Sprinkles the Guinea pig discover if there’s ever a wrong time for glitter glue? Can Ken the stick insect survive being cut in half?  

These questions and MORE answered in a the first of a riotous new young fiction series from best-selling picture book superstar Beach.  

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The Skeleton and the Cat by Brandon James Scott

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 24 Aug 2026

Publisher: HarperCollins 
ISBN: 9780063455887

“The humor is dry and character-driven throughout, and the friendship utterly genuine. Scott’s text sits on clean white pages opposite full, cheerful artwork, including a showstopping spread of the pair dancing together in the flower-drenched garden. Prose and artwork blend seamlessly for a reminder that appearances—bony or otherwise—don’t always tell the whole story. Funny, vibrant, and surprisingly tender—in short, everything a good friendship should be.” KIRKUS
“What is not said in the text is fully articulated in the stunningly expressive digital illustrations that deploy small visual cues to amplify the humor; the scenes in which Cat tries to show Skeleton how to properly eat a sandwich, for example, are made especially comedic by the smiling then unimpressed then horrified faces of the figures in the portraits hanging above them on the wall. ” MUSE

This book garnered five starred reviews in the US. It is rare for books to even receive three. Will it be as well received in the UK? Publishing here this week.

A humorous and touching tale of the unexpected friendship that blossoms between a peaceful skeleton and a persistent cat, told in five short and charming stories.

Skeleton lives alone in lonesome bliss. She reads books, drinks tea, and tends to her garden. It’s simple and peaceful. Until, one day, a cat knocks on the Skeleton’s door…


“Can I come in?” asks the Cat.

Readers and cat lovers of all ages will adore this surprising duo who is sure to convince you that skeletons are gardeners, cats tell good-ish jokes, and, together, they make the best of friends.

Follow Brandon James Scott’s Instagram account. It’s where the idea for the book began, as he told Betsy Bird:

It was originally just a personal art project with these two characters and was never intended as a book. I treated it as a playground for visual ideas for the longest time, and shared them online and built a bit of a following. But after making hundreds of illustrations, the Skeleton and the Cat really started to develop strong personalities and felt like real characters so… I had to do something with them. I have to credit my wonderful literary agent, Emily Van Beek at Folio Jr., for the gentle nudge to pursue making a book with them. She really convinced me it was something worth trying.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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The Fountain by Lisa Loffredo

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 21 Aug 2026

Publisher: Transit Books
ISBN: 9798893380897

“The freewheeling unpredictability of the narrative lends it both an air of mystery and a feeling that everything is all in good fun. Pages are suffused in the bright yellow of the fountain’s gifts, alongside eye-popping pinks, greens, blues, oranges, and browns. While the mystery itself is never completely solved, multiple readings yield various interpretations, particularly if children inspect hidden details on many of its pages, like the expressions on the fountain’s statues. Enigmatic yet utterly enticing—youngsters will have a ball.” KIRKUS
“”I took one look at this highly detailed art, and my first thought was: Adventure Time. After all, this is the kind of book where the citizens can be everything from badgers in pants to walking clouds to guys with butterfly wings. It’s also the kind of book that rewards multiple re-readings. It doesn’t solve its own mystery, but it gives something different to think about to readers of different ages.” Betsy Bird, School Library Journal
“A visually inviting fable of magic-tinged abundance(…) Satisfaying echoes of ‘the Magic Porridge Pot’, Tove Jansson’s ‘Finn Family Moomintroll’, and Tomi Ungere’s ‘The Hat”; and drooll text and linework that will fully immerse readers” –Publishers Weekly, Starred Review.

Highly recommended: this background page:
https://lisaloffredo.substack.com/p/la-fontaine-where-do-ideas-for-books
where we are told that the idea for the book began as a list of words in a notebook:

 

A fountain begins to offer up unexplained gifts to a town’s residents — a garden gnome, roller skates, a mountain of bananas — until they find the gift of each other’s company.

One Tuesday morning, a yellow hat bobs to the surface of the town fountain. The next day, there’s a yellow drum. Then a yellow rocking horse, roller skates, cowboy boots, a garden gnome, things with moustaches…

By evening, the whole town is buzzing about the fountain’s incredible gifts. Notable experts from far and wide come to investigate. The mayor designates visiting days and installs a traffic light. But no one ever figures out the fountain’s secret. Then, one day, the fountain disappears as mysteriously as it arrived. But its magic remains…

Lisa Loffredo is a self-taught Italian illustrator and picture book author based in Amsterdam. She loves colours, humorous characters and playful illustrations. Lisa was selected as winner of the 2025 Illustrators’ Exhibition in Bologna.

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Night Chef by Mika Song

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 20 Aug 2026

Publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 9781782696032

“Song’s lighthearted, expressive character studies and simple, specific scenery, rendered with textural ink-and-watercolor artwork, blend into a true visual treat. Intimately realized scenes of kitchen life envelop readers; Song’s imaginative specificity revels in small moments of plating and serving, cleaning and closing, as well as the rich rewards of working as a team. A deeply satisfying adventure for readers young and old.” KIRKUS
“Fluid ink and watercolor art bring the world of food-obsessed animals to life as Night Chef uses her wits and cooking skills to brave the outside world. Amiable critters are always eager to lend a hand in this heartwarming tale about sharing the joy of food with family and friends, and paying it forward.” PublishersWeekly
“In this warm, endearing graphic novel…” MUSE

THIS IS NO ORDINARY RESTAURANT. AND NIGHT CHEF IS NO ORDINARY CHEF.

For years she has lived inside the walls, honing her cooking skills. But though her talented paws can transform the humblest ingredients, the humans will never accept her – so she remains hidden, and alone.

Then a fateful ramen mishap leads her to Ichi – a lost baby crow. As they search for his home together, Night Chef discovers that good food tastes even better when shared with those you love.

 

Mika Song makes children’s books about sweetly funny outsiders. Henry, Like Always by Jenn Bailey and illustrated by Mika received the Schneider Family Award and a Geisel Honor from the American Library Association. Her graphic novel for early readers Donut Feed the Squirrels was nominated for an Eisner award. She co-founded the weekly free kids comics collection Sundayhaha.com with Jen de Oliveira. She lives in Queens, NY in walking distance to all her favorite places to eat.

Here she is showing and talking about the US hardback edition (published last year):

You Choose Party Time by Pippa Goodhart ill. Nick Sharratt

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 19 Aug 2026

Publisher: Penguin Random House 
ISBN: 9780241730836

There are now some half a dozen You Choose titles and this new one will be just as popular as the previous ones.

What kind of party will it be? Who will you invite? Which cake would you like to eat? Will you dance to a steel pan band or bagpipes?

The possibilities are endless in this magical storytelling toolkit which will inspire children age 3 and upwards to make their own adventures again and again – a fantastically fun sequel to YOU CHOOSE, YOU CHOOSE YOUR DREAMS, YOU CHOOSE IN SPACE, YOU CHOOSE FAIRY TALES and YOU CHOOSE CHRISTMAS.

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Betty and the Yeti: Disasters of Disguise by Hugh Raine

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 18 Aug 2026

Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 9780008755263

The 3rd and most recent title in this popular BEANO comic book series…

Yeti has become a slob – a very STINKY slob that just so happens to be messing up Betty’s bedroom and disrupting her peace. So when Dad suggests she goes outside more, Betty decides to make it her mission to get Yeti out of her room and experiencing everything Beanotown has to offer …

But can Beanotown survive everything Yeti has to offer in return?

Join Betty and Yeti for another year of disasters of disguise!

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A post shared by Beano (@beano_official)

Also, check out his HughTube Channel :)

 

One Dog, Two Dogs: A lift-the-flap, pop-up book with 20 dogs to count! by Jonathan Emmett ill. Rob Hodgson

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ACHUKA Book of the Day 17 Aug 2026

Publisher: Nosy Crow Ltd
ISBN: 9781805139171

Good to see a new title from Jonathan Emmett, who last featured on ACHUKA over a decade ago when he launched a discussion about gender bias in picture books…

 

 
 
 
 
 
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In this interactive counting book with rhyming text, sturdy flaps and surprising pop-ups, you will meet 20 hilarious hounds in lots of silly scenarios! This brilliantly bold picture book from Jonathan Emmett, the creator of Alphabet Street, and illustrator Rob Hodgson is the paw-fect book for dog lovers, young and old.

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Follow the illustrator Rob Hodgson there too:

 

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Rob Hodgson (@berthodgson)

See also: