From the park to the depths of the sea: 4 new picture books

A mixed bag of new picture books from HarperCollins: a variety of topics, styles and themes to choose from.

Time to Go to the Park (by Emma Bowd & Leila Rudge) is the simplest in style. A wonderful fun-filled day at the park is explored in rhyming couplets and soft pastel or crayon pictures. Mum, a wheelchair user, and a cool Grandpa on a skateboard accompany a small girl to play in the sandpit, on the swings, observing butterflies and enjoying a picnic lunch. It doesn’t ask much of the reader/listener but the scenes depicted will be familiar to most little ones and they will enjoy the predictability of the rhymes.
It was published in April 2026.

A Day Off School (by Oliver Jeffers & Kevin Waldron) has a tongue-in-cheek theme of ‘careful what you wish for.’ Herbie has the sniffles and to his delight, he is allowed to stay at home. All the things he plans to do! By lunchtime he’s ticked off his list and is feeling a bit…bored. Then comes a massive case of FOMO – what is he missing out on at school? What amazing adventures are his classmates having? Birthday cake? A pirate attack? What if aliens have landed? It’s a wry nod, both to a very familiar scenario of a day at home and to the vivid imagination of a small child left to his own devices.
Published June 2026.

The Little Bird that Fell (by Bradley Trevor Greive & Gabriel Evans) is a retelling of the story of Penguin Bloom, which many Australian readers and movie watchers will know. Briefly, its the true story of how an injured magpie is cared for by an injured woman, and the healing that their relationship brings to both. In this case, the story is told from the perspective of the magpie chick. It’s a neat way to convey the experiences of being lost, hurt, and afraid, and the slow path to recovery, from a child’s point of view.
Published September 2026.

Through the Darkening Sea (by Claire Saxby & Peter Cheong) is my favourite amongst these four books, because of the beauty of its language and the rich collage illustrations. It tells of a whale who dies and falls to the ocean depths, on the way passing the wondrous life that inhabit different levels of the sea. While the tale of sea life and death is simple, the text is lyrical and evocative. I love to read books that introduce younger readers to the beauty of language and the ways in which it can invite imagination and excitement. Here is an example from the book:

Past swarms of migrating krill,
past flit-and-skitter schools of silvery lightfish
and threaded chains of see-through salps.

Published April 2026.

Thanks to HarperCollins Children’s Books for copies of these books to review.