The Picture Book Buzz - Three Awesome Picture Books From 2026

1 day ago
6 min read

These three books - The Upside-Down Lighthouse, The River of Caregiving, and Rainbow Cookies - are each gorgeous treasures released in May & July, and I wanted to give them a special shout out.

Let's start with an amazing book created by the superbly talented, award-winning author/illustrator Paddy Donnelly. Don't miss this book! Packed with stunning illustrations and wry humor, it is a creative, STEM, informational fiction picture book about a real, uniquely built lighthouse off the north coast of Ireland.

Book cover - a girl, grandpa, and pet otter in a rowboat approach an island with an upside-down lighthouse, as fish and dolphins leap out of the water and puffins and gannets.

The Upside-Down Lighthouse

Author/Illustrator: Paddy Donnelly

Publisher: The O'Brien Press (July 23, 2026)

Themes:

Nature, ingenuity, sea stories, adventure, STEM, and family.

Synopsis:

On a mysterious, foggy island, this topsy-turvy adventure reveals a world turned upside down.

On a mysterious, foggy island, way out at sea, stands an upside-down lighthouse. Here, fish fly and birds swim. Stars shine during the day and waterfalls fall upwards!

Come with Grandad and Meara to this topsy-turvy island full of wonders. And share the magic of looking at the world upside-down!

Opening Lines:

Meara and Grandad were in a boat on the wide, open sea.

Meara was feeling lost as a thick fog was hiding everything.

"I can't see where the sky ends and the sea begins," she said.

What I LOVED about this book:

For anyone ever caught in a thick fog, the opening scene will definitely bring back memories, whether they were on land or at sea. On the opening spread, Meara, Grandad, and their pet otter, Cara, sit in their small rowboat, a small dot of color, on the left of a mostly white and faintly blue page. Paddy Donnelly perfectly captures the eeriness, stillness, and isolation that such a thick fog can create. As they move through the fog, a distant light reveals faint shapes in the fog - a bird, dolphin, and fish - and what I'd love to be a dragon (but perhaps is just a fun school of fish).

Internal spread - on the left, a girl, Grandad, and pet otter in a row boat head toward a golden glow on the right, as a faint outlines of a bird, a dolpgin, and a flying fish appear in the heavy fog.

Text & Image © Paddy Donnelly, 2026.

This begins a fun adventure where they discover a lighthouse that "looks like a giant has turned it wrong way up," stars they can count during the daytime, and an "Island of Swimming Birds and Flying Fish." Paddy Donnelly's stunning illustrations highlight this special island with its birds - puffins, razorbills, and gannets - swimming through the water, fish - which build nest, lay eggs, and fly, an ocean full of "forests, valleys and even mountains," and a waterfall with water tumbling "UP a cliff." It is such a wonderfully topsy-turvy feeling island.

Internal spread - on the left, a girl Grandad, and pet otter approach a waterfall tumbling up a cliff. On the right, in a cave behind the waterfall, girl, Grandad, and otter discover a metal cylinder with a door.

Text & Image © Paddy Donnelly, 2026.

With an ingenious twist of the book, the vertical spread shows Meara, Grandad, and Cara climbing down a staircase into the lighthouse. This illustration offers a bit of back story - a portrait of a younger Grandad, humor - a shark bitten oar and an upside down window, and all manner of nautical, beach, and lighthouse paraphernalia. Each scanning offers something new and delightful. It's so fun participating in Meara's discoveries, through the stunning illustrations and gentle, thoughtful text. The ending is touching and enlightening. Photos and fun illustrations in the back highlight the real Upside-Down Lighthouse (below) and aspects of Rathlin Island.

Photo of Paddy Donnelly visiting the upside-down light house at Rathlin Island.

Paddy Donnelly at Rathlin Island's real Upside-Down Lighthouse

The next sweet and stunning book also involves water, family, and discovery. Brilliantly using a river motif, this book shows the interconnections of caregiving that flow throughout three generations of an extended family.

Book cover - three generations of a family (grandparents, parents, and three kids) picnic on the bank of a river with their dog.

The River of Caregiving

Author: Jocelyn Chung

Illustrator: Sarah Gonzales

Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books (May 19, 2026)

Ages: 3-7

Themes:

Family, multigenerational care giving, connections,

Synopsis:

An uplifting celebration of familial love and support through the generations

Caregiving flows through a little girl’s family in so many ways, like a river connecting them all. Her grandfather cares for her by picking her up from school with a snack and a smile, and she cares for him by keeping him company at his doctors’ appointments with a snack and a smile. Her mother helps her grandmother get ready for the day, just as her grandmother once helped her mother. And when the relatives send packages to each other, their caring makes them feel closer. Through occasions big and small, it’s a comfort to know this river of love is ever-present, and her family will always be there for each other.

Jocelyn Chung’s evocative text and Sarah Gonzales’ gorgeous pictures remind us that our family’s love is a gift to be treasured.

Opening Lines:

My a-ma told me that in our family,

our care for one another

flows like a river.

What I Loved about this book:

Opening with a girl and her a-ma leading the rest of the family to a picnic, the soft, watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil illustrations invoke the text's motif of a river with the flowing clouds and the faint thread wisping from A-ma's basket toward the family trailing behind.

Internal spread - on the left, a mother, father, a-gong, two kids and a dog in the distance. On the right, a girl and her a-ma lead the way to a family picnic.

Text © Jocelyn Chung, 2026. Image © Sarah Gonzales, 2026.

Exploring the circular flow of caring through a family's generations, Sarah Gonzales' stunning illustrations masterfully combine the generations, the present and past, and distant relations - such as when Mama washes A-ma's hair as A-ma remembers helping with Mama's hair when she was a child. I love the feeling of the river flowing around Mama and A-ma with the combination of the water, bubbles, and the liquid, flowing feel of the blue background. As well as the offset yellow and orange tinted memory.

Internal spread - on the left, a pair of hands test the temperature of water from a shower head. In the center, Mama washes A-ma's hair. On the right, A-ma remembers helping Mama when she was little.

Text © Jocelyn Chung, 2026. Image © Sarah Gonzales, 2026.

A wonderfully expansive illustration shows the multiple generations of the girl's family and their friends at a shared meal before acknowledging that the river also includes the shared tears of loss and that "like a river,/ the way we care can change as it passes each bend of life." Jocelyn Chung's lyrical text highlights a few of the ways the connections and caregiving continue even after a part of the family is "no longer with us," forming an endless river. This touching and loving look at intergenerational caregiving is wrapped up with a special tribute to caregivers in the author's note.

And the final book is a love letter to community, all families, diversity, and kindness. And involves Cookies. What could be better?

Book cover - a child excitedly holds a rainbow heart cookie in one hand and a sign "Love is Love" in another, standing in front of a bakery window full of treats and a sign "Rainbow Cookies."

Rainbow Cookies

Author: Lesléa Newman

Illustrator: Z.B. Asterplume

Publisher: Levine Querido (May 5, 2026)

Ages: 4-8

Themes:

Prejudice, compassion, friendship, and cookies.

Synopsis:

All This Fuss Over a Cookie?!

Every month Ms. Madeleine creates a special cookie of the month for her bakery. And her best customer, a little girl named Cookie, is always the first to try it. Ms. Madeleine’s sweet treats never disappoint.

When June arrives, Cookie and her two moms stop in and taste the best cookie yet: a heart-shaped, rainbow-striped, crunchy, frosted confection that Ms. Madeleine baked especially for Pride.

But Rainbow Cookies make some people in the neighborhood angry. They write harsh notes. They cancel orders. Ms. Madeleine is afraid her Rainbow Cookie might be her last.

But Cookie is not about to let that happen. With great determination and a fabulous idea, she gathers friends and neighbors to support Ms. Madeleine. Together they show the whole town how colorful and fun and celebratory and delicious the combination of love, Pride, and cookies can be!

Opening Lines:

Yipee! It's the first day of June! And on the first day

of every month the Cookie Cubby bakes a band-new

cookie! And I, Cookie, the world's greatest cookie lover,

can't wait to see what it is.

What I LOVE about this book:

What a joyous opening - a young girl named Cookie and her two moms head out on a family excursion to their local bakery to discover a fun new cookie. Turns out the special for the month of June is "a giant, heart-shaped Rainbow Cookie."

Internal spread - on the left, a mixing bowl with batter and a spoon, eggs, flour, ultensils, vanilla, butter, sugar, and measuring sppons and cups rest on a counter. On the right, a girl holds hands with her mom and mommy, skipping between them.

Unfortunately, when the three return the next day, they find the baker bemoaning a nasty note taped to the bakery's door by a customer complaining about the Rainbow Cookies and cancelling her order. Confused and frustrated, Cookie tries to help the baker, by buying a few extra cookies. But as more and more customers leave nasty notes or call to complain, the bakery runs the risk of closing.

Determined to save her favorite bakery, Cookie hatches a plan. If unhappy customers & their friends can threaten the Cookie Cubby, then her friends and their friends can save the bakery. Sharing cookies she bought with her piggy bank money, Cookie explains the problem and encourages each friend to contact their friends and join her family at the bakery the next morning.

The case cover says it all. I love that it captures this joyful moment of community, family, friendship, and support. The neighborhood's support is summed up with a wonderful rhyming chant from the participants - "We are here to celebrate "More sweetness, less hate."

Book case cover - a line of customers, families and friends wearing various rainbow outfits, bends around the corner and down the street. On the right, the baker and and excited Cookie stand in front of The Cookie Cubby door staring at the long line of customers.

This is such a joyous, empowering picture book full of caring and community. It is actually based on true stories. The author's note explains what happened at a bakery in Texas and in Massachusetts. There is also a recipe for "Love is Love Rainbow Cookies." It's a wonderful celebration of love and compassion overcoming fear and hate.

I hope you enjoy this look at these three treasures and find them at your bookstore or library.