School Library Journal calls RAMP IT UP! a highly anticipated book for Fall 2026!
I was surprised and delighted to find RAMP IT UP! in School Library Journal’s article, “Power & Wonder: Highly Anticipated Picture Books for Fall 2026” by M. Rose Garrett! Here are some highlights:
Picture books arrive this fall from Patagonia and Tripoli, from Pacific Northwest papercut forests to city streets lit through stained glass. They return again and again to questions of inheritance, make room for biography and history, and even chronicle the stubborn comedy of a vertical crocodile and a horizontal crocodile who are friends. What they share is harder to shelve than any single subject: a trust in young readers to hold wonder, experience sorrow, think through questions, and even appreciate scatological humor. They give children space to sit with questions that don’t resolve. At their strongest, they show that the most particular story—the kind that fits inside the smallest container—almost always has the most room.
Katrina Tangen’s RAMP IT UP! (Charlesbridge), illustrated by Wendy Wen, turns accessibility into practical, joyful problem-solving at a rooftop pool party.
What the season’s picture books do collectively is resist categories. The books previewed here are not “cultural” books or “nonfiction” books or “grief” books. They are, first and foremost, good books, which is the only category that holds meaning when in the hands of readers. Fall 2026 delivers a season full of them, and every single one is worth keeping.”
Thanks, SLJ!