2020 Round Up

2020 is in the books – woohoo! We can’t tell you how grateful we are to you for all that you’ve done during this year full of challenges and changes. Since so much happened this year, we figured you might want one easy stop to access many of our events and resources. Here’s a look at what we’ve done this year, in case you missed anything!

Browse Our Book Collections and Download Digital Galleys

Titles for Grades K-3

Titles for Grades 4-6

Titles for Grades 7-9

Titles for Grades 10-12

Books by Black Creators

Our 2020 Superstars

Stream Author Read Alouds and Download Chapter Samplers

Download the RHCB chapter sampler to get a sneak peek of books to read aloud!

Book Buzzes! Find Classroom Library Favorites for the Virtual World

Webinar Series

Click the images below to clicking to view the recorded conversations.

Check Out Our Resource Hub!

If you are putting together plans for teaching remotely or homeschooling your children and are looking for resources, visit the pages below for discussion guides, activities, and more available for FREE to download.

Elementary Resources

Middle School Resources

High School Resources

A Message About Story Times and Read-Aloud Videos

In these uncertain and unsettling times, many of you are wondering how we can collectively continue to share our books and stories with students and readers everywhere. As a company, we are heartened by the role that books and reading can play to help connect us when we are physically apart. As you may know, our teams at Penguin Random House have been working quickly to enable virtual learning environments and livestreamed story times for educators, librarians, and booksellers, as well as our authors and illustrators. Today, we are pleased to share our plans for the open license we designed as an immediate measure to directly connect our books with students and readers while protecting the long term value of our authors’ and illustrators’ intellectual property. You’ll find all the details here.

Thank you for your shared commitment to storytelling and reading, and to our collective belief in the power of books to connect us—especially during times like these.

Fresh Voices Q&A Series

Welcome to Fresh Voices! In this new series, we are excited to share with you authors whose books capture a unique aspect of the human experience. Enjoy these Q&As!

Author Essays

Throughout the year, many Random House Children’s Books authors have shared some thoughts on their books, inspirations, and tips for educators with us. Discover all of their essays here!

New book from civil rights activist and icon Ruby Bridges

This Is Your Time By Ruby Bridges

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Civil rights icon Ruby Bridges—who, at the age of six, was the first black child to integrate into an all-white elementary school in New Orleans—inspires readers and calls for action in this moving letter. Her elegant, memorable gift book is especially uplifting in the wake of Kamala Harris making US history as the first female, first Black, and first South Asian vice president–elect.

Written as a letter from civil rights activist and icon Ruby Bridges to the reader, This Is Your Time is both a recounting of Ruby’s experience as a child who had to be escorted to class by federal marshals when she was chosen to be one of the first black students to integrate into New Orleans’ all-white public school system and an appeal to generations to come to effect change.

This beautifully designed volume features photographs from the 1960s and from today, as well as stunning jacket art from The Problem We All Live With, the 1964 painting by Norman Rockwell depicting Ruby’s walk to school.

Ruby’s honest and impassioned words, imbued with love and grace, serve as a moving reminder that “what can inspire tomorrow often lies in our past.” This Is Your Time will electrify people of all ages as the struggle for liberty and justice for all continues and the powerful legacy of Ruby Bridges endures.

Learn More

Ruby Bridges

Ruby Bridges is a civil rights activist who, at the age of six, was the first black student to integrate an all-white elementary school in New Orleans. She was born in Mississippi in 1954, the same year the United States Supreme Court handed down its landmark decision ordering the integration of public schools. Her family later moved to New Orleans, where on November 14, 1960, Bridges began attending William Frantz Elementary School, single-handedly initiating the desegregation of public education in New Orleans. Her walk to the front door of the building was immortalized in Norman Rockwell's famous painting The Problem We All Live With, in Robert Coles's book The Story of Ruby Bridges, and in the Disney movie Ruby Bridges.

This Is Your Time is her first book in over twenty years, following the publication of her award-winning autobiography Through My Eyes.

Hey, Grandude!

A new picture book from Paul McCartney!

Hey Grandude! By Paul McCartney; illustrated by Kathryn Durst

This #1 New York Times bestselling picture book adventure from Paul McCartney is perfect for Father’s Day or any day when you’re looking to celebrate the fun that grandparents and grandkids can get up to!

See the compass needle spin, let the magic fun begin!

Meet Grandude--a super-cool grandfather who is an intrepid explorer with some amazing tricks up his sleeve. Grandude is a one-of-a-kind traveler! With his magic compass, he whisks his four grandkids off on whirlwind adventures, taking them all around the globe. Join them as they ride flying fish, dodge stampedes, and escape avalanches! Brought to life with gloriously colorful illustrations from talented artist Kathryn Durst, Hey Grandude is the perfect bedtime story for little explorers and an ideal gift for Father’s Day.

Adventure with Grandude!

Magical activities for the classroom and Grandparent's Day!

Watch the trailer!

Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum

Dr. Seuss's Horse Museum By Dr. Seuss; illustrated by Andrew Joyner

This #1 New York Times bestseller is the perfect gift for the young artist in your life! A never-before-published Dr. Seuss non-fiction book about creating and looking at art!

Based on an unrhymed manuscript and sketches discovered in 2013, this book is like a visit to a museum—with a horse as your guide!

Explore how different artists have seen horses, and maybe even find a new way of looking at them yourself. Discover full-color photographic art reproductions of pieces by Picasso, George Stubbs, Rosa Bonheur, Alexander Calder, Jacob Lawrence, Deborah Butterfield, Franz Marc, Jackson Pollock, and many others—all of which feature a horse! Young readers will find themselves delightfully transported by the engaging equines as they learn about the creative process and how to see art in new ways.

Taking inspiration from Dr. Seuss’s original sketches, acclaimed illustrator Andrew Joyner has created a look that is both subtly Seussian and wholly his own. His whimsical illustrations are combined throughout with “real-life” art. Cameo appearances by classic Dr. Seuss characters (among them the Cat in the Hat, the Grinch, and Horton the Elephant) make Dr. Seuss’s Horse Museum a playful picture book that is totally unique. Ideal for home or classroom use, it encourages critical thinking and makes a great gift for Seuss fans, artists, and horse lovers of all ages.

Publisher’s Notes discuss the discovery of the manuscript and sketches, Dr. Seuss’s interest in understanding modern art, the process of creating the book, and information about each of the artists and art reproductions in the book.

Learn more!

Activities for the classroom!

Wilder Girls

Wilder Girls By Rory Power

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!

"The perfect kind of story for our current era."—Hypable

From the author of Burn Our Bodies Down, a feminist Lord of the Flies about three best friends living in quarantine at their island boarding school, and the lengths they go to uncover the truth of their confinement when one disappears. This fresh debut is a mind-bending novel unlike anything you've read before.

It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there's more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

And don't miss Rory Power's second novel, Burn Our Bodies Down!

Praise for Wilder Girls:

4 STARRED REVIEWS!

"Take Annihilation, add a dash of Contagion, set it at an all-girls' academy, and you'll arrive at Rory Power's occasionally shocking and always gripping Wilder Girls."--Refinery29

"This thrilling saga...is sure to be one of the season's most talked-about books, in any genre."--EW

"Fresh and horrible and beautiful....readers will be consumed and altered by Wilder Girls."--NPR

Meet the Wilder Girls!

Rory Power

Rory Power grew up in Boston, received her undergraduate degree at Middlebury College, and went on to earn an MA in prose fiction from the University of East Anglia. She lives in Massachusetts. She is the New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls, Burn Our Bodies Down, and Longyear. To learn more about Rory, go to itsrorypower.com and follow @itsrorypower on Twitter and Instagram.

Meet Rory!

New Books