Ladybug Nominee Profile

Aggie and the Ghost by Matthew Forsythe (A Paula Wiseman Book/Beach Lane Books, 2025)

Aggie is very excited to live on her own—until she finds out her new house is haunted. But no fear, the situation is nothing that can’t be fixed with a carefully considered list of rules: No haunting after dark. No stealing socks. No eating all the food.

But the ghost doesn’t like playing by the rules and challenges Aggie to an epic game of tic-tac-toe—winner gets the house.

About Matthew Forsythe

Matthew Forsythe is the award-winning author and illustrator of the books, Pokko and the Drum and MINA. 

He was also the lead designer on the animated show, Adventure Time at Cartoon Network, and the Oscar-nominated film, Robin Robin. He lives in Los Angeles. His website is: https://www.comingupforair.net/

Activities & Links

• Check out this Read Aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkwr9sC90z0
• Here's an interview with Matthew Forsythe about his artistic technique in illustrating his picture books: https://www.brushupmag.com/articles/interview-matthew-forsythe
• Check out these activity sheets for the book at: https://tinyurl.com/ycyzyt3a
• Here's a link to a printable ghost coloring sheet: https://www.firstpalette.com/pdf/ghost-large.pdf 
• Narrative writing exercise: While coloring their ghost sheets, encourage children to develop a ghost character by exploring its personality, appearance, and quirks. 

Suggestions for Further Reading

• Check out the other 2026 Ladybug Longlist titles featuring Friendship & Cooperation at: https://nhbookcenter.blogspot.com/2026/01/ladybug-longlist-friendship-cooperation.html 
• Hardly Haunted by Jessie Sima, a 2023 Ladybug Finalist title, and There's a Ghost In This House by Oliver Jeffers are some other titles about ghosts. 
• For more books about friendship, consider The Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen, a 2022 Ladybug Longlist title, or Norman Didn't Do It! (Yes, He Did.) by Ryan T. Higgins, a 2022 Ladybug Finalist title.

This is one of nine titles nominated for the 2026 Ladybug Picture Book Award.
We will be posting information about a different nominee each Friday throughout the summer and will issue a pdf voters guide featuring all the titles by Labor Day.

3 on a Theme: Numbers

 The Five Year Lie: A Domestic Thriller by Sarina Bowen

 Six Thousand Doughnuts by Thomas Tosi

 Twenty-Five to Life by R.W.W Greene 

Book of the Week (6/29/2026)

Lady Justice and the Sisterhood of the Crones by Jennifer Speidel (Olympia Publishers, 2026)

The world is broken - corrupt men rule, greed runs rampant, and the voices of women have been silenced for too long. Enter Mavon, a demon, who's lost her taste for wicked souls, and Buluku, the ancient goddess of matriarchy, who's had enough. Together, they call upon the crones - women of wisdom, resilience, and untapped power - to rise up and take back what's theirs.

On Peaks Island, an unlikely sisterhood forms: Maxine, a no-nonsense New Yorker with a rebellious streak; Toby, a teacher whose empathy is her superpower; and Sumita, a gentle soul with quiet strength. As their magic spreads, curses unravel the powerful, and a revolution begins. But changing the world won't be easy - especially when the forces of greed fight back.

Witty, fierce, and full of heart, Lady Justice and the Sisterhood of the Crones is a spellbinding tale of justice, sisterhood, and the power of women who refuse to be ignored. For anyone who's ever wished the patriarchy would just... crumble. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Jennifer Speidel has been a special education teacher for twenty years. She's passionate about building strong connections with students and community, and founded a school thrift shop that has provided over 11,000 free items to students. She lives in New Hampshire with her partner, Dave, and their two cats. Now empty nesters, they enjoy camping with their daughters. Jennifer loves coastal walks in Maine and reading with a cat curled up on her lap.

Join Jennifer at Gibson's Bookstore on Thu., August 6, 2026 at 6:30 pm where she will be discussing her first novel!

Ladybug Nominee Profile

Stalactite & Stalagmite: A Big Tale from a Little Cave by Drew Beckmeyer (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2025)

A hilarious and thought-provoking picture book about two little cave rock formations who witness the entire history of the world.

DRIP. DRIP. DRIP.

Time flies for two charming little cave nubs, Stalactite and Stalagmite. Over millions of years, creatures and things pass in and out of their cave, everything from a trilobite, an ichthyostega, and a triceratops, to a ground sloth and a bat.

When you are an ageless rock formation, it’s nice to have a friend who’s always there. But what will happen when the two nubs grow enough to finally touch?

About Drew Beckmeyer 

Drew Beckmeyer received a Caldecott Honor for his picture book Stalactite & Stalagmite. He is an author-illustrator and schoolteacher based in Los Angeles. He is the author-illustrator of I Am a Tornado, The First Week of School, and The Long Island. He is the illustrator of Dear Wild Child. His website is: https://www.drewbeckmeyer.com/

Activities & Links

• Check out this Read Aloud & craft with the author/illustrator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZAO-fFRrsg
• Here's a video with Drew Beckmeyer about his research process in creating this book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E9LybaPooA
• Check out these activity sheets for the book: https://tinyurl.com/y3n4t26p
• Here's a guide to teaching environmental fiction & nonfiction: https://tinyurl.com/fpr7yr43
• Watch SciShow Kids' video about caves, stalactites & stalagmites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tp-AGTtmjjA
• Check out Britannica Kids' webpage about geologic time: https://kids.britannica.com/kids/article/geologic-time/390244
• Here's an interview with the author/illustrator about Stalactite & Stalagmite: https://jenabenton.com/2025/03/21/simply-7-with-drew-beckmeyer-stalactite-stalagmite/

Suggestions for Further Reading

• Check out the other 2026 Ladybug Longlist titles featuring Nature at: https://nhbookcenter.blogspot.com/2026/02/ladybug-longlist-nature.html
• I Am a Tornado, a 2024 Ladybug Nominee title is another book authored & illustrated by Drew Beckmeyer. 
• For more books about rocks, consider A Pocket Full of Rocks by Kristin Mahoney, a 2026 Ladybug Longlist title, Rick the Rock of Room 214 by Julie Falatko, a 2025 Ladybug Longlist title or When You Find the Right Rock by Mary Lyn Ray, a 2025 Ladybug Longlist title by a NH author/illustrator. 

This is one of nine titles nominated for the 2026 Ladybug Picture Book Award.
We will be posting information about a different nominee each Friday throughout the summer and will issue a pdf voters guide featuring all the titles by Labor Day.

Ann Patchett to Receive 2026 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction

The Library of Congress has announced that the 2026 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction will be awarded to Ann Patchett at the National Book Festival on Aug. 22, 2026!

The annual Prize for American Fiction, one of the Library’s most prestigious awards, honors an American literary writer whose body of work is distinguished by its mastery of the art, as well as its originality of thought and imagination.

The award seeks to recognize strong, unique, enduring voices that, throughout long and consistently accomplished careers, have told us something about the American experience.

Patchett is the author of 10 novels, including “The Dutch House” (Pulitzer Prize finalist), “The Patron Saint of Liars,” “Bel Canto,” “Commonwealth” and “Taft,” as well as nonfiction and children’s books. She was named one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World and received the National Humanities Medal in recognition of her contributions to American culture. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages.

For more information about the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, including past winners click here.

Book of the Week (6/22/2026)

In Wonderland: A Novel by Joyce Maynard (Little A, 2026)

In one golden summer, Frances trades her working-class world for an elite Maine lakeside estate―where privilege and betrayal turn into a deadly game.

Frances believes she’s found a ticket to paradise when a wealthy couple hires her for the summer as their mother’s helper at their lakefront summer home in Maine. The vintage wooden boats, the days at the country club, a shiny new bicycle, and a tennis racquet―suddenly Frances has everything her modest childhood lacked. Best of all, she gets to spend the summer with Forrest Emerson, her father's charismatic childhood friend who escaped their neighborhood when he married into money.

But below the glittering surface of Lake Catherine, nothing is what it seems. When Forrest’s wife, Regina, pulls Frances into her private obsession, the girl finds herself witness to the intimate secrets of adult lives. As the summer heat builds, so do the tensions within Wonderland’s walls. By Labor Day, a death will shatter the seemingly perfect family, leaving Frances to question everything she thought she knew about privilege, power, and the price of belonging. --Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Joyce Maynard is the New York Times bestselling author of thirteen previous novels and five books of nonfiction, as well as the syndicated column Domestic Affairs. Her memoir, At Home in the World, has been translated into eighteen languages. Her novels To Die For and Labor Day were both adapted for film. She is a fellow of MacDowell and Yaddo artists' residencies.

When not running her hotel/retreat center, Casa Paloma, in Guatemala―where she mentors women in the telling of their stories―she makes her home in Northern California and in the state of New Hampshire.

Join Joyce at Gibson's Bookstore on Thu., July 23, 2026 at 6:30 pm and at Toadstool Bookshop in Peterborough on Sat., July 25, 2026 at 11 am where she will be discussing her newest book!

Book of the Week (6/15/2026)

Dominic Bean and the Mammoth Melt by Emilie Christie Burack (Groundwood Books, 2026)

At first, twelve-year-old Dominic Bean is not happy when he and his sister are “dumped” with eccentric relatives on a New Hampshire cattle farm while their scientist parents work on a secret project in the Canadian Arctic. Coping with what he sees as parental abandonment, plus the pressure of bullies, schoolwork and wrangling Harriet (a stubborn pregnant Highlander cow with long, sharp horns) bring out the worst in Dom.

But the sleepy farm turns out to be full of surprises. A developer is trying to buy the Bean family land to build an Arctic-themed amusement park under a plastic dome. Dom’s nemesis at school, Edith, turns out to have a way with Harriet. And reading his dad’s old journal leads Dom to an ancient woolly mammoth tusk that his father once found in the farm’s bog.

Dom learns that his jam-making aunt and whiskey-distilling uncle are in fact in cahoots with his parents on a secret project in the old milking barn ― a project that, if successful, will “de-extinct” the woolly mammoth and possibly help save the planet.--Publisher's blurb

About the author:

Emilie Christie Burack's debut novel, The Runaway’s Gold, was a Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People and a winner of the New England Book Festival. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in New Hampshire, where she is the co-founder of the New Hampshire Book Festival.