This week, Illinois-based publisher Sourcebooks officially launched a new children’s book imprint called Stonefruit Studio.

Ben Rosenthal and Mabel Hsu, two HarperCollins alums who joined the publisher in April, have helped set up this label and will serve as editorial directors. They are reporting to Jenne Abramowitz, the editorial director of imprints Sourcebooks Fire, Young Readers and Jabberwocky—all of which are for young readers.

The plan is for Stonefruit to publish between 16 and 24 books a year, including picture books, middle-grade and YA stories, graphic novels and nonfiction titles.

The imprint is leaning on “fresh, diverse and unexpected” styles of storytelling to make its mark in the lucrative children’s publishing market—where Sourcebooks generated 32% of its 2023 net revenue, according to Publisher’s Weekly, with kids books making up 51% of its releases for the year. 

Stonefruit has a first wave of titles lined up to hit retail in summer 2026, featuring a comedy-driven book about a princess pony by Jordan Morris and Charlie Mylie, a story about imaginative dreaming by Matthew Burgess and Matthew Forsythe, a book revolving around the last living dinosaur by Skylar Hogan, and a surreal chess-themed premise penned by Jacob Sager Weinstein and Victo Ngai.

Meanwhile, the imprint’s middle-grade catalogue is stocking up on a reimagined hero’s journey from Daniel Nayeri, a spooky tech-centric series by Erin Entrada Kelly and Eliot Schrefer, and two graphic novels—one about a secret organization of pests written by Michelle Sumovic, and another from Yehudi Mercado about a family facing off against the Aztec underworld.

And finally, upcoming YA releases will include M.J. Hastings’ Firstborn, which is the first title in a three-book series falling into the “romantasy” genre (which has seen a continued boost in sales, thanks to TikTok) and a fantasy adventure by J.A. Morgenstein revolving around a strong heroine described as Enola Holmes meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  

Successful kids titles in Sourcebooks’ catalogue include Max the Brave (Ed Vere), How to Catch a Unicorn (Adam Wallace) and I Love You Like No Otter (Rose Rossner). 

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