New YA Comics and Nonfiction for February 2026

If “queer stories set on the ice” are your jam right now–and they’re a lot of people’s jam right now for all the right reasons–then you’ll want this on your TBR. Lydia Chen is a queen on the ice, and since she began her ice skating career, she’s always been the one everyone else needs to beat.

But recently, there’s a spark missing in her routines. Her passion is waning, on account of how much time, effort, money, and energy goes into her skating. Then Elaine Yee, Lydia’s biggest rival, begins to train at her rink and suddenly, Lydia’s taken by Elaine’s emotional routines. Even though the two of them are technically competing for a spot in the upcoming Olympics, there’s definitely a lot of Big Feelings coming up between them. Yes, they’re competitors, but they’re feeling more than that. Is Elaine the push Lydia needs to reconnect with the sport she’s dedicated her life to?

A foodie Sapphic romance? Say no more.

It’s the end of high school and while Sofia’s classmates are eager to head off to college, she’s really not. She’s not sure it’s the right path for her. Complicating matters is the fact that Sofia’s mother has become distant in the wake of the death of Sofia’s grandmother.

That’s when Sofia considers a way to cheer up her mom and maybe reconnect with her. She’ll recreate one of her grandmother’s beloved recipes. The problem? Sofia can’t cook or bake to save her life.

Anna Marie, Sofia’s cute classmate who happens to have cooking skills, offers to help out. Anna Marie will help Sofia learn to cook while Sofia helps out in Anna Marie’s parents’ restaurant. But the closer the girls grow to one another, the more the two of them realize they’re staring down the end of high school and all that might happen as their lives go in very different directions.

Ruby grew up in a university lab. She’s not human. She’s a genius humanoid, and her existence has been secret because her purpose is to (eventually) solve the greatest problems humans experience.

Ruby doesn’t think she can do that in a lab, though, so she breaks out. She knows she needs to understand humans in order to function like one in their presence, so she takes a job at a college coffee shop. While there, she quickly realizes humans do have a huge problem: finding happiness.

Using her skills, Ruby decides she’ll be pairing up staff and regulars at the coffee shop. She’s playing cupid and loving every minute of it–she’s even built a meaningful community around her.

There’s just one (big) problem: the university wants Ruby back because they believe she’s dangerous. When she walks into their trap, Ruby will need to depend upon those she’s gotten to know to help save her.

The beginning of 2026 in YA nonfiction has looked a lot like this: adaptations of adult nonfiction for teen readers. That’s not a bad thing; what’s concerning is that they comprise the bulk of nonfiction right now. The good news, at least at this juncture, is that the bulk of these young reader editions are stories from marginalized voices.

In the case of Griner’s memoir, this will appeal to readers who care about social justice, as well as readers who care about women and women’s sports. The young reader edition talks about Griner’s passion for basketball and how it helped her through her teen years. It then follows her as she travels to Russia to play for their women’s team and where and how she was put into a Russian penal colony for having a substance on her that was illegal in the country.