What’s a fall season without hockey books? From Michael Ulmer comes M Is for Maple Leafs (Tundra, $21.95 cl., Oct.), an alphabet book for the blue-blooded babies in your life, illustrated by Melanie Rose. • Sid the kid may be all the rage now, but 40 years ago it was The Boy in Number Four (Puffin Canada, $19.99 cl.). This picture book biography of Bobby Orr, written by Kara Kootstra and illustrated by Regan Thomson, comes complete with an afterword from the former Bruins defenseman himself. • My Granny Loves Hockey (Simply Read, $18.95 cl.) is YA author Lori Weber’s first picture book. Eliska Liska illustrates the story of a girl who helps her grandmother fulfill a lifelong dream.

One Hungry Heron ($19.95 cl.) is an introduction to nature and numeracy. Written by Carolyn Beck and illustrated by Karen Patkau, the book arrives from Fifth House Publishers in November. • Popular illustrator and animator Qin Leng provides the visuals for Vancouver author Sheri Radford’s Not Just Another Princess Story (Simply Read, $18.95 cl., Sept.), in which Candi is a math-loving princess who takes a practical approach to finding her Prince Charming. • Lily the rabbit learns from various animal friends about how to prepare for the cold in Jan Thornhill’s Winter’s Coming (Owlkids, $17.95 cl., Oct.), which features the mixed-media art of Josée Bisaillon. • Meanwhile, Happy the Pocket Mouse learns you can have too much of a good thing in author Philip Roy and illustrator Andrea Torrey Balsara’s Jellybean Mouse (Ronsdale Press, $11.95 cl., Sept.). • Wallace Edwards takes a more unorthodox approach to presenting animals with Unnatural Selections (Orca, $19.95 cl., Oct.), in which the author-illustrator channels a character named Professor I.B. Drawing to create a collection of weird and wonderful hybrid animals, including a Whalephant and a Lizabouboon.

Q&Q’s kids’ preview covers books published between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2014 • All information (titles, prices, publication dates, etc.) was supplied by publishers and may have been tentative at Q&Q’s press time