If I ever needed motivation to pick up a book I thought I'd NEVER be interested in, I now have a new one. After 6th grade J recommended the Young Sherlock Holmes series (by Andrew Lane) to me, I decided to read his favorite one just to have a point of connection with him. But oh-my-gravy, guess what? I love it! The action scenes keep me hooked and the historical connections have provided me with MANY examples to share with students when referring to our Reader/Thinker strategies. I'm hooked. And of course, J is a little giddy that HE was the one to rec it. 



Then today when I was looking over the Spring IndieNext list, guess what I found? Apparently (which I hadn't noticed until I saw the list and looked at the copyright info for the book in my hands), the series was first published overseas and is just now being brought to the US. Lucky you! And lucky me too. Because now I can be giddy that I'm the one to rec it to you. 

Well, apart from the whole IndieNext list pick, anyway. :)

Also, my sweet friend, Kim Marcus, made the list to with her awesome novel debut EXPOSED. Those Indiebound people are smart cookies, don't you think? And Kim is even smarter with this gripping novel in verse. 



More later on all the fun and celebration my friends (and strangers) have doled out for me over the release of MINI RACER (my latest picture book ill. by Bridget Strevens-Marzo) this past week . . .