How to use this Page

Great news! The original cast soundtrack to Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical will be available soon as part of a special edition of Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, including the full story, liner notes and a cool audio extra (a reading of the book by 4 year old Trixie and myself). The album will also be released separately.  I hope you enjoy the tunes whether you've gotten a chance

The old mail bag had a special surprise while I was away, a book about surprises: my preview copy of the upcoming HOORAY FOR AMANDA AND HER ALLIGATOR! Outside of my travelog, it's my longest book to date, a hybrid picture book and chapter book chronicling the surprising adventures of a spunky girl and her nervous stuffed alligator in 6-1/2 stories. I'm excited about this one, especially as

Thanks to pals JJK & Mr. Warburton, I've been alerted to Kelly Light's lovely art-based response to the horrific oil infusion into the Gulf of Mexico, a continuing disaster that with further decimate my hometown of New Orleans.She's created a continuing illustration sale called, appropriately, RIPPLE to raise $$$ for Gulf animal rescue organizations. Anyone can submit & the proceeds from

If you loved Swindle and Zoobreak by Gordan Korman, then we have good news for you: The Man With The Plan (aka Griffin Bing) will be back this September in a new sequel, Framed. In this book, Griffin is accused of stealing an authentic Super Bowl ring from the school display case. He didn't do it of course, but all the evidence points directly to him. Somebody set Griffin up to take the fall. But who would do that and why? All Griffin knows is that he's being framed for a crime he didn't commit. Read on for a sneak peek at the book. . .

"Out of my way!" bawled the principal. He waded through the throng and began to work at the lock on the glass panel, trying key after key from a large ring.

Griffin ran up. “What happened?” he asked a tall student who seemed to have a good vantage point on what was going on.

“Somebody stole the Super Bowl ring.”

“But how?” asked Ben, watching the distraught principal searching for the right key. “The case is locked up tight.”

At last, the principal slid the panel aside and reached his hand in. Griffin wiggled to the front for a better view. The view was clearer, but not better. It was true. Art Blankenship's Super Bowl ring was indeed gone. In its place on the black velvet was a small object — pink plastic and shiny silver wire. It was —

Griffin goggled. No. Impossible —

Dr. Egan's beefy hand closed on the item. He brought it out of the case and examined it. His wild eyes found Griffin in the crowd.

Griffin was in a state of shock. He stared at the piece, unable to believe his eyes.

“What is it?” whispered Ben, who was too short to see what the principal was holding.

“A retainer,” said Griffin in a strangled voice. Engraved on the plastic palate were five letters:

G. BING

“I want that ring back,” the principal ordered. “Now.”

“I don’t have it.” Griffin was barely able to conjure the breath to get any sound past his lips. “I didn’t take it.”

“How do you explain the retainer, then?” Dr. Egan demanded. “Since the first day of school, every time you open your mouth, that thing falls out. Well, you should have kept your mouth shut while you were stealing the ring! Because now your retainer proves that you're guilty.”

“I'm not! The case was locked!”

“That wouldn't be a problem for an experienced burglar,” the principal accused. “Locks have never stopped you before, have they?”

The Man With The Plan had been confronted with the unexpected many times. He'd been surprised, astonished, even blown away. But never had he been so completely and utterly blindsided to the point where he could not even find the words to defend himself. He stared at the retainer, incapable of believing his own eyes. He could barely work up any anger at Dr. Egan for putting the blame on him. With this kind of evidence against him, he almost blamed himself.

“I lost my retainer a few days ago,” he managed finally. “Ask anybody. All my friends know.”

“You mean your accomplices?” the principal challenged. “Not the most reliable witnesses.”

“Somebody must have found it, and they did this to frame me!”

“All I know,” Dr. Egan told him, “is that a major piece of sports history is missing, an item of jewelry worth tens of thousands of dollars. If you don't hand it over, I'm going to have to take this to the next level.”     All Griffin could say was, “It wasn't me.”

The principal addressed his studen

Welcome to Scholastic Booktalks where we recommend brand new Scholastic books that we think you will love. Today's booktalk is an all new title in the Dear America series: The Fences Between Us by Kirby Larson.

13-year-old Piper Davis has been given a diary. She's never used one before, but because of everything happening in her life, she's glad she has one. It's 1941 and Europe is at war. Even though Piper and her family live in Seattle, Washington, there is talk that America might become involved with the war.

Piper's dad is the minister of the Seattle Japanese Baptist Church. Piper and her family have always been close to her dad's congregation. But when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, the Japanese-Americans in Piper’s town start getting harassed by some of the white townspeople. Even at school, Piper's friend, Betty, suffers from a humiliating attack by her classmates.

When President Roosevelt orders all residents of Japanese heritage to be put into internment camps, Piper's father decides to move also, to be closer to his congregation. Piper doesn't understand why they have to move. The war will be over soon and the Japanese-Americans will be able to return home. But Piper quickly finds out this is not the case. These temporary camps seem more permanent. And the barbed wire and the watchtowers make it feel more like a prison, not a camp.

Why can't anyone understand that the people in these camps aren't the bad guys? They are good people who love America and would never do anything to hurt it. Will the war end soon? Will the Japanese community be able to return to a normal life? Find out in Dear America: The Fences Between Us.

Sneak Peek!
This book won't be in stores until September 1, but you can download a sneak peek excerpt right now!

— Jen, Scholastic Booktalker

Dav Pilkey fans, this one's for you: the long-awaited sequel to the bestselling novel Super Diaper Baby is almost here, and here is a SUPER sneak preview of the book's cover!

Super Diaper Baby 2: Invasion of the Potty Snatchers by George Beard and Harold Hutchins (the fourth grade creators of Captain Underpants) will be published on June 28, 2011­­—just in time for summer reading! But that's not all. . . Dav Pilkey created an awesome video showing exactly how he created the book — in a breathtaking, dizzying two and a half minutes!

June 28 may feel very far away, so to pass the time, why not brush up on the world of Harold and George with The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby or The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen From the Future? And of course, you can always read the book that started it all: The Adventures of Captain Underpants.

Check out the early stages of a dream come true:   Too cool! Elephant and Piggie should be around in time for the conventions this spring and summer.  Mo' info as I get it. Man, I may have to steal these next year for MARDI GRAS, which reminds me Happy Carnival to 'Nawlins.  Sorry to miss this year, but we we'll see you in '12.

Oh, my. I am sooooo excited to introduce these little guys to you.


Meet Vivienne. She's messy.And Pete. He's . . . well, let's just say he needs to work on his manners.And Ruth. Oh, Ruth. She just loves those pink pajamas.
And then there's Sam. He's shy.


You'll get to know them all soon.

--Beth

Everyone's favorite middle-schooler, Jamie Kelly, is back — with an all-new, all-funny diary! A lot has been happening at Mackerel Middle School, and Jamie is documenting every minute of it. Check out this special peek at Dear Dumb Diary #9: That's What Friends Aren't For, in stores now! Jamie promises that everything she writes is true . . . or at least as true as it needs to be.

Dear Dumb Diary,

We've entered that part of the school year where you begin to wonder if maybe even the teachers are beginning to lose interest in education. We study something — like igneous rocks, or spit molecules, or one of those countries that looks like where they are going to build a country one day — we glue-stick a bunch of things about it to a piece of poster board, they get hung up in the hallway, and then we never talk about them again.

So toward the end of the year, just to keep things interesting. the school has lots of events like an Art Show, a Talent Show, and Bingo Night, which features a game that was developed long ago so that we'd have something to do until fun was invented.

If I ever become a teacher, I'm going to jazz it up a bit. Maybe I'll glue-stick the actual students up in the hallway, and when you walk up to one, he'll have to tell you what he knows about spit molecules or whatever.

Also, I'm going to make it so that if a kid bothers me, I can legally shoot her out of a cannon. I really may have psychic powers, because I think I've read the mind of teacher who was thinking that exact thing one time when Mike Pinsetti got almost all of a crayon stuck in his ear.

Signed,

A few days ago, you got a peek at one of Jamie Kelly's brand-new diary entries from Dear Dumb Diary #9: That's What Friends Aren't For. We've managed to get our hands on another one, all about blondwad Angeline — check it out below! But Jamie Kelly has no idea that you or anybody is reading her diaries. So please, please, please don't tell her.

Dear Dumb Diary,

And speaking of shooting somebody out of a cannon, I don't know if I've ever mentioned this girl to you before, Diary — her name is Angeline?

First, before we discuss Angeline, let's take a moment to discuss AUTOMATIC FRIENDSHIPS. Automatic Friendships occur like this: Let's say you and a person from your school who you only kind of know both show up at the same beach one day and there's nobody else to hang around with. BAM — you're automatic friends. Maybe only for a day, but still. It's just the Way the Universe Does Things.

Or let's say you go to prison. You committed some cool crime like stealing the weapon of somebody who was going to blast an endangered baby orphan koala in the face. Still, the judge says that stealing is stealing, and he sends you to prison for it. And in prison, you meet somebody who is in for the same kind of crime, but for her it was like an endangered baby orphan panda or just an endangered baby orphan. BAZOOM — now you two are automatic friends.

Ever since Angeline's Uncle Dan (my school's assistant principal) married my Aunt Carol, AND Angeline's dog married my dog and they had puppies together, I'm automatically friends with Angeline. No beach, no orphan koalas, just KABLAM — automatic friends.

You'll notice that it's not because I like her. It's just how things work. It's like math: Poor little Two got plussed with Three.

Signed,

I'm winging my way to Pittsburgh and Dallas. Hope to see you if you're in the area.*While I'm gone, I encourage you to be some of the first to visit Cat the Cat's fabulous new web home at GoMo.net!Much like The Pigeon's site, Cat the Cat's is filled with fun like: games, book info, a kid's gallery, info for grown ups, downloadables for parents and teachers, tour info, even a video of me, Cat the

Prototype of Cat the Cat's Plush the Plush. Coming this spring from the fine folks at YottoY.

On an unrelated note, I spent my childhood in New Orleans watching the 'Aints with a Schwegman's paper grocery bag on my head. If you'd told me then that there would be something called "The Internet", I could have imagined it. If you'd told me the New Orleans Saints would have won a Super Bowl I would not have believed you. It's gonna be a wild Mardi Gras.Geaux Saints.On another unrelated

More good news from the road:My daughter and I have been nominated for a 2010 Audie award for the audio book version of Knuffle Bunny Too: An Unexpected Diversion! This is exciting news for the whole family. 3 years back, we (along with my wife) took home the award for the audio version of the first Knuffle Bunny book.Trixie did a fantastic job on this one as well. You can look (or listen) for

If you attended last weeks Toy Fair in NYC and you passed by the University Games booth, then you've already seen this:Yup, it's a whole bunch of prototypes for Pigeon games, including a Pigeon Matching Game housed in a real Pigeon-shaped carrier, "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!" board game, cool Colorforms and more!More mofo as we get closer, but you can expect to see stuff hitting the

Hi! All week we are bringing you Wimpy Kid features to get you pumped for the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie coming out on Friday. Exclusive movie clips, a trivia quiz, your questions answered by Jeff Kinney and Zach Gordon. . . and more still to come. So jump onto your profile, change your mood to "wimpy" and show the world you're ready for Wimpy Week!!

Wimpy Week continues now with a special sneak peek of Jeff Kinney's newest book coming out today! It's called The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary and it describes all the behind the scenes stuff that went into making his hilarious book Diary of a Wimpy Kid into a movie.Check it out!

Dav Pilkey, the author of the Captain Underpants series, is working on a new book coming out on August 10, 2010. The title of the book is — are you ready for this — The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen From the Future.

OK, with a title like that, I don't think I even need to say any more. It goes without saying the book is going to be every bit as hilarious as Captain Underpants. I'm laughing just looking at the cover!

Speaking of the cover, what do you think is going on there? Leave a comment telling us what you think Ook and Gluk are doing and saying!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

As some of you know, there is lots of Pigeon stuff available besides the books. Well, this spring will see the release of a bunch of new, exciting Pigeon stuff in the form of board games, activities, matching games, and other cool stuff.Before the onslaught, I thought I'd travel back 7 years before the Pigeon was published and look at his first bit of "product", a promotional keychain:These were

The old mail-bag is filled with fun stuff lately, including my preview copy of Elephant & Piggie's next adventure, Can I Play Too? It's always fun to have the actual, real book in your hands. Somehow it's much different than all of the printouts, proofs, and what have you.Gerald is careful. Piggie is not. Piggie cannot help smiling. Gerald can.Gerald and Piggie are best friends.In Can I

The studio is going to ease up on posts during the summer in order to focus on some work (and focus on some playtime).Do check back on occasion as there will be some fun stuff this summer including my visit to ALA in Washington, DC, a very cool exhibit at San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum (along with work of Jeff Smith!), brand new Pigeon games and puzzles, and assorted bits of oddness.And as

If you've read The Hunger Games, I just know that you CAN'T WAIT for the sequel Catching Fire. (If you haven't read it yet, you totally have to!!! It is by far the BEST BOOK EVER for kids ages 12 and over. Go. Read. Now.)

Well, like I was saying, the wait is almost over for Catching Fire. It will be in bookstores on September 1, so cancel all your other plans, clear out your schedule and just block out all day for reading because once you start, you are not going to want to stop reading for anything! I would suggest asking people to bring you food so you don't starve to death — seriously, you will not be able to put this book down!

So, do you want a sneak peek now? We have Chapter 1 (PDF) for you to read, and an audio excerpt of Chapter 2 read by the author Suzanne Collins.  For more about The Hunger Games trilogy including downloads and a message board where you can talk to other fans of the book, visit The Hunger Games Web site.

Enjoy!

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer

The F&G's of a new picture book for early summer 2010, City Dog, Country Frog. And, yes, you're reading it correctly, illustrated by the great Jon J Muth!A departure for me that I hope you'll enjoy.

A newborn wolf pup with a twisted leg is abandoned in the wilderness beyond Ga'Hoole. Miraculously, he survives and grows up to change the Wolves of Beyond forever. If you loved the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky, then this Sneak Peek of her newest series is for you.

Lone Wolf, Book 1 of the brand new Wolves of the Beyond series is not coming out until December 29, but you, dear Ink Splot 26 readers, can be the first to read Chapter 1 right here (PDF).

In other news, the Guardians of Ga'Hoole movie is coming out in September 2010, which feels like an awfully long time, so it's a good thing we have this new series to read while we're waiting!

My friends who are into comics were very excited last year about a graphic novel anthology called Flight Explorer. It is a group of different stories all by different artists. If you read Flight Explorer, then you already know Missile Mouse, who made his graphic novel debut in that book. This new book Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher by Jake Parker coming out in January is entirely devoted to the adventures of Missile Mouse.

Missile Mouse, secret agent for the Galactic Security Agency, is a risk taker and a rule breaker, which is why he's in hot water at GSA headquarters. Then RIP, the Rogue Imperium of Planets, kidnaps a scientist who knows about the Star Crusher, a doomsday machine capable of destroying the entire universe. . . Time to let loose the mouse!

Take a look at this sneak peek from the book, and read on for today's Writing Prompt:

In this panel from the book, Missile Mouse has gotten into a spot of trouble. He's surrounded by those dangerous looking ant creatures but he can't kill them because they're endangered species! How is he going to get out of this situation? Write what you think happens next.

Leave your answers in the Comments.

— Sonja, STACKS Staffer