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There is a certain element of mystery that accompanies each and every librarian preview here in New York City.  When the larger publishers gather the librarians to their proverbial bosom, those same librarians walk in with just one question in your mind: How long is this going to take?  If you’re lucky you’ll be out by lunchtime.  But with Penguin beginning their preview by providing lunch, the day was rendered simply more mysterious.  Fortunately the answer to the puzzle lay on our seats.  Each librarian was given a 48-page collection of PowerPoint slides for the event.  48 pages!  The length of a slightly long picture book.  That’s entirely doable!  And indeed, for this particular preview I was pleased to discover that we’d only be covering a sampling of the books from each imprint.  Bonus!

During the course of the event a photo was taken of the librarians and posted to Twitter that day.  See if you can spot me in this shot:

If you said, “Why Betsy is the woman in white imitating a small ocean liner” you would have earned yourself a cookie.  There is very little photographic evidence of my pregnancy this second time around.  As such, this is one of the very rare shots in existence.  Credit due to @VikingChildrens.

But enough of this silliness.  Onward to the previews!  As per usual I’ll just be reporting on the children’s fare, with the exception of the rare YA novel here and there.  And, naturally, we begin with . . .

Philomel

Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff

To be slightly more specific, we begin with Lisa Graff.  Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff has, as of this blog post, earned itself four starred reviews thus far, unless I am much mistaken.  Like all her other books out there, it’s a standalone.  There’s something infinitely comforting about authors that aren’t afraid to write standalone novels.  Heck, in this era of ubiquitous sequels it’s a downright relief, it is.  In Absolutely Almost our main character goes by the name of Albie.  He’s a good kid but he thinks of himself as an “almost”.  You know.  He does a lot of things . . . almost well.  So what do you do when you’re just almost everything?  Aye.  There’s the rub.  Set in NYC the book is apparently for fans of Wonder, Rules, Joey Pigza books, and Liar & Spy.  An interesting assortment of connections, to say the least!

Chasing the Milky Way by Erin E. Moulton

Next up?  A little Moulton.  Editor Jill Santopolo called her a “gorgeous under the radar” author.  One must assume she is referring to her books, though I’m sure she’s quite cute.  In this particular title two sisters try to take care of their mentally ill mom.  A common theme this year, what with the near simultaneous release of books like Under the Egg.  Lucy the eldest, however, can’t keep everyone safe.  Ms. Moulton’s own mother is a social worker and took her daughter along on the job often enough that it made a significant impression.  Authors Moulton was compared to included Jerry Spinelli, Katherine Paterson, and Sharon Creech.  But no pressure or anything!

Brotherband: Slaves of Socorro by John Flanagan

If your library system is anything like mine then you have a devil of a time figuring out where to catalog John Flanagan.  Is he Juv?  YA?  Well don’t expect the answers to come any easier.  Penguin is planning on repackaging the first four books in the Ranger’s Apprentice series as well as the Brotherband books.  Speaking of which, in this latest little novel, the Slaves of Socorro, editor Michael Green called it a “crossover episode” of sorts.  Characters from the Rangers books and the Brotherband books are now banding together.  It’s a fictional literary character supergroup!  Expect already existing fans to be pretty stoked over the idea.

The Secret Sky by Atia Abawi

Ah.  The first of the true YA novels to be mentioned here today.  I might not have even mentioned it except that Jill, its editor, got so existed.  “This is THE most important book I’ve ever edited”, said she.  Hard to ignore enthusiasm like that.  A love story set in the time of the Taliban, the book is by ABC Bureau Chief, Atia Abawi.  Raised in Germany and the American south after her mother escaped Afghanistan during the Russian invasion, Ms. Abawi’s book has been getting blurbs from authors (Daphne Benedis-Grab, Trent Reedy, etc.) as well as folks in her own business (Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondant of NBC Andrea Mitchell, for example).

Once Upon an Alphabet by Oliver Jeffers

Now to switch gears as far as those gears will go.  Oliver Jeffers is a tricky fellow to judge.  I’ve loved some of his stuff (I maintain that Stuck is a modern classic for our times) and loathed others.  I think it’s fair to say that Once Upon an Alphabet is going to fall a little more squarely on the love side of the equation.  Jeffers tackles the alphabet on his own this time and isn’t afraid to break out the fancy words.  Calling this, “Oliver’s magnum opus” the book contains little stories for each storyline.  Here’s one example: “C: Cup in the cupboard. Cup lived in the cupboard. It was dark and cold in there when the door was closed. He dreamed of living over by the window so he’d have a clear view. One afternoon he decided to go for it.” I won’t spoil the ending of that one for you.  Regardless, think of this as a lighter companion to books like The Gashlycrumb Tinies and the like.

Nancy Paulsen Books

The Baby Tree by Sophie Blackall

Then we’re off to the Nancy Paulsen Books side of the equation.  And can I tell you how goofy crazy my librarians are about The Baby Tree right now?  I tell you, the cover of this book came up onto the screen and there were universal coos from the librarians in attendance.  And why not?  The whole where-do-babies-come-from niche is still fairly wide open.  In this story a boy asks for some straightforward explanations of where babies come from, only to be met with a flurry of ridiculous answers from a variety of elders.  It’s a pretty darn good second sibling book for the older set (the 4, 5, and 6-year-olds) out there.  Definitely a keeper and one to watch.

Sleepover with Beatrice & Bear by Monica Carnesi

And speaking of keepers covering well-worn topics, let us now discuss hibernation.  Or not.  Totally up to you.  Now you may think every possible hibernation book out there has already been published but that’s just because you didn’t realize that Sleepover with Beatrice and Bear was on the horizon.  Carnesi was best known to me as the woman behind that rather lovely early chapter book Little Dog Lost a year or two ago.  Nancy Paulsen calls her “our librarian author” so, y’know, right there.  Occupational pride.  In this story a bear and rabbit are buddies but soon it’s time for the bear to hibernate.  Beatrice, the aforementioned bunny, decides she will hibernate too, though she’s not entirely certain what that would entail.  As it turns out, bunnies are no good at hibernation but rather than turn this into one of those books where the bear wakes up in the winter and has a spiffing good time (those storylines always bug me for some reason) the solution to Beatrice’s problem is far more charming.  Good stuff.

Putnam

The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer

Onward to Putnam and a book that I’m just going to have to read for myself if I’m going to figure it out at all.  As you can see, it has one of those non-covers and poetic titles that publishers give books when they’re super excited about their literary award possibilities.  And when they start bandying about the phrase “lyrical”, you know something’s up.  In very brief terms it’s a girl with a dead mom story.  Elaborated upon a bit, the girl in question is ripped from what she knows and is placed with a grandma she never knew well.  In time she goes on a treasure hunt, believing that her mother, in whatever form, is behind it in some way.  Basically, all she wants is for her mom to be the treasure at the end.  Rife with clues, it reminded me of Eight Keys by Suzanne LaFleur or Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass.  I’ll give it a go!

Dreamwood by Heather Mackey

This year carnivorous trees are quite hot.  We’ve seen four different middle grade novels thus far with trees that have dark desires/appetites, and Dreamwood falls into that category.  Don’t write it off as a mere example of hungry wood, though.  No no, this one’s supposed to be pretty good.  Set during the turn of the century in the Pacific Northwest, a girl’s father goes missing in the forest.  So what else can she do but set off with a boy to find her missing father and maybe along the way find a cure for tree blight?  One of my librarians who loves fantasy read it and gave it two enthusiastic thumbs up.  For my part, I was just grateful that the words “eco-fantasy” were never used when describing it.  Oo, I dislike that term!

Ninja Red Riding Hood by Corey Rosen Schwartz, illustrated by Dan Santat

I got name checked with this next book, which had me just knocking my brain try to remember the context.  Perhaps it was another librarian preview in the recent past?  Could have been.  In any case, apparently when I saw the version of The Three Little Pigs by duo Corey Rosen Schwartz and Dan Santat I wondered out loud for all to hear why no one had ever done the same for Little Red Riding Hood.  Enter the answer to my prayers (though I’ve no doubt they had the idea long before I did).  Basically, this is the book for you if you ever wanted to see the wolf get the ever-loving-crap kicked out of him by a girl in a red cape.

Oh, and here’s a non-workplace safe fun activity for you: Google Image the term “ninja red riding hood” sometime and see what comes up.  I was looking for a copy of the jacket of this book.  What I initially found . . . wasn’t that.

All Four Stars by Tara Dairman

Finally, something light and frothy and VERY New York.  I have witnessed firsthand the existence of the foodie child.  They exist, often raised by foodie adults, so that they know the difference between flavors and can go so far as to distinguish between them for you.  This, however, is not the life our heroine leads.  She’s a foodie kid, sure, but her parents are fast food lovers.  Still, the kiddo has prodigious talents so she gets hired to review a restaurant professionally.  The catch?  Her new bosses don’t know that she’s a kid, so she basically has to sneak to NYC and the restaurant in question on her own.  Ms. Dairman is a bit of a foodie herself, though alas the book will not include any recipes.  Ah well.  The sequel is due out in 2015.

Viking

Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too by Anna Dewdney

There was a time when I wouldn’t have understood the lure of the Llama Llama Red Pajama world.  But have a small child and your view of things changes.  Say what you will about Anna Dewdney, the woman scans.  Consistently and without fail.  You can read a book of hers cold and come out looking like a pro every time.  Since Llama Llama is the unofficial poster child of the single mama household, it was only a matter of time before the masses demanded a book along similar lines with but a daddy.  Llama Llama’s best friend Nelly Gnu now gets her chance to shine in the sun with this latest title.  Daddy Gnu, I should note, is a pretty darn good feller.  He takes care of his kiddo and makes dinner to boot.  This is hardly a novel idea, but it’s not like we see it in picture books as often as we might.  Well played.

Starbird Murphy and the World Outside by Karen Finneyfrock

It’s a toss-up as to what I like more: The title of the book, or the name of the author?  On the one hand, “Starbird Murphy” just feels right.  On the other hand, who can resist a last name like “Finneyfrock”?  The plot of the actual book is nice too.  It stars a commune kid who lives entirely off the grid.  This world is entirely normal to her, but eventually she must leave normal and travel into the city.  Think of it as a girl version of Alabama Moon.

Brave Chicken Little by Robert Byrd

Now here’s a real beauty that deserves some of your time and attention.  For the most part, big publishers eschew folk and fairytales.  You want the latest version of Snow White and Rose Red?  Get thee to a smaller company!  But once in a great while a biggie will take a chance.  Mind you, after reading this book I don’t think there’s anything the least bit chancey about Robert Byrd’s work.  The ultimate cautionary fable gets a leg up in this updated look at the chick that went for the most extreme of explanations.  It follows the usual storyline to a point, then diverges and allows the hero to come out triumphant.  The moral of the old story was probably something along the lines of “don’t believe everything you hear”.  The moral of the new story?  “Don’t get eaten. Get even.”  [This phrase, by the way, when you Google it appears to be the tagline of a popular Bear Pepper Spray.  Just thought you'd like to know.]

Puffin/Speak

Follow Your Heart: Summer Love by Jill Santopolo

One of these days, my children, my prayers will be answered and someone will republish those old Sunfire Romances where the historical girl had to choose between two hunky men.  Them’s my youth!  Until then, however, we have the next best thing.  Something that sounds so obvious when I say it that I’m shocked SHOCKED that no one until now came up with the idea.  Meet the Follow Your Heart series by Jill Santopolo (she edits AND writes because she is a Renaissance woman).  Basically we’re talking Choose Your Own A Romance here.  A girl has to choose between two boys and you help make that choice.  I wonder if they’ll allow you to plug your fingers into the pages where you make the choices so that you can backtrack when things don’t start going your way (anyone else do that back in the day?).  “The Bachelorette in book form” someone said.  There you go.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (50th Anniversary Edition) by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake

Sweepstakes time.  And really, was there ever a book better suited to a sweepstakes than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?  Because it’s celebrating its 50th anniversary, you’ve probably heard the rumors about the current Golden Ticket Sweepstakes.  Well, it’s all pretty standard stuff.  Before August 8th kids ages 6 and up can apply for this pretty cool prize.  According to the site:

FIVE lucky winners will receive a Golden Ticket trip of a lifetime to New York City that includes:

• A VIP experience at Dylan’s Candy Bar
• Tickets to Matilda the Musical
• A year’s supply of chocolate
• A visit to the Empire State building
• A library of Roald Dahl books
• And MORE!

I love that they get to work in Dylan’s Candy Bar for a day.  But how does one determine what a “year’s supply of chocolate” really consists of, I wonder.  Hm.

In other Dahlian news, copies of Charlie are about to be published with golden tickets in the back of the paperbacks.  Aw.  There was also some mention made of the Miss Honey Social Justice Award which, “recognizes collaboration between school librarians and teachers in the instruction of social justice using school library resources.” Awesome.  In my own life, I recently finished reading Danny, the Champion of the World for the first time in my life.  I’m feeling pretty good about filling that gap in my knowledge now.

Grosset & Dunlap

The Whodunit Detective Agency: The Diamond Mystery by Martin Widmark, illustrated by Helena Willis

A good early chapter book is hard to find.  And a good early chapter book from Sweden?  Much easier to find now that Martin Widmark is being brought over to the States in book form.  As a librarian of my acquaintance put it recently, this book apparently contains “A snappy little narrative that will have young readers saying, ‘I know who did it!’ right out loud.”  Little wonder since the original books sold two million copies worldwide and the author is sometimes referred to as the “Children’s Agatha Christie”.  Are you curious yet?

Dial

Ice Whale by Jean Craighead George

There are some authors that pass away and their posthumous novels go on and on and on until you begin to doubt that they ever died in the first place.  Tupac Syndrome would be a good description of this.  It tends to hit children’s authors quite often (see: Eva Ibbotson, Diana Wynne Jones, etc.) and was even mocked in a rather brilliant College Humor piece called I Think They’re Running Out of Material for New Shel Silverstein Books back in 2011.  All that aside, we were assured that this final Jean Craighead George novel really will be her last.  Two of her children finished it and I like that it has a kind of a Heart of a Samurai book jacket going on.  Set in Northern Alaska (the same location as Julie of the Wolves, for the record) the book follows an Inuit boy who learns to bond with a whale.  From the description it sounded like it would pair particularly well with Rosanne Parry’s Written in Stone from last year.  And as Travis Jonker pointed out in his recent post 2014: The Year of the Whale, this book is just a drop in the ocean of a much larger trend.

Three Bears in a Boat by David Soman

Speaking of whales, here’s a book that gives them some full credit.  I was so blown away by this title when I first read it that I immediately had to rush out and review it without considering how long it would be before it actually reached publication.  Really, this is the book of the year for me.  If you read no other picture book, read this one.  It’s a stunner in the purest sense of the word.  Really remarkable.

Portraits of Hispanic American Heroes by Juan Felipe Herrera, illustrated by Raul Colon

And finally, a book that I would like right now please.  Please.  Right now.  What’s that you say?  It’s not coming out until August?!  Well who made up THAT crazy rule?  Look, I don’t care when it’s coming out, I would like to see this book in my lap pronto.  I mean, first of all, it’s art by Raul Colon.  I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention but the man’s been on fire this year.  Have you seen his work on Baseball Is . . . by Louise Borden?  Or how about the pictures in Abuelo by Arthur Dorros?  Now we have 24 of his portraits in, what Penguin described as, “tawny golden tones”.  Penned by 2012 California Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, it covers the well known folks and the lesser know folks in equal degrees.  Admit it.  You haven’t seen anything like this before that came close to this level of quality.  It’s going to be for the middle grade crowd too, so bonus!

And that, as they say, is that.  There were plenty of other YA titles mentioned and even a guest or too, but I’ll quite while I’m ahead.  Thanks to Penguin for the preview.  Thanks to all of you for reading!

Foof!  It’s been a while!  At least it feels like it has.  For whatever reason I haven’t posted a good Simon & Schuster Preview since . . . um . . . since their Spring 2011 list was premiered.  Whoopsie!  Let’s make up for lost time then.

First off, Simon & Schuster does their librarian previews much, I suspect, as they do their marketing proposals to bookstores or in-house.  They hand out these gorgeous full-color handouts of all the titles they’ll be talking about.  They also begin the day with the special guest star.  Little Brown and Penguin prefer to leave the guests to the last, but not these guys.  Best that you be on time, then.

Our guest?  The friendly and fantastic James Howe.  As you may know the fella wrote The Misfits lo these many years ago.  Since its publication it has been showing up on TONS of New York City summer reading lists (I cannot attest to the state of the rest of the country in this respect) and so it stood to reason he’d continue the series.  Since The Misfits followed four kids, a book for each kid seemed par for the course.  Totally Joe is probably the best known of the four simply by dint of the fact that it was the one with a gay character and Addie on the Inside was released relatively recently.  Also Known as Elvis rounds out the quartet and follows Skeezie Tookis (the author still isn’t sure where that name came from) and his relationship with a dog.  James gave us a little background on his process.  In the case of this particular book, he nailed Skeezie’s personality down by conducting faux “interviews” with the character.  Howe also talked a bit about his own youth and his dog Lily, who turned out to be the model for the dog on the cover of the book.

Then we were off!  I’ll just highlight a couple titles here and there that particularly caught my eye.  Consider this just a random smattering of what’s to come.

Atheneum

It’s funny to think about, but there’s never really been a Ronald McDonald House picture book before.  I suppose much of that has to do with the fact that it’s a mighty tricky topic to write about.  To get it down right you’d need someone like Kathi Appelt at the helm.  Well, with the release of Mogie: Heart of the House (illustrated by Marc Rosenthal) done and done.  The book is based on a real dog who just couldn’t cut it as a service dog.  By some bit of miraculous intervention, however, the dog found its true calling as a kind of de facto therapy dog in a Ronald McDonald House.  Appelt, as we all well know, has the unique ability to write for almost every age (and if you haven’t read her Bubba & Bo series then you, sir, are missing out).  It’s a nice, heartfelt story that never slides sideways into schmaltz.  No mean feat.

Next up, a book that’s been baffling me for a while.  When S&S started talking about The Numberlys by William Joyce and Christina Ellis I was scratching my head.  It looked really well done, a kind of Metropolis meets The Wizard of Oz.  Still and all, when I went to search for images of it online I found a baffling array.  What gives?  I was finally able to determine that Mr. Joyce has completely and utterly embraced the worlds of print and film and apps all at the same time.  Little wonder from the fellow who created The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (winning an Oscar for the same).  In the case of The Numberlys, it appears to have been released as an app back in 2012.  I even discovered a whole host of videos about the making of the app on his website here, all skillfully produced.  In the case of the picture book, it’s only now seeing the light of day.  It has some cool details, though.  A transparent cover can turn the book from black and white into color with its removal.  Oh, and the story?  A bunch of little workers get tired of just making numbers every day and determine to try something different for a change.  There’s no real villain in the piece other than the nature of conformity itself.

Here’s a video that serves equally as a trailer for the app and the book:

I’m still kicking myself over the fact that I didn’t review Ashley Bryan’s Can’t Scare Me last year.  I mean talk about a fantastic readaloud!  The rhythm of that piece alone could have you kicking your feet and dancing a tune.  Well, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Anytime someone wants to create a Church of Ashley Bryan, they’ll find themselves with a million instant converts.  He’s the current reigning patron saint of children’s literature, as far as I’m concerned.  And coming up this season is the book Ashley Bryan’s Puppets by Ashley Bryan, with photographs edited by Rich Entel.  It seems that Ashley has a habit of collecting found objects on the beach to turn into puppets.  Everything they’re made of is washed up from the sea.  Little wonder from the guy who has stained glass windows made entirely out of sea glass.  In this book each puppet is accompanied by a poem discussing what they’re made of and what they might be.  Everything has a use is the moral of the story here.  I was almost reminded of the Look-Alikes series by Joan Steiner when seeing these.  Or Pura Belpre’s old puppets.  Mr. Bryan, by the way, will be 91 in four or so months now.  As of this preview he was in his Kenyan library.  If you’d like to get the sense of visiting him yourself, check out Alison Morris’s old ShelfTalker post Visiting Ashley Bryan.  It’ll make you want to take the trek yourself.

Dog books.  I can take ‘em or leave ‘em.  Preferably, leave ‘em.  It’s kind of nice.  I don’t feel susceptible to a book just because it features an adorable panting canine on the cover.  Or, in the case of Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio, illustrated by Christian Robinson, an adorable well-behaved, charming canine.  However, in this particular case I was charmed.  This is one of those being-different-is-okay books, but don’t be put off by the message.  DiPucchio works very hard to keep Gaston as far from didacticism as humanly possible. The book follows a little pup who looks nothing like his siblings.  When his mother finds a fellow dog with a strange pup of her own, the two decide to make a switch.  However, just because you look like someone, that doesn’t mean you have anything in common with them.  It’s got a good strong ending and one cannot help but notice that artist Christian Robinson is having a banner year.  This, Sugar Hill AND Josephine all at the same time?  Well done, man!  Tis the year of the Robinson.

Some books suggest quite a bit with their covers.  More than they give away, certainly.  Found Things by Marilyn Hilton won the SCBWI award for best novel in progress a year or so ago.  In this tale, a girl wakes up speaking oddly, discovers that her older brother has disappeared, and when she sleeps she dreams of an oddly familiar house.  It isn’t long thereafter that she’s met another girl, started sending wishes down the stream, and finds that her mother is acting strangely.  That description doesn’t give away much, and indeed I haven’t read this one yet, but I’m sufficiently intrigued to give it a shot.  “Lyrical and strange” S&S calls it.  Well sold.

So back in the day I loved the old Three Investigators series.  Ostensibly rip-offs of The Hardy Boys, the books had their own particular flavor and swing.  And in the early novels each one ended with the boys meeting with Alfred Hitchcock to explain how they solved the crime.  Why Hitchcock?  Absolutely no idea.  I guess his estate had some hand in the books or something.  Whatever the case, when I was a kid I always felt like Hitchcock was this understandable and utterly relatable guy.  Now kids in the 21st century will have a chance to relive that aspect of my youth with Jim Averbeck’s debut novel A Hitch at the Fairmont, illustrated by Nick Bertozzi.  You know Jim from his picture books like In a Blue Room and Except If (amongst others).  In this book, a madcap mix of graphic novel and prose, a boy lives with is evil Aunt Edith and her chinchilla.  When that same aunt disappears and a ransom note appears, written in chocolate, there’s a clear mystery to solve.  Each chapter opens with a storyboard (the hat tip to Hitchcok) and the book is chock full of references to the man’s films.  It has a good cover and you’ll recognize Bertozzi’s work from stuff like Houdini: The Handcuff King and Lewis & Clark.

The nice thing about Simon & Schuster is that sometimes they’ll send out their galleys and F&Gs awfully early.  Such was the case with Five Trucks by Brian Floca.  When my family took a plane ride to Atlanta this past Christmas there was more than one occasional where I was kicking myself for not bringing the book along to amuse my kiddo in the airport.  Originally released in 1999 and now returning thanks to the man’s recent Caldecott win for Locomotive, the book follows five different trucks you might see on the tarmac of an airport.  With a multicultural cast (to say nothing of multi-gender) it’s simple and elegant.  Really gets to the point.  I’m sorry I missed it the first time around, but very happy that I’ll have a chance to get it for my library system now.

The recent Walter Dean Myers piece in The New York Times probably was a godsend to publicists everywhere.  I complain that there are few African-American boys on middle grade covers, but what about YA novels?  There are hardly any you can name.  And so while I almost never mention YA fare in my librarian preview round-ups, I couldn’t resist showing you the cover to Call Me By My Name by John Ed Bradley.  Check it out.

Author Chris Lynch, by the way, says that it’s the best football book he’s ever read.  Considering that I just read a great middle grade football book (Boys of Blur, but more on that later) that’s interesting to me.  It’s set in historical Louisiana.  Says Justin Chandra, “Teen boys will read this book.”  Hope so.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Grumpy Bird is in for some competition.  Aviary born with short fuses aren’t really a trope but if more books like Pardon Me! by Daniel Miyares come out then they may inadvertently spawn their own subgenre.  Though I would have pegged him as an animator thanks to the style, that does not seem to be a part of the Miyares oeuvre.  In this book an easily ruffled little yellow bird finds himself put upon as more and more animals deign to join his perch.  Part manners book, part cautionary tale (perches just ain’t what they used to be) it’ll be interesting to watch the reception to this.  From my own experience, New York readers have a hard time with the circle of life (so to speak) in books for kids.  You’ll see what I mean when you read it for yourself.

The thing about steampunk as a genre is that since it never really spawned any kind of massive hit, it can continue to exist unabated without wearing out its welcome.  It’s not like sparkly vampires or dystopian futures.  The market was never glutted with steampunk, thereby allowing books like Flights and Chimes and Mysterious Times by Emma Trevayne to continue unabated.  Set in an alternate world of Londonia, replete with gears and fairies galore, a bored 10-year-old from our world accidentally crosses over.  It seems the Queen is in need of a real boy and our lad fits the bill precisely.

Name the last good Juneteenth children’s book you encountered.  Because if we’re going to face facts, Juneteenth is sort of falling the way of Kwanzaa when it comes to children’s books.  The number of titles that speak to the holiday are slim at best.  With that in mind, All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson, illustrated by E.B. Lewis fills a very specific need.  Based ostensibly on Ms. Johnson’s own ancestors, the book is a work of historical fiction be dint of lack of information.  In it, a Texan slave girl wakes up to what seems like a normal day, only to find it’s the most important day in her life.  The Kirkus star it just earned bodes well.

Margaret K. McElderry

Simon & Schuster hadn’t been chintzy with the galleys of Mouseheart by Lisa Fielder, illustrated by Vivienne To.  Mind you, I never know if that’s going to be a good thing or a bad thing.  Publicists and librarians don’t always see eye-to-eye on the books that must receive the most information.  But I’ve shopped this one around with some librarians of my acquaintance and the responses have been positive.  Basically what we’re looking at here are battling rat tribes in Brooklyn.  Said one of my test case librarians, “I think both boys and girls will enjoy this new series and New Yorkers will perhaps enjoy waiting for the train more if they believe that nasty rat is actually Zucker fighting for his little rodent colony…maybe.”  Comparisons to Redwall and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH were made.  Not a bad pedigree by half.

Aw, pfui. I’m not going to remember now.  You see, at the time that I heard about the YA novel Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine I realized that it was part of a funny little 2014 trend.  This year there are two books that are roughly based on Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera.  Unfortunately I can’t remember what the other one is (50 points for anyone who knows).  Fine’s novel is a bit more oblique in its references, but sounds mighty interesting just the same.  Recommended for fans of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, the book follows a girl whose wishes are granted by a ghost.  Sometimes brutally.  Lovely cover, no?

You know I’ve a real love and appreciation for graphic novels of any sort.  So when I saw Through the Woods by Emily Carroll I had high hopes that it would fall into my range.  Nope.  Not by half.  Straight up YA, this book sports five short stories, one of which was already published on the web.  The stories may indeed be good, but it’s the art that really sucks you in.  As Buzzfeed put it, it’s “The most inventively claustrophobic comic online.”  The interior images they included in our PowerPoint packet were enticing but honestly this was the one that sold the book to me right there.  I may have to crib from this line in the future.  Beautifully put:

Little Simon

(Switching gears entirely) simple picture books with simple words that are actually well put together, interesting, and visually stimulating are as rare as figs in December.  Enter Big Bug by Henry Cole.  If nothing else this book is probably going to be a true contender for the ALA Geisel Award for simple text.  The book telegraphs backwards from a bug onward.  It starts out saying “Big bug” and it’s not wrong.  This ladybug looks huge.  But then we pan back and the text says “Little bug / Big leaf”.  Another turn of the page and it’s “Little leaf / Big flower.”  This continues in this fashion until we’ve zoomed out enough to zoom back in.  And, along the way, a kind of story is being told.  So basically this is a tale to teach perspective to the very young.  Do you now how hard that is to do?  Give this book a closer look.  It’s simplicity is just the tip of the iceberg.

In other news, Rah, Rah, Radishes!: A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre is coming out as a board book.  And the people rejoiced en masse.

Beach Lane Books

It was just my bad luck that I had to take a phone call for the bulk of the Beach Lane Books presentation.  Doggone modern technology.  A real pity too since there were at least two books here that had certainly caught my eye.  The first was I Wish I Had a Pet by Maggie Rudy.  Rudy, I later had to learn, is an artist who has created these elaborate little mouse-related dioramas over the years (which you can see here).  Really, it was only a matter of time before someone offered her a book contract.  I recently did a Children’s Literary Salon at NYPL on the increase of photography in children’s books, and at one point there was some discussion made of artists who create models and photograph them.  Following in the near footsteps of Rebecca Dudley and her much lauded Hank Finds an Egg, Rudy gives the notion of pet ownership a very realistic feel, particularly when you consider the various pets that mice would have access to.  It’s a rather clever little piece.  Unique, to say the least.

Another book I had really wanted to know more about was the latest from Jeanette Winter, Mr. Cornell’s Dream Boxes.  It just looks so cool.  Taking its cues from the life of Queens, NY resident Joseph Cornell, it’s a fun look at a self-taught artist who used found objects in his works.  This book focuses in particular on an exhibition he held in 1972 for the neighborhood children of his works.  It’s very simple, but a nice look at how everyday objects can become art.  A rather good complement to her previous book Henri’s Scissors, actually.  And it made me really hungry for some good brownies.

Aladdin

I’ve spoken at length about how 2014 has been doing somewhat better in the realm of getting kids of color on the covers of books.  Another trend I’ve noticed?  A distinct increase in math and science loving girls.  There’s Ruby Goldberg’s Bright Idea on the one hand and Annika Riz, Math Whiz, as well as a couple others that I’m not thinking of right now.  Eliza Boom: My Explosive Diary by Emily Gale, illustrated by Joelle Dreidemy follows in the same path.  You know what’s also interesting?  All these books are on the lower reading level of chapter books.  Very interesting indeed, eh?

Then we get to the very interesting rereleases.  When they presented Christopher Pike’s middle grade series Spooksville, I just assumed it was something new.  Thank goodness for the internet, eh?  Instead, I find that this is a delightful case of a publisher really and seriously giving some book jackets a serious upgrade.  Behold the befores and the afters.

Before

After

Before

After

Clearly the old series had a thing for floating female heads.

Then, in some very happy news, I can report to you that the White Mountains series by John Christopher is also getting a book jacket update.  Best of all, they’ve renamed the series entirely.  I know it was originally called “The White Mountains series” but all anyone ever calls it is “The Tripods series” anyway.  Here are some of the new covers:

And for those of you in the ordering books business, the ISBNs are 9781481414821, 9781481414784, 9781481414807, and 9781481414760 (in that order).

Back in the day, the May Bird trilogy was critically acclaimed but never got sufficient attention from the kiddos.  Happily S&S is giving it a new lease on life with some lovely little book re-covers.  Like so:

I suspect Katniss Everdeen may have had something to do with cover #3 (not that the original skimped on the bow and arrow aspects at all).  ISBNs 9781442495777, 9781442495791, and 9780689869259 for those of you playing at home.

Finally, we come to Bruce Coville’s delightful My Teacher Is an Alien series.  I will spare those amongst you a great deal of pain by not mentioning how long ago the original series came out.  Indeed, the original covers speak for themselves:

That’s the old cover that got me to read the series when I was a kid.  No lie.  Now, once again, it’s seeing an update:

Those are the only ones I could find online so far.  Presumably the other two in the series (My Teacher Glows in the Dark and My Teacher Flunked the Planet) are just a half step away.

Simon Pulse

Magnolia by Kristi Cook has many things to recommend it, I am certain.  I don’t pay too much attention to YA, I’ll admit.  But one thing I did pay attention to was this:

This hereby marks the very first time that a dress in my possession has appeared on a book jacket.  That red dress?  Yeah, I bought that about 8 years ago at H&M.  Only one piece of proof exists that I know of and it’s this teeny tiny picture of me, Jen Robinson, Jay Asher (before he was big), and Gregory K. at a blogger meet-up at ALA in Anahein years and years and years ago.  It’s tiny, but as you can see . . . same dress.

And on that name droppy note, that would be that.  Should you wish to peruse the Simon & Schuster catalog for those items I have failed to mention here, you may do so at this link:  http://catalog.simonandschuster.com/?cid=10868

Many thanks to S&S for inviting me. Happy reading!