Enjoy these new books ...

Lise Lunge-Larsen's
newest ages 4-8 book,
Adventures of Thor the Thunder God
Illustrated by Jim Madsen
Houghton Mifflin, June 18, 2007
ISBN 978-0618473014

He is the biggest and mightiest of the gods. If he tightens his belt, he doubles his strength. If he swings his hammer, lightning flashes. When he races his billy goats across the sky, their hooves kick up huge thunderclouds. And when the folks below in Middle Earth hear a boom of thunder, they always smile, for they know their loyal Thor, protector and defender of civilization, has once again brought order to the universe. Told and retold often and with great affection, the Thor stories have been around since the days of the Vikings. Here, illustrated with high drama and written with humour and skill, are ancient stories made accessible and fun.

Rob Reid's new book
Children's Jukebox: The Select Subject
Guide to Childrens Musical Recordings, 2nd Edition
American Library Association, June, 2007
ISBN 978-0838909409

This book is a subject index of children’s recorded music featuring songs from nearly 550 children’s recordings. Need a song featuring bears? How about friendship? Songs sung in Russian? I also have a recommended must-have Core Collection of 46 children’s recordings and a list of my favorite original children’s songs. My all-time favorite children’s song is “Walk a Mile,” written by Jan Nigro of the group Vitamin L.

Look for Helen Foster James' newest
ages 4-8 book illustrated by Lita Judge,
S Is For S'mores: A Camping Alphabet
Sleeping Bear Press, May 2007
ISBN 978-1585363025

Next to baseball and fireworks on the Fourth of July, nothing else seems as American as the family camping trip. From what to pack, where to go, and what to do when you get there, S is for S'mores: A Camping Alphabet takes readers on an A-Z trail exploring this outdoor pastime.

Look for Marion Dane Bauer's newest
young adult fiction book,
Killing Miss Kitty and Other Sins
Clarion Books, May 21, 2007
ISBN 978-0618690008

Life in Claire’s typical Midwestern town is quiet; some would even say boring. But this is the 1950s, and things that seem calm on the surface are often churning underneath. When Claire takes a new black friend, dressed as “Liberty,” to the Fourth of July parade in the town park, she realizes there can be no liberty for either girl in her all-white town. And as she grows older, she discovers that her world is more complicated than she ever imagined. Being the “new girl” in school isn’t the fresh start she was hoping for. Getting a pet involves sacrifices. And falling in love is more confusing than fulfilling—especially when it is not a love that can be spoken of, least of all by Claire. Teenage sexuality, northern segregation, differing religious beliefs, and animal cruelty are just a few of the controversial topics explored in this collection of five interrelated stories, told in a voice that is both refreshingly naive and darkly humourous. With this book, Marion Dane Bauer lives up to her reputation as a writer who is not afraid to delve into difficult material in search of the truth.

Look for Karen Day's first
Ages 9-12 novel, Tall Tales
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, May 20, 2007
ISBN 978-0375837739

Meg's family has moved a lot because of her father's drinking. Meg arrives in her town longing to find a real friend, someone she can talk to and write stories with. When she and Grace join forces to write a book, she's thrilled that she has finally found someone who likes her for who she is, who trusts her and confides in her.

But she can't tell Grace about her father. Even though she hates to lie, Meg can't resist telling tall tales about her family and her life to Grace and other kids.

For Meg, friendship turns out to be the key to telling the truth, and also to a better life for her family.

Anne Neuberger's ages 10-13 book
To Walk Humbly: Stories and
Activities for Teaching Compassion and Justice
Twenty Third Publications, May 15, 2007
ISBN 978-1585956166

This book's purpose is to help children develop a world view with an understanding of social justice:

• Fifty-five stories

• These stories are about issues of justice or injustice: AIDS, child labor, community, comparisons, creativity, discrimination, denial of education, environmental factors, family, hunger, medical needs, orphans and homelessness, poverty, refugees, slavery, war, and water shortage.

• The stories are set in thirty-two countries.

• In addition to the stories, activities are included that empower readers to become educators about these issues.

This book, along with others of Anne's, are used for mission education though the Center for Mission, an office of the archdiocese of St.Paul/Minneapolis.

Ron Hirschi's new book
Ocean Seasons
Illustrated by Kirsten Carlson
Sylvan Dell Publishing, May 10, 2007
ISBN 978-1934359167

Seasons change in the ocean much as they do on land. Spring brings new plants and baby animals, while summer oceans are aglow with sparkly plankton lights, and autumn winds blow across the open water. In winter the humpback whales migrate to warmer waters, just as some land animals move to warmer climates. In fun, fanciful form, children learn about plants and animals that are joined through the mix of seasons, food webs and habitats beneath the waves. While set in the Pacific, similar changes occur in all the world's oceans.

Bonnie Graves' newest book
Fiesta
with Coach John Wooden and Steve Jamison
Illustrated by Susan F. Cornelison
Perfection Learning, May 2007
ISBN 978-0789171870

Inch and Miles are in need of a large dose of Enthusiasm! When Miles blows the silver whistle, where will the two friends find themselves this time?

Nikki Grimes' newest
Ages 4-8 book,
When Gorilla Goes Walking
Orchard, May 1, 2007
ISBN 978-0439317702

"When Gorilla goes walking, the neighbors laugh and stare at her tailless rump and her very proud air." Gorilla is an affectionate, jealous, lovable cat who constantly wants to play with Cecilia. Experience their unique relationship through Nikki Grimes's lyrical poetry and Shane Evans's vibrant art work. Readers will fall in love with Gorilla and wish they could bring her home with them!

Barbara Joosse's newest
Please Is A Good Word To Say
Illustrated by Jennifer Plecas
Philomel, May 1, 2007
ISBN 978-0805069754

Please is a good word to say. It puts a smile on your words. And that’s not the only advice curly-burly-haired Harriet has for you. Asking, taking, interrupting, eating, answering the phone—if there’s a nice way to do it, Harriet can tell you just how to do it.

Jennifer Plecas’ infectious illustrations bring Barbara Joosse’s hilarious heroine to life in this offbeat and adorable approach to manners. Kids will be (very politely) clamoring to hear it over and over again ... and parents will be pleased to oblige.

Leslea Newman's newest
Ages 4-8 picture book, Daddy's Song
Illustrated by Karen Ritz
Henry Holt and Co., May 1, 2007
ISBN 978-0805069754

A perfect bedtime story for fathers and daughters

Look for Carrie Jones' young adult book,
Tips On Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend
Llewellyn Publications, May 1, 2007
ISBN 978-0738710501

It isn't every day that my high school boyfriend, Eastbrook High School's Harvest King, tells me he's gay. It's not every day that the Harvest Queen is dumped in the middle of a road with the stars watching the humiliation and the dogs barking because they want to come help tear my heart out and leave it on the cold gray ground. It isn't every day that my entire world falls apart. Belle believes that Dylan is her true love—maybe even her soulmate. Until one cold night when Dylan drops the ultimate bomb: he's gay. Where, Belle wonders, does that leave her? Should she have somehow been able to tell? Is every guy that she loves going to turn out to be gay? This beautifully-written debut explores what happens when you are suddenly forced to see someone in a different light, and what that can teach you about yourself.

Mary Beth Lorbiecki's ages 4 and up picture book,
Paul Bunyan's Sweetheart: The Test To Win Lucette!
Illustrated by Renee Graef
Sleeping Bear Press, May 1, 2007
ISBN 978-1585362899

Paul Bunyan has a BIG problem. Hes in love but the lady who has caught his eye will have nothing to do with him. Whats a giant lumberjack to do? When Paul Bunyan meets pretty Lucette, he knows shes the gal for him. After all, shes so tall she can't fit into an ordinary cabin. She can churn butter into a thick creamy river, and when she cleans house she can twirl up a tornado! Why, its a match made in heaven! But to win Lucette's heart, Paul must prove his worth in a love test.

Lisa Bullard's newest K-4th grade picture book,
You Can Write a Story:
A Story Writing Recipe for Kids
Illustrated by Deborah Melmon
Two-Can Publishers, May 1, 2007
ISBN 978-1587285875

Lisa Bullard's simple story-writing recipe will take you step-by-step through the creative process. Learn how to mix ingredients like characters, settings and action. Stir them up to create conflict. Cook up a beginning, a middle, and an ending to your story. And finally, treat yourself and your friends to a feast of the imagination. It's a recipe that can be used again and again! The playful design and lively, conversational content develops skills yet leaves room for a childs creativity. Enclosed spiral binding makes this a great gift that is user-friendly!

Dog Diaries: Secret Writings of the W.O.O.F. Society
Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), May 1, 2007
ISBN-10: 0805079572
ISBN-13: 978-0805079579

Written by Betsy Byars, Laurie Myers and Betsy Duffey, and illustrated by Erik Brooks, is a frisky collection of humorous and touching stories as told by canines large and small. With 10 different tales set in various historical and modern settings and over 60 black & white illustrations, this book is filled with personality in the telling—and the drawings too—dog gone it.
Sniff it out soon, and then take your favorite pooch for a walk!

Arf! Arf! Arf!

Look for Megan McDonald's newest book,
Stink and the World's Worst Super-Stinky Sneakers
Illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds
Published by Candlewick, April, 2007
ISBN 978-0763628345

Follow your nose to a hilarious Stink-fest no kid will want to miss!

GROSS ME OUT! STINK-O! SKUNKSVILLE!

Stink Moody’s class is going on a field trip to the Gross-Me-Out exhibit at the science museum, and he can’t wait to see the Vomit Machine, the Burp-O-Meter, and the Musical Farts. Best of all, when he gets to the Everybody Stinks exhibit, Stink discovers that his very own nose has amazing sniffing abilities — and he learns that some people have real jobs sniffing stuff for NASA! Soon the junior olfactory wiz is engrossed in toilet water, corpse flowers, and all things smelly, and he and Sophie of the Elves are set to go toe-to-toe in a stinky sneaker contest. Will Stink’s fetid footwear be foul enough to earn him a Golden Clothespin Award? Stink’s loyal fans will be holding their breath for his latest outrageous solo adventure.

CLN is delighted to celebrate a first book!
Loree Griffin Burns is the author of
Tracking Trash: 
Flotsam, Jetsam, and Science of Ocean Motion
published by Houghton Mifflin in April, 2007
ISBN 978-0-618-58131

Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam and the Science of Ocean Motion chronicles the development of Curtis Ebbesmeyer’s unique ocean research program and takes readers on a Pacific Ocean adventure, from an accessible seashore to an uninhabited island to one spot where the amount of trash found in the water is almost unbelievable. In engaging text and unforgettable images readers meet the woman who started it all (Curt’s mother!), the computer program that makes sense of the data (nicknamed OSCURS) and several scientists who are using Curt’s discoveries to preserve delicate marine habitat and protect the creatures who live in them.

Jane St. Anthony's ages 9 and up book,
Grace Above All
Farrar, Straus and Giroux, April, 17, 2007
ISBN 978-0374399405

What’s that pink thing out on the lake? Grace realizes with horror that the distant pink smudge on the water is her youngest sister, Beth, drifting farther and farther offshore atop an inflatable raft. There’s no time to lose, and Grace never dawdles anyway. Struggling through the cold waves, Grace gradually closes in on her terrified sister. At that moment, boys are the last thing on Grace’s mind. But a boy turns up to assist in the rescue. And he’s really handsome. Together Frankie and Grace tow Beth back to safety, and Grace begins to hope that maybe—despite having to take care of three younger siblings, despite an oblivious mother smoking her brains out, despite the ancient great-aunt and her mysterious daughter—maybe this summer vacation won’t be so bad after all.

Jacqueline Briggs Martin's ages 4-8 picture book,
Chicken Joy on Redbean Road
Illustrated by Melissa Sweet
Houghton Mifflin, April 9, 2007
ISBN 978-0618507597

When people danced to Joe Beebee"s music they forgot about bad knees, tight shoes, backaches, blisters, and beetles ... They forgot sickness, sadness, and sin. Joe Beebee"s music, folks say, will take you up so high, your problems look small enough to stomp on. But, worries a plain brown hen, can it make a quiet rooster sing? Can it save her best friend from becoming Quiet Rooster Stew? Will Joe Beebee even play for chickens? With art as fun as waltzing on the moon and with words as lively as a fiddle, this book captures the power of music to heal and of friendship to endure.

Look for Joyce Sidman's newest book of poetry,
This is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness
illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski
Houghton Mifflin, April 9, 2007
ISBN 978-0618-61680-0

When Mrs. Merz asks her sixth grade class to write poems of apology, they end up liking their poems so much that they decide to put them together into a book. Not only that, but they get the people to whom they apologized to write poems back. In haiku, pantoums, two-part poems, snippets, and rhymes, Mrs. Merz’s class writes of crushes, overbearing parents, loving and losing pets, and more. Some poets are deeply sorry; some not at all. Some are forgiven; some are not. In each pair of poems a relationship, a connection, is revealed.

Barbara Johansen Newman's latest ages 4-8 book,
Tex & Sugar: A Big City Kitty Ditty
Illustrated by Barbara Johansen Newman
Sterling, April 7, 2007
ISBN 978-1402738876

Meet two delightful country-crooning cats who will have kids singing their praises: Tex Mex Rex and Sugar Lee Snughead. Both kitties have left their small towns and come to the big city in search of fame and fortune on the stage. And why not? Tex's tunes "could put smiles on fields full of cattle," while Sugar's voice "called as sweetly as catbirds in June."

But city life isn't all it's cracked up to be—until Tex and Sugar find each other—and discover what beautiful music they make together. Like the best country songs, Tex & Sugar is funny, touching, and carries a great message: Believe in Dreams, Darlin', You Know They'll Find You.

Sandra Alonzo's picture book
Ages 4-8, Gallop-O-Gallop
Illustrated by Kelly Murphy
Dial Books for Young Readers, April 5, 2007
ISBN 978-0-8037-2967-4

Whether you have a horse, want a horse, or just love to read about horses, this book will gallop-o-gallop away with your heart. Get swept into these twenty-one poems all about horses, plus pages and pages of dazzling illustrations.  Alternatively rambunctious and lyrical, Gallop-O-Gallop invites readers to celebrate our special relationship with these beautiful and inspiring animals.

Gallop-O-Gallop, Sandra Alonzo's first picture book, was inspired by her lifelong love for horses. She lives in Mariposa, CA with her husband, three Dachshunds, and three horses.

Look for Loretta Ellsworth's latest young adult book,
In Search of Mockingbird
Henry Holt, April 3, 2007
ISBN 978-0805072365

Sometimes the things that need to be discovered aren’t so easily found at home. Erin is certain that this is true in her case. A book is all that connects Erin to her mother, who died when she was a baby. But how much can Erin really learn about her mother from a tattered copy of To Kill a Mockingbird? On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, Erin decides it’s finally time to find out. And so begins her bus journey from Minnesota to Alabama in search of Harper Lee, the reclusive author of Mockingbird. In a novel full of quirky characters, strange coincidences, and on-the-road adventures, Loretta Ellsworth deftly traces a unique voyage of self-discovery.

Congratulations to Julie Bowe on her FIRST BOOK!
My Last Best Friend
published by Harcourt on April 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0152057770
for readers aged 9 to 12

As Ida May begins fourth grade, she is determined never to make another best friend—because her last best friend moved away. This is a doable plan at first. Thanks to bratty, bossy Jenna Drews who hates Ida, no one in class has ever really noticed her before. 

It's when the sparkly Stacey Merriweather comes to her school that her plan goes awry. Ida reaches out despite her fear, but doesn't say hello—instead she writes Stacey anonymous notes. Soon their friendship develops without Ida ever having to reveal her real identity. Until she has no choice. And that's when the true friendship begins. 

Helen Hemphill's second young adult novel,
Runaround,
follows her successful Long Gone, Daddy
both of which are published by Front Street Books.
Look for this one on April 1, 2007
ISBN 978-1-932425-83-3

Hell has no fury like eleven-year-old Sassy Thompkins. When her beautiful older sister Lula laughs at Sassy’s doomed first encounter with romance, Sassy turns to Love Confessions magazine and an alluring older boy named Boon for revenge. But soon, Sassy uncovers a secret that lays open her heart to the worst kind of betrayal, and she must face the ugly truth about love before she can accept its saving grace.

Novelist Barbara O'Connor
writes another fine story in
How to Steal a Dog
Frances Foster/Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2007
Ages 9 and up, ISBN 0-915793-50-4

Half of me was thinking, Georgina, don’t do this. Stealing a dog is just plain wrong. The other half of me was thinking, Georgina, you’re in a bad fix and you got to do whatever it takes to get yourself out of it.

Georgina Hayes is desperate. Ever since her father left and they were evicted from their apartment, her family has been living in their car. With her mama juggling two jobs and trying to make enough money to find a place to live, Georgina is stuck looking after her younger brother, Toby. And she has her heart set on improving their situation. When Georgina spots a missing-dog poster with a reward of five hundred dollars, the solution to all her problems suddenly seems within reach. All she has to do is “borrow” the right dog and its owners are sure to offer a reward. What happens next is the last thing she expected.

With unmistakable sympathy, Barbara O’Connor tells the story of a young girl struggling to see what’s right when everything else seems wrong.