KU Childrenʼs Literature Conference - 2013

Middle Grade Titles:Almost Home by Joan Bauer. (Viking, 9780670012893)Another promise broken by her father, lands a girl and her mother in a homeless shelter. As the mother slides into depression, the girl keeps things together by rescuing a stray dog, and writing poetry and “thank you” letters to everyone.

Cold Cereal by Adam Rex. (Balzer & Bray, 9780062060020) In a world that seems to be run by a cereal manufacturer, Scottish Play Doe and his genius little sister have to figure out why a little man was in a pet carrier, what happened to their guardian/teacher, and why they keep running into mythical creatures who ask them for sanctuary. After you read this crazy book you will never look at your breakfast cereal quite the same.

Freakling by Lara Krumwiede. (Candlewick Press,9780763659370) Taemon loses his psi in a traumatic accident and he cannot hide the fact that he can no longer move things with his mind. Exiled to the “dud farm” where the powerless live, he discovers kindness, openness and creativity. The book ends in a tension-filled showdown between Taemon and his older success-obsessed brother.

Gingersnap by Patricia Reilly Giff. (Wendy Lamb Books,9780375938917) Jayna’s brother, and only living relative, is called to serve in the Pacific during WWII. When he goes missing in action, Jayna runs away from her caretaker to an address in her dead mother’s recipe book and to the woman she hopes is her grandmother. She finds a bakery and a friend and eventually, a family.

Goblin Secrets by William Alexander. (Margaret K McElderry Books,9781442427280) Rownie joins a troupe of performing goblins in order to find his missing brother, a talented actor. Acting is illegal for everyone in the city of Zombay, except the goblins. There is political intrigue, treachery and hard times in this award winning fantasy. (National Book Award 2012).

The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech. (HarperCollins,9780061892325) Two girls, both foster kids and best friends, face bereavement and disappointment. Meanwhile, across the Pond, an old woman plans her “revenge”. How the two story lines intertwine makes a terrific ending.

Hold Fast by Blue Balliett. (Scholastic,9780545299886) Early’s father, a shelver at a large public library in Chicago, disappears. Then, someone trashes their apartment, and Early and her mother and brother end up in a homeless shelter. Early proves to be strong and stronger, carefully solving the mystery of the break-in and unraveling what happened to her father.

In Search of Goliathus Hercules by Jennifer Angus. (Albert Whitman and Company,9780807529904) While exiled to his Great-Aunt’s house in America, Henri discovers that he can speak with insects. Set in the late 19th century when scientists were rock stars, this book has everything - circus sideshows, weird talents, trips through tropical jungles, fascinating insects, nascent science, formal correspondence, disguises of all kinds, good friends and a baffling, creepy evil-doer.

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Liar and Spy by Rebecca Stead. (Wendy Lamb Books,9780385737432) When Georges’ family downsizes to an apartment, Georges meets Safer, home-schooled and a self-professed spy. Georges gets tangled in Safer’s surveillance activities. There’s a lot about expectations and relationships in here and even more about true friendship.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. (HarperCollins, 9780061992254) Ivan has lived in the Mall for so long he can barely remember his babyhood in Africa and his long-gone sister. Now, he is just an “attraction”, a captive gorilla. When his fellow captive and best friend, the elephant, becomes sick, Ivan promises to find a safer home for a newly arrived captive, a small elephant. This is Ivan’s story. Poetically written and touching, this book deserved the Newbery Award that it won.

One Year in Coal Harbor by Polly Horvath. (Schwartz & Wade, 9780375869709) Primrose Squarp's former foster parents, Bert and Evie, lose their beloved dog in the first chapter and then they get a new foster child. Primrose's Uncle Jack tries to open a restaurant - RIGHT ACROSS from the diner owned by his beloved!!! The path of friendship and true love just won't go the way Primrose wants it to go. And she works so hard at it all, too.

Renegade Magic by Stephanie Burgis. (Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 9781416994497). When Kat’s second sister’s engagement ends in scandal, Stepmama hustles the whole family off to Bath to find Angeline a “suitable” husband. The wild magic of Bath brews trouble for the entire family and Kat has to save everyone. It adds up to a Regency Fantasy Quasi-Romance for middle schoolers that will get them all ready - and even eager - for Jane Austen.

Return to the Willows by Jacqueline Kelly. (Henry Holt and Co,9780805094138) This latest addition to Kenneth Grahame’s legacy sends Mole up in a hot air balloon and Toad off to teach at Cambridge, among other sunny escapades. Kelly’s writing is a delight.

The Secret of the Fortune Wookie by Tom Angleberger. (Amulet Books, 9781419703928) With Dwight in a private school, Tom and Kellen have no idea how to talk to the girls and Harvey has very little to make fun of. Sara shows up with a Fortune Wookie. Designed like a cootie-catcher, the Fortune Wookie can hand out advice - or so Sara claims. Caroline reveals the truth about Dwight’s life at Tippett Academy. And the fight for Dwight is on. The book ends with hints of what might come next...

Spindlers by Lauren Oliver. (HarperCollins, 9780061978081) One morning, Lisa’s little brother, Patrick, seems different. Lisa knows that the Spindlers have taken the real Patrick. So armed with a broom, she goes underground to save her little brother. Oliver’s underground is filled with rats, moles and magical beings and the sticky webs and trickery of the evil Spindlers.

Splendors and Glooms Laura Amy Schlitz. (Candlewick, 9780763653804). Pretty darn creepy in places, this story of puppets and magic gone awry. Clara Wintermute’s fascination with a traveling puppet show and the orphans who work there leads to her own enslavement. The children must work together to break away from the evil puppet-master.

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Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin. (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 9780316215534) Rendi is a run-away who ends up in the Village of Clear Sky. He is the only person who notices that the moon is missing and he hears it crying every night. Through the stories he hears at the inn, and the stories he tells, he finds a way to rescue the moon. This is a sweet, lyrical and satisfying book.

Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker. (Balzer + Bray 9780061964206 ) When Stella’s great-aunt, Louise, dies suddenly, Stella and her great-aunt’s foster child, Angel, must depend on each other. They hide the old woman’s death to save themselves from yet another foster home. Stella’s dependence on “Hints from Heloise” frame the two girls’ struggles to get along without adult help.

Templeton Twins Have an Idea by Ellis Weiner. (Chronicle Books,9780811866798) The Templeton Twins are kidnapped by one of their brilliant inventor/professor/Dad’s former students in order to force Dad to turn over the patent for a brilliant invention. There is a hapless Nanny, a handsome but dastardly villain, a snarky narrator AND review questions at the end of every chapter. What’s not to like?

Ten Good and Bad Things About My Life (So Far) by Ann M. Martin. (Feiwel and Friends,9780312642990) Pearl Littlefield’s essay on her summer turns into a list of 10 good things and 10 bad things. Her father just lost his job so Pearl has to face changes and disappointments. Sometimes, a fictional book about real kids, facing real problems with a real family, is just a nice thing to read.

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. (Dial, 9780803736702) Both Mo Lebeau and the Colonel were found in the wreckage of a hurricane 11 years before this mystery unfolds. Mo was just a newborn baby and the Colonel didn’t know who or what he was. When the stingiest man in town is murdered, some of Mo’s nearest and dearest fall under suspicion and into danger and she has her work cut out for her. Here’s another “orphan/foster child/ working in a cafe’” story. Small town fun and suspense.

Timmy Failure: Mistakes were made by Stephan Pastis, 2013. (9780763660505) Timmy Failure makes Big Nate and the Wimpy Kid look like pure geniuses. But neither of those characters are trying to run a detective agency with a polar bear partner. This book is just plain guy-silly.

Will Sparrow’s Road by Karen Cushman. (Clarion, 9780547739625) Will, a pickpocket and a thief, joins a traveling troupe of oddities - a medieval sideshow. Will’s superior attitude creates a lot of the tension in this novel about scraping out a living in Elizabethan England. It is his slow grasp of some much needed understanding that makes the book satisfying.

Grades 6 through 8The Applewhites at Wit’s End by Stephanie Tolan. (HarperCollins, 9780060579388). The Applewhites have no money. When the family turns their 16 acre artist retreat/homeschool into a Summer Camp for creative children, Jake, (foster kid and homeschool student) and E. D. (only non-creative Applewhite), are saddled with most of the work. And then, the threats start coming. Expect mayhem and hilarious examples of inappropriate parenting.

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The Dark Unwinding by Sharon Cameron. (Scholastic, 9780545327862). Katherine Tulman is sent, by her imperious and greedy aunt, to find out if her eccentric uncle is truly squandering the family’s fortune. Is Uncle Tully really an idiot savant of clockwork creations or is he faking it? Why is everyone on the estate so secretive? Who is the model for the creepy clockwork man that Katherine finds her first night there? Steampunk-ish and intriguing.

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken. (Disney Hyperion, 9781423157373) Ruby wakes up on her tenth birthday and her parents turn her over to the police. In a prison camp, Ruby discovers that she has powers over people’s memories. She must escape. She must survive. But how? The beginning of a trilogy this book examines the power of propaganda and questions every character’s motives.

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. (Little, Brown and Company, 9780316190084). Sophronia is exiled to Finishing School the day she breaks the dumbwaiter while trying to eavesdrop. But along with learning French and stitchery, Sophronia learns how to disarm, assassinate, spy, investigate. Set in steampunk England, Finishing School promises to be a popular, fun series, if Book 1 is anything to go on.

Hokey Pokey by Jerry Spinelli. (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 9780375831980) In Hokey Pokey all there are, are kids - who play and ride and have wonderful adventures.Jack’s bike is stolen while he sleeps.  By the Girl.  He calls his Amigos to help him reclaim it.  But even before that happens, even before he wakes up, something is different.This is an ode to what we remember of childhood in our happiest dreams. 

Jepp who defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh. (Hyperion, 9781423135005) Jepp of Astraveld travels to the court of the Infanta where he is forced to perform with other dwarves and physically different people. He displeases his sponsor, and is sold to the astronomer, Tycho Brahe. Brahe cares nothing for convention. When he notices Jepp’s intelligence, Brahe disregards Jepp’s small size and gives Jepp a place among his scholars.

Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner. (Candlewick,9780763665531) Standish Treadwell is not “pure”. He can’t read. His eyes don’t match. The brutal propaganda that passes for education praises the Motherland’s efforts to put weapons on the moon. Standish realizes what the huge wall in his town is hiding and tries his best to unmask the Motherland’s cruelty.

Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool. (Delacorte, 9780385742092) Jack, a new student at a boarding school on the coast of Maine during WWII, nothing about boats or the ocean. He meets Early, a loner with an obsession with the number pi and a great bear. Left alone during Spring Break, Jack and Early travel into the backwoods looking for the bear.

One Came Home by Amy Timberlake. (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 9780375869259). Georgie Burkhardt is sure the corpse in the coffin is NOT her older sister, Agatha. If Georgie had kept her mouth shut, Agatha would never have left home. So, it is up to Georgie to find Agatha and bring her back. Set in 1871, this novel describes the wholesale killing of homing pigeons, an event that serves as the backdrop to Georgie’s story.

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The Peculiar by Stefan Bachman. (Greenwillow Books, 9780062195180). Descriptive prose tells of a London where faeries and mortals coexist uneasily. A human/faery boy sees things he shouldn’t. A clueless member of the House of Lords hears on a forbidden conversation. How these two unlikely collaborators come together is a fascinating story of murder and treachery.

Safekeeping by Karen Hesse. (Feiwel & Friends,9781250011343) Radley, our protagonist, returns home from volunteering in Haiti when an assassination has thrown America into a panic.  Her money is in her backpack, which has been seized, and her cell phone is dead. The paranoia and military rule make it necessary for Radley to beg, sneak and steal her way home where nothing is as it should be. Hesse’s story gives the reader lots to think about.

Definitely for Teens (13 and up)Because It Is My Blood by Gabrielle Zevin. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 9780374380748). from When Anya’s entire family is attacked, in three separate assassination attempts, Anya is carried off to Mexico, where chocolate is still legal, to hide and heal. Her return to Manhattan signals a new direction for the Balanchine Crime Family. Suspenseful, clever and a tad dark.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. (Egmont, 9781405258210) Under torture, Verity confesses everything to her Nazi captors; how she trained as a spy, her friendship with the pilot who dropped her behind enemy lines, even details about her mission. When she has told them everything, her pilot friend, who is now working with the Resistance, takes over the narrative. And the reader finally understands Verity’s true character.

Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta. (Candlewick, 9780763647599). Warnings: 1) Read Finnikin of the Rock first to fully understand who Froi is. 2)The book opens with a scene of ritual copulation though not graphically described. Froi is sent into the kingdom of Charyn to kill the King. His guide orders him to kill the mad princess, whose eventual pregnancy is prophesied to lift the curse of sterility from the people of Charyn. Then he meets her. Marchetta builds a credible world and complex characters.

Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers. (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 9780547628349). Ismae escapes a brutal arranged marriage to enter the convent of St. Mourtain. There she finds her special talent and peculiar training. She is sent to protect the Duchess of Brittany by killing a certain courtier. Why does he have to be so upright and virtuous - to say nothing of stunningly handsome? Espionage, political maneuvering, swordplay and a touch of romance add up to a engaging read.

Guy Langman : Crime Scene Procrastinator by Josh Berk. (Random House, 9780375857010) Guy joins the forensics team at school and finds a real dead body at the fake crime scene. Was he the intended victim of this murder? Berk keeps the tone fairly light as his protagonist investigates the mystery.

Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. (Scholastic, 9780545424929) When Blue sees a spirit in the graveyard on St. Mark’s Eve, her mother tells her, “Either he is your true love...or you killed him.” Blue finds that spirit in the living, breathing form of Gansey, a charismatic student at a local prep school. Gansey is searching for the grave of a mythical Welsh king. The search is a dangerous one for all of them.

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Ripper by Stefan Petrucha. (Philomel, 9780399255243) A teen orphan gets a job with the Pinkertons and searches for his father. Does he really want to find him? This was creepy and awesome. Another Jack the Ripper saga that just might be a trilogy - I hope.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. (Random House, 9780375866562). Musically gifted Seraphina must hide her heritage as she negotiates the court of Goredd. Dragons and humans live together but tensions between the factions run high. Someone wants to destroy this fragile peace. This is one of the best dragon novels to come out in a long time.

Non-FictionArt2-D2’s Guide to Folding and Doodling by Tom Angleberger. (Harry N. Abrams, 9781419705342) Hot off the Presses! Fans of the Origami Yoda franchise will want this book. All the main characters have something to add to the simple folding models and drawing lessons between these covers.

Bomb : The Race to Build - and Steal - the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Robert Sheinkin.(Flash Point, 9781596434875) Sheinkin tells the parallel stories of how Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States raced to be the first to create an atomic bomb. Germany and America worked on research and sabotage, the USSR concentrated on stealing as much scientific data as they could.

Moonbird : a Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip Hoose. (Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 9780374304683). Through the story of B95, a rufa red knot that has been sighted from 1995 through 2011, Phillip Hoose tells the story of these robin-sized shorebirds, that migrate from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic Circle and back every year. Hoose explains how the rufas have been negatively impacted by human practices.

Sneaky Art by Marthe Jocelyn. (Candlewick, 9780763656485) These crafts project are designed to be left out in public to surprise and delight - and to look like something they are not.

Titanic: Voices from Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson. (Scholastic, 9780545116749). Hopkinson uncovers first person accounts from the most famous maritime disaster of known history. Although she describes the crash and the sinking, Hopkinson concentrates on the travail of survival, shining a new light on a widely explored event.

Water Sings Blue by Kate Coombs. (Chronicle, 9780547739625). Meilo So’s beautiful illustrations aptly decorate this book of poems about the ocean.

Thanks for joining us at Kutztown University. This list and any addenda - I always have addenda - will be posted on my blog, Booksnstories.blogpost.com, on the Book Lists page.

Karen Maurer224 East Washington AvenueBethlehem, PA 18018610-419-0232, bookkm@gmail.com Booksnstories.blogspot.com

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Here are lists from other sources to round out my reviews. Expect duplications:

From Betsy Bird, of the NYPL, School Library Journal, (http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/), I attach her middle grade fiction, poetry, folklore and non-fiction suggestions from her 100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2012. (I left out the picture books and early chapter books. You can find them here. http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2013/01/01/100-magnificent-childrens-books-of-2012/ Or go to her blog, A Fuse 8 Production, and look for her January 1, 2013 post.)One * asterisk marks the books I want to read. Two ** mark the books reviewed above.

Older Chapter Books

A Boy and a Bear in a Boat by Dave Shelton. David Fickling Books

Buddy by M. H. Herlong. Viking

The Case of the Deadly Desperadoes by Caroline Lawrence. Orion Children’s Books

*Chickadee by Louise Erdrich. Harper

*Crow by Barbara Wright. Random House

Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey. Putnam Juvenile

Fairest of All by Sarah Mlynowski. Scholastic

*The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen. Scholastic Press

Freaky Fast Frankie Joe by Lucile Clifton. Holiday House

**Goblin Secrets by William Alexander. Margaret K. McElderry Books

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy. Illustrated by Todd Harris. Walden Pond Press.

*In a Glass Grimmly by Adam Gidwitz. Dutton Children’s Books

*The Kairos Mechanism by Kate Milford. The Clockwork Foundry

Katerina’s Wish by Jeannie Mobley. Margaret K. McElderry Books

**Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead. Random House

*The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine. G. P. Putnam’s Sons

**The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Illustrated by Patricia Castelao. Harp

Pickle: The Formerly Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School by Kim Baker. Illustrated by Tim Probert. Roaring Brook Press

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Plunked by Michael Northrop. Scholastic Press

*The Prince Who Fell From the Sky by John Claude Bemis. Random House

**Return to the Willows by Jacqueline Kelly. Illustrated by Clint Young. Henry Holt and Company

**Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick Press

The Star Shard by Frederick S. Durbin. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

**Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin. Little, Brown and Company

**Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker. Balzer & Bray

**Three Times Lucky by Shelia Turnage. Dial Books for Young Readers

*The Traveling Restaurant by Barbara Else. Gecko Press

The Unfortunate Son by Constance Leeds. Viking

*The Vengekeep Prophecies by Brian Farrey. Illustrated by Brett Helquist. Harper

Who Could That Be at This Hour? by Lemony Snicket. Illustrated by Seth. Little, Brown & Co.

Wonder by R. J. Palacio. Alfred A. Knopf. ( Reviewed in 2012.)

Graphic Novels

*Cardboard by Doug TenNapel. Graphix

Drama by Raina Telgemeier. Graphix

Fangbone! Third-Grade Barbarian by Michael Rex. G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Giants Beware! by Jorge Aguirre. Illustrated by Rafael Rosado. First Second

Hades: Lord of the Dead by George O’Connor. First Second

*Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Na Liu and Andres Vera Martinez. Graphic Universe

*Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad! by Nathan Hale Amulet Books

The Secret of the Stone Frog by David Nytra. Toon Books

Nonfiction Chapter Books

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*A Black Hole Is Not a Hole by Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano. Illustrated by Michael Carroll. Charlesbridge

Buried Alive! How 33 Miners Survived 69 Days Deep Under the Chilean Desert by Elaine Scott. Clarion Books

Chuck Close: Face Book by Chuck Close. Abrams Books for Young Readers

The Fairy Ring by Mary Losure. Candlewick Press.

The Great Molasses Flood: Boston, 1919 by Deborah Kops. Charlesbridge

*Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America, by Andrea Davis Pinkney. Illustrated by Brian Pinkney. Hyperion

The Human Body Factory by Dan Green. Illustrated by Edmond Davis. Kingfisher

*Invincible Microbe: Tuberculosis and the Never-Ending Search for a Cure by Jim Murphy and Alison Blank. Clarion Books

The Skull in the Rock: How a Scientist, a Boy and Google Earth Opened a New Window on Human Origins by Marc Aronson and Lee Berger. National Geographic Books for Children

Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World by Sy Montgomery. Houghton Mifflin Books for Children. ( I reviewed this in 2102!)

**Titanic: Voices from the Disaster by Deborah Hopkinson. Scholastic Press

Zombie Makers: True Stories of Nature’s Undead by Rebecca L. Johnson. Millbrook Press

PW’s The Stars so Far for 2013 - from January to March, 2013.

Publisher Weekly lists books receiving starred reviews from review sources such as Horn Book, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal and Publisher Weekly. Picture books, non-fiction, books for teens and children are all intermixed here. But, this list will keep you up to date, and possibly, even ahead of the game. I’ve only listed 3, 4 and 5 starred books.

One * indicates books I want to read badly. Two ** indicates books reviewed in my list.

FIVE STARS*Midwinter Blood. Marcus Sedgwick. Roaring Brook, $17.99.Penny and Her Marble. Kevin Henkes. Greenwillow, $12.99.

FOUR STARSBrave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909. Michelle Markel. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99.

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Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickels, America’s First Black Paratroopers. Tanya Lee Stone. Candlewick, $24.99.*Eleanor & Park. Rainbow Rowell. St. Martin’s Griffin, $17.99.Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln and the Dawn of Liberty. Tonya Bolden. Abrams, $24.95.**Etiquette & Espionage (Finishing School, Book 1).  Gail Carriger. Little, Brown, $17.99.Have You Seen My New Blue Socks? Eve Bunting. Illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier.  Clarion, $16.99.*Jinx. Sage Blackwood. HarperCollins/Harper, $16.99.Matchbox Diary, The. Paul Fleischman. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. Candlewick, $16.99.**Navigating Early. Clare Vanderpool. Delacorte, $16.99.**One Came Home. Amy Timberlake. Knopf, $16.99.*Splash of Red, A: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin. Jen Bryant. Illustrated by Melissa Sweet. Knopf, $17.99.*Take Me Out to the Yakyu. Aaron Meshon. S&S/Atheneum, $15.99.You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! Jonah Winter. Illustrated by Terry Widener. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99.

THREE STARSBuilding Our House. Jonathan Bean. FSG, $17.99.*Dark Triumph. Robin LaFevers. Houghton Mifflin, $17.99.Dark, The. Lemony Snicket. Illustrated by Jon Klassen. Little, Brown, $16.99.Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle. Chris Raschka. Random/Schwartz and Wade, $16.99.*Exclamation Mark. Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld. Scholastic, $17.99. (It’s a picture book.)If You Find Me. Emily Murdoch. St. Martin’s Griffin, $17.99.Look Up! Annette LeBlanc Cate. Candlewick, $15.99.Lucky Ducklings. Eva Moore. Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Scholastic/Orchard, $16.99.**Maggot Moon. Sally Gardner. Illustrated by Julian Crouch. Candlewick, $16.99.My Brother’s Book. Maurice Sendak. HarperCollins/di Capua, $18.95.One Gorilla. Anthony Browne. Candlewick, $16.99.Pug and Other Animal Poems. Valerie Worth. Illustrated by Steve Jenkins. FSG/Margaret Ferguson, $16.99.*Quintana of Charyn. Melina Marchetta. Candlewick, $18.99.Teeth. Hannah Moskowitz. S&S/Simon Pulse, $17.99 hardcover; $9.99 paperback.Uses for Boys. Erica Lorraine Scheidt. St. Martin’s Griffin, $9.99.Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass. Meg Medina. Candlewick, $16.99.

Me, again!I also want to read:Doll Bones by Holly Black. (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 9781416963981)The Testing by Jonelle Charbonneau. (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 9780547959108).The Hero’s Guide to Storming the Castle by Christopher Healy. (Walden Pond Press, 9780062118455)Thanks again! Karen Maurer bookkm@gmail.com

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Addenda!

Books I Forgot to Mention:

Curveball : the Year I Lost my Grip by Jordan Sonnenblick. (Scholastic, 9780545320696). Peter Friedman has three BIG problems. 1) He will never play baseball again. 2) Something is seriously wrong with his grandfather. 3) He is “in testosterone” with his photography class partner. As always, Sonneblick is right on target with his hero’s dilemmas.

Electric Ben : The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by Robert Byrd. (Dial Books for Young Readers, 9780803737495) Here is a colorful, accessible biography of Benjamin Franklin including stories of his pranks, his science experiments, his witticisms, his inventions and his political contributions. The illustrations alone offer a lot of historical information.

Iron-Hearted Violet by Kelly Barnhill. (Little Brown and Co, 9780316056731) Violet is the only daughter of the king and queen and she is not at all pretty but she is a splendid storyteller. When the King’s obsession with dragons leaves the kingdom and the Queen vulnerable to a long-suppressed evil, only Violet and her best friend, commoner Demetrius, can save the day. If only Violet did not wish to be beautiful!!

No Crystal Stair by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson. (Carolrhoda LAB, 9780761361695) Nelson tells the story of her great-uncle, Lewis Michaux, in this documentary novel. Lewis Michaux opened the country’s first - and for years - only bookstore for African Americans, The National Memorial African Bookstore, Harlem. Celebrated black authors and celebrities, along with black citizens from all walks of life, found a gathering place, a reading room and inspiration in Micheaux’s bookstore.

Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter. (Hyperion Books, 9781423166009) Kat Bishop and her very rich boyfriend are back. W. W. Hale unexpectedly inherits his grandmother’s billion-dollar corporation but family retainers fear that the will might not be legit. Kat and Hale must find out the truth and save the family business. Luckily, Kat’s family operates far better outside the law than inside, making their investigation more dangerous every step of the way.

The Vengekeep Prophecies by Brian Farrey. (HarperCollins, 9780062049285) Fumble-fingered and clumsy, Jaxter Grimjinx has trouble upholding his family’s trade of thieving. But when one of his Ma’s cons go horribly awry, the entire Grimjinx family, and especially Jaxter, are forced to become heroes. Set in a fantasy world, with multiple moons and weird plants and animals, This story is totally satisfactory.

Upcoming Middle Grade series to watch:

Ann M. Martin’s Family Tree series, from Scholastic. This is a proposed four book series following four girls from four generations. Check out Scholastics The Stacks for Kids for other new series. http://www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/The Lemonade War series by Jacqueline Davies - from Houghton Mifflin - just introduced another tile, The Candy Smash.

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The Watcher in the Shadows by Chris Moriarty and Mark Geyer is the second entry in The Inquisitor’s Apprentice series from Houghton Mifflin.

Jean Ferris has revisited Once Upon a Marigold, her delightful fairy tales, adding a third title, Thrice Upon a Marigold. Also from Houghton Mifflin.

House of Secrets from Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini. This is from Balzer & Bray. The house moves through forces acting on it. Lovely cover.

Miss Peregrine’s Home... will become a graphic novel.

Tom Angleberger’s next entry into the Origami Yoda series is Jabba the Puppett, due out in August, 2013.

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