The Stranger Among Us: In Search of Sasquatch by Kelly Milner Halls

Twelve-year-old Montra Freitas was bored. Her parents had taken her to a remote camping site deep in the California woods, and there were no kids around. At loose ends, she strolled a down a narrow trail to play around the nearby creek.

Looking behind her, she felt the hair actually stand up on the back of her neck. Something was there, partly hidden by a large tree trunk.

"I could make out long fingers and very dark brown hair covering the entire arm. I thought. That's not a branch and it's not a bear paw, but it sure looks like an arm with a hand."

She had pondered the thought for only a moment when a face peeked out from the other side of the large tree. "It was a very flat face, very dark brown. I couldn't make out any features, except for the eyes," she said, "and they were looking right at me."

Fear bolted up her spine. She had never heard of Sasquatch. She knew only that she was alone in the woods, a full city block from the safety of her campsite, looking at something completely unknown.

Without another thought, Fietas ran.

Montra had just had experienced a rare sighting of the elusive Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot. Now a young woman, she still has dreams of that moment, even though she is believes that the Sasquatch was only curious.

The Sasquatch, "cousin" of the Yeti and Alma, the "abominable snowmen" of Asia, has been seen in every state of the U.S. except Hawaii and all but one Canadian province. His history goes back hundreds of years before European settlers in his many names in Native American languages, stone carvings, totem poles figures, rock carvings, basketry and pottery designs, and his appearances to white settlers live on in our folktales of "The Hairy Man."

Sasquatch is a genuine "cryptid," an unverified animal for which there is some physical evidence--in this case, castings of footprints which scientists type as those of a prehominid ape unlike those of humans, and in one intriguing minute of film taken in the California wilderness in 1967. Other cryptids, such as the Kraken, or giant squid, only existed in legends going back to the ancient Mediterranean and in medieval woodblock prints until recent photos made in Japanese waters proved its existence. Bigfoot hunters point to physical evidence such as "upbreaks" (single branches partially broken by an strong upward force as if to mark a trail) or ground-level dens clearly constructed of sticks and leaves big enough to be a temporary shelter for a seven-foot beast. Anthropologists agree that prehominids once existed and fossils have been found around the world which prove their existence. But where are those Sasquatch fossils?

Kelly Milnar Hall's forthcoming In Search of Sasquatch: An Exercise in Zoological Evidence (Houghton Mifflin, 2011) takes another shot at the Bigfoot mystery, one which has intrigued, frustrated, and entertained Americans for over half a century. Hall succinctly summarizes the history of the Sasquatch phenomenon in a chapter augmented by a map showing the number of sightings around North America, photos of apelike stone heads made by pre-Columbian Indians, baskets with designs of giant apelike figures woven in the Southwest, and a table showing tribes, from Cherokee to Zuni.the tribal name for the Bigfoot creature, and its English translation. She then recounts the stories of early and recent Bigfoot hunters, with photos of the castings taken of footprints over the years from huge adults to smaller juveniles, all amazingly similar. Hall deftly summarizes the evidence for and against the existence of the "real" Sasquatch, but insists that despite the lack of incontrovertible documentation, many scientists still believe that there is something out there.

Backmatter for In Search of Sasquatch: An Exercise in Zoological Evidence includes recent books and videos, a variety of websites, a bibliography and sources, glossary, and index.

Look Out, Mick Badger! Rock 'n' Roll Mole by Carolyn Crimi

MOLE HAD A ROCK 'N' ROLL SOUL.

HE WORE A LEATHER JACKET (EVEN IN SUMMER). AND SHADES (EVEN AT NIGHT).

AND HE COULD STRUT JUST LIKE HIS IDOL, MICK BADGER.

Mole's really got it goin'. He's even got a trio of little yellow chicks ready to scream when goes onstage.

Except that that's the one thing he can't do. Unlike his idols Mick Badger, Goose Springsteen, and Moo 2, whose posters watch him rock and roll from his bedroom walls, Mole just can't come alive before a real audience. He can't swagger on stage. His hands shake when he thinks of hitting a lick before the crowd. Only his best friend Pig knows what a real rocker he can be.

"YOU SHOULD PLAY IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE SCHOOL!" PIG SAID. "YOU'RE AWESOME!"

MOLE DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING. IT WAS ONE THING TO PLAY IN FRONT OF PIG, BUT THE WHOLE SCHOOL?

NO WAY!

But Pig is an impresario at heart, and soon he is planning a school talent show. He lines up Raccoon to do his skateboard tricks and makes sure there's a place on the playbill for his own cool dancing moves. The promotional signs go up, advertising Mole as the chief attraction, and the groupie chicks get ready to swoon from the front row.

But on the big day, Mole is shakin', all right, but not in a rock 'n' roll way. His knees wobble at the thought of looking at all those faces in the audience. He's got the stage fright blues, and he's got them bad. Mole has to break the bad news to his break-dancin' buddy Pig, who takes it hard but sympathetically. Mole sadly takes down the signs advertising his appearance and tries to make up for his lapse by acting as Pig's No. 1 roadie.

But then, Pig is the one with the the 19th nervous breakdown. At the last minute his iPod quits on him, and he can't possibly dance without his music. Mole takes in the situation through his trusty shades. His friend needs him, and Mole knows what he has to do. The show must go on.

MOLE STRUCK A POSE. "LET'S ROCK THE HOUSE!" HE SAID.

MOLE CRANKED. HE BURNED. HE SCORCHED THE STAGE WITH HIS FIERCE FUNKY SOUND LIKE THE SUPERSONIC GROOVELICIOUS ROCK STAR THAT HE WAS!

Carolyn Crimi's latest, Rock 'N' Roll Mole (Dial Books, 2011), trades creative licks with her illustrious superstar illustrator, Lynn Munsinger, whose artistic chops are well known from her rockin', chart-toppin' work on the Tacky the Penguin series, the two Wodney Wat hits, and her top-40 The Jelly Beans books. Together these two hit all the right notes. As Mole says, "Pure platinum!"

Fall Foolery: Fall Mixed Up by Bob Raczka

BEARS GATHER NUTS, GEESE HIBERNATE.

SQUIRRELS FLY SOUTH IN BIG FIGURE EIGHTS.

Winter can't come too soon for this crazy crew, as Mother Nature loses her cool and things temporal go off the rails. Colored leaves fall up, apples turn orange, and pumpkins turn red. Kids put gloves on their ears, hats on their hands, and toast their marshmallows until they freeze.

TOUCHDOWNS ARE HIT, AND HOMERUNS ARE KICKED.

KIDS LEAP INTO GREAT PILES OF STICKS.

The time of year goes all topsy-turvy, and by the time readers make it to the chronologically challenged closing of Bob Raczka's latest, Fall Mixed Up(CarolRhoda, 2011), they won't need his concluding instructions:

CAN THIS BE FALL? CLOSE, BUT NOT QUITE!

GO BACK AND FIND ALL THE THINGS THAT AREN'T RIGHT.

Raczka's clever versification and illustrator Chad Camron's comically bemused kids make this one a romp that cheerfully spoofs the traditional "signs of fall" concept book, with more goofy mixups concealed in the melee than most kids can spot in one read-through. Turkey stuffing and drumsticks for trick or treat, and a roast turkey sporting a Jack-o'-Lantern face are just a few of the contretemps that make this autumnal farce pure fall fun.

Perry Stormaire's Night Out: Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick by Joe Schreiber

If you had one day left to live, how would you spend it and why? (University of Southern California essay prompt)

I could see over the edge now, looking down. "I'm not jumping!" I shouted.

"Then you will die."

I nodded to the gaping hole in the forty-seventh floor. "How is this not dying?"

Gobi gave me another nudge toward the edge and for a second I actually felt the vacuum of space itself sucking me outward.

Outside the building, a high-pitched turbine whine thundered up into view and that was when I saw the helicopter.

"Get ready!" Gobi shouted. The helicopter tilted toward us, lowering.

Gobi grabbed me and jumped.

Not since Ferris Beuhler took a senior skip day or Tom Cruise's Joel borrowed his dad's Porsche for a day of Risky Business has a high school senior had such a fantasy fugue as good kid Perry Stormaire, whose big night out as unwilling prom escort for his family's nerdy Lithuanian exchange student turns into the wildest chase script ever.

It's the worst prom date fix-up in history. Gobi, smudged glasses and all, appears, dressed for the date, in a heavy brown wool peasant costume, carrying a huge matching canvas purse. "Is traditional Lithuanian ceremonial costume," Gobi explains, as Perry cringes in his rented tux.

But Gobi persuades Perry that what she really wants is not a spin around the dance floor, but a whirl around New York City, and soon the terminally dorky Gobi morphs into the hottest ninja chick of them all, one on a mission to avenge her sister's death at the hands of five human traffickers, all of whom are in New York on that one night. From a nightmare date in a peasant costume to a stiletto-heeled, gun and knife-toting assassin babe, Gobi is an action figure come alive to shake up Perry's pedestrian sojourn on the waitlist at Columbia on the road to recapitulating his father's life.

Dodging bullets (and catching a few), Perry and Gobi careen through midnight Manhattan streets in his dad's Jaguar, outrunning thugs and escaping various slaughter scenes--even one with a rampant bear. Gobi's quick weapon-wielding secret agent moves finish off three of her hotlisted honor killings, but the last two come hard, and the two are captured, held in chains in a basement in Brooklyn, finally escaping only to end up in Perry's father's office, where, just ahead of the police SWAT team, Gobi finds her final target, the head of his father's law firm herself.

By the time Joe Schrieber's forthcoming Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick (Houghton Mifflin, 2011) concludes with a blast, one which flattens the Stormaire house and implodes Perry's plans for an unruffled transition to adult life, the reader is cheering for Gobi and rejoicing in Perry's metamorphosis into a guy finally taking his fate into his own hands. Schreiber gleefully juxtaposes top-tier college application essay prompts as chapter heads with the kaleidoscope of experiences hurtling toward the reader and giving the initially predictably prosaic Perry a radically new world view, one in his old life is literally and figuratively blown away, and he sees that there are many possible lives ahead of him. It's quite a ride, one that is hard to put down, as fast-paced as a car chase down Broadway, a serio-comic joyride of a novel that will leave readers waiting to exhale.

Creepy Counting: One Halloween Night by Salina Yoon

HALLOWEEN IS SPOOKY FUN

FOR MONSTERS,GHOSTS, AND EVERYONE.

IT'S TIME FOR TRICK-OR-TREAT DELIGHTS,

SO COUNT WITH ME ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT.

In her full-of-fun Halloween counting book, Salina Yoon's One Halloween Night: A Spooky Seek-and-Count Book (Sterling, 2011) gives little minds and fingers plenty to do as they count their way up to ten.

With a hardy board book format, sturdy flaps, and plenty of bright design tricks and treats, this book takes tots through the numbers in irresistible style. A haunted house has shutters to open to reveal a vampire and ghost, and attic window which reveals bats in its belfry, and shrubs which conceal upside-down owls and a Jack-o'-Lantern. A witch has high pointy shoes with real fasteners to buckle up, and a house has a door which opens to reveal broomsticks and later a group of trick-or-treaters. Yoon even gives kids practice in recognizing sets of numbered things such four costumed kids or seven witches' brooms and offers final pages full of sets of objects (nine bats or nine stars), not to mention the single harvest moon riding over the closing scene.

One Halloween Night: A Spooky Seek-and-Count Book gives the youngest Halloween fan a chance to participate in the holiday fun without leaving his or her own house and offers plenty of practice in coordination and number concepts as well.

Tide and Seek in the Deep: Gilbert the Hero by Jane Clark

"THIS IS MY LITTLE BROTHER FINN," GILBERT THE GREAT WHITE SHARK PROUDLY TOLD HIS FRIEND RITA REMORA.

"MOM SAYS HE CAN COME TO THE PARK WITH US. WE CAN TEACH HIM ALL OUR GAMES."

"BUT HE'S TOO SMALL..." SAID RITA. "HE'LL RUIN EVERYTHING!"

And Finn is too small and too young for Gilbert's and Rita's usual fun. He's too light to hold down his end of the see-saw. He can't catch a ball, much less the huge sea urchin shell Gilbert tosses at him. Rita grumbles her I told you so, and hints that she might try to find someone else to play with if Gilbert is going to be stuck baby-sitting all day. Finally, Gilbert parks little Finn in the seaweed swing, securing him so that he can't follow them, and giving him a great big push to set him going happily.

Gilbert and Rita take turns "skating" on an obliging sting ray who zooms by, and for the moment everyone is happy.

Just then Gilbert spots something that can turn even a young great white pale--an enormous KILLER WHALE! Rita scoots for safety, but Gilbert knows that his little brother, fastened in the seaweed swing, is the tasty little appetizer that the big killer whale now has on his menu. Can Gilbert the Great save Finn?

Jane Clark's and Charles Fuge's third entry into the Gilbert series, Gilbert the Hero (Sterling, 2011), makes good use of Fuge's noted artistic talents in his appealing deep-sea illustrations of Gilbert's world, which give the venerable story of the older sibling rising to the challenge of rescuing a young one from danger a new twist. Other books in the series are Gilbert the Great and Gilbert in Deep.

The Beat Goes On: Farmyard Beat by Lindsay Craig and Marc Brown

SHEEP CAN'T SLEEP!

SHEEP CAN'T SLEEP!

SHEEP CAN'T SLEEP 'CAUSE THEY'VE GOT THAT BEAT!

The sun goes down, but the animals are all up. Chicks hatch and peep to the beat, waking sheep, who get that beat and tap-tap-tap their feet, waking the cat who... Well, you get the drift in this tale in which cows and farm dogs take up the catchy rhythm and and start to swing that music! Only the owl is supposed to be up at this hour, and he finds the whole jam session a real hoot!

Finally Farmer Sue is up and out to see what's going down (or, in this case, what and who are up!) Shining her lantern on the barn dance, she can't resist joining in.

JIG! JIG!
JIGGETY-JIG!

EVERYONE'S DANCING TO THAT BEAT.

T-I-L-L...
...THEY ALL FALL IN A HEAP.
ASLEEP!

As in their 2010 hit, Dancing Feet!, author Lindsey Craig and best-selling creator of the Arthur series, Marc Brown, have another movin' and groovin' dance number for the preschool group in their latest collaboration, Farmyard Beat. Brown's soft, textured, and beguiling paper collage animals add to the appeal and Craig's rhymes and rhythms offer lots of possibilities for singing and moving actities for preschool groups or individual kids who like to move their feet to the beat.

Puns A-Plenty! Amelia Bedelia's First Field Trip by Herman Parish

"Welcome to Fairview Farm," said Farmer Dinkins.

"I'll take you to see the animals, and then Mrs. Dinkins will show you her garden.

She's got a real green thumb!"

A real green thumb! Little Amelia Bedelia perks up her ears. That's something she's never seen. Does Mrs. Dinkins also have a pink pinkie? But, drat! Mrs. Dinkins is wearing her gardening gloves! Amelia Bedelia determines that she's going to see that green digit before this field trip is over!

In fact, Fairview Farm gives young Amelia a lot of new things to think about. Does a farmer plant jelly beans along with the green beans? If a hen eats peppermint candy canes, will her eggs be striped red and white? And how can vegetables have heads and ears and eyes? Lost in thought, Amelia has to be reminded by Farmer Dinkins to keep up with the tour.

"Hey, Daydreamer!" he says. "Shake a leg!"

"Which one?" said Amelia Bedelia.

"Which one what?" said the perplexed farmer.

"You said, "Shake a leg!'" said Amelia Bedelia.

"Right!" said Mr. Dinkins.

Amelia Bedelia shook her right leg and ran to catch up.

Our literalist little scholar also has a punny event when she is asked to pitch in and "toss" the salad for the class's picnic lunch--with predictable results!

There's plenty of farm lore and knowledge along with the giggles in Herman Parish's newest, Amelia Bedelia's First Field Trip (Greenwillow, 2011), with Lynn Avril's light-hearted illustrations to add to the fun. Amelia's class learns about taking care of farm animals, tries their hands at milking Sunshine the cow, sit on the big tractor, and when little Amelia Bedelia is disappointed to learn that there are no such things as jelly bean plants, Mrs. Dinkins give them a chance to see how real jelly is made, beginning with a chance to do some pickin' in the berry patch.

And that green thumb? Amelia Bedelia does learn what a real green thumb can do in a garden, and the whole class gets a chance to develop their own green thumbs as Mrs. Dinkins passes out real pumpkin seeds for them to take back to cultivate. It's everything a field trip should be, plenty to learn, novel hands-on experiences, and a few shared laughs along the way. Although Peggy Parish's original Amelia Bedelia stories are forever young, Herman Parish's sequels featuring the first-grade Amelia give this beloved character a new lease on her literary life.

Other schooltime stories of little Amelia include Amelia Bedelia's First Day of School, Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie, and Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine.

In Another Universe...: The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty

The day Sacha learned that he could see witches was the worst day in his life.

The disaster at Mrs. Lassky''s bakery turned Sacha's life completely upside down. Before the month was up, he was yanked out of school, dragged away from all his friends and subjected to every standardized aptitude test the New York City Police Department could throw at him.

Sacha Kessler's pre-World War I New York is a doppelganger, an alternate-universe parallel to the one we know, one in which magic, though illegal, is rampant--from Jewish bakery ladies who concoct lattkes with spells to attract husbands to the malevolent magical machinations of J. P. Morgaunt, the magnate who plans to finagle his wizardly powers into control of the nation's financial system. Familiar figures populate the city--millionaires Cornelius Vanderbilk and John Jacob Astral, ultra-wealthy Wizards of Wall Street, Harry Houdini at the height of his career as the Great Illusionist, Teddy Roosevelt, exiled for prosecuting the dark magic magnates, and Thomas Alva Edison, who, having invented electric lights and the phonograph, is perfecting and markieting his magic detector, the Etherograph,

Sacha soon finds himself an apprentice to Maximillian Wolf, Chief Inquisitor of the NYPD, whose disheveled appearance hides the powers of a great mage. His unlikely fellow apprentice is Lily Astral, daughter of the incredibly wealthy financier John Jacob Astral, whom Sacha is sure at best is a hopeless snob. But events don't allow Sacha and Lily time to get to know each other before they are involved in an attempted murder of Thomas Edison by what Sacha knows has to be a dybbuk, a wraith-like creature of black magic which progressively becomes stronger as it steals the persona and ultimately the soul of its victim. And Sacha begins to suspect to his horror that, while the dybbuk is being directed by some evil wizard to destroy Edison, the soul and body he is trying to possess is his own!

Sacha knows from dybbuks. His grandfather is himself a rabbi and what's more a Kabbalist, the field of Jewish theology most knowledgeable about the dark arts, and Sacha fears that to tell Inspector Wolf what he knows will send his family to prison for illegal magic. But the dybbuk comes nearer and nearer, stealing Sacha's clothes and looking more and more like him as it continues to shadow him, until finally, in a sensational theatrical showdown between Harry Houdini's illusionist powers and Edison's Etherograph, Sacha realizes that he is the only one who can stop the dybbuk, controlled by J. P. Morgaunt, from assassinating Thomas Edison on stage before a enraptured audience.

Sophisticated young readers may find a familiar plotline in Chris Moriarty's forthcoming The Inquisitor's Apprentice (Harcourt, 2011)--definite parallels to the Harry Potter saga. Sacha seems an ordinary poor Jewish boy from a struggling family on the Lower East Side tenements when he is snatched out of that life and set down, in the company of a smart and assertive girl, as apprentices to their mentor, himself a great wizard in his own right. But this is no fantasy Hogwarts world. It's almost the old New York we know, with its myriad of immigrants, a vast difference between rich and poor, and all the familiar racial, religious, and class prejudices we recognize. But this New York has a magical underpinning, and like Harry, Sacha has to struggle to save himself from being absorbed into its Dark Side.

Moriarty's New York is just as dirty and elegant and on-the-make a setting as it is in non-fantasy novels, and his characters are fully fleshed out, from the feisty Lily who fears becoming an idle social climber like her mother to Max Wolf, who walks a moral tightrope between good and evil magic in his daily life, to a main character whose special powers attract the dark forces which would subvert him to wicked, world-changing ends.

Forget all those myth-based monster-a-minute fantasies. This one is the real deal.

"A marvelous, mystical romp that doesn't ignore reality," says Kirkus Reviews.

Cool for School: Pete the Cat: Rockin' in My School Shoes by Eric Litwin

IT CAN BE LOUD AND BUSY IN THE LUNCHROOM.

DOES PETE WORRY? GOODNESS, NO!

HE SITS DOWN WITH HIS FRIENDS AND SINGS HIS SONG.

I'M EATING IN MY SCHOOL SHOES, EATING IN MY SCHOOL SHOES, EATING IN MY SCHOOL SHOES!

Pete is the quintessential cool cat! His whiskers are never bent out of shape and his laid-back motto, "It's all good" sets the mood for Eric Litwin's second Pete book, Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes (Harper, 2011).

Never been to the school library? No problem. It's a room full of books. What's not to like about that? Heading off to that loud school lunchroom? Hey, eating's good and talking with his buddies is good. It's all good! Pete is especially pleased with music class, where he breaks out his guitar and rocks out with his song, tailoring a new verse to the situation.

I'M SINGIN' IN MY SCHOOL SHOES, SINGIN' IN MY SCHOOL SHOES' SINGIN' IN MY SCHOOL SHOES.

And those trusty red sneakers (which got their red hue in the best-selling Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes) carry Pete through the school day, even through math class, and onto the big yellow school bus and back home where his mother asks that predictable question:

"WHAT DID YOU DO AT SCHOOL TODAY?"

AND PETE SAYS, "I WAS ROCKIN' IN MY SCHOOL SHOES, ROCKIN' IN MY SCHOOL SHOES, ROCKIN' IN MY SCHOOL SHOES."

Design artist Eric Litwin's plot line is the well-worn one of getting through a day at a new school, but his funny rhymes and illustrator James Dean's artwork, a very cut-down, stylized graphic style, make this one a first-day story with a bit of an edge. For a memorable singalong with Pete, his complete song can be downloaded with a code from the book itself, but for a preview of the book and its VERY singable theme, take a look at the book's trailer here.

Add your own words and rock out! Hey! It's all good!

Way Down Yonder...: Meet Cecile by Denise Lewis Patrick

"Grand-pere, look! There's Madame Zulime's candy shop. Her pralines are the best!"

"Ah, Cecile! I see your grand-pere is with you today, Perhaps he'll get you some bon-bons, too!" Madam Zulime smiled and pointed to a tower of chocolates inside a display case.

Cecille headed right over to look. She heard the door open and close behind her.

"Escuzez-moi," she heard Grand-pere say.

"Watch where you are going, boy!" came the rude reply. "You don't step in front of me!" The loud man moved as if he would shove Grand-pere.

Cecile could feel her face turn rosy red. "How dare you, sir!" she burst out. "We are gens de couleur libres!"

It is 1853 in New Orleans, and the traditional way of life, in which "gens de couleur libres," free people of color, occupy a place of respect in New Orleans society, is threatened by the influx of people from the slave-holding states. Made up of skilled artisans, like Cecile's father, a much sought-after marble sculptor, craftsmen, and merchants, this group of mixed race had much greater freedom than African-Americans in the rest of "America," as the locals called the rest of the United States. Nine-year-old Cecile has lived a life of comfort and privilege, with servants, singing lessons, a personal tutor, and an Irish maid to accompany her whenever she goes out, like all well-bred young girls. Her brother Armand is finishing his art education in Paris, and Cecile's only concerns are the snooty Montoyer sisters and the choice of her costume for the upcoming Mardi Gras Children's Ball.

Then Cecile has her first encounter with "les Americains," at the candy shop and suddenly realizes that people from outside her comfortable milieu see people of color much differently. When Cecile meets a newcomer at the studio of French opera singer Madame Oceane, Marie-Grace Gardner, who is an "Americain," who has lived most of her life in Massachusetts, Cecile is drawn to the lively and open Marie-Grace despite her suspicions of American outsiders. As they meet every Saturday for lessons at the studio, the girls begin a friendship which grows over the next months.

Then it is almost Mardi Gras, the season Cecile has been looking forward to since Christmas ended. Madame Oceane allows Marie-Grace to wear one of her theatrical fairy costumes to the white children's Opera Ball, and Cecile manages to borrow an identical costume and mask to wear to her own Creole Christmas ball. When she discovers that their dances are to be held in side-by-side ballrooms, an idea for a grand adventure begins to grow in Cecile's mind, and when the two girls meet in the hallway and realize that with their costumes and masks they are almost identical fairies, Cecile easily persuades the independent-minded Marie-Grace to swap places with her so that they can attend each other's balls.

The introduction of two new characters into the venerable American Girls books is an noteworthy event, especially since this new entry which will feature books on both characters while interweaving their individual stories with the history of pre-Civil War New Orleans. Ahead for the two characters are life-changing events for both, the devastating Yellow Fever epidemic of 1854 and the run-up to the Civil War, both cataclysmic events for the social structure of their city. Denise Lewis Patrick's Meet Cecile (American Girl) (American Girls Collection) (American Girl, 2011) leads off this new mini-series with the introduction of Cecile and Marie-Grace, followed by the publication of Meet Marie-Grace (American Girl) (American Girls Collection) (American Girl, 2011).

As with no other books in the beginning chapter genre, the American Girl series gives young readers (at least female ones) engaging fiction books which gives them a you-are-there view of life during some of the turning points in American history, and as in this new dual mini-series, some insight into the long-term story of race relations in the United States.

This new entry is backed up as always by an appendix, which in this case includes a glossary of French phrases and a pronunciation guide for names used in conversation in the story, and a brief informational discussion of life in mid-eighteenth century New Orleans, illustrated by vivid color photographs of people and artifacts of the period. Full-page, full-color artwork adds to the text, although these lack the naturalness of earlier illustrations in the the full series. Overall, however, a strong and welcome addition to a notable series.

Say What? Baby Says "Moo" by Jo Ann Walker

BABY TAKES A RIDE THROUGH THE DIZZY BUSY CITY.
WAVES AT A YELLOW BIRD, SINGING PRETTY.

"BABY, WHAT DO BIRDS SAY?
BABY SAYS, "MOO!"

Diligent parents, obviously English majors, make a day of it, introducing Baby to a number of new experiences and especially new words. At the grocery store friendly customers wave at Baby and coo "Hel-lo!" Birds tweet, a cat obligingly says "Me-ow!" Eagerly, the parents prompt Baby to repeat the proper sounds. Baby has one answer, and it's not the right one. Their language lesson seems to be going nowhere! When a horse responds appropriately to his wave right on cue, Baby comes right back with the wrong answer again: "Moo!"

"HORSES SAY MOO? I HAVE TO SAY,
EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT A HORSE SAYS 'NEIGH!'"

Frazzled, the frustrated parents repeat all the right answers--people say "hello," dogs say "Ruff!," cats say "meow!"--and Baby just smiles. "Moo!" is her answer, and she's sticking to it!

At last the thwarted Mom and Dad head the car for home. But what is that critter they see in the field right beside the road? At last it's their chance for this kid to get at least one answer right.

A COW, A COW, WITH SPOTS ON ITS BACK!

WHAT DOES BABY SAY? NOT ONE PEEP.
TUCKERED OUT, BABY IS FAST ASLEEP.

Joann Walker's just published, Baby Says "Moo!" (Hyperion, 2011) is an early education cliffhanger. Will Baby wake just in time to say her line at the right time? With bouncy, Dr. Seuss-like rhyming couplets, Walker's little language lesson will give knowing preschoolers a chuckle as Baby fluffs her lines over and over, almost right down to the final word of this charming little book, and they will be all too happy to chime in on that word as Baby arouses at last to make her parents very happy. David Walker's illustrations, done up in a retro pastel commercial style, are conventionally cute, but don't really do justice to the tongue-in-cheek dramatic tension and potential irony of this well-crafted little language lesson.

Steppin' Out: Dog in Boots by Greg Gormley

DOG WAS READING A BRILLIANT BOOK ABOUT A CAT WHO WORE A PAIR OF TRULY MAGNIFICENT BOOTS.

As any dedicated shopper could tell us, the right footwear can be a life-changing experience, and Dog just knows that he has to have some of those wonderful boots, too. He visits the local shoe salon and finds just the right pair to make his life perfect. Bow-WOW!

But when Dog needs to dig up his favorite bone, he realizes that he's got a problem: the boots are terrible for digging, and now, instead of being magnificent, they're just a muddy mess!

So it's back to the shoe shoppe to talk the storekeeper into a swap. This time dog opts for mud-proof rain boots, but although they wash off fine, they are not a bit of good for swimming. So it's back for a set of four flippers. They make him an Olympic prospect in the pool, but when he needs to scratch that pesky itch behind his ear, they are strictly a flop!

In short order Dog goes through spiked heels (great for scratching, not so great for running) and skis (snow not included with each purchase?). Isn't there any foot gear just right for everything Dog likes to do? He heads back to the store, this time to ask for something less fantastical and more practical:

SOMETHING THAT'S GOOD FOR DIGGING AND SWIMMING AND SCRATCHING AND RUNNING. OH, NICE AND FURRY, TOO!

Oh, yeah. There they are, right at the end of each of his legs. Paws! What a concept.

Greg Gormley's just published Dog in Boots (Holiday House, 2011) is a nice re-run of the old "back in your own backyard" theme, all dressed up in Roberto Anganamo's comic drawings of a perky pup who finally decides to leave fancy foot gear to fantasy felines in this upbeat spoof of shoe lust.

Boo! Fancy Nancy and the Haunted Mansion by Jane O'Connor

Nancy is eagerly anticipating Halloween (That means she can hardly wait!) She and Bree are going to create a haunted mansion. (Mansion is fancy for a huge house.)

Use your stickers to help Nancy and Bree tell the neighborhood kids where to go.

What's more fun than going through a haunted house? How about helping Nancy Clancy and best buddy Bree create one?

Now fashionista fans of Nancy, empowered by a detailed double-page spread of reusable stickers inside the book, can help turn the Clancy house and grounds into a graveyard and haunted mansion by putting the finishing touches on the scary scene with the variety of stickers. While Mr. Clancy does his dad-ly duty removing the innards of the pumpkins, Nancy and her friends get to turn them into Jack-o'-Lanterns, either the traditional carved grin and scowl or other facial features such as glasses and mustaches if they want to get a bit innovative. There are black cats and bats, gravestones and ghosts, skeletons and spiders to place at will for atmosphere, and lots of costumes, headdresses, Halloween cupcakes, and bags of Kandy Korn to spread around for the guests.

Assisted by the illustrations of Carolyn Bracken and the inspiration of Robin Preiss Glasser's sparkly cover, O'Connor gives readers the chance to help Nancy put up signs, shop for party ware, decorate for her awesome affaire, and to dress Nancy in the costume of choice--extra posh or super scary! In Fancy Nancy's Haunted Mansion: A Reusable Sticker Book for Halloween (Harper, 2011), there are skoodoodles of fancy fun and a chance for a run-through for those Halloween hostesses who want to follow in Nancy Clancy's footsteps for their own posh bash.

Prehistoric Pet Day: Dino Pets Go to School by Lynn Plourde

MY TEACHER SAID
"IT'S PET DAY!
SO BRING YOUR PET
TO SCHOOL TO PLAY.

I BROUGHT A DINO
FOR A PET,
THE TALLEST DINO
I COULD GET.

Well, technically, our little scholar intends to bring his tallest dino to school, but there's a little problem with seating on the school bus involving his long-necked sauroposeidon and some hanging traffic lights along the route.

Oh, well, how about a more compact dino? The loudest dino he knows?

AFTER I MADE THE INTRODUCTION,
OUR WHOLE CLASSROOM NEEDED RECONSTRUCTION!

This show-and-tell pet day is not off to a good start. Our boy tries again, this time with the spikiest dino from his menagerie. Things go well until the class takes a recess and tries to get a soccer game going, and his styracosaurus attempts to make a head pass. The game ends early--but with a BANG!

The boy keeps on trying--with the widest dinosaur (massive damage to the bench in the lunchroom) and the smartest dino, (a troodon smart enough to please the kids by eating the math tests before the quiz)--and the frazzled teacher gives him an ultimatum--"one more try!"

This time the boy has a brainstorm: What kind of dino can't wreck classroom routine? How about a very young one? So he loads a dino egg on his red wagon and hauls it back to school. What harm can a nice, spotted egg do to the school day? Well,....

Lynn Plourde, famous for her hilarious School Picture Day (Picture Puffin Books) has another comic tale of one of those special days at school in her latest Dino Pets Go to School (Dutton, 2011), just in time to kick off Pet Day or the ever-popular prehistoric life unit in your favorite classroom. For teachers or diehard dinosaur fans, Plourde adds to artist Gideon Kendall's paleontologically correct illustrations with her appended "Dino Facts," which identifies each of the class's prehistoric visitors.

See also Plourde's earlier Dino Pets for more funny dino pet disasters.

Cold Comfort! Llama Llama Home with Mama by Anna Dewdney

LLAMA LLAMA MORNING LIGHT.
FEELING YUCKY. JUST NOT RIGHT.

Little Llama in his red pajamas wakes up with that BLEAH! feeling. He droops over the breakfast table, and Mama makes a quick Dr. Mom diagnosis: his head is hot, his throat is sore; his nose is snuffly; she doesn't need to know more. It's not off to school, but back to bed for him.

Yucky fake-fruit-flavored medicine makes his head feel fuzzy, and nothing--not his trains and tractors, not his cars and crayons--is any fun. Mama tries to help by reading some of his favorite story books, but things are still just not right!

SOGGY TISSUES. GLOBS OF GUCK!
SNIFFLES, SNORTING, SNEEZES. YUCK!

Finally Llama Llama gives in to the sneezles and falls asleep--and when he wakes up, he's feeling better. Down to the kitchen he goes, hungry for his lunch, and he settles down to enjoy his sandwich, just in time to hear Mama Llama's first AH-CHOOO!

UH, OH! Mama Llama's got it, too! She hacks, she sneezes, and her head hurts when Llama Llama makes the least noise!

MAMA COUGHS AND LLAMA YAWNS.
HOW LONG CAN THIS DAY GO ON?

Wait! Llama Llama knows what to do to make Mama Llama feel better! He leads her to her comfy chair, plumps up a pillow for her head, and fetches some of his best, best books for her. They cuddle up together, Mama, Llama, and of course his little ever-present llama doll. At least Llama and Mama don't have to be sick alone!

Anna Dewdeney's latest in this beloved series, Llama Llama Home with Mama (Viking, 2011), takes her little llama through another of those preschool milestones, that l-o-o-n-g day when everyone is sick with the same bug. If misery loves company, it's wonderful company here, as Dewdney's final page shows both Mama Llama and Llama Llama nodding drowsily over their book together, while his googly-eyed llama doll---unscathed and wide awake--is left to enjoy the book alone.

Fans of Dewdneys's earlier books (and who isn't?), the best-selling Llama Llama Red Pajama, and sequels Llama Llama Mad at Mama, Llama Llama Misses Mama, and Llama Llama Holiday Drama, all insightful and tender glimpses into those touchy moments of early childhood, should have this one handy, especially when the inevitable autumn sneezes come around.

See Dewdney's creative process in progress as she goes from pencilled line drawings to finished watercolored masters in the book's trailer here.