Witch Switch: Hubble, Bubble, Granny Trouble by Tracey Corderoy

My Granny's kind of different.

She wears a black, pointy hat.

And everywhere she goes, she takes her cats and frogs and bats--even to the movies.

People are bound to talk, and Granny is not exactly acting like your average low profile storybook witch. Granny lets her true self hang out, as she brews up slime soup, runs errands around town on her classic broom, and makes her granddaughter's teacher's pants disappear.

Why can't she do the sort of things other grannies do?

So this ordinary granddaughter sets out to do a makeover on Granny--to make her more...normal-ish. Granny loves being herself, but she loves her grandchild more, and she makes a effort to blend in.

Granny really tries. She knits. She takes the city bus instead of her broom downtown and gets a standard Granny-type curly hairdo and a normal pet. She wears flowery little aprons.

A happy ending? Well... not exactly.

Something was not quite right. She seemed like someone else's Gran.

"I'm kind of bored," Grany said.

It's a witchy work-up on the old "be careful what you wish for" theme, in Tracey Corderoy's brand-new Hubble Bubble, Granny Trouble (Nosy Crow/Candlewick Press, 2012) Granny story which affirms the tried-and-true thought that what makes the perfect granny is that she loves you a lot.

We've Got to Stop Meeting Like This: Perry's Killer Playlist by Joe Schreiber

"I think we should celebrate." Armitage signaled the waiter."Villa Antinori, 'ninety-five."

Armitage turned turned the full wattage of his attention on me. "Perry, I realize all of this must feel like it's happening very quickly, but by now you must know how much I love your music, and I think it's time we discuss Inchworm's first album. I'd like to get you into the studio as soon as this tour is over. How does that sound?"

"Like a dream come true."


"Wonderful." Armitage glanced at Paula. "Make a note to book some time at Sunset Sound, love, won't you?"

"Taking care of it now," Paula said, taking out her iPad.

"That settles it, then," Armitage said, raising a toast. "Here's to Inchworm and the great future that awaits them."

I reached for my glass, and that was when I saw Gobi coming through the crowd, walking straight toward us with the shotgun.

Perry Stormaire's dreams tend to switch into nightmare scenarios whenever Gobi turns up. He's met a gorgeous blonde, the twenty-something Paula with glitzy connections to the music industry and an inexplicable attraction to eighteen-year-old Perry. Suddenly his garage band Inchworm is whisked to Venice to begin a European tour and rock 'n' roll stardom beckons. Perry can't believe his luck.

But since that explosive prom night-mare when the dorky Lithuanian exchange student Gobi morphed into an iconic ninja assassin taking vengeance upon the human traffickers who killed her sister, Perry can't quite get Gobi out of his mind, and when in Venice he remembers Gobi's promise to meet him someday at Harry's Bar, he decides to drop in on the way to the band's hotel. Like horror moviegoers  who want to shout, "Noooo! Don't go down into that dark cellar....," fans of the viginal Perry can't help knowing what's going to follow when he drifts into that bar... and of course, they are not disappointed.

When Gobi makes her well-armed re-entrance into Perry Stormaire's life, the reader is off on a roller-coaster fiction ride that reads like the script for an action movie with short chapters like quick cuts that take our unlikely everyteen hero through an explosive plot, filled with speedboat chases through Venitian canals, helicopter drops, exploding safe houses, and foreign agents licensed to kill.  It all culminates in an unwanted encounter with the spy-running Kaya, the CIA operative who is willing to sacrifice even Perry's family to finish off his enemies, using Gobi as a robotic killer to make the kill. Perry realizes that he was the pawn Paula and Armitage used to lure Gobi and kill her off, and  when discovers that Gobi is killing off Kaya's enemies because the CIA has promised treatment to her for a brain tumor that could soon take her life, he realizes he has only once choice.

Fans of the cinematographic first  book, Au Revoir, Crazy European Chick, (see my review here) know to expect a script of non-stop surprises and transitions, shadowy characters, and shifting roles between good guys and bad guys which flash by like an action flick in a darkened theatre.

Joe Scrieber's forthcoming installment, Perry's Killer Playlist (Houghton Mifflin, 2012), delivers a killer-diller-thriller, plot-driven, extreme spy adventure, with characters just a bit more realistic than the cast of the latest Batman movie and with short chapters headed up by a soundtrack of Perry's playlist of songs. With a dark European setting that culminates with an epic Armageddon at the top of the Eiffel Tower, Perry's big adventures continue with a tantalizing conclusion that doesn't promise much of a breather for unwilling secret agent Perry Stormaire.

"... nonstop action, romantic intrigue, and everyteen haplessness on Perry’s part remains an incendiary combination, says Publishers Weekly.

In Julia's Kitchen: Minette's Feast by Susanna Reich



Minnette Mimosa McWilliams Child was a very lucky cat, perhaps the luckiest cat in all of Paris.

Day and night she could smell the delicious smells of mayonnaise, hollandaise,
cassoulets, cheese souffles and duck pates, wafting from the pots and pans of her
owner Julia Child.

Once upon a time, before Julia was The French Chef, she was a deliriously happy newlywed living in Paris. Their upstairs apartment was chilly, and her tiny kitchen had only an old-fashioned icebox, but she and her husband Paul had all of Paris, with its fine sights and fine, fine food, intriguing jobs as intelligence analysts, and a new life together. But Julia’s life was not yet complete:

“Une maison sans chat, c’est la vie sans soleil!”

“A house without a cat is like a day without sunshine.”

But Paris was full of cats. And soon Julia had a cat named Minette.

With Minette on a sunny windowsill, Julia’s kitchen was perfect and she was free to practice her personal passion–the art of French cooking.

“She baked and blanched, blended and boiled, drained and dried, dusted
and fried.

She floured and flipped, pitted and plucked, rinsed and roasted, sizzled and skimmed.

”I have never taken anything so seriously, husband and cat excepted,” Julia
wrote.

And while Julia pursued her passion, Minette pursued her pleasures–a nap, a lap, and,
of course, fresh mouse! Julia patronized le patisserie, le boucherie, and le boulanger, and although Julia offered Minette gourmet cat cuisine, simmered fish head and liver pudding, Minette took only a polite nibble. There were plenty of mice in Paul and Julia’s apartment, and Minette preferred mouse a la living room rug to all of Julia’s fine cooking. And while Julia whisked and whipped, Minette
refined her own skills on a stray Brussels sprout or a leftover lamb bone:

She frisked and flounced, darted and batted.
She tiptoed and hopped, danced and pranced.

She jumped and rolled, curled and stretched,
raced and ran, gurgled and . . . purred.

Paul and Julia and Minette were a marriage made in heaven–-and during those happy sunny days in her little Paris kitchen with Minette, Julia Child mastered the art of French cooking with passion and great joy. Of course, Paul and Julia Child went on to other postings, finally settling in an old house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Julia’s kitchen (now preserved in the Smithsonian) became the most famous kitchen in the world, the set for the television production of The French Chef, a kitchen shared joyously with many cats de le maison who followed Minette and with delighted viewers everywhere, who found that same joie de vivre and passion for good food that Julia and her cat Minette shared in that long-ago Parisian kitchen.

Susanna Reich’s Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat (Abrams Books, 2012) captures the essence of Julia Child’s appeal to the public in this tres charmant memoir of Julia’s days as a student at Cordon Bleu in Paris.

Reich’s narrative language, sprinkled with alliteration and rhyme, as playful as her dear poussequette Minette, as rich and savory as Julia’s art of cooking, is married perfectly with the art of Amy Bates, beginning with the red-and-white checked endpapers of a tablecloth in a neighborhood bistro. The scenes illustrated with Bates’ quaint Parisian palette–Julia and Paul exploring Paris, their heads together as they companionably share a croissant, Julia bending over her cookpots, learning to stir two at a time, triumphantly producing a masterpiece of a dinner to her guests, Minette preparing to pounce upon an unwary mouse–are indeed delicious for the eye. A delightful picture book introduction to the backstory of an American original, Julia Child, a woman who singlehandedly (but with wooden spoon in each hand) changed the way America eats forever.

Reich 's well-researched text even provides an appendix with a biographical sketch (with photo of Julia and Minette in her lap), source notes and bibliography, and a pronouncing glossary of the French words which piquantly flavor the narrative.

"A fine recipe for pleasure: Julia Child, the culinary arts, Paris and a lucky cat. Magnifique!" writes Kirkus Reviews.

Different Drummer: Oddrey by Dave Whammond

ODDREY HAD ALWAYS KNOWN SHE WASN'T LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE.

HER DAD SAID SHE DANCED TO THE BEAT OF HER OWN DRUM.

HER DOG, ERNIE, SAID, "MEOW!"

Even as a babe in her high chair, Oddrey proudly stacks her peas in a pyramid.

Her hopscotch layout looks like the floor plan for an avant garde art museum.

Her snow igloos are spray-painted in a rainbow of colors.

BUT NOT EVERYONE APPRECIATED HER UNIQUE STYLE.

Oddrey's art teacher looks askance at her blue apples. When a downpour appears at recess,  she plays on happily while the rest of the kids splash and slog for the school door.

SOMETIMES ODDREY FELT LONELY

.

Then their teacher announces that their class play is going to be The Wizard of Oz. You would think a savvy teacher could find a quirky role for Oddrey in that venerable oddball of a story. But, NO! Oddrey is assigned to be a tree. She optimistically designs herself an outstanding tree costume with multicolored leaves, but the teacher nixes the fancy foliage, gives her a boring brown tunic and a silly cap with twigs on top, and puts her in the back row.

Tree Number Two tries to keep her spirits (and foliage) up, but when the curtain rises on the performance, Oddrey has a sinking feeling. All is not well in Wizard-of-Ozville. Actors cower behind the scenery, stumble all over the stage, knock down the props, and, worst of all, forget their lines:

DUH DUH DUH DUH

Only Oddrey stays in character. This disaster drama calls for improvisation, and we know just the girl for that role!

It's stage fright night in Dave Whamond's brand-new Oddrey (Owlkids Press, 2012), as Oddrey joins other individualistic protagonists--Ian Falconer's Olivia in Olivia Acts Out, Julie Andrews' Geraldine in The Very Fairy Princess Takes the Stage, and Rob Scotton's Splat in  Splat the Cat: Splat the Cat Sings Flat (I Can Read Book 1) and shows just who has that star quality necessary to step up to the footlights and save the show in the nick of time.

Cut-down: This Monster Needs a Haircut by Bethany Barton

THIS IS STEWART.

STEWART IS A MONSTER.

HE HAS HORNS, AND WILD, MESSY, SCARY HAIR.

And that is the way Stewart likes it. Frightfulness is his forte', and he and his best friend Feliz like nothing better than a day at the zoo, scaring the hair off the hippos, and enlisting spiders to weave spider web castles.

Stewart has horns that a rhino would respect. His long and crooked fangs would turn a dentist's hair the color of his white coat, and his hair--now that is Stewart's specialty!

"I LOVE MY AWESOME HAIR!"

Stewart is sure that his hair is his strongest scare strength, especially when adorned with spiders' nest, lost school supplies, a snack or two--but even a monster mom has limits on her tolerance. Stewart's mom takes his hairbrush (unused so long it has its own spiderwebs) to his tousled tresses, with no success. She pulls out the Mega-Monster Detangler, but the tangles are still more than Mom can manage.

Stewart's dad has the simple answer--a haircut. As an incentive, he shows Stewart a photo brochure of cool cuts--the George Washington, the Punk Rocker, the Elvis--but Stewart is stalwart in defense of his locks.

But at last his green locks outgrow even Stewart's patience. His hair gets so long that it keeps getting caught in the landscape. A troop of monkeys use a length of it for a jump rope! Finally, Stewart is ready to cut a deal over the haircut issue.

"DEAR DAD, MAYBE WE COULD TALK ABOUT THE HAIRCUT A LITTLE BIT. LOVE, STEWART."

Will Stewart the Monster find haircut happiness, or will he wind up wearing a paper bag over his head forever? Find out in Bethany Barton's winsomely illustrated, tongue-in-fang tonsorial saga, This Monster Needs a Haircut (Dial Books, 2012). Barton builds mega-bits of visual humor into her haircut tale (the blackboard at Monster School reads "Homework: Find a human's homework and EAT IT!). Pair this spoof on the scary side of life with Matthew McElligott's hilarious Even Monsters Need Haircuts (see my review here) for a monster tonsorial twofer that'll have kids giggling as they hippity-hop to the barbershop.

Perfect Pals? Fluff and Billy by Nicola Killen

"I'm swimming!" said Fluff.
"I'm swimming!" said Billy.

I'm splashing!" said Fluff.
I'm splashing!" said Billy.

Fluff and Billy seem to be the perfect penguin pals. After all, they like to do all the same things, right?

Well, all this me too-ism is fine with the older Fluff--for a while. But soon he begins to weary of the constant echo and his dutiful doppelganger shadowing every move he makes. Finally Fluff vents his frustration and lets Billy have it with a face full of snow right in the beak!

I'M not talking to YOU!" said Billy.

It's a standoff, with the two young penguins turning their backs on each other and on their friendship.

Then Fluff spots a small tear in Billy's eyes and his anger begins to melt like the remains of the snowball at Billy's feet. What can he do to warm up their friendship again?

Nicola Killen's short and sweet tale of friendship's warm and cool moments is well-told in her Fluff and Billy (Sterling, 2012), and youngsters will intuit the premise that true friendship can weather a bit of cooling off, and will giggle along with Billy as Fluff finds a way to thaw the pals' pique.

Moody's Mojo: Judy Moody and the Bad Luck Charm by Megan McDonald

"Check it out!" Judy held up a penny with a four-leaf clover inside a horseshoe that said MY LUCKY PENNY. MT. TRASHMORE, VA.

"That's not a lucky penny," said Stink. "That's a squashed penny. It looks like it got run over."

"It's still a lucky penny, Stink!" said Judy. "Says so right on it, see!"

Judy Moody is in a mood--a lucky mood. With the dubious Stink in tow, Judy charges across the restaurant to that machine known as THE CLAW, one of those kid traps that swallows their quarters and usually gives them a remote-control claw full of--nothing. But Judy is on a roll. She pulls out three--count 'em, Stink--three prizes in a row. Proof positive that her lucky penny works!

Judy Moody's mojo is working. She finds ten dollars stuck down in her box of Crazy Strips bandaids. At her sometime rival Jessica Finch's birthday party, she wins the X-treme Bowling Challenge, with three strikes in a row! At school on Monday she's still feeling lucky--lucky enough to predict that the scheduled spelling test is not going to happen--and she's right. Instead Mr. Todd announces the first in a series of spelling bees which will determine the school's contestant in the Great Third Grade Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.! Judy's not the class champ at spelling--that's Jessica Finch--but she's got that lucky penny in her pocket and she's got high hopes.

"Judy, said Mr. Todd, "your word is punctuate."

Punk-chew-ate! Punctuate was not an easy-peasy word. She looked around the room for help. Posters for grammar, spelling, and ... punctuation!

Holy Macaroni! This was her lucky day after all!

But Lady Luck is fickle, and when Judy's talisman takes an unfortunate tumble into the toilet, she's sure her run of good fortune is down the tubes. And to prove it, Jessica Finch wins the final round of the bee AND the trip to Washington. Judy's lucky penny is definitely P.U.!

Then Judy Moody's mojo makes an unexpected move. Jessica Finch invites Judy to go along to take care of her pot-bellied pig during the competition! The whole Moody family books a room at the same pet-friendly hotel, and Judy and Stink tour the historic sites of what Judy nicknames "Washington, District of Cool."

Judy is on a roll. Jessica's pet pig Pee Gee Wee Gee takes to her, and she and Stink are proving that they are perfect pig-nannies until--they decide to try out his special pig shampoo and discover that a soapy pig is a very slippery porker. Pee Gee escapes from his sitters, dashes out into the hall and zips into an elevator headed for the lobby. Judy is in a runaway pig pickle, and it looks like Lady Luck has at last taken it on the lam for good.

It's classic Judy Moody in her eleventh outing, Judy Moody and the Bad Luck Charm (Book #11) (Candlewick Press, 2012), with author Megan McDonald's spot-on third grade protagonist and Peter Reynold's comic illustrations along for the ride.

"Another enjoyable outing with the predictable Judy, just like a pleasant visit with an old friend," says Kirkus Reviews.

Just Right Bite: Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WERE THREE DINOSAURS, PAPA DINOSAUR, MAMA DINOSAUR AND SOME OTHER DINOSAUR THAT HAPPENED TO BE VISITING FROM NORWAY.

"OH, BOY!" SAID PAPA DINOSAUR. "IT'S FINALLY TIME TO LEAVE AND GO TO... THE... UH, SOMEPLACE ELSE."

"YES," SAID MAMA DINOSAUR. "I SURE HOPE NO INNOCENT LITTLE SUCCULENT CHILD HAPPENS BY OUR UNLOCKED HOME WHILE WE ARE... UHH... SOMEPLACE ELSE."

What's more fun than three big bowls of chocolate pudding? Try Mo Willems' new spoof of the familiar old cautionary tale of Goldilocks. Not since the great James Marshall put his pen to work parodying this old story has there been a Goldie like this one.

Mo Willems' "poorly supervised" little blonde heroine (who looks suspiciously like Trixie of Knuffle Bunny fame) comes conveniently traipsing through the trees while the three dinos, er, "stroll" in the woods and wait for their chocolate pudding treat-trap to be tripped. A ladder is even left conveniently in the kitchen to help their tender little victim climb up to the counter where one bowl is cooling, one bowl is, er, warming, and one bowl is, well, maintaining ambient room temperature, we presume, in the best tradition of the laws of thermodynamics. Goldie follows the script and soon becomes a "chocolate pudding-stuffed girl bonbon" just as the tricky trio has planned.

If the welcome mat which proclaims "WIPE YOUR TALONS" doesn't give away the species of these hospitable homeowners, the size of their beds does awaken Goldie's suspicions.

"THE BEARS WHO LIVE AROUND HERE MUST BE NUTS!

HEY," SHE TOLD HERSELF, "THIS ISN'T SOME BEARS' HOUSE. THIS IS SOME DINOSAURS' HOUSE."

Mo Willem's delightful takeoff takes this oft-told old tale out for a rib-tickling stroll in the forest in his latest, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs: As Retold by Mo Willems (Balzer & Bray, 2012). Kids who know this familiar old story will delight in the device of putting those sly and devious dinos in the role of the usual clueless bears and relish the fun of this quirky version. And who could argue with the wisdom of Willem's closing aphorism--words to live by:

IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THE WRONG STORY, LEAVE!

". . . a sense of irony (and humor) as sharp as this dinosaur trio’s talons," says Publishers Weekly.

With Eyes Wide Open: The Cameo Necklace (A Cecile Mystery) by Evelyn Coleman

As quickly as the old woman had disappeared. Cecile found herself being moved along by a new crush of people emerging from the showboat.

At the same time, Cecile reached up to feel for her necklace. Her fingers grasped air.

Panic exploded in her chest. The necklace she had borrowed from her aunt was gone.

Cecile had marveled at the circus aboard the showboat, and she was secretly pleased that her rival Agnes Metoyer was obviously envious of Tante Tay’s cameo, the last gift from her young husband who had died in the yellow fever epidemic of 1853. Cecile’s aunt had promised to let her wear it for a really special event, and even hough her favorite aunt was away, Cece had felt sure that the circus would count as that special event when she took the necklace from her aunt’s bureau and placed it proudly around her own neck.

But a tall marchand selling sweet buns had stumbled into the crowd, and Cece had fallen, knocking down an old woman as well, who had pulled Cece to her feet with a sharp gaze.

And now the cameo necklace is gone. Tante Tay will be back in only ten days, and Cecile knows she must find that necklace. There were several people near  when it  disappeared–the orange bun seller, the old woman with the bracelets, a blonde lady circus performer, two elusive dark-eyed children selling cypress baskets, even Agnes and Fanny Montoyer, caught in the press of the crowd. Could one of them have found her necklace, or even stolen it in the melee?

Always sheltered by her well-to-do and protective free Black gens de couleur libres family, the need to recover her aunt’s beloved keepsake takes Cecile Rey out of her family and into the diverse community that is is New Orleans in 1854.  Well-brought-up girls of the Creole culture do not go out alone, so Cecile manages to go along to the marketplace with their cook Mathilde and their new maid Hannah where she looks for the two young basket sellers and the old lady.

Cece even turns to her older brother Armand, confiding her secret to him, to help her find the those around her at the time the necklace went missing. And with him at Congo Square, she finds the old woman, who beckons her near:

“Come, Cecile,” the old woman called. “ My name is Madame Irene. I knew you would be here today.”

“Those we cannot know have your necklace. Open your eyes so you can see. And you will learn much more than you seek, Cecile Rey.”

And in the next days, Cecile meets circus performers, takes a wild elephant ride at the dock, and sees her brother Armand almost taken away in chains by slave catchers. Following the old woman’s lead, Cecile meets the two mysterious children and learns they are maroons, fugitive slaves living in the swamps just outside the city, and that her new maid, Hannah is herself an escaped slave. And when the slave catchers come for her at midnight, it falls to Cecile and Armand to help Hannah flee to the shelter of the swamp and the maroon community. In the search for the cameo necklace, Cece’s eyes are indeed opened.

Until the last few days, Cecile had been blind to all the things that happened to people of color. She’d thought only of people like herself, the gens de couleur libres; she had rarely thought about slaves and certainly not maroons. She touched the paper in her pocket, the only thing that kept her free. It seemed very fragile now.

Cecile shivered. Her eyes were opening, but Armand was right–-she wasn’t sure she wanted to see.

As in all the popular American Girl series, Evelyn Coleman’s The Cameo Necklace: A Cecile Mystery (American Girl) (American Girl Mysteries) (American Girl, 2012) tells the story of an American girl in transition into an an awareness of the society around her in a significant period of American history. New Orleans in the early 1850s was a peculiarly diverse community, in which the cultured and well-to-do free people of color held a unique place of some power and influence. But as the country worked its tortuous way toward the upheaval of the Civil War, even Cecile and Armand, sheltered and well-educated, find themselves in peril of losing the small freedoms their family have cherished. A rare coming-of-age tale set in the colorful atmosphere of a mystery in old New Orleans, this book can be an eye-opener for its readers along with its heroine Cecile.

As in all books in the American Girl series, there is an color illustrated appendix, "Looking Back--A Peek into the Past" which puts the story into the context of pre-Civil War New Orleans, followed by a glossary and pronunciation guide to the French words and names used in the story.

Deadfall? Oh, No! by Candace Fleming

FROG FELL INTO A DEEP, DEEP HOLE.
HE COULDN'T GET OUT TO SAVE HIS SOUL!

Oh, no! It's bad enough to fall for the old deadfall trap, but it's even worse to have that happen while you are fleeing a hungry tiger! Tiger clearly figures out that some kindly good Samaritan is going to come along evengtually to lend a hand, so he hides himself in the lush jungle foliage and settles down to wait until that kind soul does the retrieval work for him. He doesn't have to wait long.

MOUSE WAS SO SMALL,
WHAT COULD SHE DO?

SHE TRIED REACHING DOWN,
AND SHE FELL IN, TOO!

As Tiger gleefully lurks in the bamboo, contemplating two tasty tidbits, other would-be rescuers come along, with the same well-meaning but unsuccessful attempts--Loris, Sun Bear, and then Monkey--all find themselves falling into the hole to join Frog at the bottom. Oh, no!

Now Tiger is ready to make HIS move.

OH, NO!

HE SMILES AT THE SIGHT OF HIS TASTY FEAST.

But Tiger counts his chickens before they hatch, metaphorically speaking, as suddenly the ground begins to shake and quake, and this discombobulated predator finds himself facing his nemesis, at full gallop with retribution in his eyes--the only critter in the jungle who has no fear of him---Elephant!

And Elephant's trunk easily gives the almost-prey an easy out, just in time for Tiger to get his comeuppance with a big putdown--as he falls into the deep, deep hole. OH, NO!

Candace Fleming and Caldecott artist Eric Rohman (for My Friend Rabbit), team up in their brand-new Oh, No! (Schwartz & Wade, 2012), a rhyming rain forest romp of a story with Rohman's characteristic thick blackline illustrations taking on a more realistic style in eye-pleasing pages which could tell the tale without text--except for the fact that Fleming's beguiling verse irresistibly must be read out loud and with zest. An classic jungle cautionary tale told with jolly inevitability.

"Oh, yes! This is a terrific new picture book!" quips Kirkus Reviews.

Blindsided: Blind Spot by Laura Ellen

It should have been a no-brainer. I was returning to the same halls I’d occupied last year. A seasoned vet, not some scared, insecure freshman.

I took a steadying breath. I squinted at the room numbers. I was looking for room 22, Life Skills.

At that last turn, I stopped. Someone in a brown, hooded cloak twirled, twirled, twirled in the middle of the hallway. A garment like that meant immediate social suicide, but in a deserted hallway, it meant something else.

Special Ed.

There had to be some mistake. This was not my room.

Diagnosed in her freshman year with juvenile macular degeneration, Roz feels that she can make it as a regular student, navigating by her peripheral vision and sitting in the front of the classroom. Now she finds herself in a room of special ed students, with a teacher, Mr. Dellian, who seems determined to give her a hard time. It is even worse when she discovers that he is also her AP history teacher, and when she gets lost on the way to that class and hurriedly takes the first empty seat she can spot, one in the back, he insists that, having chosen that seat, she has to sit there all semester. Even worse, in that Life Skills class, Mr. Dellian assigns her to be the partner of the crazy twirling girl, Tricia Farni.

But it is Tricia who gets Roz involved in that Life Skills class in a way she never expected. Tricia claims to be a recovering heroin addict, and when Roz finds her in the restroom shaking and begging her to find her some pot to keep her off the hard stuff, Roz reluctantly agrees to provide the money and go with Jonathan, hockey star and full-time most popular guy, to get Tricia what she needs. Roz can’t believe what she’s doing, but she does believe what she is feeling for Jonathan, who calls her “Beautiful” and asks her out, making her feel, not special in the life skills way, but normal in the way everyone in high school wants to be.

But Mr. Dellian continues to be a daily problem. Roz needs to do well in AP history, but if she sits in front where she can see the board, Dellian counts her absent for not sitting in her “assigned” seat. Roz manages to keep up only with the notes another student, Greg, prints off in enlarged font for her and with his partnering with her on class projects. Appeals to the counselor and principal to change her schedule fail, and Roz decides to try to hang on until the end of the semester. Dating Jonathan takes some of the pain out of Chase High School, and her study time with Greg is surprisingly something she looks forward to each week.

But at a party which goes out of control, Roz finds Tricia and Jonathan together, and something frightening happens, something she can only dimly recall, like a bad dream in which Jonathan, Tricia, and even Mr. Dellian are all mixed up. And then, Tricia disappears, and when her body is found in a frozen river, Roz knows that someone murdered her that night and that her own lost memories are the key to Tricia’s death.

The thing about alien life is there’s no universally accepted proof that it exists. Belief is left to the individual.

Truth is like that, too. It isn’t necessarily universal. Sometimes what we see, what seems real, isn’t real at all.

After Greg left, I struggled with this. What was truth, what was fiction, and could I spot the difference? Once upon a time I thought I could.

What if I was wrong about Jonathan? What if he wasn’t telling me everything?

If truth had to come down to evidence, then I needed to find some.

Laura Ellen’s forthcoming Blind Spot (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,  2012) uses the legally-blind Roz tos show that physical attraction has the power to blind teenagers to the truth. As the page-turning plot twists and turns toward its suspenseful ending, the truth itself flickers and reassembles itself in Roz’s eyes. A nearly blind sophomore as sleuth makes for an original murder mystery concept, but author Laura Ellen’s characters are well drawn and engaging, even if their choices along the way sometimes make the reader want to give them a shake. Despite a sometimes improbable story line, Ellen delivers an absorbing read with some real insights for the reader. “Roz is an enormously appealing narrator,” says Kirkus Reviews, and along the way to a unexpected conclusion, young adult readers can learn a lot from seeing what unfolds through her eyes.

In the Dark: Nightsong by Ari Beck

THE SUN HAD SET, AND THE SHADOWS CLINGING TO THE WALLS OF THE CAVE BEGAN TO WAKE AND WHISPER.

“CHIRO? LITTLE WING?” THE BAT-MOTHER SAID TO HER CHILD. “TONIGHT YOU MUST FLY OUT INTO THE WORLD.”

Going out into the wide world for the first time is hard, whether it is a child on the first day of school, a teenager heading off to college or a distant job, or in Ari Beck's and Loren Long's newly published Nightsong (Simon & Schuster, 2012), a young bat on his first solo flight into the night. Like all first-timers, Chiro is afraid, but his mother wisely reassures him that he has what it takes to make his way in the world.

“BUT THE NIGHT IS DARK, MOMMA, DARKER THAN THE MOTH’S WING...DARKER
EVEN THAN THE WATER BEFORE DAWN,” LITTLE BAT EXCLAIMED.

“I KNOW,” WHISPERED HIS MOTHER. “THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO MAKE YOUR
WAY IN THE WORLD. USE YOUR GOOD SENSE.”

THE MOTHER FOLDED HIM IN HER WINGS. “‘SENSE’ IS THE SONG YOU SING OUT
INTO THE WORLD AND THE SONG THE WORLD SINGS BACK TO YOU. SING AND
THE WORLD WILL ANSWER. THAT IS HOW YOU WILL SEE.”

Little Chiro takes off into the twilight, but as the light fades from his eyes, his fear grows. Still, he remembers his mother’s warm wings and her wise words. And he begins to sing his own song, and suddenly he sees what is before him as clearly as he might see by daylight, his large, keen ears pulling in the “images” of geese and trees and rock outcroppings, and best of all, tasty insect bites to satisfy his hunger. Suddenly, Chiro understands his own power and begins to enjoy his solo night flight.

And when his hunger is satisfied, Chiro cannot resist flying on and on away from home. Out over the wide beach he soars.

HE FLEW FAST TOWARD THE HIGH DUNES, EACH GRAIN OF SAND CALLING OUT
IN CHORUS AS HE PASSED. CHIRO FLAPPED OVER THE DUNES AND OUT OVER
THE STRAND, SINGING LOUDER THAN HE EVER SANG BEFORE.

EACH SPLASH OF SEA FOAM BECAME CLEAR TO HIM.

And when the faint glow of sunrise appears, Chiro reluctantly turns back, singing his way through the dark until he finds himself homing in upon his own cave, where he knows his mother is waiting.

Award-winning artist Loren Long’s warm yet powerful use of acrylic and graphite media juxtaposes a soft brown and big-eyed novice bat in his first echolocation flight against a background of deep brown and black, a textured darkness that sets up the premise of the story well. Little Wing’s night song is portrayed as a cone of light before him in which woodland trees, landing geese, and even a variety of insects appear in his path, a visual image which makes the actual aural imagery which guides Chiro understandable to young readers. A finely honed text “sings” out the story as the finely crafted illustrations sing to the readers' eyes. Together these two creators have given us a lovely story which shows the potential high art of the picture book.

Party Dog: Trick or Treat, Marley by John Grogan

"I CAN'T WAIT! I CAN'T WAIT!" CASSIE BUBBLED AS SHE RAN THROUGH THE HOUSE CLUTCHING HER COSTUME.

"ME NO WAIT, TOO!" BABY LOUIE AGREED. "ME SUPERMAN!"

You would think the long-suffering Grogans, owner and would-be trainers of the world's worst dog--Marley, would know better by now. Thinking that it's easier to host a Halloween party than trek out with two youngsters, one barely walking and talking, for the annual trick or treating, they are busily getting ready for their party. Cassie and Baby Louie are over-the-moon excited, and so their puppy, Marley, is beside himself as well. As fast as Cassie and her parents can put up decorations, Marley manages to take them down, and the spooky signs and crepe paper streamers have to be rehung over and over as he tries to "help."

And when Mom settles the kids down to help her carve one of their homegrown pumpkins, Marley has to help remove the seeds and "guts," predictably getting his head stuck inside the pumpkin.

DARK IN HERE!" MARLEY THINKS!

Marley takes off running, careening around the room, until he thunks into the wall, and emerges proudly coated with yellow slime and pieces of the unfortunate fruit's shell.

"GOOD THING DADDY GREW MORE THAN ONE PUMPKIN," MOM SAID WITH A SIGH.

"BAA BOOBOO, WADDY!" SAID BABY LOUIE.

Marley is chastised, but his ebullience returns when the kids begin to blow up the festive orange balloons and he just has to chase them, with predictably loud results. There's never a dull moment as the party finally gets underway, and when Marley is exiled to the outdoors for stealing the tails from the Pin-The-Tail-On-The-Donkey game, he nevertheless brings the party to its spooky conclusion with a guest appearance outside the window as a ghost--with a hopefully wagging tail.

John Grogan's Halloween treat in his best-selling Marley series, Trick or Treat, Marley! (Harper, 2011) is another hilarious Marley adventure, aided by Richard Cowdry's cute-cute-cute illustrations, one which will give little spooks-to-be the giggles in storytime circles celebrating the scary season! Let's hope those clueless Grogans never learn!

Yukkin' It Up! Laugh Out Loud Baby by Tony Johnston

THE FIRST TIME OUR BABY LAUGHED OUT LOUD

OUR FAMILY STOOD STILL TO LISTEN.

SWEET DAY!

THAT SMALL SPILL OF HAPPINESS

WENT RIPPLING THROUGH THE HOUSE--A DAZZLE, A JAZZLE, A SHINE.

Everything in the household stops while the folks are enchanted by that sound, from grandpas down to tots. A baby's first real laugh is such a pleasure that the family feels that everyone in neighborhood needs to hear it.

The area around is scoured, and soon an expectant crowd, picnic baskets fortified with provender, fills their tumbledown little house, all crowding around to hear that magical sound. Even great-great-grandma is there, her ears cocked.

There's just one problem. Baby's mirth seems to be shut down.

No amount of coo-chy cooing and even tickling evokes a smile. Perhaps intimidated by all the strangers' eyes on him, baby won't giggle.  All kinds of laughs from the grownups fail to set him off:

...SNICKERY NOSE LAUGHS
DOWN-TO-YOUR TOES LAUGHS...

Finally all their efforts fall flat. Baby smiles, but no laugh follows. Disappointed, the friends and family give up and figure they might as well enjoy their impromptu potluck get-together anyway. The crowd starts eating and blabbing away among themselves, the baby temporarily removed from the center of attention.

Will baby ever perform that wonderful laugh for everyone to hear?

In her just published latest, Laugh-Out-Loud Babym, (Paula Wiseman Books) (Simon & Schuster, 2012), author Tony Johnston's bouncy, rhyme-studded text and Caldecott artist Stephen Gammell's typically quirky illustrations keep little listeners laughing even when the baby isn't. And of course, it's not to worry, as giggles will out in this new tall tale from this dynamic storytelling duo.

Tasty Twist of the Tongue: I Know a Librarian Who Chewed on A Word by Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton

I KNOW A LIBRARIAN WHO CHEWED ON A WORD.

SHE PRACTICALLY PURRED WHEN SHE ATE THAT WORD.

HOW ABSURD!

Well, of course. The kids' section is all agog at this event, and as Miss Devine then chomps her way through that book about Captain Hook, the children look around and gather in disbelief.

With Peter Pan and company under her belt, this amazing omnivorous reader in a bun looks around for more fodder and her eyes fall upon a chair, a reading table, a bookcart... and that's not all.

I KNOW A LIBRARIAN WHO SAVORED A SHELF.

WHO WOULD'VE THOUGHT SHE COULD EAT IT HERSELF!

It had to happen. After all those "I Know an Old Lady..." stories, someone finally got around to a librarian as the subject of an ingestion (or indigestion) saga. Laurie Knowlton's I Know a Librarian Who Chewed on a Word (Pelican Publishing, 2012) takes on the task of tailoring this cumulative tale premise to a library setting, and the result is... well, intriguing and yet a bit "upsetting."

Granted, author Lucille Colandro, who fairly has a franchise on this format, has come up with many a seasonal treat (see her autumnal tale, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves!), using the rhythm and rhyme scheme of the folk song "I know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly." Many noteworthy takeoffs abound, some more tasty than others, but Knowlton's stereotypical librarian's choice of chewables is a bit, so to speak, hard to swallow and harder still to stomach. Unlike Colandro's old lady, who swallows some snow and eventually produces a fully adorned snowman, what this librarian er, "comes up with" is the word "READ," a worthy word, no doubt, but one unlikely to follow all that ingesting of library paraphernalia. Those hungry for a real attention-getter of a library or book week readaloud may find this book a zesty addition to the fare, but for most, this one is strictly a matter of personal taste.

Miss Lina's Ballerinas and the Wicked Wish by Grace Maccarone

ONE SUNNY DAY, A GUEST CAME TO VIEW

MISS LINA'S TEN DANCERS PLIE' AND TENDU.

MISS LINA ANNOUNCED, "THIS IS MISTER BRISE'.

HE'LL WATCH YOU TAKE CLASS," SHE EXPLAINED, AND HE MAY

INVITE YOU TO DANCE WITH THE CITY BALLET."

Miss Lina's dancers--Christina, Edwina, Sabrina, Justina, Katrina, Bettina, Marina, Regina, Nina, and Tony Farina--are tres excites when they are observed by Mr. Brise', knowing that this is an audition for the big performance of "Sleeping Beauty." But, alas, Regina loses her balance in the line, causing a domino effect among the dancers, ending with their newest member, Tony, falling onto the floor. It is only one misstep, but it means that, while the rest of the class are chosen to dance la valse with garlands of roses in the grand wedding procession, Regina and Tony must portray the giant rats who pull Beauty's carriage to the wedding.

Tony is totally down with performing the part of a rat, but Regina feels embarrassed with her fall from grace. She can't help wishing, just a little bit, that one of the waltzing girls will fall ill so that she can step in and claim her rightful place with the rest of Miss Lina's ballerinas. She even dreams of herself, waltzing gracefully, garlanded with beautiful roses, to the applause of the glittering opening night audience.

"Be careful what you wish for--because you might get it" is the well-trod theme of Grace Maccarone's and Christine Davenier's third ballet tale, Miss Lina's Ballerinas and the Wicked Wish (Feiwel & Friends, 2012), because Regina finds herself suddenly called on to replace Sabrina, who falls very ill:

SHE LEARNED SABRINA HAD THE FLU.

SABRINA'S DANCE WAS HARD TO DO--

PAS DE BASQUE AND SOUTENU!

And that's just the beginning, as one misfortune after another occurs. Nina and Martina, too, fall ill, and Edwina sprains an ankle, followed by a cascade of maladies and mishaps among the class, and Regina despairs that she can learn everyone's routine in time for the performance. Her wicked wish has come back to haunt her and she has even come to rue the scent of roses!

But the show must go on, as Regina repents her wicked wish in this sequel in the careers of Miss Lina's little corps de ballet, as the recovered ballerinas toe the mark on opening night in another delightfully brava pas de deux by this talented author and illustrator duo.

For young ballet fans the author thoughtfully appends a synopsis of the Sleeping Beauty ballet and a glossary of ballet terms.

Music As Grace: Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane's Musical Journey by Gary Golio

A warm light filled the small church.

John smiled as his mother pressed the organ key, calling choir voices to soar through the air above her head. A part of him soared, too.

Suddenly the fiery voice of Reverend Blair made John sit up. Always full of questions–about God, about everything–John took in every word. His grandfather spoke about the power of the Spirit to guide and and heal–no matter what.

This was a promise John would never forget.

For the young John Coltrane his first twelve years were joyful and warm, filled with the music of his father’s singing, the sounds of the organ and choir, and the joys of family life in his grandfather’s big house with his parents and his cousin Mary’s family. But with the death of his grandfather, father, and uncle in close succession, the family lost its anchor and its music. John’s loss brought deep sadness, until another minister, recruiting young people for a church band, found him a used saxophone. John began to make his own music again.

The young Coltrane threw himself wholeheartedly into making music with that horn, practicing whenever he could, even sleeping with the precious horn near him. Listening to the radio, he heard big band jazz and found the sounds he had been missing:

One of John’s favorite musicians was Lester Young, who played tenor saxophone. Lester’s sound was bouncy, but deep, laughter sprinkled with tears.

For John, it was like an echo of Papa’s voice.

John found other musicians to follow, and soon he himself followed them into jazz, always pursuing that “deep music...laughter sprinkled with tears.” He listened to Johnny Hodges and later Charlie “Bird” Parker, hearing sounds that led him on to find that music he held inside. As a young musician he became known, playing with famous bands of the 1940s and early 1950s, touring constantly amid applause and success, but losing touch with his own center, drawn to drink and drugs to fill the void. Restless in spirit, he read about many religions and their own promise of grace.

At last, seemingly lost even amid success, he remembered his grandfather’s preaching, the words promising that “the Spirit would heal–no matter what.” He saw all his studies of religion and philosophy as one, offering cleansing and hope, if he could but find his way back, open to receive the promise.

Leaving addiction behind, John Coltrane went on to make the most of his gift, His new freedom spilled from his horn in notes that many came to hear.

As in his lauded music biographies of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan (Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow: A Story of the Young Jimi Hendrix and When Bob Met Woody: The Story of the Young Bob Dylan) with his forthcoming Spirit Seeker: John Coltrane's Musical Journey (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012) in simple but lyrical text Gary Golio explores the seminal childhood experiences which shaped the music and life of another iconic American musician, another who took in the myriad musical experiences of his early days to produce something uniquely personal yet universal in his music.

“Laughter sprinkled with tears” is the essence of jazz, and Galio’s narrative paints a word picture of Coltrane’s spiritual journey to describe what he felt and expressed in his music. Golio’s story is carried along by the work of the Belpre’ Award-winning illustrator Rudy Gutierrez, whose expressionistic art swirls and floods the pages with color, flowing in and around the narrative like music floods the senses. Words are a sort of music, and Golio’s words provide a way for middle readers to find their way to the music and what lies inside it.

“Lyrically narrated, resplendently illustrated, and deeply respectful of both subject and audience,” says Kirkus Reviews.

Moldy Oldie, Anyone? Monster Mash by David Catrow

THE SCENE WAS ROCKIN',
ALL WERE DIGGIN' THE SOUNDS
IGOR ON CHAINS,
BACKED BY THE BAYING HOUNDS.

THE COFFIN BANGERS
WERE ABOUT TO ARRIVE.
WITH THE THEIR VOCAL GROUP,
THE CRYPT-KICKER FIVE.

THEY DID THE MASH,
THE MONSTER MASH!

David Catrow is one weird dude when it comes to illustrations, and I mean that in the best possible way! Taking a 1962 classic novelty tune, included over the decades in countless holiday music mixes and adding his own funky and frankly silly twist, this one-of-kind artist gives this real "moldie oldie" a whole new life with a new set of Halloween party-goers. Catrow's impressionistic illustrations can make even werewolves and ghouls comic and, in their own bizarr-o way, kinda cute. In his newest solo effort, Monster Mash. Catrow uses the familiar lyrics to that old Halloween staple, "The Monster Mash," as the text for his over-the-top salute to the scary season. Visually, Catrow's imagination gives the usual suspects--ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and skeletons--a new look in his fanciful depiction of a monster rave-up.

Frankenstein's monster leads the way, rockin' and stompin' to the beat, and is joined by a Dracula dude, assorted ghouls, and fanciful critters never seen in nature, all of whom set out to swing the castle. And host Frankie is properly equipped to liven up the laboratory with his own electrifying personality:

THE GHOSTS ALL COME
FROM THEIR HUMBLE ABODES
TO GET A JOLT
FROM HIS ELECTRODES!

Vampires demonstrate their Transylvania Twist and it's a "graveyard smash"--until the strangest creatures of all ring the castle's doorbell. They're two costumed trick-or-treaters, who are ready to get down and dance, and they've come to the right place to stomp, stomp, stomp:

YOU CAN MASH,
YOU'LL CATCH ON IN A FLASH.
THEN YOU CAN MASH,
YOU CAN MONSTER MASH!

Crime and Punishment II: This Is Not My Hat by Jon Klassen

THIS IS NOT MY HAT.

I STOLE IT FROM A BIG FISH.

HE WAS SLEEPING WHEN I DID IT.

The narrator is a little fish, brazenly wearing a blue Derby, which he readily admits to swiping from a snoozing fish, who, the little fish optimistically opines, probably won't wake up any time soon. And if he does, he probably won't notice. And the hat didn't fit him anyway. And  the perpetrator is swimming rapidly toward a kelp forest, where the big fish will never find him.

Okay,  so there was an eyewitness to the crime. A little crab with big stalky eyes saw it all, but he has promised the larcenous little fish not to tell which way  he went. It is an almost perfect crime. Except....

Except that none of the thief's hopeful speculations are actually true. The big fish does wake up:, he does look up to check out his chapeau; the crab squeals like a stool pigeon; and the big fish is off to the perp's hideout in the swish of a fin.

Crime will out in Jon Klassen's just-published This Is Not My Hat (Candlewick, 2012), a worthy successor to his best-selling chapeau chase, I Want My Hat Back (E. B. White Read-Aloud Award. Picture Books) (see my review here). Again, Klassen's darkly droll tale is a high point in the picture book genre, with his spare text and simple but evocative illustrations complementing the text exquisitely. Klassen's character's eyes speak volumes, as the big fish looks up to where his hat should be even as the naive little malefactor is speculating that his victim won't even notice the hat snitch. The big fish's eyes narrow as the hunt for the culprit commences, and the crab's bulgy eyes need only look page right to put the pursuit of the perpetrator into motion--and the outcome of this crime and punishment saga is no longer in doubt. We know which fish is going to swim out of that seaweed wearing that hat.

With a text of so few, but such well-chosen words, Klassen's illustrations create the tension and the humor that makes this picture book a winner. An artist who can telegraph the outcome of a tale subtly but shrewdly with  no more than a pattern of bubbles is rare. As in his earlier headgear whodunnit, Klassen discretely lets the certain execution of justice take place off-page in a nod to the sensibilities of his young readers.

Receiving starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, School Library Journal, and Horn Book for  This Is Not My Hat, Klassen has the credentials to show that the success of his first book was no hat trick. A tip of the topper to a master of the art of the picture book.

Bootime: What Was I Scared? of by Dr. Seuss

WELL, I WAS WALKING IN THE NIGHT,
AND I SAW NOTHING SCARY.
FOR I HAVE NEVER BEEN AFRAID
OF ANYTHING. NOT VERY.

THEN I WAS DEEP IN THE WOODS,
WHEN, SUDDENLY, I SPIED THEM.
I SAW A PAIR OF PALE GREEN PANTS
WITH NOBODY INSIDE THEM.

And with that recognizable rhythm-and-rhyme scheme, we know we're off and running with one of the legendary Seuss stories, this one a rare, spooky tale for the scary season.

Who wouldn't be afraid of a pair of ordinary pants, filled with nothing but ghostly spiritude. self-animated, greenish pants that appear seemingly everywhere our little Seuss guy goes. The pants run into him around a corner in town, join him in his fishing boat, and practically scare the pants off him at every turn. Now, who's the scaredy pants?

There's only one thing to do, and that is to face down the fear, also known as whistling in the graveyard, and Dr. Seuss has a revelation for these scaredy pants!

AND IN THAT DREADFUL PLACE
THOSE SPOOKY EMPTY PANTS AND I
WERE STANDING FACE TO FACE!

I NEVER HEARD SUCH WHIMPERING
AND I BEGAN TO SEE
THAT I WAS JUST AS STRANGE TO THEM
AS THEY WERE STRANGE TO ME.

A scary Dr. Seuss tale is a fun tale for the upcoming scary season, and after the tale is read, switch off the lamp and enjoy paging through the book again for the fun of the "glow-in-the-dark encounter" provided in this timely edition of Theodore Seuss Geisel's What Was I Scared Of?: A Glow-in-the Dark Encounter (Classic Seuss) (Random House). A good scary story never grows old, and neither, it seems, does Dr. Seuss.