A few from Harper Collins that looked lovely. I was able to send in an email and have my name added to the mailing list for these titles. They still are not taking conventional review copy requests - I wonder if it's working out for them the way they want it. (It seems odd to just bombard reviewers with books the publisher thinks they want - isn't that like the tables in the front of a department store trying to sell us what they think we want?)
The New Policeman by Kate Thompson. Well, she won the Whitbread and Guardian awards for this book. From The Guardian: "THere is something hallucinatory, if not delirious, about this stylish, magical book." Set in Ireland, 15 year old JJ continues in the family musical tradition. His mother wants "time" for her birthday so JJ goes looking for some. He also finds that his great grandfather might have been a murderer - he discovers the answer to that family mystery as he seeks time for his mom and also, "some truly remarkable things about music, about Tir na n'Og, about his family and about magic."
This just sounds very Charles de Lintish. Wicked cool - gotta read it.
Stuff: The Life of a Cool Demented Dude by Jeremy Strong, Illus by Matthew Armstrong. For grades 7 & up - Simon has a home that has been invaded by Dad's new girlfriend. He has to break up with his own girlfriend and avoid being beat up by her brother. He wants to win Sky - the love of his life! He starts to draw comics for the school newspaper and that's when things take off.
Simon is 14, quirky, smart and talented. Love the cover of this book and love the idea of the comic strips. I'm always looking for good boy books - this could be another one. (See some of Matthew Armstrong's art here - the cover for the US book is 100% better than the UK version. Armstrong's pictures are just gorgeous.)
Kimchi & Calamari by Rose Kent. Joseph is Korea and was adopted by Italian parents. For a social studies assignment he invents an ancestor as his parents have spoken little about his adoption. There's not a lot of plot content in the catalog, but the struggle to fit into one ethnic culture when you come from another sounds very interesting. The author has adopted two Korean children, so I'm hoping she has some insight (and a good sense of humor) about this family dynamic.
The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean. An Antarctica book! You know how I love the polar stuff.....Sym is obsessed with the South Pole and Captain Oates, who was part of Scott's expedition. Her uncle is even more obsessed and takes her on a trip which turns nightmarish. The Independent writes: "Wickedly funny and diabolically clever, effortlessly erudite and richly imagined, wryly wise and unsentimentally emotional, this has to be one of the most remarkable novels for children published in the last fifty years."
Well, I'm sold on that review - who wouldn't be? McCaughrean is also the author who wrote the authorized sequel to Peter Pan, due out in October. I oddly have no interest in reading that at all, but I'm all over The White Darkness.
None of these books are available until after the first of the year in the US - but they are certainly something to look forward to, aren't they? (I totally have to put together another polar book essay this winter. Too many of these great books keep falling into my lap!)
