There was a bit of a warehouse mix-up so the Summer catalogs were shipped ahead of Spring for RH last week. I should have my Spring catalog in a few days, but here are some titles a bit further down the line that I'm looking forward to (And it looks like Lelia and I are now on the same catalog schedule!):

A Field Guide to HIgh School by Marissa Walsh - 8th grader Andie gets a guide from her popular graduating older sister so she can be more prepared to survive high school. Andie and her best friend are not so sure that Claire really did everything the best way however, but are intent upon earning the best lessons from the book.

Honestly, I don't know why it has taken so long for someone to equate high school with the animal kingdom in this way. I think it could be very funny and smart if done the right way and I'm looking foward to seeing how Walsh does with this very cool idea. Oh - and in her bio, Walsh admits she hated high school.

I think I already love her. (And I agree with Leila - the cover is fantastic! I'll post a link when it is up.)

The Alchemyst by Michael Scott - Okay another secret that can end the world and yes, it involves a book. In this case Nicholas died in 1418 unless the legend is true and he "has been making the elixer of life for centuries." The book is "The Book of Abraham the Mage" and it holds the secret to eternal life. Dr. John Dee plans to steal the book and destroy the world and Sophie and John Newman (as stated in prophecy) are the only ones who can save the world.

Okay, what has me here is Scott. He's been writing fantasy for quite awhile and the Irish Times calls him "The King of Fantasy in These Isles" (and I have to think it counts more to be a fantasy writer from Ireland, just cause) and if it can be pulled off, this could be super. I'm still smarting from all the hype about Endymion Spring just a couple of months ago though, so we'll see.

Clara & Senor Frog by Campbell Geeslin - Loved loved loved his earlier picture book, Elena's Serenade. This one also involves a creative little girl who finds her way to being the artist she wants to be (in this case as a painter). The twist is that Senor Frog is reminiscent of Diego Rivera, a fascinating and immensely talented artist who more people, regardless of age, should know about.

Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner - A spoof (of sorts) on traditional fairytales, this involves three "courageous and eccentric sisters" who become orphaned and "flee into the woods, where they encounter kidnappers, sweet-filled orphanages, mountains of ice, diamond mines and some ravenously hungry wolves".

Gardner is the theater critic for the Guardian (here is their review of her book) and she maintained a very funny blog for the paper last year when her book first came out in England. She is a very good writer (as a critic and reviewer) and I look forward to seeing what she does with this new take on fairy tales.

Moxy Maxwell Does not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford - I mention this one because every kid has had that dreadful summer reading experience and dragged it out far longer than need be only to find in the end that some of the books were really pretty good. I liked this image in particular from the catalog copy: "...of course our heroine does manage to finish her book, falling so in love with it that she finds herself reading under the covers with a flashlight, late into the night." Perfect!

The Right-Under Club by Christine Hurley Deriso - Okay, I was a step child and I already feel like I know the girls in this book. "On an ordinary summer day, five girls realize that although they are right under their parents' noses, their complext family lives make them feel like leftover meat loaf."

I'm there, no need to read any further.

The Rising Star of Rusty Nail by Lesly Blume - I really enjoyed Blume's earlier book, Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters so I'm an easy take for her latest. "Franny Hansen is a 10-year old piano prodigy living in Rusty Nail, MN. Once the Coot Capitol of the world, in 1953 it's just a run-of-the-mill town one traffic light and a bizarre cast of characters." Franny's life is turned upside down when a "mysterious Russian woman" arrives in town. Is she a communist threat to the American way of life or Franny's ticket out of town? I know it will be funny and sweet because Blume does both so well, the fact that it's 1953 is just icing on the cake.

Uneversaurus by Aidan Potter - It's a picture book about dinosaurs but takes them from a different perspective. "...no human has ever seen a dinosaur book like this one! We all think we know what dinosaurs looked like, but how can we be sure?" Potter looks at fossils, fur, skeletons and skin color with a freshness that I'm quite excited about. We don't know what dinosaurs looked like - we know about bone structure, but that's it. I think this will be a very cool book and Potter portraying himself as "Professor Potts" should make it big fun for fans of all ages. (Dinosaurs are cool people, accept it and move on.)

Back tomorrow with the promised short review of The Green Glass Sea. Also thoughts on Laura Ruby's Good Girls (loved it - very impressed and it will be in my Jan column) and The Neighborhood Story Project has a new book out on life in the 9th Ward - both before and after Katrina. I'll keep ya posted on a review of that one.