Hmmmm. The Little Brown children's catalog was rather heavy on the latest Gossip Girls, Clique, A-List, blah blah blah novels.

Very disappointing.

The only LB title that caught my fancy was Going Nowhere Faster by Sean Beaudoin. With a tagline of "Good Will Hunting meets Clerks" I was interested pretty quick and the description of a boy genius who is surrounded by lots of folks with high expectations that he doesn't seem to be fulfilling (shades of An Abundance of Katherines) sounds like good geek fun. I'm looking forward to being quite happy with this one. (The Clerks reference seems to be due to young Stan's job at Happy Video - I especially love video geeks.)

From Houghton Mifflin:

The Neddiad by Daniel Pinkwater. I mentioned this one the other day. It's about "three good friends, a shaman, a ghost and a little maneuver known as the French substitution determine the fate of the world." Go to the site, read a few chapters and trust me, you will want this one too. (I actually already got my review copy - expect to hear on that soon.)

Tracking Trash, Flotsam, Jetsam and the Science of Ocean Motion by Loree Griffith Burns. I am fascinated by how boots can fall off a container ship in the Northern Pacific and end up from one end of North America to the other. I also have a weakness for well written children's nonfiction and this looks quite good and timely - we need to be reading about the oceans as much as we can because we are really screwing them up. Learn, care and save them - that's my motto.

Theodosia Throckmorton and the Serpents of Chaos by RL LaFevers. "Theodosia Throckmorton has her hands full at the Museum of Legends and Antiquities in London. Her father may be head curator, but it is Theo - and only Theo - who is able to see all the black magic and ancient curses that still cling to the artifacts in the museum." Okay, I'm all over this one - can you imagine a better place to grow up? Why must I be from tacky florida suburbia????

Hugo & Miles in I've Painted Everything! by Scott Magoon. A delightful sounding picture book about an elephunk who has painted everything in Cornville. So he and his buddy Miles leave for Paris and visit all the parks, museums etc. to get some inspiration. It's about jump starting your creativity, elephunk style. And it is so damn cute looking I can't hardly stand it.

Better Than Running at Night by Hillary Frank. Ellie leaves a sad high school existence behind for the New England College of Art and Design. She hopes to recreate herself and her art but things start badly - she ends up dirty dancing with the Devil.

Uh huh.

Is this the real devil? I have no idea, but I love an artsy girl combined with coming-of-age drama. And the cover is killer. (Not that I judge books by covers, but it really is cool.)

And now - stop the presses - The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. It's the sequel to this year's much loved Dairy Queen and I'm so happy about this!!! DJ is a starting linebacker now, she's "got kind of a thing" with Brian Nelson and getting along again with her best friend Amber. Life seems to be going great (uh oh) but trouble comes in all sorts of directions involving school, the family and all sorts of Brian confusion. I am sure DJ will triumph again and I'm so looking forward to it. Murdock's writing makes me happy and happy is good.