Middle Grade readers will be happy to know that Jennifer Allison has a new entry in her most endearing Gilda Joyce mystery series due out in August: Gilda Joyce:The Ghost Sonata. The Cybils folks should take special note of this release as Gilda was a big favorite over there last year. (I'll be reviewing the book in my mystery column in August.)

Also in September there is a new Encyclopedia Brown collection: Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case. I've already read this one and it is exactly like I remember the originals. The mysteries are fun, all the old friends (and foes) are back and Encyclopedia is as creative and smart as always. Perfect - absolutely perfect - for boys reluctant to read. (And of course all girl detectives will love it as well.)

Jason Rodriguez collected a bunch of antique postcards and then sent them out to some graphic novelists who crafted the most amazing bunch of stories based on just a few lines and a picture. Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened is a very unique collection and I highly recommend it. It's due out in June and the final copy looks gorgeous. Rodriguez has writers like Ande Parks, Antony Johnston and Tom Beland along and a host of talented illustrators. There's a little bit of everything here but mostly very human drama. I hope the book is successful and a second title appears behind it - this is just a great idea and very well executed. (In the July column along with other books for creative teens although it is written for an adult audience as well.)

In the promo copy for Jasper Fforde's new Thursday Next title: Thursday Next, First Among Sequels (due in July) there is a fun little booklet that gives you the first few chapters of the book. I'm a fan of Fforde's work, both this series and the Nursery Crimes books so I'll be buying the new title when it comes out. I did want to point out an excellent quote though, one of those touches that makes me really enjoy Fforde's sense of humor.

Thursday is arguing that she did not write a book that has been credited to her and says:

"In addition I would never have punched Braxton Hick's lights out or shot Flanker in the foot. But most of all, I would never have used that dopey line: 'Is it raining? I hadn't noticed' during the overblown Farquitt-inspired 'romantic' scene with Landon."

Okay, everyone here who enjoyed Four Weddings and a Funeral right up until that horrible line uttered by Andie MacDowell in the film's final scenes raise your hand. (Hand raised vigorously!!!!!)

Fforde had me a couple of books ago when he put the whole Wuthering Heights cast in anger management classes but with his very sly pop culture reference he got me for life.

Kate Muir at The Times talked to Joanne Harris about The Lollipop Shoes on Sunday, her upcoming sequel to Chocolat. It's a rather unfortunate title, but the story sounds good for fans (of which I'm one):

“This story had a lot more at stake. Whereas Chocolat was a version of A Fistful of Dollars – the hero blows in and out of town – The Lollipop Shoes is more like High Noon.”

Muir then points out that Harris's book will not win the Orange Prize but it will sell - because of course popular novels don't win prestigious literary prizes. Whatever......

Booklist gives Ellen Klages's new collection, Portable Childhoods a good review: "Klages creates wonder-filled and beautiful worlds in her short stories, making this a tremendously satisfying collection." Good to hear she continues to be on a role from The Green Glass Sea and I must say the short story "Time Gypsies" sounds particularly interesting. (These stories were all published in various magazines but are gathered together here for the first time.)

Finally, Booklist also has a starred review for Ellen Wittlinger's Parrotfish, a YA novel about a high school junior- a transgender girl who decides to cut her hair, buy boy's clothing and begin a new life as a boy. Reviewer Michael Cart refers to the book as "sufficiently nonthreatening" but wonders why the transition is portrayed so easily ("no blood is shed, no lives are threatened). Maybe the hardest part sometimes is simply the decision, something any teen who has carved out a space for themselves in a new frontier should appreciate. The book is due out in July from S&S - it's one that slipped under my radar somehow, but I'll be sure to rectify that as soon as possible.