It seems like I shouldn't be reading fall catalogs until it is at least 65 degrees outside, but FSG has arrived and there are a ton of great title to look forward to. Here we go with some highlights:
Marveltown by Bruce McCall: A picture book about a town founded by inventors that must face giant robot workers who suddenly go beserk. The art is reminiscent of William Joyce (in a good way) and the site of rockets and futuristic building design from the 1950s all reminds me of old issues of Popular Mechanics. If it has flying cars I might weep with joy.
Little Audrey by Ruth White. Based on White's childhood in a late 1940s Virginia coal camp, this looks like a title that addresses one of the more underrepresented aspects of children's lives in literature: poverty. "This snapshot of life in a coal camp, complete with everyday heartaches and joys - as well as stories, songs and jokes - is Ruth White's most personal work to date."
A Mystery for Thoreau by Kin Platt. Set in 1846 in Concord, MA, 16 year old Oliver is on the chase of a murder mystery where Henry Thoreau (who was in jail at the time) is the only one not a suspect. Aided by Ralph Waldo Emerson and a teenage Louisa May Alcott, Oliver is hot to uncover just what happened at Walden Pond.
On top of the neat literary premise, the author (who passed away in 2003) was also the author of two books in the Three Investigators series - books I devoured in elementary school. That fact alone (plus the 1950s cover art) made me eager to read more on this one.
Emperors of the Ice by Richard Farr. Based on the events in the Robert Scott Antarctic expedition where Apsley Geroge Benet Cherry-Garrand and two others nearly died on a mission to collect penguin eggs. Told in Cherry's voice with photos. Do I really have to explain why I'm jazzed about this one?
Swiss Mist by Randy Powell. "When Milo is in the fifth grade his parents get divorced, and his teacher, Ms. Swinford, helps him make it through the year...During the next five years, Milo moves through the mists of Washington State - from place to place and school to school - while his mother tries to figure out her life. Along the way he tries to 'seek the truth' as his free-spirited father urged him to do before he left, but he never forgets Ms. Swinford and her tales of Switzerland. Then, when he gets the chance to see Ms Swinford again, his understanding of what is true is shaken."
As long as the ending isn't too much of a "gotcha" moment this could be a nice thoughtful titles for teen boys.
A Life in the Wild by Pamela S. Turner. A biography of George Schaller, the field biologist whose research proved that it is possible to "study dangerous animals in their own habitats..." He had a fifty year career that changed field biology. Awesome stuff and very cool to see it written for kids.
Headlong by Kathe Koja. Okay first, it is Kathe Koja and that alone makes it something that must be read. This is the story of girls at The Vaughn School - very upper crust. Lily knows and plays by the rules and then meets Hazel, a scholarship student who is some kind of wild. "Can you ever fit in someplace you don't want to be? As Lily befriends Hazel, both girls discover what it means to dive deep beneath the surface - of friendship of commitment - and to live life with all their hearts, with all they are, headlong."
Sea Cows, Shamans and Scurvy: Alaska's First Naturalist: Georg Wilhelm Steller by Ann Arnold. Pardon while I'm shocked (SHOCKED) to see a book on Steller for kids. (At a whomping 240 pages with pictures, maps, timelines, etc..) Steller was part of Bering's journey in the mid 18th century on a landmark Russian mission of discovery. "Making judicious use of Steller's richly detailed journals and liberal use of illustrations and maps, Ann Arnold allows the reader to join Steller on this fascinating voyage and its final dangerous mission, which left half the crew dead and the rest suffering from scurvy."
Way way too cool.
