Say what you want about the Houghton Mifflin/Harcourt merger but it has brought about an awesome spring catalog for children and teens. Here are some highlights:

Ragtag by Karl Wolf-Morgenlander: This one caught me with the cover and can you blame me? The description sounds like the RAF and Luftwaffe with an ornithological twist: "When hundreds of birds of prey are driven out of the Berkshires by encroaching human development, they head for Boston. It's already occupied by the Birds of the City, but that won't stop the raptors from trying to take it for themselves. Soon the Talon Empire and the Feathered Alliance are at war, and as the battle ensues, an unlikely hero emerges to defend his home: a young swallow named Ragtag."

Ernest Hemingway: A Writer's Life by Catherine Reef. I think Hemingway is a fascinating writer - whether you like his writing or not, or think he was a nice guy or not, he is still a very extraordinarily interesting man. I was surprised to see that this is the only biography for young people on Hemingway as everyone and their cousin has to read "Old Man and the Sea" in high school and it would be nice to know something about the author beyond the wikipedia explanation (or Encyclopedia Britannica for us older folks).

The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greek Myths Retold by Cynthia Rylant. I love the Greek myths and my son can't get enough of them, so clearly this book will likely hit its mark with the younger set quite effectively. I do wonder why on earth we never see the Norse myths anymore though; very frustrating for the myth obsessed. Rylant dishes out Pandora, Persephone, Orpheus, Pygmalion, Narcissus and Psyche. Carson Ellis illustrates.

The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks. I should start by saying I haven't read any of Jinks other books, so my interest here is based solely on the books description. I am also not a huge vampire fan and am totally over the whole vamps=sexy thing that so much YA lit seems to live for lately. This one sounds like a reverse spin on that idea though. Give it a look: "Think vampires are romantic, sexy, and powerful? Think again. Vampires are dead. And unless they want to end up staked, they have to give up fanging people, admit their addiction, join a support group, and reform themselves.

Nina Harrison, fanged at fifteen and still living with her mother, hates the Reformed Vampire Support Group meetings every Tuesday night. Even if she does appreciate Dave, who was in a punk band when he was alive, nothing exciting ever happens. That is, until one of group members is mysteriously destroyed by a silver bullet. With Nina (determined to prove that vamps aren't useless or weak) and Dave (secretly in love with Nina) at the helm, the misfit vampires soon band together to track down the hunter, save a werewolf, and keep the world safe from the likes of themselves."

Three new titles due out in the Scientists in the Field series: The Frog Scientist by Pamela S. Turner, Saving the Ghost of the Mountain: An Expedition Among Snow Leopards in Mongolia by Sy Montgomery and Extreme Scientists by Donna M. Jackson. If you aren't reading the books in this series then you are missing some top notch science writing for MG readers and teens showing initial interest in subjects. They are fabulous books and I've learned a ton reading through them.

Catherine Thimmesh has another good nonfiction title coming out also, Lucy Long Ago: Uncovering the Mystery of Where We Came From. Thimmesh also wrote Team Moon and Girls Think of Everything. She's awesome.

The Entomological Tales of Augustus T. Percival: Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low, illus by Jen Corace. Okay, the tagline "a mysterious and lively romp through Edwardian England in 1903" caught my eye as well as the charmingly retro cover but this description - this description is one of the best I've seen ever: "You would think Petronella’s sixteenth birthday would be cause for celebration. After all, fashionable friends are arriving at her country estate near London, teas are being served, and her coming out party promises to be a resplendent affair. Everything is falling nicely into place, until, suddenly—it isn’t. For Petronella discovers that her guardian, Uncle Augustus T. Percival, has developed a most unVictorian compulsion: He must eat bugs. Worse still, because he is her guardian, Uncle Augustus is to attend her soiree and his current state will most definitely be an embarrassment.
During the festivities, when Petronella would much rather be sharing pleasantries with handsome Lord James Sinclair (swoon), important guests are disappearing, kidnapping notes are appearing, many of the clues are insects, and Uncle Augustus is surreptitiously devouring evidence. It’s more than one sixteen-year-old girl should have to deal with. But, truth be told, there is far more yet to come . . ."

That is not a description that can be resisted, no way, no how.

Moving right along, we've got a ghostly mystery appropriately named Ghost Town by Richard Jennings: "Spencer Honesty and his mom are the last people left in Paisley, except for Chief Leopard Frog, Spence’s imaginary friend. One lonely day, Chief Leopard Frog’s carved rabbit talisman tells Spence to take his photo, so Spence digs up his late father’s camera and starts shooting photographs all around his ghost town. When the photos come back developed, he does not expect to see his old neighbor Maureen Balderson in her bedroom. Or Ma Puttering clearing weeds in her yard. They aren’t in Paisley anymore. Yet there they are.
What happens to Spence next is unexpected. It involves a catalog called Uncle Milton’s Thousand Things You Thought You’d Never Find, a poetry deal gone awry, and a ghost camera that promises to take pictures of the past (just be sure not to photograph yourself)."

Attention all post apocalyptic fiction lovers, Bernard Beckett has Genesis coming out (don't love that title at all for this genre - it's practically a cliche at this point) that sounds like a humdinger: "Set on a remote island in a post-apocalyptic, plague-ridden world, this electrifying novel is destined to become a modern classic. Anax thinks she knows her history. She’d better. She’s now facing three Examiners, and her grueling all-day Examination has just begun. If she passes, she’ll be admitted into the Academy—the elite governing institution of her utopian society. But Anax is about to discover that for all her learning, the history she’s been taught isn’t the whole story. And that the Academy isn’t what she believes it to be.

In this brilliant novel of dazzling ingenuity, Anax’s examination leads us into a future where we are confronted with unresolved questions raised by science and philosophy. Centuries old, these questions have gained new urgency in the face of rapidly developing technology. What is consciousness? What makes us human? If artificial intelligence were developed to a high enough capability, what special status could humanity still claim? "

And we've got Ghost hunters!! Gotta love Ghost hunters! Actually we've got a ghost hunting team and that is just so Scooby-licious to me that I'm going to give it a go just 'cause. Here's the description for Ghost Huntress Book 1 by Marley Gibson: "In this new series, Ghost Huntress, meet Kendall Moorehead, a seemingly typical teen. When her family moves from Chicago to the small historical town of Radisson, Georgia, her psychic abilities awaken. She's hearing, feeling, and seeing things that seem unbelievable at first, but with the help of the town psychic, Kendall is able to come to terms with her newly emerging gift. So, together with her new BFF, Celia, Kendall forms a ghost hunting team. They've got all the latest technology. They've got Kendall for their psychic. Now they're going to clean up Radisson of its less savory spirits."

Oh - don't like the cover. Would have been way cooler to dump the chick and have something creepy. (And no, not so thrilled with the "ghost huntress" bit either, but we shall see....)

And finally, Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer's wunderbar series is a tonic for all cliches everywhere. The Mislaid Magician: or Ten Years After has romance and magic and intrigue. It is a tonic for lameness: "Ten years have passed since Kate and Cecy married Thomas and James, and England is now being transformed by the first railways. When the Duke of Wellington asks James to look into the sudden disappearance of a German railway engineer, James and Cecy's search reveals a shocking truth: The railway lines are wreaking havoc with ancient underground magic, which could endanger the very unity of England. Meanwhile, Kate has her hands full taking care of all their children, not to mention the mysterious mute girl they rescued from a kidnapper

Written in letters between Kate and Cecy--and between their husbands--this installment of the cousins' adventures is another satisfying blend of magic, mystery, adventure, humor, and romance."

Now - is that a pretty fabulous catalog or what?!