Endangered

By Eliot Shrefer

Scholastic, 2012

$17.99, ages 12 and up, 272 pages

Sophie's decision to rescue a baby bonobo from the black market leads her to a dark truth as she journeys across war-torn Congo to bring him to safety.

Along the way, the Congolese-American girl realizes that she would doing anything -- even risk her life walking into a militia camp -- just to protect the endangered ape.

In this powerful, beautifully written novel, Shrefer tells of 17-year-old Sophie who, in the midst of a coup, carries a bonobo named Otto across a jungle to a remote animal release site.

As the story opens, Sophie has just flown into the Congo from Florida and is in a car heading to her mother's bonobo sanctuary, when she sees a man selling a baby bonobo.

Though her driver insists she ignore the trader, Sophie sees how frail and terrified the little ape is and goes against all that her mother has taught her and pays off the man to save him.

"I lifted him easily and he hugged himself to me, his fragile arms as light as a necklace," she says. "I could make out his individual ribs under my fingers, could feel his heart flutter against my throat. He pressed his lips against my cheek...only then did I hear his faint cries."

Little does Sophie know, this emotion-driven act will put the lives of other infant bonobos at risk and will lead her to make choices that put her in the cross hairs of a revolution.

Eenie Meenie Miney Mo,

So many titles still to go! Fifteen fall novels I can't wait to read.




Body Snatchers and Trickery, Oh My!

The Mourning Emporium

By Michelle Lovric

Delacorte Press, 2012

$17.99, ages 10 and up, 448 pages

Get ready for cries of lackaday, as Venice's most reviled traitor returns from the ocean deeps and tries to crush the city once and for all, in this wildly imaginative companion to The Undrowned Child.

Once again it's up to Teodora the "Undrowned Child" of an ancient Venetian prophesy, her best friend Renzo "the Studious Son," and a band of pirate-talking mermaids to outsmart traitor Bajamonte Tiepolo, an assassinated noble. 

This time, however, Bajamonte may be too formidable to stop, as he conjures up blood-sucking sea creatures, allies with two unscrupulous exiles and an army of ghost convicts, and expands his terror to England.

Watch a Trailer to In a Glass Grimmly: Exciting Followup is Due Out in Two Days

A Poem as Big as New York City

Illustrated by Masha D'yans
Adapted by Melanie Maria Goodreaux

Edited by Teachers & Writers Collaborative

Foreward by Walter Dean Myers

Universe, 2012

$19.95, ages 5 and up, 38 pages

Winged pencils fly through a canyon of skyscrapers in New York City, as a poem rises from the streets and takes off through the pages of a picture book.

The poem, both written on the pages and personified there in art, is an exhilarating read and the result of an innovative series of writing workshops in the city's public schools.

In 2008, a group of teachers and writers asked students ages 6-18 years old to stretch their imaginations and share deep down what they see and feel when they look around their city.

The idea was to celebrate New York and as poet Walter Dean Myers writes in a foreword, inspire a "cultural reweaving of the familiar." Stale ideas of the city were to be discarded and glorious new ones, ushered in.

Then all of the poems were gathered together and poet Melanie Maria Goodreaux, who heads the project for the Teachers & Writers Collaborative, pieced words, feelings and ideas from each of them into one big poem.

"The children of New York City gave me stacks of poems on hundreds of loose leaf pages to craft this unprecedented work," Goodreaux writes in an editor's note. "They scribbled lines about how big they imagined this poem to be and wrote about their love for the city in wobbling kid-created cursive…"

The result was a melding of perspectives, descriptions, alliterative verse and sound words into a poem that feels almost as big and bold and diverse as the city itself -- a poem that when read aloud feels like it has the energy of a chorus behind it.

Cecil The Pet Glacier

By Matthea Harvey

Illustrated by Giselle Potter

Schwartz & Wade, 2012

$17.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages

Ruby can't relate to her eccentric parents and she's determined to be nothing like them -- until one day an offbeat little pet melts his way into Ruby's heart and shows her that being quirky is really okay.

In this wonderful, droll picture book, Harvey tells the story of straight-laced Ruby who gets stuck with a tiny glacier for a pet, when all she really wanted was a dog, something typical, not at all strange like all the stuff her parents like.

Ruby has always felt uptight about her parents' odd professions and unusual past times. Her dad, Mr. Small, sculpts topiaries for a living and is so into it that in the off-season, when he has nothing to do, he trims his beard to look like a crocodile. Her mother, a tiara designer, is equally passionate and can't resist wearing sparkly bands wherever she goes.

Neither one of the Smalls seems to care what anyone thinks, or perhaps they're just oblivious to outside opinion. Either way, Mr. and Mrs. Small blissfully live according to their own whims and in plain view of everyone. So why doesn't Ruby want to live this way too?

Gem

Written & illustrated by Holly Hobbie

Little, Brown and Company, 2012

$16.99, 32 pages, ages 3-7

A girl catches a toad in her hands, then lets him spring away and be free again, as she realizes there's more joy in letting him go than making him stay.

In this lovely picture book, Toot & Puddle creator Holly Hobbie chronicles the wondrous journey of a toad named Gem to her garden and a touching encounter there between him and her granddaughter Hope.

The journey through spring is told without words and is bookended by two letters: One from Hobbie to Hope, dedicating the book to her and Gem, and the other is a reply from Hope, thanking her grandmother for bringing Gem back to her through pictures.

The story begins in a field of newly sprouted dandelions. Gem is gazing at a butterfly flitting by one of the blossoms and everything seems right in the world. But then, out of nowhere, a car rolls by, spitting gravel from a tire, and Gem tumbles head-over-heels off the lane.

Missing Margaret Mahy

One of the world's finest children's authors Margaret Mahy passed away on Monday at age 76 from cancer. Margaret Mahy was the author of so many treasures -- among my favorites, Down the Back of the Chair (2006) and The Man Whose Mother Was a Pirate (1972). Read more about this amazing lady in the New York Times here.

And the winners are...

Congratulations Beth, Sally and Z Marie! You are the winners of the Kaleidoscope giveaway.

Thank you everyone for entering here or on my Facebook page! And a big thank you to Little, Brown and Company for sponsoring the giveaway!

Giveaway! Salina Yoon's Kaleidoscope

To win a copy of Kaleidoscope, leave a comment below by Sunday, May 20. Three commenters will receive a copy!  Please include an email address so I can reach you.

Kaleidoscope

Created by Salina Yoon

Little, Brown and Company, 2012

$12.99, ages 3 and up, 18 pages

Artist Salina Yoon pays tribute to mirrors, angles and ordinary objects in this charming, interactive book.

Readers fold out the cover and look through a clear plastic lens to see swirling, symmetrical designs reminiscent of those seen through a toy kaleidoscope.

The lens looks something like a flattened crystal with multiple flat faces and angles, while the designs mimic those made by loose objects in the optical toy.

One design leads to another over eight diecuts -- each inspired by circular objects that mark a change in seasons. Among them, a snowflake, pinwheel and steaming pie.

As readers view the book, a poem whisks them along. "Raindrops plopping, / splashing, splashing! / Skipping, turning, / Children dashing," the book begins near an open umbrella.

To simulate the effect of turning or shaking a kaleidoscope, readers rotate a tab on the cover, which in turn, turns the 2-inch lens. The result is a constantly changing set of colors and patterns on the page.

But watch out, because looking at the pages is only the beginning of the fun. Once your child realizes they can aim the cover lens at anything, they'll be wandering around the backyard with a book over the face.

It All Began with Max

Maurice Sendak, who inspired us all to go have fun with the phrase, "let the wild rumpus begin," died yesterday at age 83.

"Every once in a while, someone comes along who changes our world for the better," Susan Katz, publisher of HarperCollins Children's Book, said in a statement. "Maurice Sendak was such a man."

His most famous picture book Where the Wild Things Are won the Caldecott Medal in 1964 and has remained fantastically popular ever since.

Reading it aloud has been a bedtime ritual for at least three generations and the book is considered one of the 10 bestselling children's books of all time.

Over his amazing career, Sendak illustrated about 80 books and won countless awards for his illustrations. Like Dr. Seuss, he shook up the status quo and became an icon almost instantly.

By the time Where the Wild Things Are came out, Time magazine had already dubbed Sendak "the Picasso" of children's literature. And by 1971, the Los Angeles Times was hailing him as the "Norman Mailer of children's books."

Day 2: The Worst-Case Scenario Blog Tour

Backpack? Check. Anti-venom? Check. Jungle knife? Check.

It's time for another venturous trek into the Amazon as Chronicle Books' week-long Worst-Case Scenario Blog Tour continues!

For your sake, I hope you've read the explorer's manual. The Amazon's an incredible place to hike and boat through, but it's no place to be unprepared.

Some creatures here are unlike any you've seen (including a reptile as long as a car) and show up when you least expect it (from above in the canopy and below).

Just be sure to do exactly what you've been told and whatever you do, don't panic -- or the ending of this book will come dangerously too soon.

In this clever third book in The Worst-Case Scenario series, readers hike the world's largest rain forest, and choose paths that either save their lives or stop the adventure in its tracks.

Profile of a Reader: The Worst-Case Scenario Blog Tour

A self-portrait

Gender: Male

Age: 8 years, 3 months and 12 days (to be exact)

Grade: 2nd

Reading style: Prefers to look things up and read about them, rather than read cover-to-cover.

Favorite books: Encyclopedias about animals, insects and dragons, Star Wars dictionaries and match-up books, The War Horse.

Challenges: Struggles with fluency and this has made him reluctant to read chapter books on his own.

Strengths: Loves to be read to. Soaks up facts that he reads, recites them back and inquires beyond what he's read.

Interests: Making up stories and sketching them out on paper. Imagining new species of predators, then drawing diagrams of them. Collecting insects and examining their body parts. Problem solving.

Adventurous side: Camping, watching nature and survival shows on Discovery Channel (including Man vs Wild), and creating imaginary games from natural objects. Collecting dead insects and sticks.

The Adventure: The Worst-Case Scenario Blog Tour

Our son's adventure began at the end of his book -- about 189 pages in.

That's where, he was told, he'd find a manual that could save his life: "The Amazon Expedition File."

The manual had everything he needed: a map, packing list, survival tips, even a few words of Spanish and Portuguese.

(For a reader who doesn't always make it to the last page, going to the end was a great beginning.)

He was told to absorb every tip, including -- gulp -- what he should do if bot fly larva crawled under his skin.

And he did just that.

In fact, he asked me to quiz him on what he'd read so he'd be ready for anything -- and he was, almost. (But more on that later.)

The Worst-Case Scenario Everest

Before there was The Worst-Case Scenario Amazon, there was Everest. View a book trailer below!

Happy Earth Day!

Counting Down to Earth Day: Day 2

Outside Your Window

A First Book of Nature

By Nicola Davies

Illustrated by Mark Hearld

Candlewick, 2012

$19.99, ages 3 and up, 108 pages

A world of wonder is unfolding outside -- all through the windows of this enchanting book.

Each spread of this big-format nature book shows what a child might see, looking out of their window into the natural world:

From "a hundred fluffy parachutes" about to take flight off a dandelion to a squirrel scampering from trunk to fence with a fidgety gate and air of alertness.

Zoologist and award-winning author Nicola Davies muses about the natural world in short, playful poems, while artist Mark Hearld plays out what she describes in enchanting collages.

Hearld, who makes his debut in picture books with this gem, impresses with a voluminous display of art and creatively layered details. His collages are organic, absorbing and rich as earth.

Counting Down to Earth Day: Day 3

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind

By William Kamkwamba & Bryan Mealer

Illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon

Dial, 2012

$16.99, ages 6 and up, 32 pages

It stood like a clumsy giraffe and was cobbled from metal scraps, but to William it was more magical than anything he'd dreamed of.

In this inspiring adaptation, Africa's William Kamkwambi recounts with New York author Bryan Mealer how he rigged a windmill for his village using only a picture as his guide.

The story, which can be read for free online at wegivebooks.org, is based on Kamkwamba's New York Times best-selling memoir by the same name, also co-authored by Mealer.

Kamkwamba and Mealer condense the story beautifully, while West Africa-born artist Elizabeth Zunon conveys Kamkwamba's irrepressible spirit with fluid cut-outs and luminous, earthy oil paintings.

At age 14, William Kamkwamba pondered the possibilities of what could be. When night came to his drought-ravaged village of Malawi, he closed his eyes to see where his mind would take him.

Counting Down to Earth Day: Day 4

House Held Up By Trees

By Ted Kooser

Illustrated by Jon Klassen

Candlewick, 2012

$16.99, ages 4-10, 32 pages

When a little house is boarded up and forgotten, trees sprout up around it and lift it into the sky, in this stirring picture book about the power of nature to lift us up.

As he did in his moving debut Bag in the Wind, author Ted Kooser addresses a conflict between man and nature, but in such a gentle way that it never feels as if any judgment is being made.

In Bag in the Wind, he follows the journey of a discarded bag that's gotten loose in the wind, while here, he observes a man determined to keep trees from sprouting in his lot so that he can have a perfect lawn.

Kooser, in an author's note, explains that the man is struggling against time; as he fights to keep nature from taking over his yard, what he's really fighting is change. His children are growing up and moving away, and there's nothing he can do to stop it.

But like paintings, books can be interpreted in many ways, and to me, House Held Up By Trees is also a triumphant story of nature reclaiming what was taken from it, then of nature forgiving those who've trespassed on it.

Counting Down to Earth Day: Day 5

Mrs. Harkness and the Panda

By Alicia Potter

Illustrated by Melissa Sweet

Alfred A. Knopf, 2012

$16.99, ages 5-8, 40 pages

Before anyone had heard of "panda-monium," the excitement that surrounds seeing pandas.

Before many Americans had even imagined that the gamboling, masked panda of legend was real.

There was a tea gown designer who, despite knowing little about animals, set off for China to bring a panda to America: not in a cage but curled up in her arms.

In this charming historical picture book, author Alicia Potter tells the story of Ruth Harkness, a Manhattan widow who set off on a journey no one thought she could make.

Her mission was to find a mythical beast known as a panda and show the world that it really existed.

In doing so, many conservationists say, she made us want to love them and spurred a worldwide effort to stop hunting them.

Counting Down to Earth Day: Day 6

The Cloud Spinner

By Michael Catchpool

Illustrated by Alison Jay

Alfred A. Knopf, 2012

$16.99, ages 4-8, 32 pages

A greedy king has every cloud drawn from the sky and spun into clothes, not realizing that without those clouds, the rain won't come.

In this imaginative picture book, author Michael Catchpool raises issues of over farming, while artist Alison Jay charms us with nature's beauty.

When a pompous king learns of a boy's gift of spinning clouds into thread, he orders him to pull enough clouds to weave a fancy wardrobe for him and his family.

The boy, who's never taken more than he needs from the clouds, warns the king that it isn't wise to make so many clothes from clouds.

"Enough is enough and not one stitch more," as his mother has taught him, for without clouds, rivers won't fill, trees will die of thirst and hills will turn brown.

But the king cannot see beyond his immediate pleasure to the damage this could cause and demands that the boy take to his spinning wheel without delay.

Counting Down to Earth Day: Day 7

The Hop
By Sharelle Byars Moranville

Illustrated by Niki Daly

Disney-Hyperion, 2012
$16.99, ages 8 and up, 288 pages

A monster with teeth on its feet is rolling into Toadville-by-Tumbledown and unless a young hopper is brave and bold, the village and every toad in it will buried under a strip mall.

In this enchanting environmental novel, Tad (a toad with second-sight) and Taylor (a girl who loves nature) find themselves on a fairy tale quest to save a meadow from development.

Though Tad doesn't yet know it, Taylor is a kindred spirit. Her grandmother lives at the edge of the meadow he calls Toadville -- near a tumbledown shed -- and Taylor's been heartsick about losing the area.

The monster is poised by the grasslands and a pond nearby -- Taylor's swimming hole since she was little, her "kingdom," as she calls it, -- and though her grandmother is like-minded, she isn't well enough to help Taylor fight the project.

The Bug Next Door

Story & art by Beatrice Alemagna

Phaidon, 2012 (Release date: April 15)

$12.95, ages 3 +, 40 pages.

Little Speckled Bug is in a muddle over why he's so fond of the new girl bug next door.

Of course she's cute and that's not hard to like about her.

Those long red antennae drape around her face like silken threads and when she dances, her forelegs do two different ballet positions at once.

(The top ones take first position like petals of a flower bud and the middle ones curve into fifth as if she were hugging the air itself.)

But beyond liking how Bug Next Door looks and moves, what have they between them?

After all, from the day Bug Next Door knocked on his door, the two have had one misstep after another.

Well, except that one time. When she kissed him good-day. Both of their two cheeks streaked pink like an apple blossom.

Now that was nice.

But what about all the stuff that came before that?

In this adorable followup to Bugs in a Blanket and Bugs in the Garden, Beatrice Alemagna returns to the world of her felted bugs to explore the ways of the heart -- how sometimes what makes us different makes us hard to resist.

An Interview with Beatrice Alemagna

And the winner is...

Taryn of Golden, Colorado, is the winner of Rosie Flo's Coloring Fashion Show! Thank you all for entering -- and stay tuned. Chronicle will soon select one commenter from all of the blogs to win a set of Rosie Flo coloring books and $100 to spend at Chroniclebooks.com. In addition, two more giveaways are coming this month on Where the Best Books Are!: Three copies of  Trenton Lee Stewart's much anticipated The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict and three copies of artist Salina Yoon's magical picture book Kaleidoscope -- both courtesy of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Win Me! Rosie Flo's Pop-Up Runway

Comment on this post by midnight April 11 for a chance to win this charming 3-D kit from Chronicle Books.

Rosie Flo's Coloring Fashion Show by artist Roz Streeten comes with 18 models, a pop-up catwalk and more.

One commenter from my blog is guaranteed to win! I'll randomly draw a winner April 12.

In addition, one commenter from all of the participating blogs will win a set of Rosie Flo coloring books + $100 to spend at Chroniclebooks.com.

Just be sure to leave an email address so I can contact you!

The fashion show is yet another stunner in the Rosie Flo coloring book series of paper dolls.

I colored in this kit yesterday and what a kick! I felt like I was 10 again.

And just between us moms, this one's going to be hard to part with. Maybe your daughter or niece will share?

Paper models (mostly girls, but a few guys too) come in outfits inspired by trees, flowers, sea life, even a ladybug.

Two favorites: a crossword-puzzle gown (with room for words) and a flaring party dress encircled with birds.

Each model also comes in designer shoes: from shiny stilettos and heart slippers for girls to loafers for boys.

Once you color in the dresses, it's time to draw in the heads, arms and legs -- which really makes the kit your own.

I felt a bit like a stylist, shaping models' hair and makeup to fit the look of the dress I colored.

A 0.35 mm black ink pen was ideal for drawing in features. (Each face must fit into a space less than an inch wide, so a fine tip is handy.) Another tip: practice faces on a scrap paper first.

Faces I sketched for the kit. Yours to use!

Or, if you'd like, print out the faces I've drawn here, then color them in, cut them out and paste them in place.

Since hands are tricky to draw, I recommend curving arms so hands go just behind skirts. It will look like your models are holding out their skirts.

Or, keep hands very simple -- draw them in the shape of delicate mittens, as I did above.

Also included: a 3-D theater and curtain-draped runway, and two pop-up rows of chairs for models to sit in. (Six fashionistas are scored just for sitting.)

On either side of the theater's interior are three rows of audience members. These too are line drawings with spaces for faces, arms and some legs.

If you're nervous about drawing directly on the walls, make your faces on a separate paper, then cut them out and paste them in place.

In addition, there's a little coiffed poodle to punch out, as well as an old-fashioned camera and three invitations to the show.

No scissors or glue are required, but if you'd like to paste on your heads you'll need both. Colored pencils not included.

To show how the kit works, here's a paper model as I colored her (I drew my face on card stock):

And for more on Rosie Flo, visit Chronicle Books here. Best of luck to all of you!

Silly Doggy!

Written & illustrated by Adam Stower

Orchard Books, 2012

$16.99, ages 3 and up, 40 pages

A little girl sees just what she wants to see in a big, rough-and-tumble stray, in this joyful celebration of positive thinking.

One morning Lily lifts her chin just enough to see out of her bedroom window and spots a giant animal rummaging through her garbage can.

Thinking nothing of the fruit peels and tin cans flying through the air, she decides right there that this guy's everything she ever wanted in a pet: he's got four legs, a tail and a big, wet nose.

"Doggy!" she cries, running out in the yard in her galoshes, flinging her arms up in delight.

Now face-to-face with this barreling fellow, she realizes he's a lot bigger than she thought and when he growls he sounds a bit grouchy.

But no matter because Lily thinks he's lovely. All he needs, she tells herself, is a good looking-after.

Dystopia-what?

The first release in a 4-film series opens March 23.

The genre to read right now goes by a name that you don't expect to roll off the tongue of a teen.

But ask die hard readers of The Hunger Games, Legend, Maze Runner, Across the Universe, Maximum Ride, Divergent, what dystopian fiction is and you might be surprised.

My guess is they'll recognize the name in an instant and in an animated voice tell you that it's exciting stuff about people being treated really badly.

Stories about misery? Well yes, but misery is only the catalyst for what happens in these books. What they're really about is heroism: Teens rebelling against cruel rulers in a futuristic world that's been stripped of all of its greenery and goodwill.

Here's how the dystopian tale generally goes:

A Craving for Dystopia

It might seem like nothing could match The Hunger Games, but there are already lots of great choices out there.

In fact, the hardest part may not be finding great dystopian series, but trying to decide which one to begin first.

Here's just a sample:

The Legend series by Marie Lu is set on the flooded coast of former Los Angeles and is told from the perspective of two 15-year-old characters on either side of a civil war. Los Angeles is now the Republic, a nation at war with its neighbors and riddled with a plague. Born of the slums, a boy named Day steals to keep his family alive and rebels against the state police, and June, a military prodigy from an elite family, hunts him down. The two seem to be from different worlds until June's brother is murdered and they discover the sinister truth behind the plague that's killing the nations' poor people. The second book, Patriot, comes out this fall. Penguin, $17.99, ages 12 and up, 336 pages.

The Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness is about 13-year-old Todd, the only boy in a town of men where everyone's thoughts can be heard. The town is run by a corrupt mayor who wants to vest control of the planet and wipe out its indigenous alien race and Todd, an orphan, is determined to stop him with the help of Viola Eade, a girl who crash lands on his planet. The first book The Knife of Never Letting Go came out in 2008, followed by The Ask and The Answer in 2009 and Monsters of Men in 2010. Candlewick, $18.99 per hardback, $ 9.99 per softcover, ages 14 and up, 496-608 pages. Chaos Walking: The Complete Trilogy is now available as an ebook for $29.97.

The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner is a New York Times best-seller about a group of boys dropped into a maze and forced to work together to survive the challenges of their isolated world, while recalling nothing from their past lives. The first three books are out, The Maze Runner (2010), The Scorch Trials (2011) and The Death Cure, and the prequel novel, The Kill Order, will debut this August. Random House, $16.99 per hardback, $9.99 per paperback (the first two books available), ages 12 and up, 336-400 pages.

The Roar by debut novelist Emma Clayton and her follow-up, The Whisper, is about 12-year-old mutant twins pulled from the squalor of a futuristic London to wage a war for a cadaver-like tyrant. All their lives Ellie and Mika have lived in the moldy "Shadows," the bottom of a tiered city scape that's encircled by a 50-foot-tall wall. They've been told an animal plague has forced society behind the wall and all that's left of the natural world is the yellow dust from chemical warfare. But when the tyrant Mal Gorman kidnaps Ellie, then coops Mika through a video game contest to be his soldiers, they discover the world outside the wall is not barren or uninhabitable. The plague is a ruse to deal with overpopulation and save the natural world from global warming for a select few. Scholastic, $17.99 per hardback, ages 10 and up, 320-496 pages.

The Across the Universe series by Beth Revis is about 17-year-old Amy who joins her parents in frozen slumber on a spaceship Godspeed on their way to a new planet. They expect to awaken three hundred years in the future, but Amy is stirred fifty years too soon, when one of these thousands of inhabitants on the spaceship tries to kill her. Amy now must find a way to unlock the spaceship's hidden secrets before someone kills her parents. Along the way, she falls in love with Elder, who is trying to vest control of the ship, and the two must try to get off the ship before chaos consumes them. Across the Universe came out in 2011, and the second book, A Million Suns, debuted in January. Razorbill, $17.99 per hardback, $9.99 per paperback (the first book is available), ages 12 and up, 386-416 pages.

The Unwind trilogy by Neal Shusterman is about three teens on the run from a government that uses "unwinding" or organ harvesting to deal with teens who are troublemakers or wards of the state. Under America's Bill of Life (a compromise resolving a civil war between pro-life and pro-choice factions), officials are allowed to harvest the organs of teens who are unwanted. Their organs are then transplanted into other members of society -- those deemed worthwhile -- to improve their quality of life. Unwind came out in 2007 and the second book Unwholly is due out in August. Simon & Schuster, $16.99 per hardback, $9.99 per paperback (the first book is available), ages 14 and up, 352 pages.

The Starters series by Lissa Price is a futuristic thriller about 16-year-old Callie, who lost her parents when a genocide spore wiped out everyone except those who were vaccinated first, the very young and the very old. With no grandparents to claim them, she and her little brother are forced to live on dangerous streets until hope comes through a corporation that hires teens to rent their bodies to seniors, known as Enders, who get to be young again. Lured by the offer of a better life for her and her brother, Callie signs on with the corporation, only now her renter wants to use her body to commit murder. The second book is due out in December. Three ebook original shorts are also being released as tie-ins, the first, now out, is Portrait of a Starter. (Random House, 352 pages, $17.99)

Question Boy Meets Little Miss Know-It-All

Written & illustrated by Peter Catalanotto

Atheneum, 2012

$16.99, ages 4-8, 40 pages

Everyday superheroes are no match for Question Boy, a masked crusader who asks a dizzying number of questions.

But will an opinionated girl in the park who won't stop chattering be able to satisfy his curiosity? Or will she just be really difficult to talk to?

In this funny, clever picture book, Question Boy (a boy who wants to know everything) and Little-Miss-Know-It-All (a girl who thinks she already does) face off in a verbal brawl that has each blurting out words at each other.

In the end, Question Boy and Little-Miss-Know-It-All both get the words knocked out of them, but in doing so, they discover they're more alike than they knew. Both are inquisitive, but in a needling sort of way that isn't getting them what they really want.

As the story begins, Question Boy (dressed in a cape and leotard with a "Q" on his chest), goes around town with an unquenchable need to know. He seeks out the town's action heroes, municipal workers and private employees in tights, and drills them with questions about what they do.

But before they can answer his first question, he's onto another and pestering them about "what if" scenarios that they either have no time to answer or have no idea how to answer.

Otto the Book Bear

Written & illustrated by Katie Cleminson

Disney-Hyperion, 2012

$16.99, ages 3-7, 32 pages

Suppose a bear from a book got separated from his story and began exploring city streets for a place to belong. Would he ever find a story to be part of again?

In this gentle, imaginative picture book by the author-illustrator of Magic Box, a character named Otto wanders off the pages of his book to explore his child's house, but when he returns the child's family has packed up and moved. Now, he must brave the real world for companionship, only the real world is vastly bigger than the setting of his book.

Otto, an easy-going brown bear with charming saggy skin, never saw the moving trucks coming. Slipping out of his book was something he'd done time and again. But of course no one knew Otto could do such things, not even his child, so no one in the family thought to look for him before they left.

Each day when Otto went to explore, he'd heave himself up stairs that stood before him like terraces on a mountain. Though a big, strapping bear on the page, he was just a tiny bear in the real world, shorter than the height of a page. He'd open his favorite books with maps inside and sit on the pages as he read them. He'd even sit on the space bar of an old typewriter and push his weight on keys to journal what he saw.

But one day when he was done exploring, he turned around to find nothing left in the house but a few packed up boxes. As he stood on a window sill, he watched a moving truck pull away with everything else, including the book where he was once a part of a story. He couldn't imagine being without his story; nothing made him happier than to have children read about his adventures. What was he to do?