We all love new books, but it’s often even more exciting when favorites come back into print. Arriving next week are several reprints that will make librarians’ hearts race.

Among the new titles, Alex London moves from middle grade into YA with Proxy. In series, Cate Cahill follows up last year’s Born Wicked with another title about the Cahill Witches, in the well-reviewed  Star Cursed while Katherine Longshore releases a companion novel to her book about King Henry the VIII’s court, Gilt, this one focused on Anne Boleyn and called, of course, Tarnish.

Also, get ready to raid the adult collection for Martha Stewart’s Favorite Crafts for Kids.

All titles highlighted here and more are listed on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of 6.17.13

Reprints

   
DK Eyewitness Books and DK Readers series (See downloadable spreadsheet for titles and ordering information)

Time to put in that DK replacement order for those popular titles that have been OSI packing slip after packing slip. They’re back!

A few years ago, I was on the subway and spotted a kid who was completely engrossed in a StarWars early reader. Thinking, “Whoa; I’d better get some of those for my library,”  I suddenly realized that kid was one of my students and that was one of MY library books. I put in an order for six of each title that day. Love ’em, all of ‘em, especially the LEGO books.

Henny Penny, and Cinderella, both by Paul Galdone
(Folk Tale Classics series, HMH Books)

I am crazy for these classic stories retold and illustrated by Goldone. HMH began updating the entire series in 2011, with colorful covers. These are reprints done right.

Picture Book

Bogart and Vinnie: A Completely Made-up Story of True Friendship, Audrey Vernick, Henry Cole, (Macmillan/Walker Childrens)

This fictional interspecies tale will remind librarians of the sweet true story of Owen and Mzee (Scholastic, 2006) as well as the never-ending, very charming stories of dogs who partner with elephants and cats who adopt ducklings. Henry Cole’s droll humor creates a winner (see a spread here).

Middle Grade

Bo at Ballard Creek, Kirkpatrick Hill, LeUyen Pham, (Macmillan/Holt BYR)

Hill, who wrote one of my favorite works of historical fiction, The Year of Miss Agnes, (S&S/McElderry), presents another story set in Alaska, this one about a little girl who is adopted by miners during the 1920’s goldrush.

Young Adult

Proxy, Alex London, (Penguin/Philomel)

Known for his middle-grade Accidental Adventures series, London crosses into YA with this adventure that Publishers Weekly calls “an entertaining throwback to ’70s dystopias like Logan’s Run, offering intriguing moral dilemmas amid breakneck action.” The “proxy” of the title pays the price for the main character’s wrong-doing.

A debut novel set in Nazi Germany, City of Women, by David R. Gillham (Penguin /Putnam /Einhorn) was published in August.

After it was released in trade paperback and was chosen as a Book of the Month by COSTCO’s book buyer, the author went on a 17-city tour, which is just winding down.

It makes its first appearance on the NYT best seller list, at #15 on the 6/2 trade paperback list.

It was part of our Penguin First Flights program; read the online interview and listen to a podcast interview with the author here.

The latest episode of “Book Lust with Nancy Pearl” features an interview with Paul Auster, whose new book, a memoir, Winter Journal (Macmillan/Holt; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print) was published in August.

Author Lee Child appeared on CBS This Morning yesterday to talk about his new book, A Wanted Man  (Delacorte Press; RH Large Print; RHAudio). The interview begins with comments about the striking physical difference between Child’s character, Jack Reacher, who is six-feet-five and 250-pounds, and Tom Cruise, who plays the lead in the upcoming movie, Jack Reacher. Child insists that Cruise is a “fantastic” Reacher, “How? I don’t know. He’s an actor. That’s what they do.”

Child was involved in the making of the film (including a cameo) and was writing A Wanted Man during production. He says the energy of the movie influenced the pacing of the new book.

Jack Reacher, the movie is scheduled for release on 12/21. It’s based on Child’s 9th title in the Jack Reacher series, One Shot. The new book is the 17th.

Carrots may be creepy, but Peter Brown has never met an eggplant he didn’t like.

Creepy Carrots (S&S Young Readers), Brown’s first collaboration with picture book author, Aaron Reynolds, debuts on the NYT Children’s Best Seller list at #7 this week.

It’s been a good summer for debuts, as we’ve noted before, and it continues with the final Indie Hardcover Fiction Best Seller list of the season.

Making a leap from #11 to #2 is Maria Semple’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette, (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; Thorndike Large Type in Dec.). Janet Maslin’s early plug in the NYT, was followed by several others, including NPR’s review, which calls it a “screwball satire,” and USA Today‘s,  praising the portrayal of the main character for being “complex and hilarious.” Author Semple was profiled in the NYT. Most libraries are showing heavy holds.

At #16 and marked as “on the rise” is The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin (Harper; Thorndike Large Print), a debut about a lonely widowed orchard owner, whose life is transformed when two pregnant escapees from the local brothel appear on his farm. NPR reviewed it last week, calling it “a stunning accomplishment, hypnotic in its storytelling power, by turns lyrical and gritty, and filled with marvels. Coplin displays a dazzling sense of craftsmanship, and a talent for creating characters vivid and true.” Holds are heavy in several parts of the country, with the heaviest in the NorthWest, where the author grew up and the book is set.

Reviews are flowing in, most of them positive, for The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison (Workman/Algonquin;Highbridge Audio; Thorndike Large Print). Janet Maslin, in today’s NYT, describes the main character as an appealing, nearly 40-year-old loser saddled with a loser’s name, Ben Benjamin, who says of his life, “Look, I didn’t plan any of this. I planned like hell for something else entirely.”

Jennifer Weiner seems to get payback in her review on the NPR Web site. Weiner, along with Jodi Picoult, created a literary furor last year, when in the Huffington Post, they objected to the attention being paid to Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom, pointing out that, “when a man writes about family and feelings, it’s literature with a capital L, but when a woman considers the same topics, it’s romance, or a beach book – in short, it’s something unworthy of a serious critic’s attention.”

She’s not a fan of Fundamentals. “Your enjoyment of the book… will be largely predicated on how much you like listening in on can-you-top-this, gross-out sex talk, and ruefully self-demeaning descriptions of the female of the species.” She does admit, however, that “the writing can be lovely” and that Ben’s relationship with Trevor, the wheelchair-bound young man under his care, “is the strongest section of the book…[as it] blossoms into a thing of strange beauty.”

An author to watch this week is  Jonathan Evison, whose emotional presentation at the AAP’s Librarians Lunch during BEA won over the audience. In adult fiction, usual suspects include Mitch Albom, Tess Gerritson, Louise Penny, Anne Perry and Richard Kadrey. The big news, however, is in books for younger readers. David Levithan is back with a much-anticipated YA title expected to have strong crossover appeal. In children’s books, there are new titles from Dav Pilkey, James Dashner, and Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain. 

Watch List

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison (Workman/Algonquin; Highbridge Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is the story of road trip taken by a teen with muscular dystrophy and his caregiver, a divorced dad whose own life has fallen apart. Kirkus says, “A lively narrative with a poignant core and quirky, lonely characters.” Check out Nancy Pearl’s interview with Evison for his previous novel, West of Here.

Kept in the Dark  by Penny Hancock (Penguin/Plume pbk original; Blackstone Audiobooks) is a suspense novel about a middle aged woman who kidnaps her best friend’s 15 year-old nephew, after he awakens her memories of an intense teenage affair. Librarian Robin Beerbower, who has an eye for scary titles (she’s championed author Chelsea Cain, and was an early proponent of Before I Go To Sleep as well as Gone Girl) made it one of her BEA Shout ‘n’ Share picks. Booklist says, “This invites comparison to John Fowles’ The Collector, but Hancock gives her narrator, Sonia, a more complex motive, crafting a narrative that grows darker as its level of tension builds. An accomplished first novel that lingers in memory.” PW calls it a “stunning debut” and praises the gothic atmosphere. But Kirkus, throws cold water on the party, “unfortunately the secret at the novel’s core is one the first-person narrator could have revealed all along, but doesn’t, making the ending seem contrived.”

Usual Suspects

The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom (Hyperion; Thorndike Large Print) marks a return to fiction by the author of Tuesdays With Morrie and Five People You Meet in Heaven. This fable is about Father Time, who returns to Earth to liberate us by teaching the true meaning of time, with the help of a teenage girl and an old business man.

Last to Die: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen (RH/Ballantine; Brilliance Audio)is the 10th thriller featuring Det. Jane Rizzoli of the Boston PD and her friend, pathologist Maura Isles. This time, they’re on the trail of a man who murders the families, but allows their foster children to survive. LJ notes, “this book will appear just as the third season of TNT’s successful Rizzoli & Isles TV series is ending, so fans will be primed.”

The Beautiful Mystery: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel by Louise Penny (Macmillan/Minotaur Books, Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print) is the eighth novel featuring Chief Insp. Armand Gamache of the Quebec Surete. This time, he investigates the murder of a choirmaster in a monastery that has produced a hit CD of Gregorian Chants. PW says, “a captivating whodunit plot, a clever fair-play clue concealed in plain view, and the deft use of humor to lighten the story’s dark patches.”

A Sunless Sea: A William Monk Novel by Anne Perry (RH/Ballantine; Thorndike Large Print) is the 18th Victorian historical about the Commander of the Thames River Police. Here, he investigates murders linked to the controversial opium trade. Kirkus calls it, “lumbering, repetitive and preachy. But the final surprise packs a punch.”

Devil Said Bang: by Richard Kadrey (Harper Voyager) is the fourth installment in the series that’s popular with librarians, about a man who breaks out of Hell – only this time he’s taking over Lucifer’s job. PW says this “action-packed and bombshell-laden blend of dark fantasy, crime fiction, and Hellish sitcom is utterly readable.”

Young Adult

Every Day by David Levithan (RH/ Knopf Books for Young Readers; Listening Library) is heavily anticipated by librarians on both our YA and adult GalleyChats. It’s about A, who wakes every morning in a new body – sometimes male, sometimes female, gay, straight, ill or well. The only constant is being 16 years old. Booklist calls it “a study in style, an exercise in imagination, and an opportunity for readers themselves to occupy another life, that of A himself.”

Childrens

Captain Underpants and the Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers by Dav Pilkey (Scholastic/Blue Sky Press) the ninth novela in this major series is proof positive that author Pilkey isn’t running dry, according to PW and Kirkus, which says this “overstuffed outing both recycles a villain (see Book 4) and offers trendy anti-bullying wish fulfillment.” 1,000,000 copies.

Infinity Ring #1: A Mutiny in Time by James Dashner (Scholastic; Scholastic Audio) is a multi-media thriller series modeled on The 39 Clues, that begins when three teens time-travel back to 1492, to help fix a broken moment in history. Booklist says, “the standard first-volume hazards (slow start, no resolution) bedevil the text and are exacerbated by underdeveloped characters. Still, the yet-to-be-revealed interactive-package experience seems certain to buoy the ship.” 300,000 copies. The Salt Lake City Public Library will host the 8/29  launch party.

Nothing Ever Happens at the South Pole by Stan Berenstain and Jan Berenstain (HarperCollins) resurrects the famous duo’s second manuscript, which was left in a drawer when their first book about the Berenstain Bears took off. Kirkus says, “while the concept is clever, the unwieldy, often awkward verse ensures that this effort will place a distant second to the many tales featuring those Bears.” 100,000 copies.

Nonfiction

Wallace: The Underdog Who Conquered a Sport, Saved a Marriage, and Championed Pit Bulls–One Flying Disc at a Time by Jim Gorant (Penguin/Gotham; Blackstone Audio) is the story of an unruly pit bull who is transformed by a loving couple who train him to catch frisbees. PW says, “Gorant never lets the narrative slip into the saccharine, and Wallace’s story will charm even readers who never knew they were interested in pit bulls or ‘disc dogs’.”

Up All Night: My Life and Times in Rock Radio by Carol Miller (HarperCollins/Ecco) is a memoir by one of New York’s best known female DJs at the height of the rock scene, the includes reminiscences of dating Stephen Tyler and introducing Bruce Springsteen to New York audiences, as well as the author’s struggles with divorce, uterine and breast cancer. It was a favorite at this year’s BEA Shout ‘n’ Share. Kirkus says, “Miller’s voice remains upbeat and energetic, despite the shadow of her family’s mysterious health issues.”

The end of the summer is proving to be great for first-time authors; two new debuts join the three already on the new Indie Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers list.

#3. The Dog Stars, Peter Heller, (RH/Knopf; Random House Audio; BOT)  – moves up after debuting at #14 last week (see previous story)

#7. The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman, (S&S/Scribner; Large type coming in November from Thorndike)  – moves up after debuting at #11 last week (EarlyWord coverage)

#9. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce, (Random House; RH Audio; BOT) — down slightly after 3 weeks on the list (EarlyWord coverage)

#11. Where’d You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple, (Hachette/Little, Brown; Hachette Audio; Thorndike Large Type in Dec.) – Debuts on this week’s list (EarlyWord coverage)

#14.  In the Shadow of the Banyan, Vaddey Ratner, (Simon & Schuster; Thorndike Large Print) – Debuts on this week’s list (EarlyWord coverage)

Making quite a leap, Peter Heller’s apocalyptic novel, The Dog Stars (RH/Knopf; Random House Audio) rises to #3 on the new Indie Hardcover Fiction Bestsellers list (it debuted at #14 last week).

Known for his articles and books about adventure travel, this is Heller’s first work of fiction, the story of two men struggling to survive after a pandemic wipes out 99% of the population. Heller draws on many of his own experiences for the adventure scenes, as he explained last week on NPR’s Fresh Air. As she does so often, Caroline Leavitt (Pictures of You), gets to the heart of the book’s appeal in her review in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The trailer focuses on the emotional side of the book.

Sales of Joe Posnanski‘s biography of disgraced Penn State Coach, Paterno (Simon & Schuster; S&S Audio; Thorndike Large Print) are off to a slow start at the Penn State bookstore, claims USA Today, noting that a shelf of the books appears untouched. However, the manager says they’ve sold 30 to 40 copies, a respectable number for a single location, even though USA Today calls it “lukewarm.”  The book is currently at #11 on Amazon’s sales rankings, its highest point to date.

The NYT review makes it sound less than revelatory, saying it’s ”breezy and largely sympathetic. It doesn’t contain (reverse spoiler alert) any especially startling revelations about what Paterno knew and when he knew it. It adds grain and texture to the historical record, though, while mostly skimming the surface of its subject’s life,” but says, “The book’s best chapter, and the one many people will turn to first, is titled simply ‘Sandusky.’ ”

Libraries are showing modest holds.

The author appeared on the Today Show yesterday.

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If you spent your weekend reading book reviews, you know that ASBO stands for Anti-Social Behavior Orders, which are issued in Great Britain for certain acts, like public drunkenness and urinating in public.  The titular character of Martin Amis’s new novel, Lionel Asbo: State of England (RH/Knopf) received his first one at age 3.

The New York Observer sums up the reactions of most reviewers; ”A mediocre book by Martin Amis is better than most books by anyone else, but unfortunately, a bad book by Martin Amis is just as bad as any other bad book. And Lionel Asbo is a bad book.” Only the Kansas City Star dissents, calling it “ one of [Amis's] most compulsively readable” novels.

Amis himself explained both the title and the subtitle in an interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday.

Among the books arriving next week is one that ran into some unexpected challenges. The bio of Joe Paterno was recently called by the NYT “perhaps one of the most unfortunately timed books of 2012.” Our “Watch List” looks at some titles that librarians have been buzzing about. Among the usual suspects in Kathy Reichs‘ latest and, in nonfiction, the novelist Paul Auster reflects on aging.

Watch List

The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo (HarperCollins/Morrow; Harperluxe)

A BEA librarian’s Shout ‘n’ Share pick, described as “Set in olive groves in California, five generations of women clash as they try to protect their secrets. Think Falcon Crest–plenty of soap opera and melodrama, but in a really good page turning, ‘I love that character!!’ kind of way. Customers are going to love this one.”

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin (Harper; Thorndike Large Print)

Can it be? The second debut in one week set in an orchard? This was also a BEA Librarians Shout ‘n’ Share pick and has been picked for B&N Discover Great New Writers program and is a Flavorwire “Must Read,” for August with this description; “William Talmadge is a reclusive orchardist, living peacefully in a lush valley in the Pacific Northwest — until two sisters appear on his land, wild, pregnant escapees from a brothel. Talmadge takes them in, but someone is looking for them. Coplin’s eloquent first novel is a harrowing triumph, a sparkling, utterly unsentimental ode to the capacities of the human heart.”

Stranger in the Room by Amanda Kyle Williams (RH/Bantam)

The author’s second book is the second in a series, following The Stranger You Seek, which features wise cracking private investigator Keye Street. Librarians on GalleyChat say she is a great protagonist; also a Shout ‘n’ Share pick.

Usual Suspects

Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs (S&s/Scribner; S&S Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

There’s a one-day laydown for this next title in the Bones series. Reichs, who bases the series about a forensic anthropologist on her own career (she commented on the search for a missing woman in Winnipeg this week) is also the producer for the Bones series on Fox TV. It was just signed for an eighth season.

Trickster’s Point by William Krueger (S&S/Atria; Thorndike Large Print)

The twelfth in the author’s series about Minnesota private eye Corcoran “Cork” O’Connor.

You Are the Love of My Life by Susan Richards Shreve (Norton; Center Point Large Print)

Gets the lead review in People magazine this week and is designated a “People Pick, ” saying “Don’t be put off by the sappy titles. This finely crafted novel about a woman haunted by family secrets packs a smart punch.”

Lionel Asbo: The State of England by Martin Amis (RH/Knopf)

Amis again satirizes his home country in this tale of a dysfunctional family (one of the characters feels uncomfortable about having sex with his Granny; he’s fifteen, she’s thirty nine). It is scheduled for a cover review in the New York Times Book Review this weekend as well as a feature on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday. Amis will submit himself to the Colbert treatment on Comedy Central in early September.

One Last Thing Before I Go by Jonathan Tropper (Penguin/Dutton; Penguin Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

Entertainment Weekly give this one an A-, saying, “Like Tropper’s exceptional last novel, This Is Where I Leave You, it’s a heartfelt look at irreparable mistakes and damaged masculinity that balances its bleak circumstances with dark humor.” The previous title is being adapted for a movie starring Jason Bateman, Zac Efron, Goldie Hawn, and Leslie Mann and rights have been acquired by Paramount for the new title.

Nonfiction

Paterno by Joe Posnanski (Simon & Schuster; S&S audio; Thorndike Large Print)

As Posnanski was completing his book on the famous Penn State coach, his subject suddenly came under a cloud. Because of remarks the author made as the news broke, some have speculated that the book will be a whitewash. Posnanski addresses those questions himself  in USA Today. S&S decided to hold off on the author’s book tour (including 9/6 event at the Free Library of Philadelphia) but he is scheduled for appearances on The Today Show and  NPR’s All Things Considered, on Aug. 30.

Winter Journal by Paul Auster (Macmillan/Holt; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

Novelist Paul Auster’s first book was a memoir, The Invention of Solitude, published in 1985 when he was 35 and his father had just died. Now 65, Auster begins this second memoir on the subject of aging with the words “You think … you are the only person in the world to whom none of these things will ever happen.” People magazine gives it  3.5 of 4 stars, calling it “intensely moving.”

Young Adult

The Rise of Nine by Pittacus Lore (aka, James Frey and Jobie Hughes)

Book three in The Book of Four series is getting promo on the Entertainment Weekly ”Shelf Life” blog.

Over You by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus

The book tour kicks off at Nordstrom’s for this, the second YA novel by the authors of The Nanny Diaries. An excerpt appears in the September issue of Teen Vogue.

The publisher’s prediction that word-of-mouth best seller, The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman (S&S/Scribner,; Large type coming in November from Thorndike) will do as well as  Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants and Kim Edwards’ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, may not be far off the mark. It arrived on the NYT Hardcover Fiction list last week at #7 and on the USA Today list at #21. It holds steady this week on USA Today, so expect it to do the same when the NYT  list arrives.

Last week’s other word of mouth debut, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (Random House; RH Audio; BOT) slides a bit, from #107 on the USA Today list to #127.

It’s been quite a summer for word of mouth successes, beginning with Gillian Glynn’s Gone Girl, (RH/Crown; RH Audio; BOT) which, after 10 weeks, appears on the USA Today list immediately after that other word of mouth phenomenon, Fifty Shades of Grey, (RH/Doubleday). Interest in Gone Girl is continuing; holds are continue to rise. One library shows over 2,000 holds on 250 copies.

If your reading clubs are looking for a book “with all the heart-tugging appeal of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” Entertainment Weekly suggests Margaret Dilloway’s The Care and Handling of Roses With Thorns, an “exquisite little novel, about a biology teacher who breeds roses so she won’t have to think about her kidney disease.”

The public hasn’t caught on yet; libraries are showing few holds, so you might actually be able to find copies on your new book shelves to recommend.

The Care and Handling of Roses with Thorns Margaret Dilloway Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover 368 pages Publisher: Penguin/Putnam – (2012-08-02) ISBN / EAN: 9780399157752/0399157751

Thorndike Large Print, Nov