CHANTLER, Scott. The Captive Prince: Three Thieves. Bk. 3. Kids Can. 2012. ISBN 9781554537761. JLG Level: GM : Graphic Novels Middle (Grades 5-8)

Dessa’s experiences on the farm and on the circus have given her the skills she needs to rescue a captured prince, who quickly falls in love with her. A group of kidnappers with an agenda of their own, combined with Dessa and her companions’ secrets, offers a gripping tale of action and adventure. The third entry in this captivating series will keep readers salivating until its conclusion in the next book.

COLFER, Eoin. The Supernaturalist: The Graphic Novel. illus. by Giovanni Rigano. Disney/Hyperion. 2012. ISBN 9780786848799. JLG Level: GM : Graphic Novels Middle (Grades 5-8)

Based on the novel of the same name, Colfer teamed up with Andrew Donkin to adapt it for the graphic novel format. With art by Giovanni Rigano and color by Paolo Lamanna, Cosmo’s story is brought to life. After a childhood of being the object of horrible experiments, an accident allows Cosmo to escape a no-sponsor orphanage. He joins ranks with the Supernaturalists who have been saving the world from the attacks by parasites. Nothing, however, is quite what it seems.

Just as riveting as the original, The Supernaturalist is one life-saving mission after another―right up to the surprising conclusion.

GOWNLEY, Jimmy. Her Permanent Record. Vol. 8. (Amelia Rules! Series). S &S. 2012. ISBN 9781416986157. JLG Level: GM : Graphic Novels Middle (Grades 5-8)

Middle school comes with a multitude of problems and emotions, even for a superheroine. Amelia feels pressure from the cheerleading squad and the younger kids who want to be her protégés. And, of course, boys. When her Aunt Tanner disappears. Amelia and Rhonda decide to save the adult who has so often taken care of them.

Gownley has another hit with this title in the series. Not only will readers laugh, but they may need a tissue too.

HALE, Nathan. Hale’s Hazardous Tales: Big Bad Ironclad! Bk. 2. Amulet. 2012. ISBN 9781419703959. JLG Level: GM : Graphic Novels Middle (Grades 5-8)

In the second volume of Hale’s Hazardous Tales, American patriot Nathan Hale stalls his hanging by telling one more history tale. Our hero settles in to tell the tale of the Monitor and the Merrimack. Using humorous interjections, the graphic novel delivers Civil War history with a sense of mystery and action. Back matter includes short biographies of historical figures and notes on the author’s poetic license while writing the story. History delivered with wit and action makes this a wonderful package to use in any classroom.

HATKE, Ben. Legends of Zita the Spacegirl. First Second. 2012. ISBN 9781596438064. JLG Level: GE : Graphic Novels Elementary (Grades 2-6)

With fame comes responsibility. Zita’s past precedes her and fans flock for her autograph―and her help. Her quick decision to trade places with a robot look-alike leaves her stranded on a planet with no way back. Unexpected tickets to a circus introduce readers to a character who will mean more to Zita than entertainment. Zita’s journey to save Pizzicato leads her to face the Star Hearts and put on her hero suit once more. A journey all in itself, readers will cheer once again for this easily-liked team of galactic stars.

For ideas about how to use these books and links to supportive sites, check out the Junior Library Guild blog, Shelf Life.

Junior Library Guild is a collection development service that helps school and public libraries acquire the best new children’s and young adult books. Season after season, year after year, Junior Library Guild book selections go on to win awards, collect starred or favorable reviews, and earn industry honors. Visit us at www.JuniorLibraryGuild.com.

HOLM, Jennifer L. and Matthew Holm. Babymouse for President. Random. 2012. ISBN 9780375967801. JLG Level: GE : Graphic Novels Elementary (Grades 2-6)

Babymouse is a work of fiction, but it fits perfectly with this week’s theme. It’s time for student council elections and Babymouse has decided to run for president. While trying to find a platform, she struggles to define her beliefs. During the debate Babymouse learns something about herself and what she stands for. Fans of the graphic novel series will laugh at her almost impossible promises and elect to re-read it.

TOWNSEND, Michael. Where Do Presidents Come From? And Other Presidential Stuff of Super-Great Importance. Dial. 2012. ISBN 9780803737488. JLG Level: NE : Nonfiction Elementary (Grades 2-6)

Written in graphic novel-style, Townsend uses humor to tell the history of presidential elections. Interrupting the narrative are various comic relief characters―clowns, bunnies, and even talking numbers. He explains the electoral college, the White House going-ons, and what presidents do. Older students will enjoy the jokes, while simultaneously learning about presidential facts. Includes a bibliography and websites for further research.

ROSENSTOCK, Barb. illus. by Mordicai Gerstein. The Camping Trip that Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks. Dial. 2012.

Long before there were national parks, Theodore Roosevelt asked John Muir to take him on a camping trip in the Sierras. He wanted to know if the wilderness was truly endangered. So in 1903, Roosevelt sent his men ahead and spent one night under the shelter of the redwoods with his guide. The pair rode into Yosemite Valley and on their last night together, Muir explained how the development of new cities and the search for gold were clearing away the forests. He asked the politician to protect the wilderness. When the future President returned home, he pushed Congress to pass laws in favor of that cause. He then went on to establish national parks and forests. Rosenstock tells a powerful story about a camping trip that truly changed America.

KATZ, Susan. illus. by Robert Neubecker. The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems About the Presidents. Clarion. 2012. ISBN  9780547182216. JLG Level: NE : Nonfiction Elementary (Grades 2-6)

Finally, with a good dose of humor, in classic form, Katz shares a poem about each president, starting with Washington and ending with Obama. In very few words, readers get a glimpse of a Commander-in-Chief who was so small he was referred to as “The Great Little Madison.” John Quincy Adams was fond of swimming naked. Taft got stuck in the bathtub. Buchanan had a habit of tilting his head to one side while he tried to focus his eyes. Arthur changed the presidential song. Theodore Roosevelt was one of the boys and participated in pillow fights with his sons. Filled with facts of all kinds, this presidential poetry book is not to be missed―whether it’s an election year or not.

For ideas about how to use these books and links to supportive sites, check out the Junior Library Guild blog, Shelf Life.

Junior Library Guild is a collection development service that helps school and public libraries acquire the best new children’s and young adult books. Season after season, year after year, Junior Library Guild book selections go on to win awards, collect starred or favorable reviews, and earn industry honors. Visit us at www.JuniorLibraryGuild.com.

What trends are you seeing?

Vampire books seem to have eased off a bit, but there are witch books aplenty. (I recommend Burn Mark by Laura Powell.) Postapocalyptic and dystopian novels remain abundant. While thought-provoking and engaging books continue to be published in this genre (Flash Point by Nancy Kresson), I have to agree with a baseball-playing middle schooler I recently spoke to on the subject. He said there were just too many bleak “future” books.

Anything else?

Speculative fiction as a whole seems to be stretching in new directions with more sci-fi, more sci-fi/fantasy mixes, and pleasantly, more humor (The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde). As we read for our spring 2013 list, we are seeing a bit more ethnic diversity in fantasy novels—a trend I hope will continue to grow. We seem to be seeing more female protagonists in classic, non-paranormal thrillers such as The Night She Disappeared by April Henry, Don’t Turn Around by Michelle Gagnon, and Ten by Gretchen McNeil.

What about for younger readers?

For younger readers, there are sequels and prequels to classics and long-running series, and authors returning to characters from some time back. (Examples include Return to the Willows by Jacqueline Kelly, Third Grade Angels by Jerry Spinelli, One Year in Coal Harbor by Polly Horvath, Princess Academy: Palace of Stone by Shannon Hale, and Paula Danziger’s Amber Brown Is Tickled Pink,  a sequel written by Bruce Coville and Elizabeth Levy that fully captures Paula Danziger’s and Amber’s voice and spark.)

We are seeing humor used in pleasing ways to convey information, notably in two graphic novels by Nathan Hale One Dead Spy and Big Bad Ironclad!; in Michael Townsend’s Where Do Presidents Come From?: And Other Presidential Stuff of Super-Great Importance (also in graphic format); and It’s a Dog’s Life: How Man’s Best Friend Sees, Hears, and Smells the World by Susan E. Goodman. Don’t be fooled by the title of What Body Part Is That?: A Wacky Guide to the Funniest, Weirdest, and Most Disgustingest Parts of Your Body by Andy Griffiths . Hilarious it is, but as the author freely admits, it is also “99.9% fact free.”(As you can see from above, long and lively subtitles and taglines are trendy!)

Any changes in picture books?

Picture-book illustrations seem to include more sophisticated and stylized approaches. (Infinity and Me by Kate Hosford, illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska, and Abe Lincoln’s Dream by Lane Smith, for example.) While there are still plenty of cute picture books, even some of these have a little edge. (Nighttime Ninja by Barbara DaCosta, illustrated by Ed Young; I’m Bored by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Debbie Ridpath Ohi; and Otter and Odder: A Love Story by James Howe, illustrated by Chris Raschka.)

What are some of your favorites?

From the fall season, I love Twelve Kinds of Ice by Ellen Bryan Obed, illustrated by Barbara McClintock. The language and the illustrations are evocative and perfectly matched. It feels like an old book, a classic, but while there’s a palpable longing for the ice of days gone by, it is so compelling that readers of all ages will want to experience the different kinds of ice, the ice-skating, the family, the winter. Fortunately, the world created in the book is so well-realized and immersive that reading it is experiencing it.

H.O.R.S.E.: A Game of Basketball and Imagination by Christopher Myers is playful both conceptually and visually. Two kids try to outdo each other on a basketball court and their incredible shots, which they brag will go as far as outer space, will make readers smile. I also love the humor in Joe Hayes’s bilingual Don’t Say a Word, Mama / No digas nada, mamá . With striking paintings by Esau Andrade Valencia, it is a beautiful book!

An extraordinary book for the older end of the age spectrum is My Book of Life by Angel by Martine Leavitt. The subject matter definitely made it difficult to read—I’d rather not face the fact that girls are forced into prostitution. However, I grew to love and admire Angel as she found a way to save herself as well as an even younger girl. Leavitt’s writing is powerful and flawless.

I feel like I am leaving out so many other strong fiction titles: Prairie Evers by Ellen Airgood,  Chickadee by Louise Erdrich, The Vengekeep Prophecies by Brian Farrey, Homesick by Kate Klise, Pinned by Sharon Flake, The Diviners by Libba Bray, Endangered by Eliot Schrefer, Such Wicked Intent: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein, Book Two by Kenneth Oppel among them.

What are your nonfiction favorites?

There are so many great nonfiction books this year, that it is hard to choose favorites. Among my nonfiction favorites are Island: A Story of the Galápagos by Jason Chin and Nic Bishop Snakes by Nic Bishop—both are gorgeous and full of insight. Bomb: The Race to Build—and Steal—the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin is a book I cannot stop talking about or recommending. It’s a riveting recounting of a thrilling time in history. Here are some other standouts: Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip Hoose, Beyond Courage: The Untold Story of Jewish Resistance During the Holocaust by Doreen Rappaport, The Impossible Rescue: The True Story of an Amazing Arctic Adventure by Martin W. Sandler.

Any newbie authors/illustrators who we should keep an eye out for?

I’m eager to see more from David Nytra the author/illustrator of The Secret of the Stone Frog. As well, I am looking forward to future books from Debbie Ridpath Ohi, the illustrator of by Michael Ian Black’s I’m Bored, Lana Krimwiede, author of Freakling, and Irfan Master, who wrote A Beautiful Lie.

I see some familiar faces like Mo WIllems are back. 

Mo Willems has definitely done it again with Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs as has Jon Klassen with his latest hat book, This Is Not My Hat. Among more serious—and memorable—picture books are Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by E. B. Lewis, and Sarah Stewart and David Small’s The Quiet Place.

Is there anything unique or different this year? 

There seem to be an increasing number of books requiring visual literacy, from Look . . . Look Again! by John O’Brien or wordless stories like The Giant Seed by Arthur Geisert to the proliferation of graphic novels. We discovered an all-ages book on the Chronicle adult list Stick Man’s Really Bad Day by Steve Mockus, which tells a story using the wordless cautionary signs posted near roads and machinery.

Were there any surprises?

Well, we were pleasantly surprised by Sara Pennypacker writing for an older audience with Summer of the Gypsy Moths and Hilary McKay writing for a younger audience with Lulu and the Duck in the Park. We didn’t expect the mix of realism and fantasy in Prairie Thief by Melissa Wiley and What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt. Karen Hesse’s photographs and gently idyllic approach to dystopia in Safekeeping was also something new.

Are you seeing more graphic novels than previous years?

Yes, definitely. I am so glad that more children’s publishers are publishing this incredibly versatile and appealing form of storytelling.

Some of my current favorites are Little White Duck: A Childhood in China by Na Lui and Andrés Vera Martinez, Cardboard by Doug TenNapel, and Sumo by Thien Pham. I also like the strength and substance of the adaptations of two novels, The Supernaturalist: The Graphic Novel by Eoin Colfer, illustrated by Giovanni Riganoand, and Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time: The Graphic Novel adapted and illustrated by Hope Larson.