Kids New Title Radar, Week of August 5
Of the titles releasing next week (downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of Aug. 5), below are a few that should be particular hits with kids.
NG Kids Ultimate Weird But True 2: 1,000 Wild & Wacky Facts & Photos! (National Geographic)
This is the second in a high-interest reading series that appeals to kids who can read, but choose not to. Each page is a glossy color photo with fun facts. The first one flew off the shelves and this one will too.
Robots, Robots Everywhere! Sue Fliess, illus. by Bob Staake (RH/Little Golden Books)
Short rhyming text perfectly supported by Staake’s primary colored graphic images demonstrate why “Golden Books” is a go-to brand for preschool story time.
The Surprise Attack of Jabba the Puppett: An Origami Yoda Book, Tom Angleberger, (Abrams/Amulet)
The first title in this series, The Strange Case Of Origami Yoda was a best seller and for good reason. It was a terrific school story, told from different points of view, formatted in the style of Wimpy Kid. We all know series that peter out after the 2nd or 3rd book. Angleberger demonstrates in this 4th book that he has hit the mark in portraying contemporary middle school life.
Llama Llama And The Bully Goat, Anna Dewney, (Penguin/Viking)
Llama Llama Red Pajama continues to be be one of my favorite read alouds for the pre-school set. Anna Dewney continues the series that and helps children manage “big feelings.” In previous books we learned that sharing is hard and it’s okay to get angry. Now she tackles teasing with just the right light touch.
Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales Donner Dinner Party, Nathan Hale, (Abrams/Amulet)
Thanks to one of my trusted sources, Susan Faust, school librarian and children’s book reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle, for recommending this one. She says,
“Heading up to Tahoe on Interstate 80? A tidy graphic novel recounts the mess at the summit in the winter of 1846-47. Quick summary: Things go from bad to worse for a wagon train headed from Illinois to California, and there is nothing left to eat but each other. The narrator is Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, who foresees another gruesome chapter in American history right before the British hang him in 1776. (With the same name as the real-life author, he ties together the Hazardous Tales series.) Although it’s based on somber truths, irreverence rules with Mad Magazine edge and snarky asides. Still, the main themes are intact: arduous journey, bad choices, hubris, hunger, cold and an infamous end.”