Calling Ivy Pochoda’s  mystery, Visitation Street, (HarperCollins/Ecco, releasing tomorrow), “utterly transporting,” the new issue of People designates it a “People Pick.”

Set in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, described by  reviewer Ellen Shapiro, as “a onetime longshoremen’s enclave that’s now a mishmash of abandoned warehouses, hipster renovations and housing projects … [that] emerges as a captivating small town,” it is about the disappearance of a 15-year-old girl, who, with a friend, launched a raft into the New York harbor to try to beat the Brooklyn heat.

On the Saturday of BEA, a dozen GalleyChatters, who had been talking the book up since March, got to soak in the Red Hook atmosphere (not to mention the heat and humidity), during a tour arranged by EarlyWord and the HarperCollins Library Marketing team (Virginia Stanley, Annie Mazes and Kayleigh George who recently left to join the RH/Hogarth imprint). We experienced the starkly contrasting neighborhood elements; within blocks of a large housing project are an upscale chocolate factory, fancy bakeries and even a winery. They all come together in a bar that features prominently in the book. We went there, of course (research demands sacrifice). Once we told the bar owner that we were fans of the book, he said, “Oh, right! Ivy lived across the street. I have a copy of the book I’m giving people on two-week loans. I’ll let you know if anyone come in who appears in the book.”

UPDATE: One of the participants, Robin Beerbower, posted her photos of the trip , complete with quotes from the book.

True enough, we witnessed a woman bring in the precious copy to hand it off to the next reader and, yes, the model for one of the book’s characters dropped by for an afternoon beer.

Visitation Street is the second under the “Dennis Lehane Books” imprint and no wonder. As Kaite Stover, Kansas City P.L, said when she highlighted it during the “Librarian’s Shout ‘n’ Share,” at BEA, “Ivy Pochoda does for Brooklyn’s Red Hook what Dennis Lehane does for South Boston.”

Today’s NYT review of Mark Leibovich’s takedown of D.C. insiders begins with a list of the many things the reviewer finds irritating about the city, including the fact that it is often referred to as “This Town,” which is also the name of the book. From title alone, says the reviewer,  “you know [Leibovich has]  a sharp ear, and a sharp eye to accompany it. You also know that he’s got the sharp knives out.”

This Town, (Penguin/Blue Rider) wasn’t always the book’s title. Many library catalogs are still showing it under an earlier version, The Club.

The book is embargoed until its release a week from Tuesday, but, predictably, the Washington Post already broke it, so the NYT followed suit, even though Leibovich, the chief national correspondent for The New York Times Magazine, is one of their own (the excerpt that is the cover story for the NYT Magazine was probably meant to be the first glimpse of the book).

Highly anticipated, not to mention feared, for months, the cover reportedly carries a frustrating label, “WARNING: This Town does not contain an index. Those players wishing to know how they came out will need to read the book.” The Washington Post overturned this clever marketing ploy by creating an index of their own. Library users seem unimpressd; most libraries are showing few holds on light ordering. The book has broken into the top 100 on Amazon sales rankings, however, reaching a high of #38 on July 4, the day the Washington Post index was released.

As World War Z continues strong at the box office, a zombie apocalypse arrives in kid’s books this week, from Zombelina by Kristyn Crow and Molly Idle, (Macmillan/Walker) about a little green dancer to The Music of Zombies, the fifth in Vivian French’s Tales from the Five Kingdoms series (Candlewick) and Darren Shan’s Zom-B Angels, (Hachette/Little, Brown YR) the fourth in his new YA horror series.

My particular favorite is My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish, by Mo O’Hara, (S&S/Feiwel & Friends), about a budding evil scientist. I am a sucker for what is now called “guys read ” fare, I’m not the only one.  I just got a note from an 8-year-old that reads, “Thank you for the fart book it was reely (sic) funny.” So is this one. I’m looking forward to My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish: The Sea-Quel arriving in January.

Below are other highlights of the week. All the titles noted here and many more, including movie tie-ins, are listed on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of July 9.

Picture Books

Rocket’s Mighty Words, Tad Hills, (RH/Schwartz & Wade)

English is hard. Really hard. A lot of it doesn’t make sense to the beginning reader. Sight words are often the key to emergent literacy and fluency. We hear these words. We see these words. We hear these words again, repeating the cycle until we know these words. Then only and only then can we read them. Building our inventory of sight words can make or break of the first reading experiences. After following Rocket’s journey to literacy in How Rocket Learned to Read and Rocket Writes a Story, it is lovely to have him as our guide as we learn to own these words. This is as larger size board book that can be used at story time.

What Floats in a Moat?, Lynne Berry, Matthew Cordell, (S&S Young Readers)

Archie the goat and Skinny the Hen try to find a way to cross a moat through trial and error. The common core educators will fall in love with this simple scientific experiment framed in a picture book format.

Chapter Books

    
Home Sweet Horror  and I Scream, You Scream! (Scary Tales Books 1 and 2) by James Preller, (S&S/Feiwell & Friends, simultaneous paper and hardcover)

I am thrilled with this new series of  early chapter books that are just scary enough for newly fluent third graders. Lots of dark scratchboard illustrations, and a flip animation spider that crawls down the margin, adds visual interest. A third title, arriving in October, brings on the zombies (Good Night, Zombie). At least three more titles are planned in the series.

Nikki and Deja: Substitute Trouble, Karen English, Laura Freeman, (HMH/Clarion)

This is the 6th in a series that is terrific for  librarians looking for great stories that reflect the daily lives of kids. The early chapter book format is one that we can’t get enough of — think Johanna Hurwitz’s  Riverside Kids series (Scholastic), and James Howe’s Pinky & Rex, (Scholastic).

Young Adult 

45 Pounds (More or Less), Kelly Barson, (Penguin/Viking)

Jenny Brown of Shelf Awareness called this story of Ann, a teen aged girl trying to lose weight for her aunt’s wedding, a must-read. I think one of my students “borrowed” my galley so I’ll quote from Jenny’s review, “Teens who struggle with their weight will find a funny, smart companion in Barson’s charming heroine, and those who overlook or judge a classmate like Ann may find themselves taking a moment to get to know him or her. All readers will cheer for this winning character.” Kirkus is also on the bandwagon “‘While lessons are offered, they are deliciously coated in readable prose and a compelling plot.’ SLJ chimes in “Telling the story in Ann’s wry, realistic voice, this debut author effectively captures society’s preoccupation with size and the resulting alienation of an overweight teen.”

Continuing the “Beach Read Challenge,” the staff at Cuyahoga Public Library are reading ARC’s (both e-ARC’s and print) to identify new titles for summer reading. Supporting the effort, Wendy Bartlett, Collection Development Manager, orders more non-reservable copies of each selected title to make it  available for browsing and recommending. The first pick was The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, Anton DiSclafani, (Penguin/Riverhead). The second arrives next week. The following is from Wendy’s weekly “hot title alert” to the staff:

Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole, (RH/Ballantine) [Ed note: Digital ARC’s available from Edelweiss, but hurry, they won’t be available after the book is published next Tuesday].

Here’s another good book to hand customers this summer, one that is a more poignant Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society. Just prior to World War I, a young American writes a fan letter to his favorite poet. Little does he know that the poet is a lovely young woman. As the letters go back and forth, we learn more about Elspeth and David, and their unfolding, very complicated love story.

Elspeth lives an isolated life on the Isle of Skye, and years later, Elspeth’s daughter Margaret, in the midst of her own love story, tries to piece together what really happened and where her scattered family might be. The mystery keeps the romance from being overly sentimental. You  want to see if it all works out for these likable characters.

If your customers like historical fiction and don’t mind epistolary novels, they’ll enjoy Letters from Skye.

Thanks to Sue Levinsohn and Barb Wilson, who also gave this one a test drive and came back with positive reports!

Among the titles that qualify as “blind orders” (those that need no reviews), arriving next week, are  R.L. Stine’s new gruesome stand-alone, A Midsummer Night’s Scream, (Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends) with appropriately spooky cover (the plot features teenaged actors in Hollywood and a short guy named Puck), as well as another “standalone” (even though it’s part of a series), Erin Hunter’s Warriors Super Edition: Tallstar’s Revenge, which follow the previous five standalone “super-editions” (see a break down of the various series here).

For those buying movie tie-ins, there are plenty for Disney’s Planes, coming Aug 9.

Below are other highlights of the week; all these titles, and more, are listed on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Titler Radar, Week of July 1

Younger Readers

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail, Richard Peck, (Penguin/Dial)

Newbery Medalist Richard Peck (for A Year Down Yonder) celebrates an earlier queen’s Diamond Jubilee,  Victoria’s, in his return to the mouse society featured in Secrets at Sea (2011). Says Kirkus, “Peck binds this unlikely romp together with his characteristically witty and precise prose, flavored by an endearing blend of humility and superiority that only a British foundling mouse can muster.”  Booklist adds, “This may be a book about a tiny mouse, but it’ll be big on everyone’s radar.”

What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World, Henry Clark. (Hachette/Little Brown YR)

No need for a plot summary for this debut; the title does that. It  got mixed reviews from SLJ and PW for being a little over the top. I thoroughly enjoyed the voice and contemporary style, with big words and snarky humor. Kirkus concurs, saying it’s “refreshingly bonkers. It offers thinking kids humor that is neither afraid of the potty nor confined to it. Most of the characters (and some of the furniture) have their quirks, but there is a realism at the core that readers will respond to.” This one is sure to be a pick of the lists come year end. Here’s hoping there’s a movie in the works.

SYLO, D J MacHale, (Penguin/Razorbill)

The start of a new dystopian trilogy by the author of the Pendragon books, is starred by Kirkus, which says “MacHale knows boy readers and delivers, giving them an action-packed plot with a likable, Everykid protagonist and doling out answers with just the right amount of parsimony to keep the pages turning. This first installment in a proposed trilogy is absolutely un-put-down-able, more exciting than an X-Box and roller coaster combined.”

Sea of Monsters — Movie Tie-in and Graphic Novel

The Sea of Monsters: The Graphic Novel, Robert Venditti and Rick Riordan, illus by Tamas Gaspar and Attila Futaki, (Disney Book Group), pbk and hdbk.

In addition to the tie-in to the movie opening theaters on Aug. 7, a graphic novel is being released.  As in the previous titlem The Lightning Thief: The Graphic Novel ,the publisher does a a spectacular job translating the story into  graphic format while losing none of the excitement of the originals and providing high-interest reads to kids daunted by the size of the novels.

New Adult

Because of Low, Abbi Glines, (S&S/Simon Pulse)

The rights to this formerly self-published ebook title were bought by the S&S Pulse imprint which in now releasing it in both hardcover and paperback. This second title in the Sea Breeze series, it actually arrives AFTER the third in the same series, While It Lasts, already spent 4 weeks on the NYT YA best seller list back in May, in its former incarnation as a self-published eBook-only title. The fourth title, Just for Now will be released in late August.

A picture book that celebrates the joys of math, released  today, is rising on Amazon after Cory Doctorow gave it a rave on Boing Boing. Praising The Boy Who Loved Math by Deborah Heiligman, with illustrations by LeUyen Pham (Roaring Brook) about the eccentric Hungarian math genius, Doctorow says it uses “numbers and mathematics through the text, with lively, fun illustrations of a young Erdős learning about negative numbers, becoming obsessed with prime numbers and leading his high-school chums on a mathematical tour of Budapest.” The ultimate accolade? His five-year-old daughter, “demanded that I read it to her three times in a row,” (spreads are available on the Boing Boing site)

In a piece of scary timing, Brett Martin’s Difficult Men (Penguin Press), which features the now-famous story of James Gandolfini disappearing from the set of The Sopranos (excerpted in GQ magazine this month, where the author is a correspondent, under the headline, “The Night Tony Soprano Disappeared,” it is the source of many  news stories) is scheduled for release next week.

The book, which was covered back in April in the New York Times Media section by  David Carr, is reviewed by Michiko Kakutani in today’s issue. It covers what  Martin claims is “the signature American art form of the first decade of the 21st century,” cable TV series such as Mad Men, Deadwood, and Breaking Bad, all of which characters who are all “difficult men.”

More is coming, including a segment on the upcoming NPR Weekend Edition and a review in the 7/14 issue of the New York Times Sunday Book Review.

As the school year winds to a close, it may seem odd that  several “back to school” titles arrive next week, but come July and August, we’ll be scrambling to find them for all those parents who want to help their kids navigate this important transition. Also coming, a new book that advocates adding math to bedtime routines, James Patterson’s latest in his Middle School series explains How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill and a YA title about an African albino boy who suffers far worse, Golden Boy arrives with librarian buzz. For those who buy movie tie-ins, get ready for The Smurfs 2, coming  July 31. Paris will never be the same.

The books highlighted here and many more are listed with ordering information on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids-New-Title-Radar-Week of 6.24

Bedtime Math, Laura Overdeck, Jim Paillot, (Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends)

Overbeck and her husband have received media attention including a story on NPR about how they incorporate math into their kids’ bedtime routine. They’ve written about this on their popular blog and the send a “Daily Math Problem” email to subscribers. Here they present both their approach and bedtime story problems to use with “wee ones” up to “big kids” in book form.

Golden Boy, Tara Sullivan, (Penguin/Putnam)

Librarians at BEA said they were riveted by this YA novle. It brings to light the treatment of albinos in Tanzania, where they are often killed for their body parts which are sold to people who believe they are lucky. Kirkus calls it “A riveting fictional snapshot of one Tanzanian boy who makes himself matter.”

This just in from Wendy Bartlett, Collection Development Manager, Cuyahoga P.L. from her weekly “Hot Title” alert:

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, Anton DiSclafani. (Penguin/Riverhead)

Not only is this the most fun title to say this summer, it’s also the most fun author’s name. DiSclafani? Sounds like the newest “Defense Against the Dark Arts“  teacher, doesn’t it? And her first name  is actually pronounced “Antin” (yes, she is a she). [Ed. Note: for more background on the author and her name, see our Penguin First Flights online chat].

The book is  getting a lot of buzz as a good summer read [Ed Note: see the great review from one of our favorite sources, Ron Charles in the Washington Post, this week, Even the NYT‘s Michiko Kakutani is a fan] and deservedly so; you can hand sell this one to customers with confidence as the perfect vacation read. It’s doing so well for us in Cuyahoga — we bought a several for each branch and they’re flying — that we’re ordering more to make it available for browsing and hand selling.

The story is set in the Depression. Thea, who is fifteen, is banished from her wealthy parents home to an exclusive riding school in the mountains of North Carolina. You can’t stop reading until you figure out why she was sent away. The dissonance of the idea of spending the Depression among wealthy young ladies gives this novel a fresh angle. I’m loving it  and I think you and your customers will too.

Let us know what is hot in your library in the comments section below.

A photo-story about the wives of the first U.S. astronauts is the perfect nostalgia piece for People magazine and it’s featured in this week issue (adding even more nostalgia, the piece is written by the magazine’s legendary founding editor, Dick Stolley, who was at Life magazine when the wives were featured on the cover. That image is used on the book jacket).

The story is based on The Astronaut Wives Club: A True Story by Lily Koppel (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio and Large Print), which author Curtis Sittenfeld, writing in the Washington Post, calls a “breezy and entertaining book, which — like the women themselves — takes pleasure in both playing up and defying the stereotypes of the time. ” Librarians on EarlyWord‘s GalleyChat called it a great selection for book clubs.

Most libraries are showing heavy holds on light ordering.

The wives, and the book,  were also featured on CBS Sunday Morning last week:

Library holds are growing on The Shining Girls, (Hachette/Mulholland) by Lauren Beukes after it was reviewed on NPR’s All Things Considered by Alan Cheuse on Friday,  applauding it for its “heroine, the smart and spunky Kirby Mizrachi, [who] is as exciting to follow as any in recent genre fiction” and the “sharply described murder scenes — some of which read as much like starkly rendered battlefield deaths out of Homer as forensic reconstructions of terrible crimes.”

The novel is also moving up Amazon’s sales rankings, although it hasn’t cracked the Top 100 (it’s currently at #222).

The NYT‘s critic Janet Maslin declared it earlier to be ”a strong contender for the role of this summer’s universal beach read.”  Movie rights have been acquired by Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company, Appian Way.

Librarians responding to our Beach Read Challenge, were only partially won over. Joseph Jones of Cuyahoga P.L. says,

Short chapters and a fast pace makes this a definite beach read. The subject matter may turn off some readers who are not into serial killers, violence against women or just the casualness of the violence. Normally time travel is not an issue for me in books, but the way the author switches back and forth in time EVERY chapter does get a bit annoying. Having the date listed at the beginning of each chapter seemed to mock me more than help me figure out where the story was in the timeline. Also, when the author would try to throw in some cultural history for the different time periods I thought it had a tendency to drag the story down without really adding anything. The saving grace of the book though is Kirby. Broken, flawed and a survivor in every sense of the word, she burns with an intensity that for me defines “shining girl.”

Holds are heavy in many libraries for The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics
by Daniel James Brown (Penguin/Viking; Penguin Audio; Thorndike). It debuts on the 6/23 NYT NF Best Seller list at #12.

USA Today calls it a “suspenseful tale of triumph” about a rowing crew from the University of Washington, whose student body, “drew from rough-hewn loggers, farm boys and girls not only with great physical gifts but the enormous will to make something of themselves at a time when there was little hope, given the double whammy of the Depression and the Dust Bowl.”

The BIG book arriving  next week is Neil Gaiman’s adult novel The Ocean at the End of the Lane, (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperAudio; Harper Luxe), his first for adults since Anansi Boys (2005). His writing appears in so many different forms (including a Dr. Who screenplay), that the L.A. Times finds it necessary to help readers sort it out with “Getting to know Neil Gaiman.” Ocean recevied starred reviews from all the pre-pub reviewers, but  Entertainment Weekly is a hold out, giving is just a B-. Noting that “Gaiman is among the premier fantasists working in any storytelling medium, partly because he actually works in every storytelling medium,” they feel this one, “As a coming-of-age reverie … is a fitfully interesting trifle, but you’re constantly catching glimpses of a more interesting, darker, stranger tale farther down the lane.”

Also arriving next week, is a book that has been big on GalleyChat, Max Berry’s Lexicon, (Penguin Press; Dreamscape Audio), described by one GalleyChatter as “What if La Femme Nikita had gone to Brakebills in The Matrix?” That may require a bit too much knowledge of pop culture; Kirkus calls it simply a “smart, compelling, action-packed thriller about the power of words.”

The nonfiction title Humboldt: Life on America’s Marijuana Frontier, received a strong pitch at the BEA Librarain’s Shout ‘n’ Share from LJ‘s “Books for Dudes” columnist, Douglas Lord, who said it, “uses lyrical, measured prose to lift the ‘redwood curtain’ on the lives of 4 people who are involved in Humboldt County’s major economical driver — the raising of marijuana. It gives a real sense of what life is like in the underground business.”

These titles and highlights of many more coming next week are listed with full ordering information on our downloadable spreadsheet, New Title Radar, 6.17.13

There are novel adaptations and there are novelizations, but this weekend brings a new twist.

Sofia Coppola’s film, The Bling Ring, opening tomorrow in NY and LA and expanding nationwide next week, is based on a 2010 Vanity Fair story by Nancy Jo Sales, “The Suspects Wore Louboutins,” about a group of affluent Valley kids who stole from celebrity wardrobes. One of the stars is Harry Potter’s Emma Watson.

The article has been expanded and released as 288-page trade paperback (S&S/It; S&S Audio). Reviewing it last week,  People magazine gave  it 3.5 of 4 stars. The Awl calls the book a “Smart-Person Beach Read.”

Scientific studies indicate that “when it comes to sex, monogamy may be more of a problem for women than men,” Daniel Bergner told Stephen Colbert on his show last night. The author of What Do Women Want?: Adventures in the Science of Female Desire (HarperCollins/Ecco) noted that the generally accepted view of women as naturally monogamous has been promulgated because it is “convenient and comforting to men.”

Colbert’s reactions proved Bergner’s point.

The book is rising on Amazon’s sales rankings. Library holds are also growing.