Cool New Books for May

Some familiar faces and an important story about memory loss are featured in this month's roundup of cool new books. The ever-popular Nancy Drew has returned to solve her fifth mystery in Simon & Schuster's brand new series of novels. Meanwhile, Andrew, Judy and Thudd are trying desperately to outsmart Soggy Bob Sloggins in their seventh adventure, ANDREW LOST: ON THE REEF. And Maria Shriver, inspired by her own father's struggle with Alzheimer's disease, has written WHAT'S HAPPENING TO GRANDPA, an emotional story in which a girl must cope with her grandfather's increasing forgetfulness and the impact it has on her family.

EVANGELINE BROWN AND THE CADILLAC MOTEL
Michele Ivy Davis
Dutton Children's Books
ISBN: 0525472215
Ages 8-up
192 pages

Evangeline Brown hates living in a dingy Florida motel with her father, who drinks all the time. She spends her days wishing that her mother was still alive. Then Evangeline meets Farrell, the one person who understands her. After a teacher threatens to expose their poor living conditions, the two friends decide to run away. But when Evangeline stumbles across her mother's letters, she finds the courage she needs to seek her true home.

THE FIRE-EATERS
David Almond
Delacorte Press
ISBN: 0385731701
Ages 8-up
224 pages
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Bobby Burns knows he's lucky. Growing up in Keely Bay, he is exposed to many wonders: stars reflecting off the icy sea, a friend who can heal injured fawns with her dreams, and a man who can eat fire. But darkness seems to be approaching Bobby's life from all sides. Bobby's new school is a cold, cruel place. His father is suffering from a mysterious illness that threatens to tear his family apart. And the USA and USSR are testing nuclear missiles and approaching a world-engulfing war.

LIGHTS, CAMERA … : Nancy Drew (All New) Girl Detective #5
Carolyn Keene
Aladdin Paperbacks
ISBN: 0689865708
Ages 8-12
160 pages
• NANCY DREW Series

Nancy becomes involved in a big River Heights crime --- both on-screen and off. A producer comes to shoot a reenactment of the heist that gave the town its name, and he thinks Nancy is perfect for the part of Esther, sister of the thieving Rackham boys. Nancy accepts his offer and the cameras start rolling --- but that's when the trouble starts: food-poisoning, a broken generator, and to top it off, a lion who is supposed to star in the movie gets out of his cage and lunges towards Nancy!

NEVER MIND! A Twin Novel
Avi and Rachel Vail
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060543140
Ages 10-up
208 pages
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Edward and Meg are like night and day, oil and water. Meg zigs while Edward zags. How could two such different people be twins? Newbery Medalist Avi and acclaimed author Rachel Vail masterfully weave a story of sibling rivalry, seventh-grade angst and one tremendous mix-up. Told in alternating voices, NEVER MIND! is a rollercoaster ride not to be missed.

NORTH
Donna Jo Napoli
Greenwillow
ISBN: 0060579870
Ages 9-up
352 pages
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Alvin is a twelve-year-old runaway from Washington, D.C. who is traveling all by himself to Baffin Island in Canada. His goal is to follow the trail of his hero, African-American Arctic explorer Matthew Henson. Unlike Henson, Alvin is no expert on the dangers of the Arctic --- but what he does have is bravery, brains and a lot of luck.

THE QUILT
Gary Paulsen
Wendy Lamb Books/Random House
ISBN: 0385729502
Ages 8-12
96 pages

It is 1944, and a six-year-old boy goes to spend the summer with his grandmother Alida in a small town near the Canadian border. While the men have gone off to war, the women are left to run the farms. When his cousin Kristina goes into labor, the house fills with women who work on a quilt together. This is no common, everyday quilt, but one that contains all the stories of the boy's family. And as they wait, the women share these memorable stories with the boy.

THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF GIRLS
Frances O'Roark Dowell
Atheneum
ISBN: 0689844212
Ages 8-12
256 pages
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Kate and Marylin have always been the kind of best friends who don't need words to talk to each other; they always know what the other is thinking. But lately Marylin has started to think that Kate acts like a baby sometimes, while Kate thinks that Marylin is acting like a big snob. Unfortunately, it feels as though they just don't know each other anymore. Somehow nothing is the same, but secretly Kate and Marylin both wish that it could be.

SO B. IT
Sarah Weeks
Laura Geringer Books/HarperCollins
ISBN: 0066236223
Ages 10-up
256 pages

Although she lives an unconventional lifestyle with her mentally disabled mother and their doting neighbor, Bernadette, Heidi has a lucky streak that has a way of pointing her in the right direction. When a mysterious word in her mother's vocabulary begins to haunt her, Heidi's thirst for the truth leads her on a cross-country journey in search of the secrets of her past.

STARRING PRIMA! The Mouse of the Ballet Jolie
Jacquelyn Mitchard
illustrated by Tricia Tusa
HarperCollins
ISBN: 0060573562
Ages 8-up
160 pages

From the day she was born in the piano backstage at the Ballet Jolie, it was obvious that Prima was destined for greatness. Her family fully expects her to become the lead dancer with the American Ballet Rodente. Such an honor should be enough for any mouselet, but Prima has even bigger plans. She won't be satisfied until she can share her talent with all creatures --- even humans.

STARRING PRIMA! is the first children's novel by New York Times bestselling author Jacqueline Mitchard.

THE TAIL OF EMILY WINDSNAP
Liz Kessler
illustrated by Sarah Gibb
Candlewick Press
ISBN: 0763624837
Ages 8-12
208 pages

For as long as she can remember, twelve-year-old Emily Windsnap has lived on a boat. And oddly enough, for just as long, her mother has seemed anxious to keep Emily away from the water. But when Mom finally agrees to let her take swimming lessons, Emily makes a startling discovery --- about her own identity, the mysterious father she has never met, and the thrilling possibilities and perils shimmering deep below the water's surface.