New year. New titles. Pretty exciting. In no way does this mean I’m going to ignore my ’07 review or library or personal copies of titles that I have yet to read. I’m still working on those, believe it or not. <\/p>\n
But if you head over to Chasing Ray<\/strong><\/em><\/a> today, you’ll see that Colleen is talkin’ titles that she can’t wait to see this year, and she’ll be rounding up other bloggers doing the same (yes, only one day after the big awards were announced<\/a><\/strong> — YES, HUGO! — but we Book Nerds are like that, revelling in last year’s great titles and looking ahead to the new ones). Here’s my stab at a list, though invariably I’m going to overlook some thrilling title I will have forgotten about (not to mention some publishers still haven’t announced new releases for the year yet). I’m also a little bit nervous, to be honest, as this list will reveal in a most glaring fashion my fiction bias (sorry, non-fiction) and my near-obsession with picture books. But just humor me. I’ll do my best. <\/p>\n (Note: If I were really organized, I would have started noting release dates before I started feverishly listing titles. But I linked to the publisher on each title if you’re really dying to get a release date yourself. For Henry Holt and Farrar, Straus and Giroux links, you’ll be taken to the search page or a main page of new titles, and you’ll have to either type the title in yourself or just browse and search. Oh, one more note: I’m leaving off some brand new titles that have been recently acquired and added to my to-review stack. New reviews to come then, as my schedule allows). <\/p>\n All Things Illustrated<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n * Any new Elephant & Piggie titles Mo<\/a><\/strong> decides to share with the world (Fuse has the titles<\/a><\/strong> in her own most-anticipated-titles list from today);<\/p>\n * Any new Mo picture book (is this<\/a><\/strong> a sneak peek into a new title perhaps?);<\/p>\n * The forthcoming titles LeUyen Pham shared with us<\/a><\/strong> in October;<\/p>\n * Big Bad Bunny<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Franny Billingsley and illustrated by G. Brian Karas (a Richard Jackson book for Atheneum Books);<\/p>\n * Buster Goes to Cowboy Camp<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Denise Fleming (Henry Holt);<\/p>\n * A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Marla Frazee (Harcourt);<\/p>\n * The Dangerous Alphabet<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Gris Grimly (HarperCollins);<\/p>\n <\/p>\n * The Elephant Quilt: Stitch by Stitch to California!<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Susan Lowell with illustrations by Stacey Dressen-McQueen (Melanie Kroupa Books);<\/p>\n * Frankenstein Takes the Cake<\/a><\/em><\/strong> by Adam Rex (Harcourt, I assume);<\/p>\n * How I Learned Geography<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Uri Shulevitz (Farrar, Straus and Giroux);<\/p>\n * How to Be Nice<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by David Ezra Stein (Putnam; that link brings you a preview illustration at a previous kicks list);<\/p>\n *Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Julie Larios and illustrated by Julie Paschkis (Harcourt);<\/p>\n * It’s Library Day<\/em><\/a><\/strong> by Janet Morgan Stoeke (Dutton Books; another preview illustration from a kicks list at that link);<\/p>\n * Jukebox<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by David Merveille (Kane\/Miller);<\/p>\n * Just in Case: A Trickster Tale and Alphabet Book<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Yuyi Morales (a Neal Porter book; click on that link and see the preview illustrations she sent us in November. Ohmybeautiful!);<\/p>\n *Little Rabbit and the Night Mare<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Kate Klise and illustrated by M. Sarah Klise (Harcourt);<\/p>\n * Max’s Dragon<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Kate Banks with illustrations by Boris Kulikov (Farrar, Straus and Giroux);<\/p>\n * Me Hungry<\/em><\/a><\/strong> by Jeremy Tankard (Candlewick);<\/p>\n * Mokie & Bik Go to Sea<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Wendy Orr and illustrated by Jonathan Bean (Henry Holt);<\/p>\n * Not So Tall for Six<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Dianna Hutts Astson and illustrated by Frank Dormer, published by Charlesbridge (7-Imp got a preview from Mr. Dormer himself back here<\/a><\/strong> in July);<\/p>\n * Oodles of Animals<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Lois Ehlert (Harcourt);<\/p>\n * Priscilla and the Hollyhocks<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Anne Broyles and illustrated by Anna Alter (Charlesbridge);<\/p>\n * Rabbit & Squirrel: A Tale of War and Peas<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Kara LaReau and illustrated by Scott Magoon (Harcourt; YES! Did you see<\/em> the demented and wonderful Ugly Fish<\/strong><\/a><\/em>?);<\/p>\n * Rain Play<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Cynthia Cotten and illustrated by Javaka Steptoe (Henry Holt);<\/p>\n * Skunk Dog<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Emily Jenkins and illustrated by Pierre Pratt (Farrar, Straus and Giroux);<\/p>\n *To Be Like the Sun<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Susan Marie Swanson and illustrated by Margaret Chodos-Irvine (Harcourt);<\/p>\n * Uh-oh!<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Rachel Isadora (Harcourt);<\/p>\n * Any ‘ol Swedish picture book title from R & S Books, ESPECIALLY Oink, Oink Benny<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Barbro Lindgren with illustrations by Olof Landstr\u00f6m (I LOVE BENNY). <\/p>\n Novels, Poetry, Etc.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n * Bird Lake Moon<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow);<\/p>\n *The Dead and the Gone<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt);<\/p>\n * Debbie Harry Sings in French<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Meagan Brothers (Henry Holt);<\/p>\n * Don’t Bump the Glump and Other Fantasies<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Shel Silverstein (HarperCollins);<\/p>\n * Game<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Walter Dean Myers (HarperTeen);<\/p>\n * Greetings from Nowhere<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Barbara O’Connor (Frances Foster Books);<\/p>\n * The House of Djinn<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Suzanne Fisher Staples (Frances Foster Books);<\/p>\n * I am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Charles J. Shields (Henry Holt);<\/p>\n * Kaline Klattermaster’s Tree House<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Haven Kimmel with illustrations from Peter Brown (Simon & Schuster; O! Yes! Eisha and I have already read an ARC of this little gem. We’ll review soon);<\/p>\n * The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Lisa Graff (Laura Geringer);<\/p>\n * Magic in the Mirrorstone: Tales of Fantasy<\/strong><\/em><\/a> edited by Steve Berman (Mirrorstone);<\/p>\n * My Dog May Be a Genius<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by James Stevenson (Greenwillow);<\/p>\n * Woman’s World: A Novel<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Graham Rawle (published by Counterpoint; this man assembled this novel from 40,000 fragments of text snipped from women’s magazines. Yes, that kind of thing could fail miserably, but it was reviewed well in the UK. I’m intrigued).<\/p>\n I’m sure I missed a thousand titles, not to mention my list is woefully<\/em> lacking in non-fiction, but — for what it’s worth — that’s my stab at my most anticipated titles of ’08, very subject to change. <\/p>\n What about you? What are you looking forward to reading this year?<\/p>\n How could I forget <\/em>A La Carte<\/a><\/strong> by Tanita Davis, a.k.a. TadMack, of <\/em>Finding Wonderland?<\/a><\/strong> It’ll be published by Knopf Books for Young Readers in June. Thanks to The YA YA YAs<\/strong><\/a> for the heads-up.<\/p>\n And <\/em>bookshelves of doom’s<\/strong><\/a> list includes <\/em>Out of the Wild<\/strong><\/a> by Sarah Beth Durst. YES! I completely forgot that comes out this year, but I look forward to that read, too.<\/p>\n* Before John Was a Jazz Giant: A Song of John Coltrane<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrated by Sean Qualls (I already have an ARC from Henry Holt, and it’s good stuff. Review to come);<\/p>\n
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* The Girl in the Castle Inside the Museum<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Kate Bernheimer and illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli (Schwartz & Wade; I already have a copy of this, and it’s beautiful. Review to come);<\/p>\n* Jumpy Jack & Googily<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Meg Rosoff and illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Henry Holt);<\/p>\n
* Minji’s Salon<\/em><\/strong><\/a> by Eun-hee Choung (Kane\/Miller);<\/p>\n
* Otto the Old Sea Dog<\/em> by Trudy White (this year? Not sure. Publisher? Not sure. Go here<\/a><\/strong> to see our preview);<\/p>\n
<\/a>* Andromeda Klein<\/strong><\/em><\/a> by Frank Portman (Random House; 4\/08 release date, I believe, despite what that Amazon link says about 2009);<\/p>\n
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* Honeybee: Poems and Short Prose<\/a><\/strong><\/em> by Naomi Shihab Nye (Greenwillow);<\/p>\n