And Now the Sequel
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's well-loved adolescent everygirl returns as a ninth-grader in Alice Alone. Here Alice unhappily—though perhaps not permanently—breaks up with her longtime boyfriend, Patrick, and then, as everyone gossips about it, strives to follow her dad and older brother's advice to put up a brave front. Subplots include the reappearance of her father's rival for the hand of his fiancée and the disclosure that one of Alice's friends was molested in childhood. (S&S/ Atheneum, $16 240p ages 10-14 ISBN 0-689-82634-6; May) The neighborhood kids who formed a club in The Cool Crazy Crickets return with a mission—to raise money through baby-sitting, pet-sitting or making lemonade—and help save a cat in The Cool Crazy Crickets to the Rescue! by David Elliott, illus. by Paul Meisel. (Candlewick, $13.99 64p ages 6-8 ISBN 0-7636-1116-6; $4.50 paper -1402-5; June)
In I Was a Third Grade Science Project, Josh was hypnotized into thinking he was a cat. Now, in I Was a Third Grade Spy by Mary Jane Auch, illus. by Herm Auch, Brian's dog, Artful, can talk—and the canine's ability to report back on the doings of their nemesis, Emily, has its uses. (Holiday, $15.95 96p ages 7-9 ISBN 0-8234-1576-7; May) In the third adventure of the reptilian gumshoe, Farewell, My Lunchbag by Bruce Hale, a follow-up to The Chameleon Wore Chartreuse and The Mystery of Mr. Nice, Chet Gecko searches out a food thief in the cafeteria (school lunches must be improving). (Harcourt, $14 112p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-15-202275-9; Apr.) Guy Strang from Regular Guy and Guy Time returns for a third installment, My Guy by Sarah Weeks, with more scenes of high hilarity: his mom is engaged to a professional clown! Can he stop them before they walk down the aisle? (HarperCollins/Geringer, $14.95 192p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-06-028369-6; May)
Tartabull's Throw by Henry Garfield continues the story of Cyrus Nygerski, begun in Moondog and Room 13, and combines the Red Sox 1967 race for the pennant, time travel and a crush on a mysterious werewolf named Cassandra. (The author, by the way, is the great-great-grandson of the 20th U.S. president, James A. Garfield.) (Atheneum/Jackson, $16 272p ages 12-up ISBN 0-689-83840-9; May)
Rhyme Time
Editor Jan Greenberg invited poets to choose a 20th-century work of American art and write a poem "stimulated by it"; the result is Heart to Heart: New Poems Inspired by Twentieth-Century American Art. Jane Yolen contemplates Grant Wood's American Gothic, Angela Johnson one of Faith Ringgold's quilts, and Ronald Wallace two diverse works by Alexander Calder. The volume pays homage to 47 different paintings, sculptures and photographs. (Abrams, $19.95 80p ages 10-14 ISBN 0-8109-4386-7; Apr.)
In Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writing by Teenage Girls, editor Betsy Franco gathers more than 30 poems by adolescents into a poignant collection of prose and poetry. Black-and-white photographs by Nina Nickles accompany each work, and the pairings offer glimpses into the writers' raw anger, budding sexuality and search for identity.(Candlewick, $15.99 80p ages 12-up ISBN 0-7636-0905-6; $8.99 paper -1035-6; May) Nikki Grimes pens a series of poems, illus. by Angelo, chronicling the relationship of a 10-year-old girl and her grandmother in Stepping Out with Grandma Mac. Told from the child's point of view, the verses reveal a grandma who doesn't bake cookies, and whose idea of a field trip centers around the garment district. As the collection progresses, the wisdom in Grandma Mac's stern lessons and austere values slowly reveals itself to the young narrator. (Scholastic/Orchard, $16.95 48p ages 8-up ISBN 0-531-30320-9; Apr.)
In Girls Got Game, edited by Sue Macy, 13 authors, including Virginia Euwer Wolff and Jacqueline Woodson, share their stories and poems on sports from stickball and football to tetherball and horseback riding. Short bios finish off the selections and highlight each of the authors' personal athletic accomplishments. (Holt, $15.95 160p ages 11-14 ISBN 0-8050-6568-7; Apr.)
