Happy Anniversary, Winnie-the-Pooh

Celebrate the 75th anniversary of the beloved "silly old bear" with two new offerings. The Complete Tales & Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh collects A.A. Milne's classic stories (Winnie-the-Pooh; The House at Pooh Corner; When We Were Very Young; and Now We Are Six) and Ernest H. Shepard's original illustrations in one gorgeous oversize gift edition. Three Cheers for Pooh: The Best Bear in All the World by Brian Sibly provides readers with a historical reference point, starting with the story of Mrs. Milne's purchase of a stuffed bear at a London department store for their young son, Christopher Robin. Photographs, original manuscript pages and Shepard's sketches and illustrations complete the package. (Dutton, $40 580 Three Cheers $22.99 126p all ages ISBN 0-525-46726-2; -46796-3; Oct.)

Smoke Signals

In a sequel to Fireman Small, Fireman Small: Fire Down Below! Wong Herbert Yee presents the teeny tiny firefighter as he flees the rain-soaked station for a drier night at the Pink Hotel. But when Small smells smoke not only must he get all the animal guests to safety ("Stop—drop—and roll!" he commands), but also find an inventive way to extinguish the fire. (Houghton, $15 32p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-618-00707-5; Sept.) Echoing Fireman Small's advice, Stop Drop and Roll by Margery Cuyler, illus. by Arthur Howard, features a teacher discussing fire safety rules, and student Jessica, who gets nervous. Is her family ready in case of an emergency? Jessica's worries spark action at home, and she muddles the mantra until her brother's birthday candles set off a false alarm; 10 safety tips are listed on the back. (S&S, $16 32p ages 5-8 ISBN 0-689-84355-0; Sept.)

Teen Tales

Courtney's off to college in Wurst Case Scenario, Catherine Clark's follow-up to last year's Truth or Dairy. In this diary of college-age angst, the 18-year-old laments leaving small-town Colorado for even smaller town Wisconsin, where the usual freshman fears are aggravated by, among other things, being a vegan in cow country. (HarperCollins, $6.95 paper 320p ages 13-up ISBN 0-06-447287-6; Sept.)

Adolescent Adonis wannabe Jonah Black records his musings for posterity in the second volume of The Black Book: [Diary of a Teenage Stud] series. In Volume II: Stop, Don't Stop by Jonah Black, the hero recovers from a diving accident, slogs through school and attempts to understand his feelings for two different girls. PW wrote of Jonah in Volume I: Girls, Girls, Girls: "He's instantly likable, and his vulnerabilities, acute description and tenuous hold on reality make for gripping and often humorous reading." (Avon/17th Street Productions, $4.99 paper 240p ages 14-up ISBN 0-06-440799-3; Nov.)

The Book of Fells brings together all three of M.E. Kerr's gripping tales of the "working-class" teen who falls in with the wrong crowd at a prestigious prep school. The complete text of Fell; Fell Back; and Fell Down—PW called the last title "absorbing" and "smoothly crafted"—are included in this paperback volume. (HarperTrophy, $6.95 paper 608p ages 12-up ISBN 0-06-447263-9; Oct.)

Advice for Adolescents

In Am I Weird or Is This Normal?: Advice and Info to Get Teens in the Know, Marlin Potash and his 16-year-old daughter, Laura Potash Fruitman, with Lisa Sussman, touch on, among other things, dating, drugs, money, college admissions, eating disorders, friendship and sex. Pressing questions are followed by honest answers from the psychologist and the teenager, each experts in their own way. Sidebars provide helpful tips, checklists and straightforward discussions. (S&S/Fireside, $13 paper 272p ages 12-up ISBN 0-7432-1087-5; Sept.)

Teen People online advice columnist Sari Locker dishes it out in Sari Says: The Real Dirt on Everything from Sex to School. She addresses families, friendship, crushes (including interracial dating), body piercing and sexual health in this frank, informative offering. (HarperCollins, $11.95 paper 336p ages 12-up ISBN 0-06-447306-6; Oct.)

A former teacher, Canadian writer Jane Pavanel confronts difficult topics directly and candidly in The Sex Book: An Alphabet of Smarter Love. Encyclopedic entries and Q&A sections break down such issues as abortion, AIDS and peer pressure in language teens can understand. Funky graphics and a typewriter-like font frame the facts; "sex symbols" indicate items of particular interest to men or to women. (Lobster [AGD, dist.], $14.95 paper 192p ages 14-18 ISBN 1-894222-30-X; Sept.)

Sing-Alongs and Sleeptime Songs

In a companion volume to her Mother Goose Remembers, Clare Beaton combines 40 classic nursery rhymes with her sumptuously sewn collage to create Playtime Rhymes for Little People. Easy instructions encourage active participation through finger play and body gestures. (Barefoot, $18.99 64p ages 4-7 ISBN 1-84148-425-3; Sept.)

Two Sesame Street songs take book form for the first time. "Here, in the middle of imagination, right in the middle of my head.../ I close my eyes and my home isn't home.../ and my bed isn't really my bed." Musical director Joe Raposo created Imagination Song 25 years ago; now Laurent Linn's dreamlike depictions of the familiar characters show them acting out their fantasies—Miss Piggy morphs into a mermaid, Cookie Monster holds court and Grover floats above the Earth's atmosphere on the tail of a kite. I Don't Want to Live on the Moon by the late Jeff Moss (who also wrote "Rubber Duckie") is set against Dagmar Fehlau's intergalactic illustrations. (Random, $9.99 each 32p all ages ISBN 0-375-80688-1; -80689-4; Oct.)

Laura Vaccaro Seeger carries on the family tradition with I Had a Rooster: A Traditional Folk Song. Based on a concept by Ruth Crawford Seeger (stepmother of Pete), this song in book form introduces new creatures on successively smaller pages, while cumulative lines from previously printed verses show through below. The melody line is included; Vaccaro Seeger's (wife of Pete Seeger's nephew, Chris) finely tuned oils illustrate the text. A foreword by Pete Seeger provides a history as well as crafty sketches he once used in classrooms while performing the song to children; he sings the title song on a CD packaged in the back, which also includes two songs by siblings Mike and Peggy. (Viking, $16.99 32p ages 6mos.-8yrs. ISBN 0-670-03521-1; Oct.)

Youngsters well know the opening lines of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. Sylvia Long revisits the classic and includes the traditional verses—"When the blazing sun is gone,/ When he nothing shines upon,/ Then you show/ your little light,/ Twinkle, twinkle,/ all the night"—alongside celestial watercolor depictions of critters heading home at nightfall. A baby frog eats grubs for supper; a mouse is tucked under the covers. (Chronicle, $13.95 32p ages 6mos.-5yrs. ISBN 0-8118-2854-9; Nov.)

With Amanda Wallwork's Sleep Songs, readers get two books in one. "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" comes first; like Long's, this edition provides a fuller version of the traditional text. Youngsters can turn the board book upside down for the second song, "Golden Slumbers." Here, Wallwork's buttery hues contrast with deep blues as the child drifts off to sleep. Glittering foil accents sunflowers, stars and moon. (Ragged Bears, $8.95 32p ages 6mos.-5yrs. ISBN 1-929927-39-8; Dec.)

Seasonal Celebrations

From snowy hills in "January [which] brings us coasting/ Taffy pulls and apple roasting" to December, which "brings glad Christmas cheer," Tasha Tudor's Around the Year alternates between antique watercolors and b&w drawings. The Caldecott Honor artist frames the comforting verse with old-fashioned landscapes and quaint country scenes, first published in 1957. (S&S, $17 64p all ages ISBN 0-689-82847-0; Oct.)

In Beto and the Bone Dance by Gina Freschet, a boy celebrates the Mexican holiday, el Día de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead. After a night of dancing and searching for a suitable offering to place atop his grandmother's altar, Beto finally finds just the right gift. (FSG, $16 32p ages 4-8 ISBN 0-374-31720-8; Oct.) Scott Allen pays poetic tribute to autumn's official gourd in Somethin' Pumpkin, illus. by Jimmy Pickering. The rhyming text details its many uses: "Stacked/ up/ with/ several/ subdivided/ compartments/ a pumpkin's/ a great place for/ arachnid/ apartments" and "In Frankenstein/ Football/ in all away—games/ they use/ pumpkin shells/ to bolt-in their/ brains." Pickering's clever illustrations add spooky humor. (Tallfellow/Smallfellow [310-203-3837], $16.95 32p ages 4-8 ISBN 1-931290-00-8; Sept.)