What Next?

A bounty of spring sequels furthers story lines and features favorite characters. Alice, the beloved star of Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's popular series, survives unexpected challenges during the summer between 9th and 10th grade in Patiently Alice. As the heroine tackles a stint as a camp counselor, copes with changes at home and sees her friends form new relationships with boys, the author's wit and candor remain as evident as ever. (S&S/Atheneum, $15.95 256p ages 12-up ISBN 0-689-82636-2; May)

Octavia is narrator Cameron's first real girlfriend, but she is also the latest casualty of his womanizing older brother, Ruben (from Fighting Ruben Wolff), in Marcus Zusak's sequel, Getting the Girl. "Rube" is a compassionate friend to his younger brother until Cam's burgeoning into a sensitive companion to Octavia becomes something Ruben both admires and resents. Zusak's tale of first love turns into a complex and authentic rendering of one boy's earthy desires and pain, set against the landscape of Sydney, Australia. (Scholastic/Levine, $16.95 272p ages 13-up ISBN 0-439-38949-6; Apr.)

Time-travelers Dan and Ursula, from Warriors of Alavna, find themselves witnesses to Arthurian legends in the making in Warriors of Camlann by N.M. Browne. But when they arrived in the time of "Duke Arturis," did they unwittingly bring with them their enemies from Alavna? (Bloomsbury, $16.95 400p ages 12-up ISBN 1-58234-817-0; May)

Also voyaging through time, the 14-year-old hero of the Pendragon series lands in 1937 New York City, on "First Earth," in The Never War by D.J. MacHale. Bobby and Spader (introduced in the previous installment, The Lost City of Faar) must find their old foe, Saint Dane, and figure out his latest plot. (S&S/Aladdin, $5.99 paper 352p ages 10-up ISBN 0-7434-3733-0; May)

Alex Rider, "the world's only teenaged secret agent," embarks on a third adventure in Skeleton Key by Anthony Horowitz. This time out, the British teen goes undercover as a ball boy at Wimbledon in the first stage of an assignment that leads to a showdown with a dastardly villain armed with nuclear weapons. (Philomel, $17.99 272p ages 10-14 ISBN 0-399-23777-1; May)

Flavia Gemina, the teen sleuth of first-century Ostia and heroine of the Roman Mysteries series, cracks her third case in The Pirates of Pompeii by Caroline Lawrence. Mount Vesuvius has just erupted, and refugees stream into camps—where children go missing. (Millbrook/Roaring Brook, $15.95 176p ages 11-14 ISBN 0-7613-1584-5; May)

The Echorium Sequence by Katherine Roberts, begun with Song Quest, adds Dark Quetzal. The peace-keeping Singers on the Isle of Echoes must contend once more with the evil sorcerer Frazhin, and the young Kyarra plays the pivotal role in the battle. The previous installment, Crystal Mask, is being simultaneously released in a paperback reprint. (Scholastic/Chicken House, Quetzal, $15.95 256p ages 10-12 ISBN 0-439-45697-5; Crystal, $4.99 paper -44083-1; May)

Calling for Collections

In a companion to her Not One Damsel in Distress: World Folktales for Strong Girls, Jane Yolen collects and retells 14 folktales focused on boys in Mightier than the Sword: World Folktales for Strong Boys, illus. by Raul Colón, from Afghanistan, Ireland, China, Russia and around the world. These heroes win with their wits and hearts, not with weapons. Colón's b&w pen-and-inks, in his signature crosshatch style, enliven each entry. (Harcourt/Silver Whistle, $19 128p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-15-216391-3; May)

The Wizard's Den: Spellbinding Stories of Magic and Magicians, edited by Peter Haining, offers 15 captivating stories about wizards by renowned authors of the 20th century. From E. Nesbit's "Professor de Lara and the Twopenny Spell" to Diana Wynne Jones's "Carol Oneir's Hundredth Dream," and including stories by Joan Aiken, Roald Dahl, Ray Bradbury and Philip Pullman, there is something for every admirer of the fantastic in this bewitching volume. Short profiles of the authors detail their most important contributions to the genre. (Souvenir Press [IPG, dist.], $22.95 320p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-285-63628-6; May)

Welcome Back!

Many old friends revisit readers in handsome new volumes. Always welcome is that charming visitor from another planet, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince. A 60th-anniversary gift edition features a cloth slipcase, a satin ribbon bookmark and a bookplate. The fable remains as lyrically haunting as ever in Richard Howard's new (2000) translation. (Harcourt, $24.95 96p all ages ISBN 0-15-204804-9; Apr.)

The Giving Tree, Shel Silverstein's classic parable of selfless love and devotion originally published in 1964, is now available in a larger-size edition. (HarperCollins, $15.99 64p all ages ISBN 0-06-025665-6; Apr.)

The most faithful of all dogs returns in Lassie Come-Home by Eric Knight. Begun as a short story in the Saturday Evening Post, the tale was so well received that Knight expanded it into this novel, first published in 1940 by John C. Winston. This story of a boy and his beloved collie has been retold in many formats but appears here in its original unabridged version, with Marguerite Kirmse's charming b&w interior illustrations and new jacket art. (Holt, $17.95 256p ages 9-up ISBN 0-8050-7206-3; Apr.)

Six short stories, five of which were previously published in magazines or anthologies, about the amazing Land of Oz, come together in The Salt Sorcerer of Oz and Other Stories, written and illus. by Eric Shanower. The prose covers a spectrum of styles, as do the b&w illustrations, which vary from pen-and-ink drawings to a woodcut look. (Hungry Tiger Press [619-582-5106], $24.95 288p ages 8-12 ISBN 1-929527-06-3; May)

A small-sized volume of verse, The Cat and the Cuckoo (1987) features poems about wild and domestic farm animals by renowned British poet Ted Hughes, illus. by Flora McDonnell. These quirky poems range from a lightly witty view of a sleeping dog: "He's just a sack of snoring dog./ You can lug him like a log"—to the serious metaphysical meditations of a crow: "Hear ye the Preacher:/ Nature to Nature/ Returns each creature." McDonnell's vivacious duotone art depicts each animal with a folksy whimsy. (Millbrook/Roaring Brook, $15.95 64p ages 10-14 ISBN 0-7613-1548-9; Apr.)

Older fans of a certain young wizard may be interested in the fantastical goings-on in Sorcery & Cecelia, or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. This epistolary novel follows the adventures of two British girls in 1817 in an alternate reality where magic really works. Originally published in 1988, this edition contains some new material. (Harcourt, $17 336p ages 12-up ISBN 0-15-204615-1; May)

The 1956 Newbery Medal winner, Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham, is a fictionalized biography of the great American navigator Nathaniel Bowditch, whose 1802 book, The American Practical Navigator, became known as the "Sailor's Bible." This edition features new jacket art and the original b&w interior illustrations by John O'Hara Cosgrave II. (Houghton, $17 256p ages 12-up ISBN 0-618-25081-6; paper $6.95, -25074-3; May)

Adventure in the Everglades will lure readers to Alligator Crossing by Marjory Stoneman Douglas, pioneer conservationist and author of the classic The Everglades: River of Grass. First published in 1959, this suspenseful story of a boy who stows away on the boat of an outlaw alligator hunter offers an in-depth look at a unique watery world. (Milkweed, $16.95 214p ages 10-14 ISBN 1-57131-640-X; paper $6.95, -644-2; Apr.)

Two new arrivals in the ongoing reissue program for Walter R. Brooks's Freddy the Pig series are The Clockwork Twin and The Story of Freginald. In the first title, Freddy and the Bean Farm animals become detectives in a search for a missing boy; the second tale follows a young bear who joins the circus. Both books feature the original, delightfully humorous pen-and-ink drawings of Kurt Wiese. (Overlook, $23.95 each 220p all ages ISBN 1-58567-358-7; -360-9; Mar.)

America's Game

In a companion to Who Is Baseball's Greatest Hitter?, Jeff Kisseloff moves from behind the plate to atop the mound to ask Who Is Baseball's Greatest Pitcher? He profiles 33 candidates for this honor, including Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan and Pedro Martinez, as well as players from an earlier era whose names may not be as well known to young spectators, such as Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and Eddie Plank. The lively text is peppered with enough stats to satisfy the most studious fan, and Kisseloff leaves the final selection up to individual readers. (Cricket/Marcato, $15.95 192p ages 10-14 ISBN 0-8126-2685-0; Apr.)