And Then What Happened?

A bounty of books continues popular story lines. Readers who can't get enough of the future monarch of Genovia will glom onto Princess in Training by Meg Cabot, the sixth volume in the Princess Diaries, in which Mia's Grandmère thinks the sophomore's run for student body president will be good experience for ruling her country one day. (HarperCollins, $16.99 288p ages 12-up ISBN 0-06-009613-6; Apr.)

With her introduction in Gooney Bird Greene, PW predicted that "youngsters will likely hope that the heroine has enough tales stored in her fertile imagination to fill another volume." Well, here it is! Gooney Bird and the Room Mother by Lois Lowry, illus. by Middy Thomas, finds the second-grader—with the impressive vocabulary who brims with "absolutely true" stories—recruiting a Room Mother whose identity remains a mystery. (Houghton/Lorraine, $15 80p ages 6-10 ISBN 0-618-53230-7; Apr.)

For I, Freddy, the launch title in the Golden Hamster Saga, PW wrote, "At tale's start, Freddy wonders, 'Is my story worth putting down on paper?' Readers are apt to respond affirmatively." Now the hamster hero returns for a third installment, Freddy to the Rescue by Dietlof Reiche, trans. from the German by John Brownjohn, illus. by Joe Cepeda. Here his mission is clear: Freddy, along with friends from the animal and human world, must band together to intervene when an auto plant threatens a colony of field hamsters. (Scholastic, $16.95 208p ages 7-10 ISBN 0-439-53157-8; Apr.)

Holy Humiliations! When the heroine first introduced in Lunch Walks Among Us wins the Science Fair Award, the principal proudly announces the girl's full name: Franny Kissypie Stein in Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist: The Fran that Time Forgot by Jim Benton. As the girl tries to travel back in time to change her middle name, fallout ensues. (S&S, $14.95 112p ages 7-10 ISBN 0-689-86294-6; Mar.)

Author Bonnie Giesert, whom PW said "built a strong sense of time and place" with Prairie Summer, set in 1954 South Dakota, returns to the story of 10-year-old Rachel in Lessons. As the story opens, narrator Rachel, the third of four girls, explains that their baby brother has just been born, and something is troubling their father. (Houghton/ Lorraine, $15 192p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-618-47899-X; Apr.)

Spoiler alert: Measle and the Dragodon finds the now 12-year-old hero happily living with his parents, with whom he was reunited at the end of Measle and the Wrathmonk, Ian Ogilvy's debut novel. Here Measle's mother has been kidnapped by the wrathmonk wizards, and in order to rescue her, the boy must best an ancient dragon, stuffed animals come-to-life and more. (HarperCollins, $15.99 352p ages 8-13 ISBN 0-06-058688-5; Apr.)

Calwyn, the heroine from The Singer of All Songs, the first in the Chanters of Temaris Trilogy by Kate Constable, journeys with her friends to faraway Merithuros in The Waterless Sea, to save two children with their gift of chantment (the first book established that, in their world, the song of the human voice is the carrier of strong magic). (Scholastic/Levine, $16.95 320p ages 12-up ISBN 0-439-55480-2; Mar.)

In a follow-up to Eleanor Updale's debut novel, Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman, which PW called "a fine introduction to the thriller genre," Montmorency on the Rocks: Doctor, Aristocrat, Murderer? brings back the Victorian convict-turned-gentleman and the doctor (Farcett) who saved his life, to find the culprit behind London's mysterious bombings. (Scholastic/ Orchard, $16.95 368p ages 9-12 ISBN 0-439-60676-4; Apr.)

A companion to her Quiver (which PW said "competently retells the classical legend of Atalanta"), Quicksilver by Stephanie Spinner explores the mythic figure of Hermes, son of all-powerful Zeus, whose first-person narrative conveys that he may have been responsible for the start of the Trojan War. (Knopf, $15.95 240p ages 12-up ISBN 0-375-82638-6; Apr.)

The Order of the Poison Oak by Brent Hartinger picks up with 16-year-old Russel from Geography Club (which, according to PW, "does a fine job of presenting many of the complex realities of gay teen life, and also what it takes to be a 'thoroughly decent' person"), now "out," who takes a job as camp counselor for burn victims to escape his intolerant classmates. (HarperTempest, $15.99 240p ages 14-up ISBN 0-06-056730-9; Mar.)

For those gluttons for punishment who've not yet had their fill of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket presents The Ominous Omnibus, the launch trio of the series' titles: The Bad Beginning; The Reptile Room and The Wide Window. A wicked cover image of the costumed, made-up Jim Carrey as Count Olaf reinforces the message: Readers beware! (HarperEntertainment, $19.99 609p ages 10-up ISBN 0-06-078252-8; Apr.)

Speaking of Princesses...

A host of titles boast glitter for girl royal wannabes. Sparkly Princess —and also Sparkly Ballerina —use jewelly covers to entice toddlers within the hand-size board books; die-cut pages (with a heart-shaped hole that grows bigger with each turn of the page for Princess, and a star for Ballerina) allow the foil image on the final page to shine through. (DK, $5.99 each 10p ages 18 mos.-3 yrs. ISBN 0-7566-0996-8; 0-7566-0995-X; Apr.)

For slightly older pretenders, the board book Make-Believe Princess and Make-Believe Fairy use not only glitter, but also fabric to touch, invitations to open and tabs to pull, to make the experience interactive. (DK, $6.99 each 12p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-7566-1017-6; 0-7566-1016-8; Apr.)

Die-cut to resemble a crown, with a glittering cover to match, Princess Fun: Count 10 to 1 by Ellen Leroe, illus. by Hideko Takahashi, begins with "10 little princesses wearing their pretty crowns./ 9 froggy princes hop-hopping around" and touches on fairy godmothers and dragons before reaching "1 shiny crown left, perfect just for you!" (Little Simon, $5.99 12p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-689-86895-2; Apr.)

Royals-in-Waiting

Every baby is a prince- or princess-in-waiting, according to their parents anyway. Several new titles help infants on their way to a royal education. With six full-page flaps that fold out from the right-hand page, Baby Talk paves the way to a half dozen of Baby's most popular expressions. A photo of a baby hidden behind a hat on the left accompanies "This little baby is hiding," and the flap folds down to reveal both the baby's face and "peekaboo!" (The closing spread winds down with "night-night!") Noisy Farm uses the same format and incorporates animal photos to teach their sounds—"quack-quack!" and "baa!" among them. (DK, $4.99 each 20p ages 6 mos.-2 yrs. ISBN 0-7566-0986-0; 0-7566-0987-9; Mar.)

The covered, spiral-bound titles in the See Through series—Do Cars Fly? and Do Gloves Go on Feet?—hide the answer to the question posed on each spread. A red car on the left introduces the question, "Do cars fly in the sky"; a turn of the acetate page reveals the answer ("No, cars go on roads! Airplanes fly in the sky"), accompanied by a formerly hidden yellow biplane. The second title uses strategically die-cut pages to guide toddlers in getting dressed properly. (DK, $6.99 each 20p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-7566-0774-4; 0-7566-0775-2; Mar.)

The oversize Baby's Busy World by Dawn Sirett uses a large photo on the left to introduce a concept, and more detailed images on the right to go deeper into related themes. For instance, "Little faces" on the left gives a diagram of baby's face, perfect for pointing out eye, ear, nose, etc., while smaller panels of photos on the right demonstrate "thirsty baby, sad baby, tired baby" and more. (DK, $12.99 26p ages 6 mos.-4 yrs. ISBN 0-7566-1018-4; Apr.)

Happy 200th Birthday, Hans!

Danish biographer Jens Andersen (no relation to his subject) provides a fascinating backdrop for the life of the acclaimed fairy-tale writer on the 200th anniversary of his birth, in Hans Christian Andersen: A New Life, trans. by Tiina Nunnally. The biography opens with 14-year-old Hans's arrival in Copenhagen in September 1819, traces his short-lived stage career and his budding writing life, and suggests the ways in which he juxtaposed the facts with his fictions. A full review appears in Nonfiction Forecasts, p. 46. (Overlook, $35 608p ISBN 1-58567-642-X; May)

Back to Basics

A trio of titles introduces concepts to youngest readers. The new board book format makes Hello Kitty: What Will I Be A to Z? just right for those learning the alphabet or contemplating a career. From "artist" to "zoologist," the pages brim with images that begin with the featured letter, surrounding the glamorous white feline. (Abrams, $6.95 28p ages 6 mos.-5 yrs. ISBN 0-8109-5850-3; Apr.)

In ABC NYC: A Book About Seeing New York City, author and photographer Joanne Dugan takes readers on an alphabetical tour of the Big Apple, beginning with a mosaic "A" embedded in the sidewalk, which introduces Rockefeller Center's Atlas. "He cannot wave to you because he is carrying the world on his shoulders," pipes the text in a typically wry tone. "Z is for Zoom" depicts a passing view of the lights inside the Lincoln Tunnel. At the close, Dugan unveils the locations, A to Z. (Abrams, $14.95 56p ages 3-6 ISBN 0-8109-5854-6; May)

A turn of the page transforms something "Good"—a pair of bees buzzing around some flowers—into something "Not So Good" when the bees begin to swarm the young heroine, in the paper-over-board The Little Book of Not So by Charise Mericle Harper. Ice cream cones demonstrate examples of "Big" and "Not So Big" when the girl's cone starts out bigger than a mouse's but is then outsized by an elephant's cone. (Houghton, $9.95 32p ages 2-5 ISBN 0-618-47319-X; Apr.)