Thursday Three: Hot Titles

Posted by Pam on June 4, 2009 at 9:58 AM in Middle Grade Books, Picture Books, Young Adult Books

Last weekend I attended Book Expo America (BEA) and had a blast. I met some wonderful authors, got tons of signed books, and shipped home a forty-pound box of goodies. For today's Thursday Three, I'm covering the hottest titles in Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Picture Books.

Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins
People lined up in the early hours of the morning to get a ticket to Suzanne Collins' book signing. Others scouted out the 10:00 a.m. Scholastic distribution of the Advance Reader Copy (ARC), not wanting to wait until the September release to read the sequel to Hunger Games. But I didn't realize how hot this title was until I came home and saw bids on ebay reaching over $100. (ARC's specifically say that they are Not For Sale, often on the cover.) A few book blogs offered their copies to readers in random drawings and pulled in over two hundred comments. This book is Twilight-hot. And I picked up an abandoned copy off a lunch table at the convention. Crazy.

Meet Rebecca
by Jacqueline Dembar Greene
American Girl released a new historical character, Rebecca Rubin, a Jewish-American immigrant living in New York City in 1914. Contrary to the Catching Fire fever, this new series by American Girl slipped under the radar for most people I talked to, but it was an entirely pleasant surprise. At the book signing on Sunday morning I was very excited to meet the author and express my delight at a series chronicling the Jewish immigrant experience. I brought the book home and can't wait to read it. The doll is super-cute too. Forget my kids, I want her myself. Seriously.

Big Frog Can't Fit In
by Mo Willems
Another hot ticket was for the new Mo Willems' title, even though it's not available yet. Folks stood in long lines to get Mr. Willems signature on the promo piece for the new pop-up book. I can appreciate the excitement as I'd buy it if Mo illustrated the AIG collapse. (Actually, that might help me understand it.) So not seeing the book yet, all I can say is that the frog is apparently large and doesn't "fit in," one may guess both figuratively and literally. Hence, the pop-up.

I hadn't made it to New York in time for Mo's signing, but as chance would have it, I ran into him on Saturday on the exhibit floor. We talked a bit, and I got my signature and he said the first frog doodle. Or maybe he meant the first frog on a T-shirt. Either way, I'm happy.