Books in the Children's Room----look what's coming!

Anyone who spends time reading children's books has noticed the trend toward series fiction in the last decade or so.  If an author is successful with one book, I just imagine the publishers calling her/him into the head office to demand, "Let's make a SERIES out of this!!!"  Sometimes I wax nostalgic for the days when it was sufficient for a book to just be a great book. Then again, there are times when I'm really glad that an author is busily writing more and more books about a character that I can hardly wait to read some more about!  So, in a spirit of appreciation, here are some new installments in a handful of my favorite series (and one start to a new series by a favorite author)---soon to arrive in the Children's Room.  If they're some of your favorites, too, keep an eye out for them, and when you see them, check them out!

First of all, I'm glad to see a new adventure starring Knuffle Bunny---Knuffle Bunny Free.  This time Trixie and family are off on a trip to Holland to visit grandparents.  Hmmm.....what could go wrong? Due out on Sep. 28!

Knuffle Bunny author Mo Willems also has an enormously popular early-reader series starring an unlikely duo---Elephant and Piggy.  They have a new book out, too,---We Are In A Book!  So if you love Elephant and Piggy, you're in luck!

Have you been waiting for more of the irrepressible Babymouse? I have! I can't wait to see what she gets up to as Babymouse, Cupcake Tycoon.
 Due out on Sep. 28!

And here's a new installment in one of my favorite series, The Ranger's Apprentice series, by John Flanagan.  This time Ranger Halt gets top billing, in a book entitled Halt's Peril, which is due out on October 5.  If you're having trouble waiting until then, try going to the official Ranger's Apprentice website---lots of cool information, interviews with the author, etc., at  www.rangersapprentice.com/.

O.K., now for the new series-opener from a favorite author.  Rick Riordan, of Percy Jackson fame, has written The Heroes of Olympus, the first of a proposed series.  Unlike The Red Pyramid, published this summer, the new series doesn't present us with a completely new set of characters, settings, and plots.  Instead, we'll be returning to Camp Half Blood, and picking up where Percy left off, with a new generation of demigods. I don't know about you, but I'm glad we're going back to Camp Half Blood! Due out October 12!

All right--just one last teaser for a new series installment.  It's a fact---come November 7, there will be an addition to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid collection! For those of you who have loved them all, just hang in there.  The Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The Ugly Truth will be coming soon. If you feel like you just can't wait, have you read The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary yet? If you've ever wondered how a movie gets made, you're not alone. Author and illustrator Jeff Kinney didn't know either, but when his bestselling series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, was turned into a live-action movie by 20th Century Fox, he learned how a book gets adapted into a major motion picture. It's really interesting---did you know how they managed to make that piece of yucky cheese????

Of course, while you're waiting for these wonderful additions to the collection, feel free to come in and re-read some of the earlier titles, or ask for some help finding some other great books to read while you wait!