A follow-up to Percy Jackson. Cynopsis Kids had news this week on the new "Heroes of Olympus" series set for this fall: "A follow-up to Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the series takes readers back to Camp Half-Blood and features new characters, as well as some from the Percy Jackson series. The first title in series, The Lost Hero, will be available from October 12, 2010. Fans can check out the newly unveiled cover for The Lost Hero as well as the first two chapters of the book on www.camphalfblood.com." (The password isn't too hard to find.)
"Are Children's Publishers Destroying Rainforests?"Ouch: "In a recent report, the Rainforest Action Network said most of the top 10 children's publishers have released at least one picture book containing paper fiber linked to the destruction of Indonesian rainforests."
Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures. PW Comics Week reviewed a recent installment in this fun series for 8- to 12-year-olds, Alison Dare: Little Miss Adventures . ("Meet 12-year-old Alison Dare, a youngster with a flair for action and adventure who has a world famous archeologist for a mother (Dr. Alice Dare), a librarian and masked super hero (The Blue Scarab) for a father, and an international spy and master of disguise for an uncle.")
The LA Times interviews Daniel Handler. There's a disproportionate amount of funny stuff in this short Q&A, including Handler's take on "the trend toward casualness": "It makes me unhappy. To some extent, it's on purpose, so I don't know if I would call it unfortunate in the sense of unlucky. There's a casual agenda, and I think it's winning. The pros of formality are forethought put into word and action, spiffier clothing and fetishization of everyday occurrences." (via Educating Alice)
"Die Wilden Fußballkerle" (a.k.a. the "Wild Soccer Bunch"). If you have some newly minted (or even already rabid) young soccer fans thanks to the World Cup, you should check out this middle-grade series, which--while very popular overseas--has taken a long time to reach the U.S.
Comments