By Jan Pease
Part of my job for the next month
involves looking at
books that we put on an automatic order last year to see if we
should
automatically order them again.
One that I’m
definitely adding is Tim
Green. He was a star
defensive end with
the Atlanta Falcons, earned a law degree, and has worked as an
NFL commentator
for FOX Sports and NPR. Mr.
Green writes
books for adults, including “The Dark Side of the Game,” and “American Outrage.” He also writes books for
younger readers,
“Football Genius,” “Football Hero,” “Rivals,” and others. His newest book is “Kid
Owner,” a kind of
Cinderella story about football in which a boy named Ryan
suddenly becomes the
owner of the Dallas Cowboys. As
Tim
Green says, not only is this a dream come true, it might just
help Ryan survive
middle school. 
Another author that I will keep on
automatic order is
Kenneth Oppel, well known for his “Silverwing Trilogy” and
“Airborn,” among
other great juvenile novels. His
new
book, “The Nest,” is
really unusual.
Lian Tanner is an author I’d like to
see on automatic
order. Her new trilogy,
“The Hidden,” begins
with the book, “Icebreaker,” which shows
an outstanding bit of world-building.
The Oyster is an ice breaking ship that has been sailing
for 300 years
on a frozen ocean. The crew has forgotten its original mission,
and is divided
into tribes based on job function.
The
heroine is a girl named Petrel whose only friends are two large,
talking rats. The
secrets of this strange ship are revealed
bit by bit. My favorite review at amazon.com was from a 10-year
old named
Tiaki, who wrote: “It was set very well. The way everything
happened was very
good.”
I don’t know how three strong writers can
work together to
tell one story. Scott
Westerfield has
teamed up with Margo Lanagan and Deborah Biancotti to launch a
new series, “Zeroes.” The
heroes of “Zeroes” (Sorry, I just had to
write that) are six teenagers in California who have really
unusual powers. There
is an immediate connection to the
re-launched “Heroes” show on NBC. But
the superpowers in this diverse group of teens are unusual. I found myself wondering
which viewpoints
were written by which author. 
I have to mention a couple of picture books. Just in time for Halloween, “The Very fairy Princess: A Spooky, Sparkly Halloween,” written by Julie Andrews and her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton, is the perfect book for people who like to play dress up, who like Halloween, and who are princesses. An epic costume failure lets Gerry, the very fairy princess, save the day.
And, do you remember a teacher who was hard on everyone, especially you, and never, ever gave a student an A? But you learned more from that teacher than all the others? Patricia Polacco’s new book, “An A from Miss Keller,” tells a story from her own life, about the teacher who taught her how to “give her words wings.” It’s funny, but we often learn more from that teacher than all the others.
I know that I did.
