Want to be fancy? Come join the book parade of Jane O’Connor. O’Connor has written the following books:
Fancy Nancy
Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy
Fancy Nancy Bonjour Butterfly
Fancy Nancy’s Favorite Words from Accessories to Zany
Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire
Fancy Nancy Party Planner Tea Parties

The latest—Fancy Nancy Party Planner Tea Parties–is great fun for little girls and might provide helpful tips for Moms having their own tea party.

If your wallet is feeling a little pinched, you might try the beginner readers at a sweet price of $3.99. The titles are Fancy Nancy Sees Stars, Fancy Nancy the Dazzling Book Report, Fancy Nancy at the Museum, Fancy Nancy and the Boy from Paris, Fancy Nancy Poison Ivy Expert, Fancy Nancy the Show Must Go On, and Fancy Nancy Pajama Day. There are also several sticker books. (All picture books, ages 4-8)

Mortimer’s First Garden by Karma Wilson, Children’s Picture Book, Ages 4-8
From the best selling author of Bear Snores On comes Mortimer’s First Garden. Would you like to plant a seed and watch it grow? This story lends itself to being able to do that with your child. Mortimer has a seed and he is also hungry. He has heard that in the spring seeds can be planted, they will grow and produce more seeds. He has a choice, eat the seed in hand or risk planting that one seed. What does Mortimer do?

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The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan (Young Adult Fiction, 12 and up)
In the winter of 1865, circumstances find Aiden and Maddy Lynch (brother and sister) stranded on a piece of dried up farmland in Kansas. The last of the food has been eaten when Jefferson J. Jackson arrives on the farm. Jackson is looking for strong men to join his wagon train which is headed for Seattle, not two half-starved teenagers. The children convince Jackson to take them on the 2,000 mile journey. Jackson tells them bluntly, “Aside from disease, there’s storms, Indian stampedes, and pure awful accidents. Anyway you can think up to die is out there waiting.” In spite of the warning of hardship, the children gather courage and spirit to make the long journey. As the wagon train moves along the trail, you can easily visualize the beautiful and sometimes harsh western frontier. Aiden’s honesty, loyalty, courage and keen wit for survival will be the force that will bring him through until the end. The novel will being warmth, sadness and hope to you the reader and will provide a sense of appreciation of how tough early America must have been. Just think, no cell phones, no television, no running water2009 is looking pretty good.

Paula Morris has set this exciting ghost story in the city of New Orleans several years after Katrina. Rebecca Brown is from New York City visiting her Aunt Claudia who lives in a creepy house across the street from the Lafayette Cemetery. Rebecca makes a friend with Lisette, a ghost , who has a score to settle. If you like ghost stories and mysteries you will love this one. (Ages 12 and up)

About the Book
Maggie is a tan Cocker Spaniel puppy who was taken from the puppy dog kennel to live with Carrie in Highland Cove. Maggie’s favorite thing to do is go for a walk in the neighborhood. She describes what she sees and smells as she and Carrie go for a walk in the neighborhood.

About the Author
Carolyn E. Grant is a freelance writer who lives in Brandon, MS, near the Barnett Reservoir. This is the setting of the Maggie’s Neighbor series of children’s picture books in which Maggie experiences the same seasons, events and holidays as children ages 3 to 6 years old. The books were inspired when Carrie’s grandchildren called and asked,  “What is Maggie Doing?” Maggie is the tan Cocker Spaniel puppy Kalysa went with Carrie to pick out and bring home.

Ten percent of all proceeds from the Maggie books will go to the Community Adoption and Rescue Association.

Information is from Carolyn E. Grants promotional material.

Suzanne Selfors, author of Saving Juliet, delivers a welcome and enjoyable summer read in Coffeehouse Angel. (This is one especially for those suffering from the sometimes heavy and deep summer reading lists for school.)

Coffeehouse Angel begins with 16-year-old Katrina opening up her grandmothers coffee shop one morning only to discover a vagrant, albeit a beautiful one, sleeping by the trash can out back. Her simple act of kindness towards this mysterious man yields surprising and supernatural consequences.

A light but warm story full of lovable, quirky people with realistic struggles, this book affectionately portrays  the insecurity and uncertainty every young adult feels growing up, and the power of love, friendship, and community to draw out vibrant strengths and gifts each person can offer to others. (Ages 12 and up)

Julie Berry succeeds in her debut Young Adult novel The Amaranth Enchantment in that she imbues her main character Lucinda Chapdelaine with emotional honesty, fortitude, and humor in the face of difficulty.

Lucinda’s life so far has been one of happiness cut tragically short as her parents died when she was five, leaving her homeless, penniless, and without love.  Having lived for ten years with an uncle and cruel aunt, fifteen-year old Lucinda finds her life turned upside-down when, on the same day, a mysterious and beautiful woman leaves a magical jewel in her uncle’s jewelry repair shop, a dashing young prince converses with her, and a plucky thief takes advantage of her kindness by stealing the mysterious customer’s jewel.  Forced out of the house by her vindictive aunt for “stealing” the jewel, Lucinda takes this “opportunity” to visit her old home only to find that Beryl, the jewel’s owner, is the current resident.  Beryl is an enigmatic woman, full of dark secrets and an aching heart, and it is in the space of the latter, in the emotional space of grief unredeemed that Beryl and Lucinda connect.  It is this tenuous thread of connection that precipitates the fast-moving action of the rest of the narrative. Such a pace enables Berry to maintain an emotional buoyancy within Lucinda as she faces the obstacles along her path. In return for retrieving the stone, Lucinda is guaranteed her old home.  Amidst discovering the whereabouts of thieving Peter, our young maiden runs smack dab into her worlds-apart prince and a precarious dance of flirtation and romance ensues, only to end in darkness. Uncertainties abound: for the present, can Lucinda get back Beryl’s magical stone? For the future, can prince and commoner live happily ever after? And for the past, can grief be swallowed up in love? Discover your own answers to these questions when you read The Amaranth Enchantment. Ages 9 and up.

God Is with Me through the Night

Mississippi author Julie Cantrell uses apt and funny pictures of the animal kingdom to convey simple yet prevalent truths about growing up: a child goes to sleep afraid of the dark; a child feels small in the big world; a child likes to wrestle with a sibling; and a child longs for love, support, and safety. In the midst of all these emotions and desires of a child, God is there: a foundation of comfort, companionship, and strength. Put simply, God is with Me through the Night reveals and reminds a child that God will keep you…through the night and always. A short but appropriate Scripture verse ends the book, reinforcing God’s words of care to little ones.

God Is with Me through the Day

In God is with Me through the Day, Julie Cantrell again incorporates sparse writing with expressive pictures from the animal world to explain to a child the nearness of God amidst such emotions as fear, lonelinesss, happiness, and playfulness.  Cantrell’s correspondence between animal behavior and human emotion is perfect and even hilarious at times.  The length of both books is appropriate for very young little ones as Cantrell’s writing is short and simple but profound and truthful.  What meaningful and fun books for parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles to read to our children!