Final Hunger Games Title!

And it's . . . Mockingjay. Aaaand the cover is off to your right. It releases August 24th, and trust me, there are not going to be any ARCs for this.

Now comes the rabid speculation. How will Kat and Peeta (feh, I know not this Gale you speak of) and the other revolutionaries bring down the corrupt Capitol government? Who will bite it? Because I wouldn't put it past Suzanne Collins to kill off somebody beloved and important. I have my money on Kat, but that's because I'm a terrible, heartless excuse for a human being.

In other news, has anyone seen my dignity? I think it fled after I let out a fangirl squeal fit to shatter glass when I saw the news on Tasha "Kid's Lit" Saecker's Twitter feed.

Eh, not like I was using it anyway.

New for 2010

2010 starts in two days, and I can start salivating because we're that much closer to these books coming out.

After Ever After by Jordon Sonnenblick (February 1) - In a sequel/companion to Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie, Sonnenblick takes a look at the life of a kid after cancer. Intriguing.

Heist Society by Ally Carter (February 9) - The start of a new series about a family of con artists, jewel thieves, and the girl who can't quite manage to leave her family traditions behind. Bloggers I trust have already read ARCs and pronounced it great fun.

The Last Summer of the Death Warriors by Francisco X Stork (March 1) - I want to see what else the author of Marcelo in the Real World can spring on us.

Lord Sunday by Garth Nix (March 16) - The last couple of books in The Keys to the Kingdom series got pretty complex and I admit it, lost me a few times. It's an intricate series, and probably is best read all in one gulp. But I can't wait to see how Arthur Penhaligon will collect the last Key, and what will happen to him when he does.

A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner (March 23) - If you can't understand my slavish devotion to Turner and her tales of the trickster Eugenides, I can only direct you to The Thief and envy you the ride ahead.

The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott (April 4) - Y'all, I would read The Toilet Paper Chronicles if Elizabeth Scott wrote it, and probably would love it.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (April 6) - John Green and David Levithan? Which kidney would you like?

A Wizard of Mars by Diane Duane (April 14) - I've been waiting for this one, literally, for years. Publication got pushed back a couple of times, but this time they're almost pretty sure it'll probably come out this year.

Runaway by Meg Cabot (May 1) - The third in the Airhead trilogy (I think), this promises to answer a lot of questions, including the most important one--are Em and Christopher just gonna smooch already or what?

The Princess and the Snowbird by Mette Ivie Harrison (May 4) - I loved The Princess and the Hound so much that I'm going to remain optimistic for this title.

Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (May 5) - Another third of a trilogy, this in the wowie-zowie Chaos Walking Series. My reaction: !!!!!!!!

Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev (May 25) - What the heck is Bertie going to do on the outside? This could be wondrous or completely hollow, without the setting of the Theatre. Hoping it's the former.

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (July 20) - Just finished Shiver last night. Besides my love for Stiefvater's style, my interest is piqued by the fact that this is a sequel about the same characters in the aftermath of the first book, not another love story between two different people.

Hunger Games Book 3 by Suzanne Collins (August 24) - Peeta. Katniss. Revolution. Cliffhanger. Nuff said.

What are you looking forward to for 2010?

The Next Big Thing Has Feathers

Some time back, a blogger posted the question, what's the Next Big Thing? We're tired of vampires, so who gets the next ride on the hot-topic carousel? We said it would be werewolves, mummies, and zombies. Well, we got a little of each (though I'm still waiting for the swoony romantic novel with the bandage problems), but now it seems that angels are next on the list. An editor ponders the appeal over at PW:

“The young books like [Sharon Creech's The Unfinished Angel] are using angels to suggest the world can be a better place,” said Kate Jackson, editor-in-chief of HarperCollins Children's Books. In YA books, however, she believes angels “are a symbol of forbidden love. What's more forbidden than having a romance with someone who's not human?”

Not to mention he's got a really powerful boss.

I joke, but there do seem to be some swoony possibilities in angels. About ten years ago, there was a little explosion of angels in romance novels. At the time, I couldn't fathom it, but now it makes sense. There's the fearsome goodness, for one. There's the hint of superpowers. There's the feeling that your love interest has a higher calling, and is involved in Big Things. Hopefully for the story, this means that you get mixed up in Big Things too. (Of course, all that's upended when the angel in question is fallen, and that's even more fun.) And anybody's who's seen Mischa Collins as the angel Castiel on the TV show "Supernatural" (you're welcome) knows that being angelic doesn't mean you're all fair and pasty and go around strumming the harp all day.

Will the vampires turn to dust? (Ha, see what I did there?) I'm sure all those trends from the first paragraph will hang on for awhile, especially as the New Moon adaptation comes out this fall. And of course, there is the caveat to every trend--a really good book, even if it's waaaay out there, is going to find its readers.

Myself, I'm hoping that the upcoming angel books will also be books that ask questions about faith, religion, and morality without being so heavy you could tie them to the feet of your worst enemy and toss them in the East River. What would you most like to see in the upcoming angel books?

Coming Attractions from Harlequin Teen

So remember how awhile back, I had a post about the new Harlequin Teen line, and there were actual, like, comments from Trisha of the YAYAYAs, and I replied, and it was just like a real blog?

Well, pretend you do.

Anyway, Trisha has posted this link to a meet-the-editor and a rundown of what's coming up from the Harlequin Teen line. It seems to be pretty heavy on the girl-oriented supernatural, or at least the article leads off that way. Some authors are new to me, some I know from their adult novels. They all look like books that I'd pick up and take a second look at in B&N, but also books that I would go, "Harlequin? Really?" and examine the spine closely just in case it peels off. I guess we'll see how they sell.

Points to Harlequin for jacket design though--the two covers they show don't have any kind of "line design" feel about them. I kind of wondered if they would have a specific Harlequin Teen cover style. Harlequin/Silhouette are the queens of distinctive cover styles on their series romances, and that works really, really well for those, but it wouldn't have for the eclectic, teen-oriented brand they seem to be aiming for with HT. So I'm glad they gave that a miss. Good show, art department.

All else aside, that Soul Screamers series looks friggin' awesome.

Coming Attractions

A few weeks back, I asked folks on the Kidlitosphere listserv to post what they were looking forward to for 2009, but I've been so caught up in moving that I never got the chance to post my own list. Here it is . . . some of it at any rate.

The School For Dangerous Girls - Eliot Schrefer (January 1)
I saw this mentioned on the adbooks listserv and went, "OOooooooooo," for the title alone. Oh, like you didn't.

From Russia With Lunch - Bruce Hale (January 1)
I actually read this in ARC form, so I can't really say I'm looking forward to it. Maybe what I'm looking forward to is being able to hand this to the little boys at my library. "Here ya go, kid. More Chet Gecko delight. Have at it."

Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed - Mo Willems (January 6)
BeCAUSE. It's Mo WILLems.

Wintergirls - Laurie Halse Anderson (March 19)
See Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed and replace with appropriate author name.

Radiant Darkness - Emily Whitman (April 28)
I met Emily at the Kidlitosphere conference in Portland and was really interested to hear the plot of this book, which is a retelling of the Hades/Persephone/Demeter story. I love retellings. Love.

The Treasure Map of Boys - E. Lockhart (July 29)
The fourth Ruby Oliver book! Huzzah!

Al Capone Shines My Shoes - Gennifer Choldenko (Fall)
Moose is back! Actually, I've only seen this in an author sig on a listserv. Amazon and the author website have both failed me. Can anyone confirm? Pleeeeease?

All right, that's what I've got right now. What are you looking forward to for 2009? Please share!