book sightings

A couple o’ clucks have escaped the hen house!

The other day, Cornelius spotted Tammi Sauer’s brand new picture book, Chicken Dance, at the local Barnes & Noble (Fairfax, VA), even though it’s not officially out until August 1, 2009.

Be warned, people. Elvis Poultry is in the building!!

Chicken Dance is published by Sterling, with fowl color illos by Dan Santat. (Is that chicken soup I smell?) I’m beyond egg-cited! Thank you, thank you very much.

More fowl play at elvispoultrybooks.com.

Some of you may remember Cornelius and his penchant for high adventure.

Recently he scoped out a few local bookstores in Fairfax and Reston, Virginia. Here are the treasures he found:

At Barnes and Noble, he first ran into this tower of Virginia Reader’s Choice titles.

He scaled this thing like a pro, quacking back at Duck at the Door, by Jackie Urbanovic, on the way up. When he finally reached the pinnacle, he found Cynthia Lord’s Rules! Can you see him all the way up there?

Here’s a close-up (paperback out September 1, 2008)!

So fitting to have this masterpiece at the very top.

Then he made his way to the shelves, where the aroma of freshly-baked cupcakes drew him to this:

He sighed, fondly remembering Grace Lin’s visit to alphabet soup.

Then, on the shelf below, a band of jogging sausages brought him to his feet.

Oh, David Lubar! He’s written lots of books. Strangely funny books. He even ate filet mignon once at Kelly Fineman’s house. (We won’t mention how poor David was coerced by a couple of gnomes into guzzling some bourbon.)

Next, Cornelius paid his respects to Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak.

The words, I am not worthy, kept coming to mind . . .

Around the corner, he spied 10 Lucky Things by Mary Hershey. Recently he celebrated this book’s release with some special soup.

Then he heard a ruckus over by the picture book shelf, so he went to see what those bouncing bambinos were giggling about.

Oh, Cowboy Camp by Tammi Sauer. No wonder.

Then, something tookish came over him. Wait a minute. Only hobbits get tookish.

Let’s try that again.

Then, something growly came over him, as he craved the kind of books he loved most. Did this dollar-devouring den have any?

You bet! There was this:

A book everyone’s been talking about.

And this old favorite:

And finally, this brand new novel about his best friend, Paddington.

Oh, what’s that over there?

So glad he didn’t miss Jeannine Garsee’s novel, Before, After, and Somebody in Between.

And he couldn’t leave the store without checking out the fantasy shelves.

Wonderful! Tantalize, by Cynthia Leitich Smith, was just what he was looking for!

Oh, this was so exciting! Just as he was heading out the door, two more books called out to him:

He had already read Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time by Lisa Yee, and it was good to see it. But now here was another David Lubar book, True Talents, in paperback. This guy seems to be everywhere. Note to self: bourbon may enhance writing.

Cornelius purchased copies of the books he didn’t already have. Definitely a very satisfying adventure. And then, of course, came the best part:

There’s nothing like a good book to make you hunger for more, uh, books.