Random House/Knopf

Children's Bookwatch, April, 2008

Random House/Knopf

c/o Random House Children's Books

1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019

www.randomhouse.com/kids

N.D. Wilson's LEEPIKE RIDGE (9780375838736, $15.99) tells of a preteen who has always lived next to Leepike Ridge--but who finds himself lost beneath it when he escapes the man set to marry his mother and finds his escape raft has left him underground. His discoveries under the ridge--of a body, a dog and more--will answer questions and challenge his survival skills in a riveting adventure kids will relish. Debi Gliori's PURE DEAD FROZEN (9780375833175, $15.99) returns the Strega-Borgia family with a new adventure when a baby is born to the family but immediately is snatched away and replaced by a demon baby. Ancient evil comes back to life and the family's gearing up for a showdown in this fun fantasy. Siobhan Dowd's THE LONDON EYE MYSTERY (9780375849763, $15.99) tells of a boy who mysteriously vanishes from the sealed pod of the London Eye. Even the police are baffled--and it's up to Ted and his older sister to become sleuthing partners, tracing a trail of clues across London in search of an endangered cousin. Add the tensions surrounding their stormy relationship and you have a satisfying mystery powered by changing personal relationships. Karen Schwabach's THE HOPE CHEST (9780375840951, $16.99) tells of one Violet, a young lady on the run from her parents in 1917--and in search of a sister who has left to journey to New York. Violet's search for her sister leads her on to Tennessee, where Chloe is fighting for women's rights, involving Violet in a new world of women's rights. THE HOPE CHEST brings to life early women's suffrage efforts and makes for an adventure-filled read.