Snook Alone
Marilyn Nelson, illus. by Timothy Basil Ering, Candlewick, $16.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2667-9
Nelson (Sweethearts of Rhythm) writes with extraordinary sensitivity about a terrier marooned on a small island. Her prose is taut as a rope, and Ering’s (Finn Throws a Fit!) brilliantly drafted artwork sweeps across the wild waves and portrays every sort of island life. Snook is left behind when his beloved master, a monk named Abba Jacob, has to abandon an island census and put out to sea as a storm threatens; Snook waits faithfully for his return. “In the silence, he listened. The wind was his breathing. The waves were his breath.” Snook can eat and drink and forage for himself, and--though he pines for Abba Jacob--he learns that the island offers many amusements, like rolling in smelly flotsam: “Thus camouflaged, Snook stalked his island in a wolf-size cloud of stink. The rats didn’t know what hit them.” A shark attacks a sea turtle and wounds her; another maimed turtle lays her eggs as Snook watches; these wrenching moments may disturb sensitive readers, and the story’s complex vocabulary may require explanations. But Nelson’s moving portrait of Snook and his triumphant reunion should win a wide and enthusiastic audience. Ages 4–7. (Sept.)

Web Exclusive Aftermath: A Guide to Preparing for and Surviving Apocalypse 2012
Lawrence E. Joseph, Broadway, $23.99 (288p) ISBN 9780767930789
While Joseph doesn't accept Mayan prophecies as divine decree, he isn't quite prepared to dismiss them outright. In his view, 2012 is "best understood as the crescendo of a metamorphic process already under way," because "apocalypse is in the air." Describing himself as a "doomsayer," not a "naysayer," he eschews global warming as the greatest threat to mankind today in favor of a massive burst of solar activity, a crack in the earth's magnetic shield that destroys the world's electric-generating power, acts of terrorism, a nuclear event, or any number of other grim scenarios with consequences devastating enough to challenge the global population's will to survive. Joseph sees the prophecies associated with 12/21/12 as "a compelling shorthand for the possibility of civilization-altering cataclysm and/or revelation within our lifetimes," and urges readers to begin developing "a family emergency plan now" that includes insuring a supply of fresh water, food, weapons (a matter of personal choice), and spirituality ("unless you're into void and oblivion"). With this rehash of his previous alert (Apocalypse 2012: An Investigation Into Civilization's End), Joseph tills familiar ground and straddles the precarious line between real historical investigation and "sky is falling" hysteria. (July)

Under Fishbone Clouds
Sam Meekings, St. Martin's/Dunne, $24.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-312-62279-4
Meekings explores in his accomplished debut the inner workings of a Chinese couple's marriage before, during, and after the Cultural Revolution. Told from the perspective of the Kitchen God, who has been challenged by the Jade Emperor to unravel the mysteries of the human heart, the tale begins in 1946 as Jinyi and Yuying are soon to be wed. Skipping back to 1942 and 1944 to explore formative events in each one's past, the story takes the reader on a riveting trip of unrelenting trials and tribulations ranging from the loss of three sons to enforced work camps to, in the recent past, life-threatening illness. Still, through even the longest of separations and hardships, the couple's love endures, proving that the human spirit can rebound from the most dire of circumstances. Meekings is a bangup storyteller, and his easy handling of rich and varied material--rustic splendor, class warfare, profound anguish, drastic social changes--will keep readers rapt. This is a beautifully told love story as well as an absorbing study in Chinese folklore and history. (Dec.)

The Best American Comics 2010
Editor by Neil Gaiman; series editors, Jessica Abel and Matt Madden, Houghton Mifflin, $23 (TKp) ISBN 978-0-547-24177-7
This yearly anthology is always something to look forward to, with its impressive editors, juicy forewords, and superabundance of comics genius between its two covers. Series editors Jessica Abel and Matt Madden start off with a brief history of the burst in comics' popularity and readership over the past decade; luckily for us, they include an extensive list of "Notable Comics" that didn't make the final cut. Gaiman, in turn, agonizes entertainingly over the accuracy of the title Best American Comics and finally suggests that the volume instead be called A Sampler: Some Really Good Comics, Including Extracts from Longer Stories We Thought Could Stand on Their Own. It's a wealth of fine storytelling: extracts from Lagoon, the gorgeously strange fairy tale by Lili Carré; Carol Tyler's great You'll Never Know; Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe; and Fred Chao's Johnny Hiro. Some stand-alone gems include Todd Brower and Steve MacIsaac's "Ex Communication," in which two bearish men meet for a drink and chat uncomfortably about what they've been up to since their split; Peter Kuper's two-page takedown of the Bush legacy in "Ceci n'est pas un comic"; and Gabrielle Bell's "Mixed Up Files." A thrilling and varied journey from start to finish. (Oct.)