To Be Continued...

Readers reunite with favorite characters in summer sequels. As in Dial-a-Ghost and The Great Ghost Rescue, The Haunting of Granite Farm by Eva Ibbotson, illus. by Kevin Hawkes, revolves around conflicts of displaced ghosts and features a (human) orphan boy who helps them find a home. New twists and turns abound, and readers will gleefully keep pages turning to find out how the author's new cast of apparitions—including Krok the Viking, Miss Spinks the drowned governess and Stanislous the former vampire—fare. (Dutton, $15.99 224p ages 8-up ISBN 0-525-47192-8; June)

Daniel Pinkwater hatches Looking for Bobowicz, illus. by Jill Pinkwater, in which a giant chicken is once again wreaking havoc in Hoboken. Nick and his friends uncover news articles about Henrietta, a giant chicken that rampaged through the town years before, but they feel certain that only Arthur Bobowicz—who figured prominently in Pinkwater's The Hoboken Chicken Emergency —can help them find the answers. (HarperCollins, $15.99 208p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-06-053554-7; June)

The heroine who masqueraded as the title character in Bloody Jack, which PW called "a rattling good read," returns in the engaging Curse of the Blue Tattoo: Being an Account of the Misadventures of Jacky Faber, Midshipman and Fine Lady by L. A. Meyer. Jacky, now enrolled in the Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston, tussles with her well-to-do schoolmates, gets arrested for singing and dancing at the harbor and helps solve a murder mystery. (Harcourt, $17 384p ages 12-up ISBN 0-15-205115-5; June)

Louise Rennison returns with her laugh-a-minute heroine from Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging in the fifth installment, Away Laughing on a Fast Camel: Even More Confessions of Georgia Nicolson. With her boyfriend away in New Zealand (aka "Kiwi-a-gogo land"), life must go on for Georgia. But a new "gorgey and fabby" singer from "Spaghetti-a-gogo land" (Italy to the rest of us) rekindles her interest in boys. (HarperTempest, $15.99 288p ages 12-up ISBN 0-06-058934-5; June)

The third of Australian author Steven Herrick's free verse novels that began with Love, Ghosts, and Facial Hair, The Simple Gift, centers on 16-year-old Billy Luckett, who runs away from his alcoholic father to make his own way: "I'm poor, homeless/ but I'm not stupid." The poems are written from the points of view of Billy, Old Bill (who he meets while living in a train car) and Caitlin, Billy's love interest—a girl from a wealthy family who works at McDonald's. (Simon Pulse, $6.99 paper 192p ages 14-up ISBN 0-689-86867-7; May)

Dragon and Soldier by Timothy Zahn, the second Dragonback Adventure, is the follow-up to Dragon and Thief, which PW said "mov[es] at a breakneck pace." Here, Jack enlists in a juvenile mercenary group. With his dragon warrior companion, Draycos, as his guide, Jack survives boot camp training, only to be thrust into a web of twisting missions and loyalties. (Tor/Starscape, $17.95 304p ISBN 0-765-30125-3; June)

Following up with the same setting and starring another heroic Newfoundland dog, Thunder from the Sea by Joan Hiatt Harlow introduces Tom, an orphan taken in by a Newfoundland fisherman, Enoch Murray, and his wife, Fiona. Tom rescues a dog he finds out at sea and names it Thunder—but must contend with a neighboring boy who wants the dog for himself. (S&S/ McElderry, $14.95 256p ages 8-12 ISBN 0-689-86403-5; June)

Jack (a human boy) and elfin Tashi are back, and ancient treasuries and treacheries are the themes in Tashi and the Royal Tomb by Anna Fienberg and Barbara Fienberg, illus. by Kim Gamble. As the volume begins, Tashi relates a tale of some burial grounds excavated in his homeland; he receives help from long-dead spirits to escape capture by the Baron. Jack then relates a story of Tashi's investigation of the culprit who has stolen his village's book of healing spells. (Allen & Unwin [IPG, dist.], $5.95 paper 46p ages 6-10 ISBN 1-74114-090-0; June)

David and Aimee Thurlo keep to their familiar setting but leave behind their usual whodunit format for The Spirit Line, an emotional tale of a 15-year-old Navajo girl who yearns to discover life beyond the reservation. Crystal Manyfeathers's mother died a year before the story opens, and her father has grown increasingly distant. As Crystal prepares for her Kinaaldá—a grueling Navajo coming-of-age ceremony and the novel's climactic scene—her faith in the traditional ways begins to wane.(Viking, $15.99 224p ages 11-up ISBN 0-670-03645-5; May)

Making the Big Bucks

Instructional texts offer tips for readers ready to jump tax brackets. Big Fat Paycheck: A Young Person's Guide to Writing for the Movies by Colton Lawrence doles out tips and traps for kids looking for their big break in screenwriting. Divided into five sections, the book covers the importance of writing and rewriting, as well as learning the proper format for writing scripts and acknowledging that "Your first script is going to suck total butt." Colton also explains how to "shop" a script to get the attention of Hollywood's movers and shakers. (Random/Bantam, $8.99 paper 176p ages 10-up ISBN 0-553-37600-4; May)

To help kids develop moneymaking ideas, What Color Is Your Piggy Bank?: Entrepreneurial Ideas for Self-Starting Kids by Adelia Cellini Linecker lists "Quiz Zone" questions designed to further pinpoint capitalistic capabilities, interspersed between chapters with themes such as developing and promoting a business, and maintaining sane saving and spending habits. (Lobster [PGW, dist.], $10.95 144p ages 10-up ISBN 1-894222-82-2; May)

Written for adults, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Children's Books, Second Edition by Harold D. Underdown delineates the ins and outs of creating books for children, including developing a writing style—with updated information on submitting proposals. PW wrote of the first edition, that it "invites novices into its pages with plenty of white space, clearly labeled sections and humorous line drawings." (Alpha Books, $16.95 paper 358p ISBN 1-59257-143-3; May)