waiting on wednesday (39)

I’m participating today in "Waiting On" Wednesday. It is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, and its purpose is to spotlight eagerly anticipated upcoming releases.

Let’s make it official: I am branching out into middle grade.  Especially middle grade sci-fi and fantasy.  This move is motivated in part by the wonderful reading luck I’ve had in the past year.  I’ve found intelligent, heartfelt books that reminded me of the first love I felt for characters and their stories and which turned me into an insatiable bookworm.  I look forward to finding many more in the years to come.  I am hoping that Kieran Larwood’s debut, Freaks, will be one of the standouts.  It sounds like an outrageous frolic, and did I mention the words VICTORIAN SIDESHOW?  Yes please!  Freaks will be released by Scholastic on April 5, 2013.

Weirdest. Crime fighters. Ever. 

Sheba, the fur-faced Wolfgirl, can sniff out a threat from miles away. Monkeyboy clambers up bridges and buildings in the blink of an eye -- then drops deadly stink bombs of his own making! Sister Moon sees in the dark, and moves at the speed of light. Born with weird abnormalities that make them misfits, these FREAKS spend their nights on public display, trapped in a traveling Victorian sideshow. But during the day, they put their strange talents to use: They solve the most sinister crimes. And in a dank, desperate world of crooks and child-snatchers, they're determined to defend London's most innocent victims: the street urchins disappearing from the city's streets.

What books are you waiting on?