Bring It On, 2012!

We have much to look forward to in 2012: The Hunger Games movie, the upcoming U.S. presidential election, the London summer Olympics, and hey, maybe even the end of the world.

But before that, we have a lot of reading to do. Here's a look at some 2012 new releases in children's books:

(Publisher: Golden Books; For release: March 13, 2012)

This cover stood out on the list of forthcoming picture books with its bold colors and mixed fonts. The concept was also intriguing: smiles found on ordinary items. I couldn't help reading more. The Spontaneous Smiley Project finds smiles everywhere, and has teamed up with Operation Smile to help put smiles on faces of children around the world.

In the middle grade category:

(Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers; For release: March 27, 2012)

Bright, clean, not busy. The storyline looks amusing, too--a boy who lives in a zoo-turned-reality show.

In the YA department, readers can chose from a million covers featuring faces and girls. Here are a few that are different:

In the dark-and-simple category:

(A Beautiful Evil - Publisher: Simon Pulse; For release: February 21, 2012)
(Dead to You - Publisher: Simon Pulse; For release: February 7, 2012)
(The Vanishing Game - Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens; For release: February 14, 2012)

Few colors, few words, yet interesting focus and contrast.

And in the bright-and-fancy class:

(Darkest Mercy - Publisher: HarperCollins; For release: February 22, 2011)
(Incarnate - Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books; For release: January 31, 2012)

Faces! Girls! But still lovely and interesting use of color and focus.

What's on your reading list for 2012?