Caspian coming: May 16 is opening day for Prince Caspian, the second film based on C.S. Lewis’ mega-popular Narnia series. Here are two books you can browse to get up to speed on Caspian and Narnia: Literary specialist Leland Ryken and C.S. Lewis scholar Marjorie Lamp Mead team up to provide a guided tour with A Reader’s Guide to Caspian (InterVarsity Press). Their insight enhances the reading of the well-loved Lewis work by throwing light on the deep truths of the story. The Heart of Narnia (2008, NavPress), by another C.S. Lewis scholar, Robert Velarde, has been re-released (previously titled The Lion, the Witch, and The Bible, 2005, NavPress) to provide better understanding of Lewis’ genius, provoking readers and discussion groups to consider the ethical challenges and moral choices faced in everyday life.

BRISINGR coming, to the third book in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance cycle releases this fall. BRISINGR follows Eragon (which was released as a movie last year) and Eldest. The title comes from the Norse word for fire. The first printing will be 2.5 million copies, and booksellers are scheduling launch events for 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, September 20.

Ambassador for books: Children’s book author Jon Scieszka has been named the United States’ first national ambassador for young people’s literature by Librarian of Congress, James Billington. Scieszka, who will act as “an evangelist for reading,” will be paid $25,000 a year.

Nelson goes green: Thomas Nelson announced an environmental plan and paper policy, saying, “it is our responsibility to protect the resources God has bestowed upon us.” CEO  Michael Hyatt said the plan will “dramatically reduce our carbon footprint over the next five years and lead the publishing industry in creating revolutionary ways to be environmentally sustainable and profitable.” (In the last issue of YouthWorker Journal we talked about Hyatt’s prediction that “the end of the book” was on the horizon.)

McLaren music: While emergent guru Brian McLaren is out promoting his new book, Everything Must Change, the music Web site Heavenly Grooves (heavenly-grooves.blogspot.com) is featuring downloadable tracks from McLaren’s unheralded 1978 album,  Learning How to Love. A reviewer says the album sounds like the acoustic work of Phil Keaggy.

Children’s awards announced: The annual Caldecott and Newbery medals, which are often referred to as the Academy Awards of children’s literature, were announced in January. The Caldecott Medal for distinguished picture book is Brian Selznick’s 533-page The Invention of Hugo Cabret (Scholastic), about a boy who lives in a Paris train station and pursues a mystery. The Newbery Medal, presented since 1922 to the most distinguished piece of children’s literature, was presented to Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village (Candlewick) by Laura Amy Schlitz. The fictional work, for age 10 and older, offers 22 monologues by characters from an English village in 1255 (The Columbus Dispatch).

Mustard seeds and musings: Tom Sine wrote The Mustard Seed Conspiracy in the early 1980s. Now he’s back with The New Conspirators: Creating the Future One Mustard Seed at a Time (InterVarsity). The book explores Christian subversives in America and the United Kingdom who act in small but significant ways to care for the poor and marginalized. Meanwhile, W. Dale Brown, professor at Calvin College and director of its Festival of Faith and Writing, has edited Conversations with American Writers: The Doubt, the Faith, the In-between (Eerdmans). The book features Ron Hansen, Ernest Gaines, Sheri Reynolds, Jan Karon, Silas House and Lee Smith (Publishers Weekly).