‘Richard & Judy’ Focuses on Kids
By Julia Eccleshare, Children's Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 9/20/2007
Major prizes and expensive marketing campaigns can certainly have an effect on book sales, but currently in the U.K., a daytime TV program, Richard & Judy, is having the biggest impact on sales figures. When the show turned its attention to books five years ago, selecting one per month to champion, it soon made bestsellers of books by known and unknown authors alike, including Carlos Ruiz Zafron’s The Shadow of the Wind and Kate Mosse’s Labyrinth. Richard & Judy has spawned book clubs throughout the country with a hugely successful supporting Web site.
Not surprisingly, children’s publishers have been eager for the show to feature children’s books. Now, the long-awaited plans have been unveiled. The Richard & Judy’s Best Kids’ Books Ever show will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Sunday, October 28. The program will feature 19 titles divided into four categories—Early (5+), Developing (7+), Confident (9+) and Fluent (11+)—which were chosen by a team of booksellers, including Becky Stradwick, senior buyer at Borders; Wayne Winstone, children’s category manager at Waterstone’s; and John Webb, distributor EUK’s chief buyer. From these 19, two winners in each section will be picked on the program by a panel of children. In addition to promoting the titles, the show will feature authors and offer advice about learning to read.
But the initiative is more than just a one-off. The show has expressed a commitment to supporting children’s reading and raising levels of literacy by creating a dedicated children’s books Web site, and there is hope of more shows devoted to children’s books in the future. Booksellers expect to see a lasting benefit from the program; as Winstone at Waterstone’s says, “The impact of R&J will be very positive for the book trade. But it will also be really interesting to see how the documentaries on literacy levels leading up to the show are received. The shortlist of eight will be a lot to cover in one show but the exposure is most welcome.”
Ingrid Selberg, children’s publisher at Simon & Schuster, which has two titles on the list, expressed the general feeling of those publishers whose books had been selected. “We are hugely excited... and are pleased that our small list has had two nominated titles. It is so hard to predict what sales will be but expectations are huge.”
The selected titles are:
Early (5+): Aliens Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort (Simon & Schuster), A Very Fishy Battle by Jeremy Strong (Puffin), Someone Bigger by Jonathan Emmett (OUP), Poppy and Max and the Fashion Show by Sally Grindley (Orchard) and Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andreae (Orchard).
Developing (7+): Spy Dogs by Andrew Cope (Puffin), You're a Bad Man, Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton (Egmont), The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney (Faber), The Girl with the Broken Wing by Heather Dyer (Chicken House).
Confident (9+): Septimus Heap Book One: Magyk by Angie Sage (Bloomsbury), Sundae Girl by Cathy Cassidy (Puffin), H.I.V.E.: Higher Institute of Villainous Education by Mark Walden (Bloomsbury), The Killer Underpants by Michael Lawrence (Orchard), Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy (HarperCollins) and Tunnels by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams (Chicken House).
Fluent: Girl, Missing by Sophie McKenzie (Simon & Schuster), The Recruit by Robert Muchamore (Hodder), Finding Violet Park by Jenny Valentine (HarperCollins) and Lucas by Kevin Brooks (Chicken House).
