What Did You Read on the Plane?

Compiled by Diane Roback -- Publishers Weekly, 6/5/2008

We asked some children’s book publishers what galley they read on the way home from BEA (books from their own houses were not eligible), and got a wide variety of responses.

Elizabeth Law
Egmont USA
I had the best transcontinental flight of my life coming home from BEA because I was reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic). It is just that good. I was so caught up in the story I tried to read the last 50 pages while walking to baggage claim. Michael Eisenberg of FSG came up and spoke to me and he had to say my name twice to get my attention. One of the many things that’s particularly brilliant in the book, besides its astonishing premise and plot, is its sense of place. Even for a reader like me, who usually can’t be bothered to learn the rules of an imaginary land, I have a clear and vivid picture of the different districts, the capitol, and especially the landscape of the Hunger Games. I told a colleague on the flight that I hadn’t read a novel that excited me in this way since Holes.

David Levithan
Scholastic
Hero Type by Barry Lyga (Houghton Mifflin). I was really excited to jump right into this, not just because I’m a fan of Barry’s first two books, but because the topic of this one—questioning what patriotism really means, from a teen’s-eye view—is as audacious as it is timely and necessary. An engaging conversation with the editor sitting next to me prevented me from getting too far, but already I’m hooked. And I have another long plane ride tomorrow….

Brian Kelleher
Simon & Schuster
I decided to overstuff my briefcase and brought along an ARC of Dennis Lehane’s The Given Day (Morrow). I’ve not read him before, only knowing him by the film versions of his previous books. I’m not a super-fast reader and it’s pretty slow going, so I’m nowhere near finished, but I am enjoying it. I’m probably slightly biased since much of my extended family is from the Boston metro area, and Boston history and stories have always appealed to me. That said, I was not familiar with the 1919 Police Strike riots, nor a whole lot about the overall social situation of post-WWI America, and the magnitude of the 1918 influenza epidemic and how it colored people’s overall outlook. The Roaring 20’s hadn’t started yet, let’s put it that way! I am also reading this, knowing how much my father will enjoy it (sorry Dad, you’re getting a used ARC for Father’s Day!). I can’t really compare it to his mystery writing, but for fans of dense, multi-faceted historical fiction “with an attitude,” I think it’ll do well.

Kate Fletcher
Candlewick Press
I read The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone). I’ve read most of her other books, so knew I wanted to grab this one right away. This one was about Mary Queen of Scots. Since this book focuses on Mary’s years in exile in England, I missed the intrigue and excitement of court life that have been a big part of Philippa Gregory’s last few books. I enjoyed it though. I started it on the plane, but finished it when I got home (and stayed up far too late to finish it!).

Lauren Hoffman
HarperCollins Children’s Books
Before I passed out I was reading The Heretic’s Daughter from Little, Brown.

Melissa Manlove
Chronicle Books
I didn’t fly; I drove. And I think there’s a law about driving and reading at the same time. On the plus side, that allowed me to bring like 50 books back with me. I picked up Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins) because of the piece he read aloud at the breakfast: “It will take more than a few good-hearted souls to raise this child. It will take,” said Silas, “a graveyard.” And the new Shannon Hale graphic novel retelling Rapunzel’s Revenge, because (a) it’s Shannon Hale and (b) Rapunzel looked like she was going to kick some butt. I also picked up Nancy Werlin’s Impossible, and have started it today—she’s reimagined the song “Scarborough Fair” as a curse passed from mother to daughter, impossible to break. And Nancy Werlin! Yay! So you can see a vein of name recognition in my choices. I will get to the new authors, though—I have plenty of those books, too. Jen Laughran, who was in the car with me, read Living Dead Girl (Simon Pulse) on the way home, finished it, and then left it in my car because she was (I quote!) ‘afraid of it.’ ”

Kate Klimo 
Random House Children’s Books
I picked up The Graveyard Book because I loved Coraline (although I found it very scary) and this book, about a toddler sole survivor of a murdered family who wanders into a graveyard and winds up being reared by the ghosts, is, surprisingly, a much warmer and fuzzier book... which isn’t to say it still isn’t creepy as the dickens.

Rachel Kempster 
DK Publishing
I started reading The Hunger Games on my flight home. The jet lag got the best of me, and I fell asleep a third of the way through. Now I’m 50 pages from the end, and I’m dying to finish. It’s a thrilling swirl of a book that evokes Ayn Rand’s Anthem (my favorite book in seventh grade), Shirley Jackson, Lord of the Flies, Ray Bradbury and Scott Westerfeld. I can only hope the rest of my BEA galleys are half this good.

Jesse Post
Disney Publishing Worldwide
I picked up two of Tokyopop’s original English-language manga volumes, Return to the Labyrinth and Star Trek: The Manga. I wanted to get better acquainted with the huge and growing U.S. manga business, specifically with titles that are called manga but aren’t created by Japanese people for Japanese audiences. These two titles were published in America, for Americans, by an American publisher. Also, to be honest, I really wanted to know what happened to Toby and Sarah after the events of the Labyrinth movie, and this manga volume is the official sequel! The books were definitely as good as I hoped and I did learn a lot about Japanese-influenced art styles. They were solid adventure stories and I can see the tween/teen appeal practically bursting from them.

Cathleen Brady
Chronicle Books
I was so wiped that I left all of my ARCs in my checked bag and realized I had nothing to read on the plane... after BEA of all things! Luckily, I only had an hour flight.