Adapting to the Children's Market
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 7/21/2008
Sprinkled throughout the fall listings are a handful of books spawned by works originally published for adult readers.
Sean Covey brings his family's 7 Habits brand to a younger audience with The 7 Habits of Happy Kids; the Simon & Schuster title has a 350,000-copy printing. Illustrated by Stacy Curtis, this picture book provides stories introducing each habit and tips to help parents explain the book's lessons to their children. Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens) will promote the title via appearances on national TV and a radio satellite tour.
On minedition's fall list is a picture-book abridgement of Timbuktu, Paul Auster's 1999 novel of a dog in search of himself. Targeting readers ages 12 and up, the tale is adapted and illustrated by Julia Goschke; according to the publisher, her version offers an “almost graphic-novel” interpretation of the story.
Author Faith D'Aluisio and photographer Peter Menzel shared more than 525 meals with 25 families in 21 countries while researching Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, an adult book that won the James Beard Foundation Award in 2005 for Book of the Year. The duo has adapted this book for young readers in Tricycle Press's What the World Eats.
Though not adaptations, two additional fall titles are penned by first-time children's book authors familiar to adult readers. Food Network star Paula Deen, whose cookbooks have sold more than two million copies, rounds up recipes for younger fans in Paula Deen's My First Cookbook, written with Martha Nesbit and illustrated by Susan Mitchell. S&S plans a 400,000-copy print run for the book; Deen will appear on The Today Show.
