Children's Bookshelf

March 16, 2006
In The News
On the Road
People
Obituaries
In the Media
From the Slush Pile
More News
In Brief
In the Winners' Circle
Rights Report
Bestsellers
Did You Miss?
 Book News
Points of Sale
Featured Reviews
On the Air
Linking Up
In the News

Fiction's the News from the London Book Fair
At the fair: Jane Winterbotham,
publishing director, Walker Books;
author Anthony Horowitz; and Walker sales
and marketing director Henrik
Wesolowski.
Coming just three weeks before Bologna, the London Book Fair might seem like a luxury for British children's publishers but, while the long-term need for two fairs so close is as yet un-quantified, U.K. children's publishers welcomed the new-look LBF with enthusiasm. "LBF is attended by an increasing number of foreign children's publishers and is an effective way for us to build excitement in our list and set up a sales buzz before Bologna," said Puffin publisher Francesca Dow.

Additionally, for most U.K. publishers, LBF offers an opportunity to present directly—and early—to a wide range of U.K. customers. LBF attracted booksellers, book fairs, book clubs and literary scouts, and many publishers used it to promote their authors.  
More News

Boxer and Sterling Team Up for America
David Bennett has long been known in the U.K. for his dedication to original and innovative children's picture books. Now with the help of Sterling Publishing, Bennett is bringing his talents, along with his new publishing house, Boxer Books, to America.

Boxer Books was created in England in 2002, when Bennett, formerly of David Bennett Books and Walker Books, was working from home as an author and illustrator. Missing the "creative partnerships" that publishing offered, Bennett wanted to start a company with the goal of publishing baby and toddler books focused on "immediate visual appeal, strong concepts, entertaining texts combined with simple, clear design." Following the company's successful launch in the U.K., Bennett has now turned his sights on these shores.   read more

Book News

Wendell Minor Takes on the Revolutionary Era
Acclaimed artist Wendell Minor has provided the illustrations for a number of children's books that illuminate the history of this country, including Katharine Lee Bates's America the Beautiful, Abe Lincoln Remembers by Ann Turner and Reaching for the Moon by astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Now, in Yankee Doodle America: The Spirit of 1776, he takes a solo journey back to the American past, examining the period leading up to, during and immediately following the Revolution. Due next month from Putnam with a 45,000-copy first printing, this alphabetical roundup of people, places and events pivotal to the era has an intriguing period look, as it is illustrated with replicas of the hand painted wooden signs that welcomed colonists to taverns and inns that served as the hubs of their social and political lives.   
On the Road

Taking Themselves Out to the Ball Games
A mother and son team spent last week in Florida, covering quite a few bases. Sue Corbett (a regular PW and Bookshelf contributor), whose middle-grade novel Free Baseball was published by Dutton in February, and her 11-year-old son Conor Davidson, flew south from their Virginia home. They then criss-crossed the Sunshine State, visiting bookstores, a middle school and spring training exhibition games to promote the novel—and of course to enjoy the on-field baseball action.

To justify letting her son—a diehard baseball fan and avid Little League player—miss a week of sixth grade, Corbett named him "tour manager" and enlisted his help contacting media folk and baseball management. The result: a whirlwind week during which they acquired a copious collection of players' autographs, sunburned noses and some winning memories.   read more

In Brief

D.E.A.R. Day

April 12 has been named national Drop Everything and Read Day, in honor of author Beverly Cleary's 90th birthday. Cleary's spunky character Ramona Quimby is the day's spokesperson because it was in Cleary's 1981 book, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, that Ramona's school started having D.E.A.R. time.

Several organizations have joined with HarperCollins to establish this nationwide initiative, meant to encourage families to take at least 30 minutes a day to put aside all distractions and enjoy books together. Resources and ideas for celebrating the day are available here. Printed materials, including a poster and reproducible handout, can be obtained by contacting HarperCollins.


Young People's Poetry Week
The eighth annual Young People's Poetry Week, sponsored by the Children's Book Council along with the American Academy of Poets and the Center for the Book, will take place April 10–16. The CBC's Web site provides an extensive list of online resources for teachers, librarians, booksellers and parents, including ideas for poetry reading, reproducible puzzles, an article about reading poetry aloud by Sylvia Vardell and a Q&A with Douglas Florian, among other things. Posters, bookmarks and a Poetry Week kit are available for purchase through the Council's Web site.

And the Nominees Are...
The Women's National Book Association has announced the nominees for the 2006 Pannell Award, which recognizes retail bookstores that excel at bringing books and children together. The award is given to one general bookstore and one children's bookstore; the winners will be announced at BEA in May. The eight nominees in the children's bookstore category are: A Likely Story in Alexandria, Va.; Aladdin's Lamp in Arlington, Va.; All for Kids Books & Music, Seattle, Wash.; Barston's Child's Play, Washington, D.C.; Books of Wonder, New York, N.Y.; Brystone Children's Books, Fort Worth, Tex.; Wonderland Books and Toys, Rockford, Ill.; and Storyopolis Bookstore, Studio City, Calif.

In the general stores category, there are 14 nominees: A Book for All Seasons, Leavenworth, Wash.; Books and Books, Coral Gables, Fla.; Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe, Ariz.; Iowa State University Book Store, Ames, Iowa; Just Books, Too, Old Greenwich, Conn.; Nomad Bookhouse, Jackson, Miss.; Northshire Books, Manchester Center, Vt.; Precious Memories Bookstore, Richmond, Va.; the river's end bookstore, Oswego, N.Y.; Shakespeare Beethoven, Dallas, Tex.; Table of Contents LLC, Ephrata, Pa.; Tuesday Books, Williamston, Mich.; University Book and Supply, Cedar Falls, Iowa; and the University of Arizona BookStores, Tucson, Ariz.



L.A. Times Finalists Named
The finalists for the Los Angeles Times prize for young adult fiction have been named. The five nominees are: Looking for Alaska by John Green (Dutton), Black Juice by Margo Lanagan (HarperCollins/Eos), You & You & You by Per Nilsson (Front Street), The Center of the World by Andreas Steinhofel (Delacorte) and I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (Knopf). The winner will be announced on April 28.
People


Jeanne Mosure has been promoted to senior v-p and publisher, Global Children's Books, at Disney Publishing Worldwide. In addition to directing the children's unit, she assumes responsibility for the company's continuity direct sales and direct mail business. Mosure has been with Disney since 1998, most recently as v-p, global publisher and general manager.


Paula Quint, who has been president and executive director of the Children's Book Council since 1992, will be stepping down from her post later this spring. The CBC board is currently undergoing a review of the group's mission and operations, and Quint said that "as plans for a refocused and streamlined CBC have emerged, I have decided that it would be an appropriate moment for me to step aside to enable CBC to move forward under new leadership." Quint has been with the CBC since 1966.


Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has announced the promotion of three executive editors. Andrea Spooner has been promoted to editorial director of LBYR trade hardcover and paperbacks; Cindy Eagan has been promoted to editorial director of a new imprint for LBYR's teen chick lit paperback series; and Liza Baker has been promoted to editorial director of LB Kids.


Scott Magoon will join Houghton Mifflin Books for Children on March 27 as associate art director. He was previously at Candlewick Press.


Chronicle has promoted Cathleen Brady to senior manager of children's publicity. She was formerly children's publicity manager.
Featured Reviews

Crossing Bok Chitto:
A Choctaw Tale of Friendship and Freedom
Tim Tingle, illus. by Jeanne Rorex Bridges. Cinco Puntos (Consortium, dist.), $17.95 (40p) ISBN 0-938317-77-6
Bridges, a Cherokee artist making her children's book debut, joins Tingle (Walking the Choctaw Road) in a moving and wholly original story about the intersection of cultures. The river Bok Chitto divides the Choctaw nation from the plantations of Mississippi. "If a slave escaped and made his way across Bok Chitto, the slave was free," writes Tingle, "The slave owner could not follow. That was the law." But Bok Chitto holds a secret: a rock pathway that lies just below surface of the water. "Only the Choctaws knew it was there, for the Choctaws had built it," Tingle explains. When a slave boy and his family are befriended by a Choctaw girl, the pathway becomes part of an ingenious plan that enables the slaves to cross the river to freedom—in plain view of a band of slave hunters during a full moon. Bridges creates mural-like paintings with a rock-solid spirituality and stripped-down graphic sensibility, the ideal match for the down- to-earth cadences and poetic drama of the text. Many of the illustrations serve essentially as portraits, and they're utterly mesmerizing—strong, solid figures gaze squarely out of the frame, beseeching readers to listen, empathize and wonder. Ages 5-up. (Apr.)

King Dork
Frank Portman. Delacorte, $16.95 (352p) ISBN 0-385-73291-0
Told from the perspective of Tom, a "brainy, freaky, oddball kid who reads too much, [and is] so bright that his genius is sometimes mistaken for just being retarded," this debut novel expresses a cynical view of high-school life and a teen's passion for rock music. Much of the story focuses on a seemingly endless string of humiliations and tortures dished out by Tom's teachers and sadistic "psychotic normal" classmates. A more compelling and subtly drawn subplot details mysteries that Tom is trying to solve: Was his father's death a few years earlier really an accident? What is the meaning of the coded messages found in his father's copy of The Catcher in the Rye? (The key role of Salinger's novel is hinted at by this book's telltale vintage burgundy cover, on which "King Dork" is written over Salinger's title.) When he's not playing Sherlock Holmes or dodging bullies (the types who "try to trip yo u anonymously and knock you over as you go by in the hallway"), Tom daydreams about the band he plans to form with his only friend Sam. Budding rock musicians and students with a grudge against the public-high-school scene will most relate to Tom's narrative. If the protagonist's battle with peers and a tyrannical associate principal grows a little tedious at times, the author's biting humor and skillful connection of events will keep pages turning. Ages 14-up. (Apr.)

see all of this week's reviews
including our web exclusive Annex *
Points of Sale

Advertising on the Cheap
Today marks the launch of a new column, with tips from booksellers on how to build traffic, sales and customer loyalty.
Too often when booksellers consider advertising their store, they think only in terms of costly newspaper or radio ads. Joan Belongia, owner of Brown Street Books in Rhinelander, Wis., a general bookstore with a strong children's section, prefers branding her store on the cheap.

"Whenever we do an offsite event, we always put our business card in the books," Belongia says. She also adds a coupon, often 20% off the next book purchased or 25% off a specific title. Although Belongia doesn't keep an ongoing tally of how many coupons have been redeemed, she knows they're successful—they bring new customers into her store.
In the Winners' Circle


Katherine Paterson has been awarded the 2006 Astrid Lindgren Award for Literature, which is given by the Swedish government and is the largest paying international award dedicated to writers of children's books (the author will receive five million kronor, or $640,000). Paterson has previously won two Newbery Medals (in 1978 for Bridge to Terabithia and in 1981 for Jacob Have I Loved) and a Newbery Honor (in 1979 for The Great Gilly Hopkins). The award will be presented on May 31 in Stockholm.


The 2006 Gryphon Award winner, recognized for an outstanding work of fiction or nonfiction for children in kindergarten through fourth grade, is Stinky Stern Forever by Michelle Edwards (Harcourt). Three honor books were also named: Jigsaw Pony by Jessie Haas, illustrated by Ying-Hwa-Hu (Greenwillow); Babymouse: Queen of the World! by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House); and Chameleon, Chameleon by Joy Cowley, photos by Nic Bishop (Scholastic Press).
Obituaries

John Reynolds Gardiner
Author John Reynolds Gardiner died on March 4 at the age of 61. Gardiner, who was an engineer by trade, is best known for his 1980 novel Stone Fox (HarperCollins). He is also the author of Top Secret (Little, Brown) and General Butterfingers (Houghton).
Rights Report


Director Hayao Miyazaki, of Howl's Moving Castle fame, has optioned the rights to Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea cycle, which includes the titles A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea and The Other Wind.
On the Air

This Friday morning, March 17, is a big morning for fans of children's books! Tune in to CBS's The Early Show to see a segment on Kate DiCamillo and her author tour for The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Candlewick). Also on the same day, Markus Zusak will appear on ABC's Good Morning America for his newest release, The Book Thief (Knopf).
Did You Miss?


From the pages of PW


A recent PW story on indie sleepers for summer features two forthcoming novels for kids: Dead Connection (Roaring Brook/Brodie) and Kiki Strike (Bloomsbury).
In the Media


In a piece called "The Little Men Who Love Little House," Slate writer Emily Baselon gives hope to those who thought boys would never read "girl" books. read more
Bestsellers


Fiction Bestsellers
March 2006

  1. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. DiCamillo, Kate. Candlewick, $18.99. ISBN 0763625892.
  2. Small Steps.
    Sachar, Louis
    Delacorte, $16.95. ISBN 0385733143.
  3. Eldest. Paolini, Christopher
    Knopf, $21. ISBN 037582670X.
  4. Criss Cross.
    Perkins, Lynn Rae
    Greenwillow, $16.95. ISBN 0060092726
  5. Eragon. Paolini, Christopher
    Knopf, paper $9.95. ISBN 0375826996.

see full list (will be updated Friday 3/17)
see more bestseller lists
Linking Up


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