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In the News |
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Announcing the Carle Honors |
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Under a vaulted ceiling in the University Club in New York City on Monday night, Christopher B. Milne, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Eric Carle Museum, welcomed more than 250 guests, many of them luminaries in the children's book field. Although this was the second annual dinner to benefit the museum, the occasion marked the inauguration of the Carle Honors, a set of awards celebrating the creative vision and long-term dedication of key individuals and organizations to the art of the picture book.
The first winners are:
Rosemary Wells, in the Artist category. Wells was cited for her many contributions to the picture-book field, chief among them the board-book format she pioneered.
Helen Bing, in the Angel category. Bing, a philanthropist, was recognized, along with her husband Peter, for her early support of literacy initiatives such as Reach Out and Read, and her generous support of individual artists and authors.
Ann Beneduce, in the Mentor category. Longtime editor and publisher Beneduce's contribution hit perhaps closest to home for those in attendance, in that she launched Eric Carle's career and also mentored the likes of Mitsumasa Anno, Ed Young, Gennady Spirin, along with many others.
Morton Schindel, in the Bridge category. Schindel founded Weston Woods in 1953, and created hundreds of motion pictures and filmstrips based on picture books by the likes of Maurice Sendak, James Marshall and William Steig. Schindel, following both his doctor's orders and his heart's desire, explained, "If you find a job you love, you never work a day in your life."
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At the Regionals |
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Talking Kids at NAIBA |
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Children's publishing was well represented at the annual New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association gathering in King of Prussia, Pa., from Sept. 15-17. In fact, many thought the best line of the entire show was delivered by Libba Bray, when she accepted the award for NAIBA's best children's book of the year, Rebel Angels (Delacorte). Picking up the award for the second year in a row (her Great and Terrible Beauty won last year), Bray sang the praises of indie booksellers, saying, "Independent booksellers are the Iggy Pop of the book biz: on the edge, a little dangerous, cooler than you'll ever think of being and still alive despite the odds." At the same ceremony, Jane O’Connor picked up the award for
NAIBA’s best illustrated children’s book, Fancy Nancy (HarperCollins). "I love getting prizes," she said. "But I’m only half of the act, and the plain half at that," honoring absent illustrator Robin Preiss Glasser. "This experience has been rapturous, which is a fancy word for happy." click here for lots of bookseller tips
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Marketing Children's Books to Adults at MPBA |
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(L. to r.) Booksellers Tamra Doré,
Anne Holman and Valerie Koehler at
the panel in Denver. |
Jumpstarting children's book sales was on the minds of the 50 booksellers who attended the two-hour panel discussion at MPBA in Denver last week, titled "Who's Buying That Children's Book? Marketing to Parents, Grandparents, and Other Adults." Moderator Valerie Koehler, owner of Houston's Blue Willow Bookshop, flanked by Anne Holman, a bookseller at The King's English in Salt Lake City and Tamra Doré, owner of Katy Budget Books in Houston, led a freewheeling brainstorming session on how to increase sales by drawing adults into children's stores.
"This is one category we have over the chains," Koehler told booksellers. "People come in looking for advice—they want to be led. The only way stores can stay in business is to have a small, knowledgeable staff who can help customers."
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Book News |
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Building a Big Book on Building |
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Kids tired of swatting pesky mosquitoes may soon be itch-free. Due next month is a book that will teach them how to build a "Mosquito Chamber of Doom" out of toothpicks and jelly beans, and will explain how to attract the bothersome insects.
This is one of more than 150 hands-on projects outlined in Steven Caney's Ultimate Building Book (Running Press), a 608-page volume packed with more than 2,000 photos and 800 illustrations. The subjects range from understanding the difference between design and style, generating invention ideas, planning a project, evaluating methods of construction and solving problems.
Twelve years in the making, the book is Caney's latest work aimed at inspiring youngsters to think and act creatively, following his prior books, all published by Workman: Steven Caney's Toy Book (1970), Steven Caney's Play Book (1975), Steven Caney's Kids' America (1978) and Steven Caney's Invention Book (1985), which has sold 300,000 copies.
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In Brief |
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Keep on Truckin' |
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Last week, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing transformed one of its conference rooms into a garage of sorts to toast those involved in Trucktown, a new book program created by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Loren Long, David Gordon and David Shannon. The 52-book program will launch in spring 2008. Seen here: (front row) Justin Chanda (executive editor) and Scieszka; (back row) Long, Dan Potash (v-p, creative director), Gordon and Shannon. |
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Wishes Do Come True |
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On behalf of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, author Ann Martin has met one of her biggest fans: Emma Kosi, a 15-year-old girl with acute lymphatic leukemia. Kosi's one wish was to meet Martin, and on September 15, her wish came true—she flew in from Australia with family members, and she and Martin met at the Hard Rock Café in New York City. But the story doesn't end there. Martin is going to dedicate the second book in her forthcoming Main Street series to the girl. Here, Martin signs a copy of one of her books for Kosi. |
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Rabid Fans |
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Two hundred fans came to meet author Stephenie Meyer at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati last Friday for an I Love Edward Cullen party (Edward is the main vampire character in Meyer's bestselling Twilight and New Moon books). The party had "stations" for fans to visit, where they could sign a scrapbook for Meyer, take a trivia quiz, and get copies of the Twilight and New Moon playlists (songs Meyer listened to while writing the books). Meyer is currently writing the third title in the series, Eclipse, and is at work on a fourth book, according to her publisher, told from the perspective of Edward. Here, the author poses with some of her fans. |
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Sendak Video Pops Up |
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Mommy?, Maurice Sendak's first pop-up book, was released earlier this week with a 500,000-copy first printing. Scholastic promoted the release by posting a video clip of Sendak, Arthur Yorinks and Matthew Reinhart talking about the making of the book on MSN Kids, Yahoo Parents, iTunes, google, My Space and Daily Candy. To see the clip, click here. |
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A Charitable Party |
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A launch party for The Happy Prince, retold by Elissa Grodin and illustrated by Laura Stutzman (Sleeping Bear Press, Aug.) was held at the Kenneth Cole store in Rockefeller Plaza on September 12. The event was co-sponsored by HELP USA and Mentoring USA, programs created to empower the homeless and prevent kids from dropping out of school.During the party, actor Charles Grodin read the book aloud, a book signing was held, and an original illustration from the book was auctioned off, with proceeds benefiting HELP USA. The publisher will donate one dollar from the sale of each book to HELP USA.
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Q&A |
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Featured Reviews |
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 Father and Son: A Nativity Story |
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 Geraldine McCaughrean, illus. by Fabian Negrin. Hyperion, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 1-4231-0344-0
For those who believe Joseph gets short shrift in the stories of Jesus' birth, McCaughrean (Not the End of the World) offers some vindication in her provocatively imagined tale of what the new father may have felt upon the holy child's arrival. The author posits that an overwhelmed Joseph must have wondered, "How is a simple man like me to bring up the Son of God?" Joseph's thoughts on what he has to offer a child who already possesses divine knowledge and power are realistic, heartfelt and humbling. At times, Negrin's (The Selfish Giant) portraits are uneven, but his peaceful mixed-media illustrations and nature-inspired borders skillfully depict the text's juxtaposition of the simple and the awe-inspiring. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
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Manga Claus: The Blade of Kringle |
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 Nathaniel Marunas, illus. by Erik Craddock. Penguin/Razorbill, $12.99 (80p) ISBN 1-59514-134-0
A buff, shirtless Santa, in red suspenders and stocking cap, wields two shiny Samurai swords on the cover of this manga spoof. In the opening scene, he receives the blades from his sensei in imperial Japan, near Kyoto. A flash-forward brings readers to the present-day North Pole, where Fritz the elf requests a promotion, but Santa doesn't think he's ready. So Fritz seeks vengeance, magically transforming an ordinary nutcracker into an anti-Santa ninja with "the burning clutch of the Heat Miser and the chilling destructive power of the Abominable Snowman!" Ultimately, Kris Kringle breaks out his best fighting moves. Marunas deftly alludes to classic TV, movies and Christmas carols, while Craddock ably parodies manga in avalanches of wordless
action and bursts of noisy onomatopoeia. The irreverent creators' premise is a winner: Santa Claus goes from gentle soul to impressive avenger, wishing "Merry Christmas to all, and to all Banzai!" Ages 9-up. (Sept.)
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see all of this week's reviews
including our web exclusive Annex *
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Bestsellers |
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Series and Tie-ins Bestsellers
September 2006 |
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- Artemis Fowl.
Eoin Colfer.
Hyperion/Miramax
- Captain Underpants.
Dav Pilkey.
Scholastic/Blue Sky
- Clique.
Lisi Harrison.
Little, Brown
- Harry Potter.
J.K. Rowling.
Scholastic/Levine
- The A-List.
Zoey Dean.
Little, Brown
see full list
see more bestseller lists
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Behind the Bestsellers
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Eoin Colfer, live on stage? Yes, the bestselling author will open his one-man show, Fairies, Fiends and Flatulence, in the West End in October, and then he'll take the show on tour throughout the U.K. An earlier version of Fairies, Fiends sold out its run last spring; it is based on the stories he tells at his book events—stories of his childhood and his brothers—which have gotten such a great response that he decided to work them into a stage show. Having just finished a Scandinavian tour for his Artemis Fowl series, Colfer is currently in the U.S. for a two-week tour. Hyperion/Miramax printed 500,000 copies of The Lost Colony, fifth in the series, and number six is in the works.
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Rights Report |
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Beginning October 8, the Starz Kids & Family channel will bring an animated Eloise series to television. The series consists of 13 episodes and several one-hour specials. The shows are directed by Wes Archer (The Simpsons); those lending their voices to the show include Lynn Redgrave, Tim Curry and Mary Matilyn Mouser as Eloise. The show will air Sundays at 6 p.m. For more information, click here. |
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Neal Porter of Roaring Brook Press has acquired the first children's book by
David Rabe, the Tony- and Obie-Award winning author of such plays as Hurlyburly and Sticks and Bones. Mister Wellington, a chapter book, will be illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker; it tells the story of a squirrel that is separated from its family and is nursed back to health by the boy who discovers him. Tentative publication date is fall 2008. Deborah Schneider of Gelfman Schneider handled the deal on behalf of Rabe, and Paige Gillies of Publishers Graphics negotiated on behalf of Parker. |
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Price Stern Sloan has become the publishing partner for the new Mr. Bean movie, which is scheduled for release in March 2007 by Universal Pictures. An animated series, Bean, is set to debut on Nickelodeon next year. The deal was made by the Sharpe Company. |
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David Levithan acquired two young adult books by Siobhan Vivian, an Alloy editor. The first book, A Little Friendly Advice, is scheduled for release in spring 2008. The deal was made with Rosemary Stimola at the Stimola Literary Studio. |
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Twentieth Century Fox has acquired movie rights to R.L. Stine's Rotten School series (HarperCollins), which debuted last year. The ninth book in the series, Party Poopers, will be released in November. |
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Scholastic U.K. and New Line Cinema have made a deal with Sega in which the Japanese company will be producing games based on the His Dark Materials series of films, the first of which, The Golden Compass, is due out next year.
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People |
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Bloomsbury USA has named Melanie Cecka publishing director of Bloomsbury Children's Books and Walker Books for Young Readers. She was previously co-editorial director of Bloomsbury, along with Victoria Wells Arms. Arms will be stepping down, but will remain with the company as an editor-at-large. |
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Scholastic has announced the promotion of Ellie Berger to senior v-p
and publisher. She is responsible for the strategic direction for the trade program and will oversee Klutz Press, Scholastic Press, Orchard Books and Cartwheel Books. Andrea Davis Pinkney, who joined the company in December as publisher of hardcover operations, will now be editor-at-large. And Corinne Helman, v-p for business development, has taken on responsibility for business operations, planning and financial analysis. |
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Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has made several new hires and has announced a promotion. New to the company is Liesa Abrams, senior editor for Aladdin; she was previously at Penguin's Razorbill imprint. Also from Razorbill is Margaret Wright, who joins as assistant editor for Aladdin. Julie Lu has been named production associate; she was previously a freelance magazine proofreader. Carey O'Brien joins the company as production supervisor for Simon Pulse and Aladdin; she was formerly with Penguin. Yaffa Jaskoll has been promoted to designer, from junior designer.
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In the Winners' Circle |
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The Happiness of Kati by Jane Vejjajiva has won the 2006 Southeast Asian Writers Award, the first children's book ever to even be nominated for this prestigious literary award. The book was released in the U.S. by Atheneum in May.
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Did You Miss? |
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From the pages of PW |
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From our new weekly children's page in PW: teenage spy Alex Rider is set to hit the big screen. See PW's September 25 issue for more children's stories. read more |
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Chelsea Green, which publishes books on sustainable living, is adding an imprint for kids. read more
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In the Media |
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The Seattle Post-Intelligencer profiles Endymion Spring author Matthew Skelton, who admits to worrying that he may have taken on too much in his book. read more |
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Cathy's Book, the novel for which Running Press partnered with CoverGirl cosmetics for product placement, is still causing controversy. See a feature in the Hartford Courant. read more |
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From The Oregonian: Writing for young adults has become the new hip thing to do. read more |
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The New York Daily News profiles Ray Negron, author of The Boy of Steel, a picture book about a boy with brain cancer who gets to be a New York Yankees bat boy for a day (Regan Books, Sept.).
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Linking Up |
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Want to know more about children's books? |
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For a list of industry resources
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For PW articles on children’s books (subscribers only)
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Contact Us |
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Dear Bookshelf Readers,
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Hope you enjoyed this week's issue. We'd
love to hear from you with any comments and suggestions—drop us a note here.
—The Editors
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