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In the News |
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Mapping the Harry-est Town in America |
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Just how Harry is your town? It's not an answer found in the phone book or on the community bulletin board, but rather a statistic tracked by Amazon.com. The online retailer is looking to recognize the "Harry-est Town in America," a title they plan to bestow on the city or town (with a population of more than 5000, based on U.S.-census data) that has pre-ordered the most copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
The name of the winning town will be announced soon after the witching hour of 11:59 PM (PDT) on July 15, 2007. As grand prize, Amazon.com will donate a $5000 Amazon.com gift certificate to a charitable organization of its choice that provides services in the Harry-est Town.
Rankings of the top 100 Harry-est Towns in America will be updated weekly on Amazon.com. Here is the list of this week's Top 10:
1. Falls Church, Va.
2. Fairfax, Va.
3. Gig Harbor, Wash.
4. Vienna, Va.
5. Katy, Tex.
6. Media, Pa.
7. Issaquah, Wash.
8. Doylestown, Pa.
9. Pembroke Pines, Fla.
10. Snohomish, Wash.
To help customers keep track throughout the pre-Deathly Hallows frenzy, Amazon has also unveiled its Muggle Counter feature, on Amazon's home page, which tallies the site's total number of pre-orders on an hourly basis. As of 2 PM Thursday, the count was 461,804 copies. That's a lot of delivery-owl flight time.
As it has been for Harry Potter books past, Amazon.com is one of the deepest discounters of Deathly Hallows, selling the new hardcover book at $18.99 (46% discount) and the deluxe edition for $39 (40% discount). No question, the competition for sales is fierce, especially for independent stores. Doylestown, Pa., Alexandria, Va. (within 20 miles of the three Virginia towns listed) and Seattle (within 20 miles of Issaquah) are home to children's specialty stores who are vying for customers from these Harry-est towns. —Shannon Maughan
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More News |
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Mark Your Calendar: Bologna 2008 |
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Next year's Bologna fair dates have been announced. The fair will take place from Tuesday, March 25 through Friday, March 28, 2008. The dates directly follow Easter, which falls on Sunday, March 23.
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ADVERTISEMENT
"This book has loads of child appeal. Emily Brown clutching Stanley brings to mind Mo Willems' equally expressive Trixie and her beloved Knuffle Bunny. Pair these two books for a delightful storytime about favorite bunnies."
–School Library Journal (starred review)
For more on That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown visit
hyperionbooksforchildren.com.
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Book News |
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Writing for a Younger Audience |
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Adult authors writing for children is nothing new these days, as the likes of Alice Hoffman, Joyce Carol Oates and James Patterson can now be seen scattered throughout the kids' department, but this spring there are a few new entries into the market. Edgar Award winner Robert B. Parker makes his children's book debut with the novel Edenville Owls, a thriller about a boy and his newly formed basketball team, set in 1945. Mary Higgins Clark tries out a new genre with a picture book illustrated by Wendell Minor, Ghost Ship, about a boy who travels back in time to find out what happened on a ship 250 years ago. Sportswriter Mike Lupica will have his fourth novel for youngsters, Summer Ball, the sequel to his
bestselling Travel Team. And Bee Season author Myla Goldberg offers her first picture book, Catching the Moon, illustrated by Chris Sheban, about a woman who goes fishing for the man in the moon.
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In Brief |
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It All Started with a Pigeon |
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To celebrate the April 1 birthday of Mo Willems's Pigeon character, Willems and Hyperion, his publisher, created a web site dedicated to all things Mo. The site includes a hot dog dress-up game, a coloring page to print out, video interviews and teacher's guides, among other features. This month Willems enters the early reader market with the release of the debut books in his Elephant & Piggie series, My Friend Is Sad and Today I Will Fly! |
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Meet the Author |
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John Lithgow was on hand at this year's launch event for the Central Park Conservancy's Meet the Author series. Lithgow read aloud from his latest picture book, Mahalia Mouse Goes to College, illustrated by Igor Oleynikov (S&S), then signed books for two hours. |
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Scaring up Fans
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Famous for his long-running Goosebumps series, R.L. Stine is now enjoying the release of the 12th book in his Rotten School series (HarperCollins), which debuted in 2005. Last week, the author visited P.S. 175 in Queens, N.Y., to talk about books and writing. Seen here, the students show off their favorite Rotten School book.
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Free Books for Teachers
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To celebrate the first day of school and to promote literacy, Charlesbridge is giving away 500 copies of the paperback edition of First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Judy Love, to teachers across the United States. The publisher is encouraging teachers to welcome the 2007–2008 school year by reading the book aloud; to date, 350 teachers have already joined the Charlesbridge Read First Day Jitters on the First Day of School campaign. A free copy of the book (as long as supplies last) can be obtained by emailing trademarketing@charlesbridge.com and providing your name and school address.
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Q&A |
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Bookshelf talked with Rick Yancey about his new novel, Alfred Kropp: The Seal of Solomon (Bloomsbury, May).
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In the dedication for your latest Alfred Kropp book, you thank your sons who "awakened the slumbering boy" in you. Tell us about that.
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I got a very late start at fatherhood. I'm a late bloomer in general. It took me seven years to get through four years of college. I was five years away from 40 before I had a family and I had never been around kids much at all. All of a sudden, I was around three boys all the time. [Yancey has two stepsons, Jonathan, 21, and Joshua, 16, and a 10-year-old son, Jacob, with his wife, Sandy.] I was really thrilled about the way I could let go and be a little boy again.
read more
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In the Winners' Circle |
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The Book Sense Books of the Year have been announced by the American Booksellers Association. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Knopf) won in the children's literature category, and Owen & Mzee: The True Story of a Remarkable Friendship by Isabella and Craig Hatkoff et al. (Scholastic Press) won in the children's illustrated category.
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The Association of Booksellers for Children announced the winners of the 2007 E.B. White Read-Aloud Awards. Houndsley and Catina by James Howe, illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay (Candlewick), won in the picture book category, and Alabama Moon, a first novel by Watt Key (FSG), won for older readers. The picture book award was started in 2004 to honor books that reflect the read-aloud standards set by the work of author E.B. White; last year the ABC added the older reader category.
Both sets of awards will be presented during BookExpo America.
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Featured Reviews |
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 I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean
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 Kevin Sherry. Dial, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-3192-9
Sherry, whose nature-themed, silk-screened apparel has won plaudits from Lucky magazine and other fashion arbiters, makes a winning book debut with this story of a squid with a fondness for braggadocio. "I'm a giant squid and I'm big," announces the cartoony blue hero, whose adorable googly eyes and pointy head defuse any taint of arrogance. In quick order and punchy sentences, the squid enumerates all the species he outranks in the ocean, size-wise (each statement and its accompanying illustration gets a spread): "I'm bigger than these clams./ I'm bigger than this crab." So outsize is this squid's ego that when the food chain kicks in, and he suddenly finds himself inside the belly of a whale (along with numerous other aquatic
creatures), he's only temporarily nonplussed (indicated by several wordless spreads). "I'm the biggest thing in this whale!" he proudly declares at the end. Working in collage and watercolor, Sherry renders his hero and habitat in bright colors and bold, simple shapes that will be surefire eye magnets for preschoolers (and stickers featuring the characters enhance bathtub fun). The squid's unwavering sense of confidence should strike a loud and strong chord with youngsters who believe they're the center of the universe. Ages 3-up. (May)
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Evil Genius
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 Catherine Jinks. Harcourt, $17 (560p) ISBN 978-0-15-205988-0
With a series of breakneck twists and turns. Jinks's (the Pagan Chronicles) latest novel follows Cadel Piggott, a seven-year-old Australian boy with an incredible mind and a proclivity toward mischief: "He loved systems: phone systems, electrical systems, car engines, complicated traffic intersections." Following a string of disasters, which Cadel engineers (e.g., hacking into the city's power grid), his desperate adoptive parents take him to a psychologist, Dr. Thaddeus Roth. But instead of refocusing Cadel on more positive activities, Dr. Roth encourages the boy to develop increasingly destructive plans, such as orchestrating massive traffic jams and manipulating his classmates' emotions so that they turn on one another. Dr. Roth also stuns Cadel by revealing that he
is employed by Cadel's birth father, Dr. Phineas Darkkon, a criminal mastermind serving a life sentence. From prison, Dr. Darkkon established the Axis Institute for the world's genetically talented and criminally inclined. Drs. Roth and Darkkon convince Cadel to join its small freshman class, and Cadel slowly uncovers a conspiracy of lies and betrayals that leave no aspect of his life untouched. Jinks has created an intricate, well-constructed and layered reality in this hefty novel, and as the complex deceptions that have shaped Cadel's life come to light, his emotional unraveling and awakening will likely engross readers. Ages 12-up. (May)
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see all of this week's reviews
including our web exclusive Annex *
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On-Sale Calendar |
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June 2007 |
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| 1 |
Charlie Bone and the Beast by Jenny Nimmo (Orchard, $10.99). 200,000 copies.
Ratatouille: Remy's Adventure in Paris (Disney Press, $12.99). 200,000 copies.
Ratatouille: What's Cooking? A Cookbook for Kids (Disney Press, $12.99). 100,000 copies.
Scholastic Children's Dictionary (Scholastic Reference, $18.99).
100,000 copies.
Eggs by Jerry Spinelli (Little, Brown, $15.99). 100,000 copies.
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: A Hot Dog Day by Sheila Sweeny Higginson (Disney Press, $8.99). 100,000 copies.
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| 5 |
Peek-a-Baby by Karen Katz (Little Simon, $6.99). 200,000 copies. |
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| 12 |
Vampyre: The Terrifying Lost Journal of Dr. Cornelius Van Helsing by Dr. Cornelius Van Helsing and Gustav De Wolff (HarperCollins, $19.99). 250,000 copies.
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (HarperTeen, $16.99). 100,000 copies.
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| 15 |
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Black Pearl: A Pirate Ship Pop-up (Disney Press, $12.99). 150,000 copies. |
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| 26 |
Goodnight Moon 123 by Margaret Wise Brown, illus. by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, $16.99). 200,000 copies.
InterWorld by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves (HarperCollins/Eos, $16.99). 125,000 copies.
M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman (HarperCollins, $16.99). 125,000 copies.
Love Is a Many Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison (HarperTeen, $16.99). 125,000 copies.
Catopia by Caroline Repchuk, illus. by Anne Mortimer (HarperCollins/Tegen, $19.99). 100,000 copies.
No Talking by Andrew Clements (S&S, $15.99). 100,000 copies.
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Click here for PW's complete
2006-2007 On-Sale Calendar
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Moving On Up |
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Mermaid Tales Have Legs (and Fins)
As if seventh grade isn't tough enough, what's a girl to do when she has to keep a whopper of a secret from all her friends? That's the dilemma facing Emily Windsnap, a 12-year-old who discovers—after a fateful dip in the pool—that she's half-human and half mermaid. This intriguing blend of often-breezy fantasy and middle-school drama found in The Tail of Emily Windsnap (Candlewick, 2004) and its sequel, Emily Windsnap and the Monster from the Deep (2006) by British author Liz Kessler has made a big splash with both readers and booksellers.
This month, fans can dive into another undersea adventure with Emily Windsnap and the Castle in the Mist, due out April 10 with a 40,000-copy first printing—the same day that Candlewick releases Monster from the Deep in paperback. In the latest installment, Emily discovers an old diamond ring that may hold the key to unlocking an ancient curse by Neptune, and may also be the root of a new curse that will force her to choose between mermaid and human life, as well as choosing between her two parents. To date, the books boast a combined 400,000 copies in print and have been published in 10 languages. Not bad for an idea that blossomed from the author's poem about a young mermaid.
One bookstore that's ready to catch the next Windsnap wave is Kepler's Books and Magazines in Menlo Park, Calif. Children's buyer Antonia Squire notes that sales have gone swimmingly for the first two titles; the shop has sold 170 copies so far, and is eager to receive both Castle in the Mist and the Monster from the Deep paperback. "I think the thing that makes them most appealing to kids is that they are set in the real world," says Squire. "Emily is a normal middle-schooler, with normal middle-school concerns. She just also happens to be a mermaid and has great adventures."
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What I'm Working On |
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Susan Van Metre, executive editor, Amulet Books/Abrams Books for Young Readers |
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Last year was my first trip to Bologna. As thrilled as a child at DisneyWorld, I showed interest in almost every book I was shown, but even in my fevered state, one book,
Tiger Moon by Antonia Michaelis, sounded particularly promising. Claudia Medin of Loewe Verlag described it as a fairy-tale-like romance, set in colonial India, in which a young thief and his sidekick, a white tiger with a phobia of water, must rescue a princess from marriage to a demon king. The author, Claudia told me, was a young German woman who had taught in India.
When the English excerpt arrived, I knew from the first lines that I wanted to buy it: "How does a story about India begin? Does it begin with the three great rivers—the Ganges, the Yamuna, the unseen Sarasvati pouring her dreaming waters down from the snowy mountains to the hot, dry plain?" What a grand storytelling voice, and the perfect way to begin a book about the power of stories, in which India herself is a character.
However, I'd never published a novel in translation before and had no idea how to find a good translator. With guidance from the German Book Office and a friend who has edited many such books, I decided to contact Anthea Bell, translator of Cornelia Funke's Inkheart series. As it happened, Anthea had already read the book and loved it. She has just delivered the translation, to be published in spring 2008, and now I am happily traveling the dreaming waters of Antonia Michaelis's splendid novel… and packing my bags for this year's Bologna fair.
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Rights Report |
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The Doubtful Guest by Edward Gorey (Harcourt), first published in 1957, will be made into a live-action movie by Walden Media, Fox 2000 and the Jim Henson Company. This is the first time that a Gorey book has been turned into a feature film. Brad Peyton will direct and Matthew Huffman will write the screenplay. The film will be produced by Jim Henson's Lisa Henson, Brian Henson and Jason Lust.
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Jim Thomas at Random House Books for Young Readers has made a two-book deal with New Zealand author Brian Falkner. Falkner's debut novel in the U.S. is about a girl and boy who receive cryptic messages from their future selves on how to divert a coming apocalypse. The deal was made with Nancy Gallt on behalf of the Richards Literary Agency.
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Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) will star in the Picturehouse and HBO Films period movie American Girl, based on the line of books and dolls. According to Variety, Breslin will play Kit Kittredge, who tries to help save her family as it struggles through the Depression. Ann Peacock wrote the script and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Marisa Yeres and Lisa Gillan are the producers. The child star is also involved in a near-finished deal to star alongside Jodie Foster in the Walden Media film Nim's Island, based on the 2001 Knopf book by Wendy Orr, illustrated by Kerry Millard. In the novel, a girl on a South Pacific island communicates electronically with a person she imagines to be a character in a book, but is in fact a reclusive author. Jennifer Flackett
and Mark Levin are set to direct, with Cary Granat and Paula Mazur producing.
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Kate O'Sullivan at Houghton Mifflin has acquired a new picture book from bestselling Bats on the Beach author/illustrator Brian Lies. Bats at the Library is tentatively scheduled for a fall 2008 release.
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Did You Miss? |
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From our Web site: The Dangerous Book for Boys is a bestseller in the U.K., despite its taking on two cultural taboos: sexism and endangering children. Collins will publish the book here in May.
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In the Media |
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From the New York Times: In a story called "Daddy May Write Laws, but Daughter Has Her Eye on a Book Deal,"
the Times looks at the literary output of First Daughters, including the latest, from Jenna Bush. |
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From The Evening Bulletin: A story that originally ran in the Wall Street Journal, which looks at the sticky subject of how to categorize books for older teens: as YA or adult.
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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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