Children's Bookshelf
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In the News |
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Disney Is Westchester-Bound |
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Disney Publishing Worldwide is moving to White Plains. The publishing division of the media giant, currently in offices at 114 Fifth Avenue in New York City, is relocating to a "state of the art" office facility in the Manhattan suburb, according to v-p of communications April Hattori. An announcement about the move, which will send 175 of the division's 225 employees to the new location, was made on Tuesday through an internal company e-mail. The move will affect staffers on both the book and magazine sides of the division; Hyperion's adult group is not affected.
Hattori said that 20 editorial staffers from Disney Press, Hyperion Books for Children and Disney Editions will remain in Manhattan relocating to a "midtown location near Grand Central." (Thirty staffers from the magazine division's marketing and sales teams will also be remaining in Manhattan.) The move, which is scheduled to get underway in October and be completed by December, Hattori said, is being done to "accommodate future growth" at the company.
The new facility is an existing building that will offer a better layout and more conference space, Hattori said. When asked how much cutting rent costs factored into the decision, she said, "While there will be cost savings," the motivating factor was to "find the right space for the company's current and future needs."
While some employees may defect rather than move, Hattori said the company hopes all staffers will stay on board. She added that "in-person meetings" are underway with members of the book teams and that "transition assistance" will be provided, and may take the form of commuting allowances. —Rachel Deahl
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More News |
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Macmillan's Davies Becomes D.C. Agent |
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Sarah Davies, publishing director of Macmillan Children's books since 2004, will leave the company in July to set up a new literary agency for Working Partners in the U.S. Davies has been at Macmillan since 1994, and previously was at HarperCollins and Transworld. As publishing director, she is in charge of fiction, picture books, poetry, nonfiction and the Campbell novelty books imprint. In particular, she has been responsible for building up the Young Picador teen fiction list. One of Davies's most recent acquisitions has been former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell's first children's book. She has also published U.S. authors Meg Cabot, Judy Blume and Sarah Mlynowski, alongside such U.K. authors as Julia Donaldson and Gwyneth Rees.
Davies's new role will initially focus on fiction. "I am very excited by this opportunity," Davies said. "I have a lot of connections with U.S. publishing through my links within the Holtzbrinck group and beyond, but I also have a lot to learn. I'll be looking for new talent and for people who haven't yet been represented in the U.S." She will be based in Washington, D.C. Working Partners in the U.K. acts as a packager rather than an agent, and Davies's role will mark a new way of working for the company.
Emma Hopkin, managing director of Macmillan Children's Books, said, "Sarah's contribution to Macmillan Children's Books has been enormous. We shall miss her very much and wish her every success in her new career." She has not yet announced a successor to Davies. "I'll be making recruitment decisions in the next month or so to ensure that our publishing continues in the same vein," Hopkin said. —Julia Eccleshare
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ADVERTISEMENT
Milo doesn't get the big deal about moms. But when Martians come after his mom, he starts to wonder: is he overlooking something special? Mars Needs Moms, the New York Times bestseller from Berkeley Breathed, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of Bloom County and Opus.
www.penguin.com/youngreaders
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Book News |
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Tundra Turns 40 |
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This spring marks the 40th year of business for a stalwart of children's publishing, Toronto-based Tundra Books, the oldest children's book publisher in Canada. Founded in 1967 by May Cutler in Montreal, the company moved to Toronto 28 years later when Tundra Books was sold to McClelland & Stewart, and Kathy Lowinger took over as publisher.
To celebrate its anniversary, Tundra held a party on May 15 in Toronto attended by about 200 people, including authors and illustrators Richard Scrimger, Marthe Jocelyn, Warabé Aska, Gary Clement, Cary Fagan, Linda Granfield, Linda Holeman, Shyam Selvadurai, Shane Peacock, Julie Johnston and Maxine Trottier.
Lowinger credits the company's ability to stay in business to the fact that Tundra has been fortunate enough to work with such talented authors and illustrators. "May Cutler understood that children's books were a perfect vehicle for bringing their work to a broad public," she says. "All the underpinnings she created are still there and they've served us well: we have a diverse marketplace, we have a clear editorial vision that assumes that children are smart and deserve to be—crave to be—challenged, and we have had terrific support from booksellers, librarians, and teachers across North America."
Catherine Mitchell, director, foreign and special markets, believes that Tundra's success is due in large part to taking risks and publishing new authors or those unknown in the book world. As an example she cites an early Bologna Book Fair, where Cutler sold international rights to a book to six or seven European countries plus Greenlandic language rights, at a time when international co-editions on that scale were rare. This helped give Tundra almost instant name recognition.
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Harry Potter Corner |
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For all the latest Harry news...
Spoilsports Beware...
Think it might be fun to spill the beans about what happens in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (on the very remote chance you are privy to such information)? Think again. In her latest Web site posting on May 14, J.K. Rowling made an impassioned plea to readers who might obtain any inside scoop that they keep it under wraps. "I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry, to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are they going." The author has always maintained that the strict laydown dates for her titles are planned to ensure that Harry's fans all get the pleasure of starting fresh as they navigate each year at Hogwarts—and that no one
has a head start.
Rowling made her comments as a show of support for a posting made by webmaster Melissa Anelli on the respected Harry Potter fan site The Leaky Cauldron on April 28. Anelli lamented the fact that she and her colleagues have already begun to receive lots of spoiler e-mails and that they are far from welcome. Excerpts from her warning for those who dare to try: "We don't want to see them, we won't post them and we'd want to stop you…. If Harry dies, we don't want to know about it until JK Rowling decides to tell us. And if you decide to tell us before that, you'll incur the wrath of a staff of almost 200, most of whom have been waiting almost 10 years for these final revelations and can
NEVER get back the moment you rob by spoiling them. That's some wrath right there. We own pitchforks, hot wax and feathers. And we're not afraid to use them."
More Water from the Potter Well?
In Britain's Sunday Telegraph on May 12, Rowling's literary agent Christopher Little confirmed that Harry's creator may not be finished with Harry Potter
after the publication of Deathly Hallows. As she has mentioned in previous interviews and on her Web site, Rowling may indeed pen another tome about Hogwarts and its inhabitants, an encyclopedia-like companion book focusing on the history of magic, the genealogies of the characters and other material based on the copious in-depth notes she's kept throughout the writing of the Potter novels.
And even if her next writing project is not Potter-related, Rowling's U.S. publisher Scholastic would be happy to be on board when the time comes. In a recent New York Times interview, Scholastic CEO Dick Robinson noted the following about the possibility of future Rowling works: "She's very loyal to us and we're very loyal to her. We'll keep working together. It's less likely we won't get it [the next project]. It's more likely it won't be another Harry Potter."
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See You at BEA |
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Children's Events at BookExpo |
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For those of you attending BookExpo America at the end of this month, we've combed through PW's pre-BEA issue to highlight the various children's events taking place at the show. Click here
to see the complete listing.
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In Brief |
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Not Your Mother's Prom |
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YA authors Holly Black (Ironside) and Cassandra Clare (City of Bones) appeared jointly at a Goth Prom last week, thrown by the Not Your Mother's Book Club at Books Inc.'s Opera Plaza store. Attendees got to mingle with the authors, have their pictures taken, listen to a presentation and participate in a Q&A session. They also received a gift bag with a CD of songs played during the event, black nail polish and galleys. Black and Clare are currently on a joint "Iron and Bone" seven-city tour, and are blogging about the tour on Live Journal. Seen here: Shannon Mathis, children's buyer, Books Inc.; Cassandra Clare; Jennifer Laughran, Not Your Mother's Book Club leader, Books Inc.; Holly Black; Jennifer
Collins, teen services specialist, San Francisco Public Library; and Jill Bourne, assistant library director, SFPL. |
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A Busy Fellow |
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In addition to his day job—as associate art director in the children's division of Houghton Mifflin—Scott Magoon also writes and illustrates picture books. Earlier this month, more than 100 people gathered at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Mass., to celebrate his latest book, Hugo and Miles in I've Painted Everything (Houghton, Apr.). Here, Magoon reads the story to the crowd. |
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Hello? It's Nancy Drew Calling |
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To promote the Nancy Drew movie, which releases on June 15, Warner Bros. and Vibes Media, a mobile marketing company, are launching two interactive mobile programs. Nancy Drew Calls You is a web-based feature that allows customized voice messages to be sent from the movie's star, Emma Roberts, to a cell or home phone. And the Nancy Drew Get a Clue Text Game can be played on cell phones. Both can be accessed on the movie's Web site. |
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Shopping Locally Could Really Pay Off |
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In an effort to promote both Ann M. Martin's new series Main Street and the concept of shopping locally, Scholastic and the American Booksellers Association have teamed up to bring Book Sense bookstores a Main Street contest for their child patrons. Essays that answer the question, "Why Is Your Town's Main Street Special?" should be submitted by children from now through July 2 to their local Book Sense store. Details of the contest as well as marketing materials have been sent to all booksellers who receive the White Box mailings. The grand-prize winner will receive a $500 Main Street shopping spree and a signed copy of Welcome to Camden Falls, the first Main Street book; the store that received the winning entry
will win a visit from Martin. For more information, visit the Scholastic Web site.
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Q&A |
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Obituaries |
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Lloyd Alexander |
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Newbery Medalist Lloyd Alexander, often credited as the father of children's fantasy, passed away this morning at the age of 83, after a long illness. He was predeceased by two weeks by his wife of 61 years, Janine. Alexander began his groundbreaking Chronicles of Prydain series in 1964 with the publication of The Book of Three. The High King, part of the Prydain series, won the 1969 Newbery Medal, and The Black Cauldron won a 1966 Newbery Honor, and also became a Disney film. Alexander won the National Book Award twice, in 1971 for The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian, and in 1982 for Westmark, and he was a finalist five other times. In all, Alexander wrote more than 35 books for young people, many of which were
edited by Ann Durell at Henry Holt and then at Dutton, as well as five books for adults. He also did the definitive translations for Jean-Paul Satre's Nausea and The Wall, among other works. Alexander's last novel, The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio, will be published by Holt this August.
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Featured Reviews |
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The Surprise |
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 Sylvia van Ommen. Front Street/Lemniscaat (Boyds Mills, dist.), $15.95 (24p) ISBN 978-1-932425-85-7
This sly, wordless story follows Sheep as he prepares a special gift for his friend Giraffe. The full extent of Sheep's plan is only fully revealed on the final pages: Ommen's (Jellybeans) bright, spare paintings offer just enough detail and information to keep pages turning. As the story opens, Sheep realizes his accumulated wool has given him a less than sleek appearance (readers first see him from the back, standing on a bathroom scale). After checking himself out in the mirror and taking some measurements, he purchases a bottle of bright red dye, which he uses to color his own wool (while it's still on his body). In a very funny sequence, he waits for the dye to be ready, then showers and shaves himself—briefly appearing to be wearing a voluminous crimson
shawl. Sheep then hires a haughty poodle to turn the wool into yarn, knits and constructs the sweater, wraps it, and, finally, presents it to the grateful Giraffe. Sheep is clearly a cool, confident fellow, and the fact that he runs his various errands on a cherry-red motorbike only adds to his appealing élan. Youngsters should certainly get a giggle out of several visual gags in this slim story, particularly Giraffe's satisfied countenance as he admires his new duds. Ages 2-up. (Apr.)
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 Song of the Sparrow |
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 Lisa Ann Sandell. Scholastic, $16.99 (416p) ISBN 978-0-439-91848-0
Sandell (The Weight of the Sky) invents a unique and eloquently wrought addition to Arthurian lore in 44 verses expressing the sentiments of Lady Elaine, the subject of Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott" and other classical legends. Here, Elaine is cast as a motherless tomboy living in Arthur's encampment with her father and two brothers. Raised amidst soldiers who are like brothers to her, she knows little of what it means to be a woman until her passion is roused by handsome Lancelot. Any hope that Lancelot may some day return her love quickly dissolves with the arrival of beautiful Gwynivere, Arthur's future bride, who immediately steals Lancelot's heart. Elaine despises Gwynivere for her haughty and flirtatious manner ("A gown woven by faeries/ could
not disguise her cruel nature," Elaine declares). Gwynivere conveys equal dislike for Elaine, but the two women form a bond in the throes of danger after they are kidnapped and held hostage by invading Saxons. The poetic narrative—a mix of observations, dialogue and laments—evokes a remarkable range (and natural progression) of emotions. Elaine's coming of age encompasses moments of adolescent infatuation, jealousy, grief and sacrifice and an evolution of friendship into mature love as she ultimately relinquishes her feelings for Lancelot and pledges her heart to Tristan. Characterized as unconventional for her time, Elaine encapsulates modern feminist values, proving herself to be as intelligent, determined and loyal as her male companions. Ages 12-up. (May)
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see all of this week's reviews
including our web exclusive Annex *
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Rights Report |
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Goosebumps author
R.L. Stine has signed with Scholastic to do a new 12-book series called Goosebumps HorrorLand. It will launch next April with two titles. The series will be set in the titular ghoulish theme park and will feature new characters, as well as villains from the original Goosebumps line. See more about the series here. |
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Newmarket Press will publish a YA novelization of the summer movie Gracie, about a 16-year-old girl who fought for and won the right for girls everywhere to play competitive soccer, timed to coincide with the June 1 film release from Picturehouse. The movie, which was inspired by the real story of the family of actress Elisabeth Shue, stars Carly Schroeder, Dermot Mulroney and Shue. Shue's brother Andrew Shue (known for his role as Billy on Melrose Place, and a former competitive soccer player himself) co-stars and is one of the producers. Elisabeth Shue's husband Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth)
is the director. |
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Simon Boughton at Roaring Brook Press has bought U.S. rights to The Midnight Charter, a "fantasy-thriller" by 22-year-old author David Whitley. The auction was conducted by Charlie Viney of Mulcahy and Viney Ltd. in the U.K. Roaring Brook plans to publish the book in 2009.
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People |
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Deborah Dugan has been named president and CEO of Entertainment Rights North America. Based in the U.K., ER owns a range of children's and family programming as well as characters and brands, and Dugan will be charged with further expanding ER in the U.S. Until last May, Dugan was president of Disney Publishing Worldwide. |
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Random House Children's Books has announced a new hire and a few promotions. Jonathan Ambar has joined the company as copy editor; he was most recently at Chelsea House. In the Knopf, Delacorte, Dell Books for Young Readers art department, Sarah Hokanson has been promoted to associate art director, from senior designer; Stephanie Moss has been promoted to designer, from junior designer; and Jinna Shin has been named junior designer, from art assistant.
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In the Winners' Circle |
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Justine Larbalestier has won the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, for her novel Magic or Madness (Razorbill). The Andre Norton Award is part of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's Nebula Awards; this is only the second year that the prize has been awarded to a YA author. |
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Auckland author Marcia Stenson has won the top prize in the New Zealand Post Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for her Illustrated History of the South Pacific. Stenson also won in the nonfiction category for her book. The winners in the other categories: Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! by Kyle Mewburn, illustrated by Ali Teo and John O'Reilly, for Picture Book; Thor's Tale by Janice Marriott for Junior Fiction; Genesis by Bernard Beckett for Young Adult; The Three Fishing Brothers Gruff by Ben Galbraith for Best First Book; and Kiss! Kiss! Yuck! Yuck! for the Children's Choice Award.
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In the Media |
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From BBC Online: British Education Secretary Alan Johnson announced the Boys Into Books campaign, a £600,000 project that will allow every secondary school in England to select and receive 20 free books, with the goal of keeping teen boys reading. |
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From Newsweek: Book clubs for kids—at home, at school, online— are booming. |
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From the Vancouver Sun: Canadian professor Ron Jobe, who has been instrumental throughout his career in promoting Canadian children's literature to the world, was honored in a celebration on his retirement. |
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Bestsellers |
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Did You Miss? |
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From the pages of PW |
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There's plenty more gossip in store for the Gossip Girls: a prequel, a spin-off series, and this fall, a TV show. |
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New On ShelfTalker |
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What's Alison been blogging about this week? Well, she tracked down an author and got her book back into print, attended a ceremony for a local writing contest, and met her daemon on the Golden Compass movie site. Have a look here.
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