Greeting the hordes, at the Bloomsbury booth.

The book of the show? Nowhere to be seen. That book, of course, being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, due out next month, all 12 million copies. But as the booksellers of America wait for the trucks to arrive, they spent their BEA weekend learning about the books they'll be selling after Harry.

Fall will see many highly anticipated fiction sequels, most notably Eclipse, the third title from Stephenie Meyer featuring the characters from her phenomenally successful vampire novels Twilight and New Moon. Little, Brown is printing 700,000 copies, but because it's embargoed for an August 7 pub, no copies were available. Other big followups include The Sweet Far Thing, the concluding volume in Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle trilogy (Delacorte, 250,000 copies, Dec.); Peter and the Secret of Rundoon by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Disney Editions, 250,000 copies, Nov.); Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, followup to Stargirl from seven years ago (Knopf, 250,000 copies, Aug); and Jack Gantos's fifth book about Joey Pigza, this one titled I Am Not Joey Pigza (FSG, July, 75,000 copies).

Two bestselling adult authors are trying their hand at writing for younger readers. High Fidelity author Nick Hornby has his first novel for teens: Slam, due in October from Putnam with a 300,000-copy first printing. And Sherman Alexie offers The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (Little, Brown. Sept., 100,000 copies); booksellers snatched up giveaway ARCs from huge stacks.   read more

HRH Crown Princess Victoria gives Carmen Diana Dearden and Maria Beatriz Medina from Banco del Libro the prize. Photo: Lars-Erik Örthlund.

Accepting the award, which is worth SEK 5 million ($700,000), for the Banco del Libro, managing director María Beatriz Medina said, "When we heard we'd won we laughed, we danced and we cried. We are proud to be linked with an author whose work changed how we look at children and childhood. This is a prize with a soul. It will challenge us to find new ways of bringing books to children in a country where so many are denied that basic opportunity."

The Banco del Libro was selected by a 12-person Swedish jury for the following reason: "In a true pioneering spirit, with ingenuity and a sheer determination, the Banco del Libro has constantly sought new ways of disseminating books and promoting reading among children in Venezuela. Enthusiasm, professionalism, closeness to the children and a refreshing lack of bureaucracy are the hallmarks of the Banco del Libro's work, whether in shanty towns, mountain villages, universities or out in cyberspace."

Comprised of multiple seven-book arcs, as well as several stand-alone titles, Rainbow Magic introduces two ordinary girls who are thrust into the magical world of Fairyland. In the first two series, they meet Rainbow Fairies and Weather Fairies, respectively. The third series is Jewel Fairies, which Scholastic launches next month with four titles, each with a 50,000-copy first printing. The fourth series, Pet Fairies, debuts here next March.  read more