July 12, 2007
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In the News

Harry Potter Countdown
We're at eight days and counting, until the witching (and wizarding) hour of 12:00 AM July 21, and the Harry Potter news is flying fast and furious. Media outlets have been on full tilt covering yesterday's release of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film, and are offering every angle possible to the Deathly Hallows build-up, trying to sate fans who are eager with anticipation. We've rounded up the cream of these items to keep you in the loop and entertained while you've got one eye on the clock.

Harry's Nielsen Ratings

Harry Potter has been considered a cottage industry during the last decade, with J.K. Rowling spinning her stories into merchandise, movies and ultimately, lots of gold. As the book series draws to a close, the Nielsen Company, whose business it is to track entertainment trends and usage, has released a detailed overview of Harry's impact on the entertainment industry. Of course, the boy wizard casts a wide-ranging spell on the book, movie, Internet, television, music and advertising segments.

Here are a few highlights from the report:

Books

  • Nielsen BookScan reports that the Harry Potter books published after 2001 (when the company began its tracking system in the U.S.) have sold 27.7 million copies.

  • According to a recent Nielsen Cinema survey of moviegoers, 28% of people 12+ in the U.S. have read one or more of the previous Harry Potter books, and 15% have read all the Harry Potter books to date.

  • Twenty-eight percent of people 12+ in the U.S. have read one or more of the previous Harry Potter books, and 15% have read all six previous Harry Potter books. 

  • More than half (53%) of the people who have read at least one of the Harry Potter books indicated they plan on reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, with nearly 40% planning to read it as soon as it is released.

  • 51% of people age 12+ in the U.S. are aware that the new Harry Potter book is coming out in July.

    Film

    The first four Harry Potter films have grossed more than $3.5 billion worldwide.

    Read more Potter numbers here.

    Hello, Hollywood

    Hang on to that popcorn! As expected, Harry Potter fans are turning out in droves to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the fifth flick adapted from Rowling's books. Muggles (presumably!) helped the film rack up a record-setting one-day gross for the film: $44.8 million, the highest single-day take ever for a movie on a Wednesday. That figure includes $12 million just for the midnight screenings that had fans lining up on Tuesday night. And the ticket-buying frenzy started early. Fandango, the nation's largest movie ticketing service, announced that hundreds of the midnight showings of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 10/11) were sold out by 5PM EST on July 10. Tickets for the fifth Potter flick are better than sales for summer sequels, Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End were at the same point in those films' respective sales cycles. On July 10, Phoenix was accounting for 90% of Fandango's ticket sales for the week.

    The newest film marks the widest release ever for Warner Bros. studio, according to a Reuters report. It opened Wednesday in 4,285 U.S. and Canadian theaters and in 44 markets around the world. The studio is shipping out 22,000 copies globally, Warner Bros. said on Tuesday. (The widest U.S. and Canadian release overall was 4,362 theaters for Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.)

    And if you think the movie's opening is big, the film itself literally goes big with an IMAX version opening worldwide on 126 (91 in the U.S.) of the specialty screens this week, with many of those theaters featuring the final 20 minutes of the movie in IMAX 3D. According to Warner Bros., Phoenix marks the industry's largest IMAX release ever.

    Phoenix had its official Hollywood premiere last Sunday night at Grauman's Chinese Theater, with all three of the film's young stars—Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson—hitting the red carpet to greet fans. The next day, the young actors took part in a long Tinseltown tradition, with a magical twist: they made their hand, foot, and wand prints in the cement on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of Grauman's. "This is truly amazing," Radcliffe said in a Zap2it.com report. "To join people like John Wayne and just looking around at some of the other names here is remarkable." The shoes worn by the wizarding trio for the ceremony will be given to the Hollywood Museum.

    Actor's Intuition?

    While promoting the film last week, Daniel Radcliffe was asked in an interview on Todayshow.com what he thought his character's fate might be in HP7. "I think I might die in it, but that's just my prediction," he replied. "I think so, but I've no idea at all; I have no inside hints."

    However, another TV interview provoked a slightly different prognostication from the actor. On Live with Regis and Kelly yesterday morning, Radcliffe was asked for his thoughts on whether Rowling should let Harry Potter live happily ever after. "No, that would be ridiculous. Jo's [J.K. Rowling] not that kind of writer, I don't think. He might [die]…. I think Harry will ultimately live but I think he will have to pay some terrible price probably."

    More Potter Please

    Here's a boon for insatiable Potter fans. British book retailer Waterstone's
    has launched a "Save Harry" campaign, aiming to gather online signatures petitioning Rowling to write more Potter books after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which she has long said is the final installment.

    During a interview last weekend on BBC television's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross show, Rowling left the door (or perhaps a window) open to the possibility she may revisit Harry and Hogwarts in book form. "I think that Harry's story comes to quite a clear end in book seven," she told Ross. "But I have always said that I wouldn't say never. I can't say I will never write another book about that world, just because I think, 'What do I know, in 10 years' time I might want to return to it.' But I think it is unlikely."

    In response to all the fuss, Rowling's office issued a statement via a spokesperson: "As she said on Friday night in her BBC interview with Jonathan Ross—never say never. It's not saying that she definitely is [going to write another title] and it's not saying that she definitely isn't. I cannot comment further." The author has already noted that she plans to write at least one encyclopedia about all the Hogwarts characters, places, spells and creatures, probably for charity. But she has been firm that there would be no more novels of Harry and his cohorts.

    According to a report in Sunday's Telegraph, Waterstone's hopes to gather a million signatures via www.saveharrypotter.co.uk, though the count could be much higher. The petition, which the book retailer will deliver to Rowling, reads: "We, the undersigned, petition J.K. Rowling to write more new adventures for Harry Potter and his friends no matter what happens at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

    		•
    More News

    New ALA Awards Honor Morris, Recognize Audio
    A literary award for young adult literature has been created in honor of the late Bill Morris, longtime v-p and director of library promotion at HarperCollins Children’s Books, who passed away in 2003. The Young Adult Library Services Association division of the American Library Association proposed the award, which was approved by the ALA Awards Committee at the organization’s recent annual conference.

    The William C. Morris YA Debut Award will be given annually to a previously unpublished author “who has made a strong literary debut in writing for young adult readers,” beginning in January 2009. YALSA is currently forming the award committee, which will begin its deliberation work in January 2008.

    The award will be funded by YALSA’s William C. Morris Endowment, which was established in 2000 and activated in 2003 with a bequest of more than $400,000 from Morris’s estate. Morris earmarked the money for ALA to fund programs, publications, events, or awards in promotion of children’s literature. In addition to being a valued, active member of the organization, Morris was the first recipient of the ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) Distinguished Service Award in 1992.

    Another new ALA award, The Odyssey Award for Audiobook Excellence, a joint project between the ALSC and YALSA divisions, is off and running. The committee selected to judge this award held its first meetings during the recent ALA conference in Washington, D.C., under the direction of committee chair Mary Burkey.

    The Odyssey recognizes the best in audiobooks created for listeners ages birth to 18. Next January, one Odyssey winner and possible honors will be named along with the Newbery, Caldecott, Sibert and Printz Awards. Eligible titles must be released for children or young adults (birth-18) between October 1, 2006 and October 1, 2007 and be distributed in the United States, allowing for English-language submissions produced in other countries. Field nominations must be seconded by a committee member. Learn more about the Odyssey Award criteria here.                                      —Shannon Maughan
    News Briefs

    ALA: A Photo Guide
    Susan Patron, delivering her
    Newbery speech.
    For those of you who enjoyed our BEA photo-essay last month, we've got another visual treat: a look at various events and author appearances at the recent ALA conference in Washington, D.C. Click here to view.









    Eulberg to Become Meyer's Publicist at Little, Brown

    Little, Brown Books for Young Readers publicity director Elizabeth Eulberg has been promoted to the newly created role of director of global publicity for Stephenie Meyer, whom the house dubbed one of its "fast-growing franchise authors." Eulberg will continue to oversee the LBBYR publicity department until a replacement is found. Meyer's books have sold more than one million copies since Twilight, her debut YA title, was released in 2005. The third book in her vampire-themed series, Eclipse, is due out August 7 from LBBYR, with a million-copy first printing, and her first adult novel, also for Little, Brown, is slated for 2008.
    Book News

    Big Launch for Little Scholastic
    Scholastic is poised to make a splash in the preschool market, with the introduction this month of the first 12 board books in its Little Scholastic publishing program. Geared to youngsters in the 0-3 age span, the books feature a range of interactive components to engage children, high color contrast to develop concentration and focus, rhyming and repetitive text to promote language and listening skills and familiar objects to reinforce basic concepts. And the publisher is touting Little Scholastic's ability to "grow" with kids as they grow: printed on the back of each book are specific suggestions for using the volume with babies, with 1- to 2-year-olds and with 2- to 3-year-olds.

    The move into this market was a logical one for the company, notes Cecily Kaiser, executive editor of Cartwheel and licensed publishing, who spearheaded the creation of the Little Scholastic program. "Over the years, Scholastic has conducted so much research, in-house and out, on early childhood development," she explains. "There is so much knowledge within these walls, yet we realized that we weren't translating it into a retail product. So we took a great deal of that research and channeled it into a developmental book program with the idea that we could reach out to parents and specify exactly how these books are appropriate for youngest readers at various ages."
    More Book News

    Free Spirit Wants Kids to Take Charge of Themselves
    With all of life's stresses these days, and a lot of folks not wanting to resort to popping pills, books on natural healing for adults abound. But what about complementary medicine for kids? Free Spirit Publishing, the Minneapolis-based publisher, is looking to answer that question with a new series, Be the Boss of Your Body. Three books debut in August: Be the Boss of Your Pain, Be the Boss of Your Sleep and Be the Boss of Your Stress, all co-authored by Timothy Culbert, M.D., a behavioral and developmental pediatrician and Rebecca Kajander, a nurse practitioner. Endorsed by naturalist guru Andrew Weil, the books contain tools to help kids help themselves, whether it's through managing their mind to reduce stress, eating well to sleep better or exercising to get rid of extra energy.
    In Brief

    Are You Green Enough for Penguin?
    The Penguin Young Readers Group has announced a "Greenest Family in America" video contest, to tie in with its May publication of An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming, the YA adaptation of Al Gore's bestselling title. The contest is intended to raise awareness among kids about global climate issues. Families are invited to upload short videos of their efforts to live "greener," more environmentally friendly lives to the Web site RiverWired.com, with whom Penguin has partnered for this promotion. To be eligible, videos must be submitted before September 1.

    Father and Son in the Garden
    Last week Walter Dean Myers and his son Christopher Myers took part in the Museum of Modern Art's Story Time in the Sculpture Garden. They read from their books Brown Angels, Lies and Other Tall Tales, and Jazz. Aimed at children ages four to seven, the program—which is free—makes available a limited number of tickets on a first-come, first-served basis on the morning of the readings. Chris Raschka will participate on July 19 and Brian Collier will appear on July 26.

    Log On for Stardom
    For the direct-to-DVD property based on Lisi Harrison's The Clique, Warner Premiere and Alloy Media & Marketing are holding an online casting call contest on Alloy's Sugarloot.com Web site, which is aimed at teen girls. Actresses can go online and audition for the two lead roles, and site visitors can vote on their auditions. Sugarloot.com launched this past April, and had more than 100,000 unique users in its debut month.
    Q&A
    Chris Crutcher
    Bookshelf talked with Chris Crutcher about his new novel, Deadline (Greenwillow, Sept.).
    Is there really such a thing as an eight-man football team?
    It's very common where I'm from: Cascade, Idaho, population 943. Cascade was actually the big town in the area. It's all these little logging towns, each with their own high school, and everybody's got to field a team. If you've seen Friday Night Lights—that was just like my town.

    read more
    Rights Report


    Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired feature film rights to the seven-book fantasy series Septimus Heap by British author Angie Sage. Septimus Heap: Magyk, the first book in the series, will be produced by Karen Rosenfelt (The Devil Wears Prada), with Sage as executive producer. The series is published by Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children's Books. Courtenay Valenti negotiated the deal on behalf of Warner Bros.; Joan Rosen of HarperCollins and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein of The Gotham Group negotiated the deal for HarperCollins.


    Penguin Young Readers Group and Walden Media have jointly acquired North American rights to a first novel, Savvy by Ingrid Law, in a preemptive multi-book deal with agent Daniel Lazar at Writers House. Additionally, Walden Media has secured the rights to develop the book into a feature film. Savvy will be published by Dial Books for Young Readers/Walden Media in May 2008 and edited by Alisha Niehaus.


    Franny K. Stein, Mad Scientist, the book series by It's Happy Bunny creator Jim Benton, will be made into a movie, according to Reuters. Film rights have been optioned by East of Doheny, which will team with the Gotham Group to produce an animated feature film. Next month, Simon & Schuster's Aladdin imprint will publish The Fran with Four Brains, the seventh book in the series.


    Elizabeth Bicknell at Candlewick Press has bought a first book, a YA novel by Abigail McDonald called Sophomore Switch, about two college girls (one American, one British) who switch places (UCLA and Oxford) for a semester. It's based on the experiences of the author, who is a pop columnist and feature writer for artistDIRECT.com and founder of the music blog poptext.org. Spring 2009 is the projected pub date, and Rosemary Stimola is the agent.


    Greg Neri's first YA novel, Surf Mules, about two surfers who find themselves embroiled in a world of disorganized crime as their summer jobs, was sold at auction to Stacey Barney at Putnam for publication in 2009. Agent is Edward Necarsulmer IV of McIntosh & Otis.
    Obituaries

    		Craig Walker
    Craig Walker, v-p and senior editorial director of trade paperbacks at Scholastic, died on July 1 of cancer. Walker originally joined the company in 1983, as assistant editor of the See Saw Book Club, and founded the Firefly Book Club for preschoolers. In a statement, Scholastic called Walker "a brilliant paperback publisher." To read more, click here.

    		Filomena Tuosto
    Art director and designer Filomena Tuosto
    died on June 21 of cancer. Born in 1952 in Italy, she started working at Philomel Books under Nanette Stevenson, moved to Tambourine Books at William Morrow, and became art director at Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Children, working with award-winning authors and illustrators Mordicai Gerstein, David Small and Uri Shulevitz, among others. Recently she focused on freelance work and was integral in creating the logos for the Square Fish and Feiwel and Friends lines at Holtzbrinck. She was married to illustrator Ed Young.

    		Howie Schneider
    Cartoonist and picture book author Howie Schneider died on June 28 at the age of 77.
    He was best known for his Eek and Meek comic strip, which ran nationwide from 1965 to 2000, as well as for his more recent strip The Sunshine Club. His career in children's books included the Amos series, Uncle Lester's Hat, No Dogs Allowed! and, most recently, Chewy Louie and Wilky, the White House Cockroach.
    On-Sale Calendar


    August 2007
      1 Puff, the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton, illus. by Eric Puybaret (Sterling, $16.95). 337,000 copies.
    Fairy Haven and the Quest for the Wand by Gail Carson Levine, illus. by David Christiana (Disney Press, $17.99). 200,000 copies.
    Stellaluna (board book) by Janell Cannon (Harcourt/Red Wagon, $7.95). 100,000 first printing.
     
      7 Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown/Tingley, $18.99). 1,000,000 copies.
    Disney High School Musical 2: The Junior Novel by N.B. Grace (Disney Press, $4.99). 1,000,000 copies.
    Disney High School Musical: East High Yearbook by Emma Harrison (Disney Press, $10.99). 300,000 copies.
    Monster Halloween Party by Laura Driscoll (Simon Spotlight, $6.99). 100,000 copies.
     
    14 Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (Knopf, $16.99). 250,000 copies.
    Disney Princess: Happily Ever After Stories Storybook Collection (Disney Press, $15.99). 225,000 copies.
    Disney Bedtime Favorites Storybook Collection (Disney Press, $15.99). 225,000 copies.
    Disney/Pixar Cars Storybook & CD (Disney Press, $12.99). 150,000 copies.
    Disney Princess: Enchanted Stables by Lara Bergen (Disney Press, $14.99). 125,000 copies.
    What's Wrong, Little Pookie? by Sandra Boynton (Random House/Robin Corey, $5.99). 100,000 copies.
    X-Men Pop-Up by Marvel Characters, Inc., edited by Caroline Repchuk, design and paper engineering by Andy Mansfield (Candlewick, $24.99) 100,000 copies.
    Disney Princess: The Enchanted Castle Pop-Up by Kitty Richards (Disney Press, $12.99). 100,000 copies.
    Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: 5+1 Makes More Fun by Sheila Sweeny Higginson (Disney Press, $12.99) 100,000 copies.
     
    15 Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive Adventure (Disney Press, $12.99) 125,000 copies.
     
    21 Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., illus. by Eric Carle (Holt, $16.95). 500,000 copies.
    Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin, illus. by Harry Bliss (HarperCollins/Cotler, $16.99). 300,000 copies.
    Jinx by Meg Cabot (HarperCollins, $16.99). 150,000 copies.
    The Land of the Silver Apples by Nancy Farmer (Atheneum/Jackson, $18.99). 150,000 copies.
    Warrior Super Edition: Firestar's Quest by Erin Hunter (HarperCollins, $19.99). 150,000 copies.
    Pirates of the Caribbean: The Secret Files of the East India Trading Company by Sir Thomas Faye (Disney Press, $19.99). 150,000 copies.
    Disney Fairies: Fairy Lanterns by Tennant Redbank (Disney Press, $17.99). 100,000 copies.
    Disney Bunnies: Thumper Finds a Friend by Laura Driscoll (Disney Press, $9.99). 100,000 copies.
    Nightmare Academy, Book One: Into the Nether by Dean Lorey (HarperCollins, $16.99). 100,000 copies.
     
      28 Mythology by Lady Hestia Evans, edited by Dugald A. Steer (Candlewick, $19.99). 400,000 copies.
    Magic Tree House #38: Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, $11.99). 350,000 copies.
    Soupy Saturdays with the Pain and the Great One by Judy Blume, illus. by James Stevenson (Delacorte, $12.99). 250,000 copies.
    Inner Circle by Kate Brian (SimonPulse, $9.99). 150,000 copies.

      
    Click here for PW's complete
    2006-2007 On-Sale Calendar
      
    People


    Two promotions have been announced in the Knopf and Crown editorial department at Random House Children's Books.
    Erin Clarke has been promoted to senior editor; she was formerly editor. Jack Lienke has been promoted to assistant editor, from editorial assistant.


    Margaret Miller has been promoted to editor at HarperCollins Children's Books. She was previously associate editor.
    In the Media


    It's all Harry all the time these days. Here's a sampling of recent features about the boy wizard.


    Time magazine had a series of stories about "the biggest book of all time," including an article on Scholastic's efforts to keep the contents of Deathly Hallows a secret.


    USA Today has several Potter stories today, including one that speculates whether Harry will indeed die in the final book, and another that talks about real-life grief kids may experience, if he does.


    Last Sunday the New York Times asked four authors (including Meg Cabot and Polly Horvath) and one artist to create alternate endings to the final book.


    The Associated Press looked at Harry as pop culture phenomenon.


    The Independent in London ran a long interview with J.K. Rowling, who spoke about learning to live with fame and fortune, and now without Harry.


    For Variety, the month of July is "the tale of two Potters"—the film and the book—though the companies behind these two mega releases did little to coordinate their marketing strategies.


    A story in the Austin American-Statesman contended that librarians and booksellers expect the swell of teenage readers to outlast Potter fever.


    But as the Boston Globe reported, not everyone is optimistic that Harry fans will extend their enthusiasm to other books and authors.


    The New York Times
    also weighed in on the series's longrange effects, contending that Harry Potter has had limited impact on reading habits.


    The Washington Post
    had a profile of Arthur Levine, Rowling's editor here in the U.S.


    In USA Today, fans young and old, from a nine-year-old in Pennsylvania to NBC's Tiki Barber, talked about their passion for Harry.


    With speculation is rampant that Harry might die in the final book, the Denver Post posed the question: would this be harmful
    for kids?


    The Star Tribune in Minneapolis speculated on the secret of Harry Potter's appeal.


    And the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wondered the same thing.


    The Sun-Sentinel in
    Fort Lauderdale contemplated Life After Harry, as fans and publishers ponder what comes next.


    And Entertainment Weekly columnist and Harry fan Stephen King writes of his reluctance to see the series end, saying that a fairly large part of him "can hardly bear to say goodbye," and that he'll be "in line with my money in my hand on July 21."


    In non-Harry news, the Deseret News profiled three authors about how they broke through to get published.


    The Manhattan (Kans.) Mercury discusses the changes made to a classic book property when Hollywood comes calling, such as with the recent Nancy Drew film.
    In the Winners' Circle


    Peter Dickinson, author of Eva, has won the 1988/2008 Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association. The prize
    is given to the author
    of a book for children published originally in English that did not win a major award at the time of its publication 20 years earlier. It was announced at the CLA's annual conference last month. One Phoenix Honor winner was also announced: Jane Yolen, for her book The Devil's Arithmetic (Viking).
    New on ShelfTalker


    Our blogger Alison has had a busy week: she spent a long weekend
    in Missouri, where she introduced a two-year-old buddy to Fireman Small; and in a
    post that drew a number of responses, she pleaded with publishers not to overlook plot summary information when printing galleys. Check out her blog here.
    Mark Your Calendar


    An exhibition called "Children Should Be Seen: The Image of the Child in American Picture-Book Art" has opened at the Katonah Museum of Art in Ketonah, N.Y. It was organized collaboratively by the KMA and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Mass. The show presents a survey of the best American picture book art of the last decade; according to its curators, it's the first exhibition on the theme of the image of the child in contemporary picture book art ever to be presented in the United States. It runs through October 27.
    Contact Us


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