Children's Bookshelf
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In the News |
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More News |
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Book News |
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Birds of a Feather |
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It’s not uncommon for real-life events to inspire books for children. But when the story of a hawk that took residence along New York City’s fabled Fifth Avenue, which captured national attention, spawns the publication of not one, but two new picture books, that’s reason to take notice. Bookshelf spoke with both authors—Meghan McCarthy (City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male, Simon & Schuster) and Jeanette Winter (The Tale of Pale Male, Harcourt)—who, like numerous city dwellers, were enamored by the hawk-cum-media darling that refused to budge from its nest. Unlike the average citizen, however, they put pen to paper to immortalize his tale of determination.
A self-proclaimed lifelong animal lover, McCarthy says that as a girl she would rescue injured baby birds and carry them home in cardboard boxes lined with towels. “I’d go so far as to put worms into the blender and administer them using an eyedropper,” she recalls.
But it wasn’t until McCarthy saw a movie about Pale Male that she got caught up in his story. The Rhode Island School of Design graduate, who has lived in New York for the past seven years, became hooked on the hawk after seeing the Frederic Lilien film on the subject, which aired on PBS. Even before McCarthy ever saw Pale Male in person, she knew she wanted to write his story. And she has since spotted him several times while jogging in Central Park. “Seeing the hawk up close is better than looking at him through the telescope any day!” she exclaims. read more
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Licensing Hotline |
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Indy’s Adventures in Publishing |
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| Not final art. |
When the long-awaited fourth film in the Indiana Jones franchise is released on May 22, 2008, Scholastic and DK—both long-time partners of Lucas Licensing on Star Wars—will release a range of children’s books appropriate for a PG-13 movie. In addition, Penguin is on board for Mad Libs, and Lucas is in talks with other publishers for formats such as tween activity books, according to Carol Roeder, director of publishing.
Scholastic will publish junior novelizations for all four films. The first three will come out in April in trade channels—all will be available in Scholastic’s clubs and fairs as well—with the fourth released the same day as the film. “The reason they’re doing the fourth movie is pretty much our reason for doing the books,” says Lynn Smith, Scholastic’s director of licensed publishing. “It’s been the barometer for adventure films for the last 20 years. [The character] is an icon of adventure.”
DK will produce The Ultimate Indiana Jones Guide, as well as sticker books tied to all four films. “We’ve had our eye on Indiana Jones. It’s been a big ambition of ours for a long time,” says Siobhan Williamson, DK’s category publisher for licensed children’s books, who notes that the rich universe lends itself well to the comprehensive, 144-page format of an Ultimate Guide. “It fits the DK treatment, that detailed nonfiction approach. There are so many fans out there dying to get their hands on this sort of book.”
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In Brief |
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Bigger Kits for Smaller Readers |
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Building on the success of its mini-kit publishing program for the adult market—more than two million copies have been sold—the staff at Running Press felt the time was right to adapt the line for a younger crowd, a thought shared by a number of booksellers. "We were being constantly asked by accounts, 'Why not do something for the kids' category?'," says Jon Anderson, publisher at Running Press. "Mini kits were too small to work well in the children's section of the store. We wanted something in a larger trim size that would still have off-the-wall subjects that haven't been done a million times."
Ten kits will be offered in the first year of the program, a mix of holiday-themed, licensed and original titles, often with an unexpected twist on the subject. "We're really staying clear of the 'been there, done that" approach," Anderson says. (The bath kit Night of the Living Duckies features rubber ducks in classic monster attire; a primer on ventriloquism bears the wry title Talk to the Hand.) Each kit contains a paperback book and interactive playthings. According to Anderson, Running Press rushed to make sure its Harry Potter Divination Sticker Kit with Crystal Ball was ready when the final book in J.K. Rowling's series published. Their expedience paid off: the company has shipped 50,000 copies since the kit went on sale in July.
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Making Their Dinner Debut |
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At a recent series of dinners in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers feted three debut authors for a group of booksellers, educators and librarians. Pictured here with their first novels: (l. to r.) Heather Tomlinson (The Swan Maiden), Ying Chang Compestine (Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party) and Shauna Cross (Derby Girl). |
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Teaming Up for Eclipse |
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When Eclipse, the third novel in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, debuted at #1 on the USA Today bestseller list of August 16, the staff at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers put aside their "Team Edward" and "Team Jacob" rivalries long enough to celebrate the feat with a company-wide toast. Here, LBYR staffers reveal where their true loyalties lie.
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Q&A |
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Bookshelf talked with Peter Sís, who drew from his own childhood in his latest book, The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain (FSG/Foster, Aug.).
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In The Wall, you introduce a boy who takes solace in drawing. Do you remember, during those dark times, doing the same?
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Yes. Art really got me, and many others, through the darkest times. It was a lifeline, even the "compulsory" art we were made to create at school. And it wasn't just drawing and painting for me, but also music and filmmaking. The book reduces it to a fairly simple refrain—"But he had to draw. Sharing the dreams gave him hope"—but it was much more complex and fragmented than that.
read more
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Obituaries |
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Siobhan Dowd |
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Author Siobhan Dowd died on August 21 in Oxford, of cancer. She was 47. Her first novel, A Swift Pure Cry, was published by David Fickling Books at Random House last year; it was shortlisted for several awards in the U.K., and won the Brandford Boase Award, and the Eilís Dillon Award in Ireland for a first-time children's author. The London Eye Mystery, her second novel, pubbed in England this past June, also with David Fickling Books, and will come out here next February. Her third and fourth novels, Bog Child and Solace of the Road, will also be published.
David Fickling told PW, "We are absolutely devastated at the sudden loss of Siobhan Dowd. She was a person and writer of immense humanity, warmth and ability, just coming into the full measure of her talent. We are lucky to have four brilliant books, and we cannot help thinking that is not enough."
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Featured Reviews |
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 Toy Boat |
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 Randall De Sève, illus. by Loren Long. Philomel, $16.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-399-24374-5
A boy's handmade toy boat plays the metaphorical role of a child longing for independence in de Sève's auspicious first picture book. The text begins in simple language that lightly implies a parent/child bond: "The boy loved the boat, and they were never apart. They bathed together. They slept together." Every day the boy sails the boat in the lake, holding onto it with a string. Usually the boat feels content, but occasionally the sight of big boats awakens its curiosity about "what it would feel like to sail free." A sudden change in the weather occasions the toy boat's premature adventure out of the boy's protective grasp, described in suspenseful text and acrylics that imaginatively extend de Sève's story. Long (the re-illustrated The Little
Engine That Could) shrewdly illustrates no persons other than David, even though David's mother plays a pivotal part. Rather, the toy boat has a face (readers should look carefully at the cork holding its mast) and, as it encounters the big boats at last, each wears its own visible personality. A giant ferry occupying most of a spread bears down on the toy boat, its windows, decks and trimmings shaped into an enraged visage, complete with glaring eyes and pursed lips; the toy boat shrinks dramatically in the wake of a huge speedboat depicted as a flame-colored shark. Not until the reassuring conclusion can the toy boat again be seen from the boy's perspective. A resonant tale with wide appeal. Ages 2-up. (Sept.)
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A Crooked Kind of Perfect |
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 Linda Urban. Harcourt, $16 (224p) ISBN 978-0-15-206007-7
Former bookseller Urban makes a highly promising fiction debut with this sweet, funny novel, relayed in short, titled entries. Ten-year-old Zoe dreams of becoming a famous pianist (as she says in "How It Was Supposed to Be," "A piano is sophisticated. Glamorous. Worldly"). But her quasi-agoraphobic father has one of his usual freak-outs as he attempts to shop for a piano and buys her an electric organ instead. How can Zoe possibly become the next Vladimir Horowitz if she has to play on a "Perfectone D-60"? Grudgingly, she begins taking lessons from Mabelline Person (pronounced "Per-saaahn"), who hands Zoe songbooks full of TV theme songs or hits from the '70s ("My piano teacher was supposed to be a sweet, rumpled old man," Zoe confides to
readers. "I would call him Maestro…. He would discourage me from practicing too much and spoiling the spontaneity of my play"). But when Mabelline enters her in the Perform-O-Rama—her first contest ever—Zoe thinks for the first time that her dreams could possibly come true. Throw in an absurdly workaholic mother, a best friend who deserts Zoe for a girl with a rhyming name (Joella Tinstella), an underparented boy who blossoms overnight when Zoe's dad takes under his wing, and Zoe's dad's eccentricities, if not to say full-blown neuroses; Urban controls these exaggerated elements through the evenness of Zoe's voice. No matter how outrageously her subjects behave, the author always sounds natural. Ages 8-12. (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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Picture Book Bestsellers
August 2007 |
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- Puff, the Magic Dragon.
Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton, illus. by Eric Puybaret.
Sterling, $16.95
ISBN 978-1-4027-478-23
- The Night Before Kindergarten.
Natasha Wing, illus. by Julie Durrell.
Grosset & Dunlap, paper $3.99
ISBN 978-0-448-
42500-9
- Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy.
Jane O'Connor, illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser.
HarperCollins, $16.99
ISBN 978-0-06-054213-9
- Fancy Nancy.
Jane O'Connor, illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser.
HarperCollins, $16.99
ISBN 978-0-06-054209-2
- How Do Dinosaurs Go to School?
Jane Yolen, illus. by Mark Teague.
Scholastic/Blue Sky, $16.99
ISBN 978-0-439-02081-7
see full list
see more bestseller lists
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Behind the Bestsellers
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Sterling figured it would be a hit, but they didn't figure on just how big a hit it would be. With an appearance (and singalong) by Peter Yarrow on Good Morning America, the iconic '60s folk song "Puff, the Magic Dragon" debuted as a picture book on August 9. Reaction, and sales, have been "extraordinary," says Sterling CEO Charles Nurnberg. The first printing was 323,000 copies, and "reorders are coming in faster than we can print it," he says. Nurnberg is especially struck by the multi-generational audience that turns out to meet Yarrow. "The first two people at the first signing were in their '60s, and didn't have children. And they were buying multiple copies, to give as gifts." By November there will be 615,000 copies in
print.
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Galley Talk |
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Ellen Richmond, owner of Children's Book Cellar, Waterville, Me., talks about a favorite fall title. |
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Well received in the U.K., The Black Book of Secrets by F.E. Higgins (Feiwel & Friends, Oct.) will find an equally receptive audience here, I'm sure. Fun for everyone, it will especially appeal to the guys and will be a good choice to hook reluctant readers in upper elementary/middle school.
Ludlow Fitch encounters the mysterious Joe Zabbidou, a secret pawnbroker, and becomes his assistant. In exchange for generous payment, Joe's customers reveal their guiltiest secrets to him and Ludlow records their confessions in Joe's big black book. There are lots of secrets to buy and most of them involve Jeremiah Ratchet, the richest man in town, whose cruelty and greed have caused most of the misery in the village. Ratchet steals the Black Book hoping to use the secrets within, but before he can, he dies mysteriously.
The Black Book of Secrets has it all: danger, adventure, theft, murder, body snatching, poisonings, a touch of humor, and enough mystery to keep you guessing until the very end. Seemingly unrelated threads within the story intersect nicely to create a satisfying climax. An enjoyable story that begs for a sequel.
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Rights Report |
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Margaret Raymo at Houghton Mifflin has bought North American rights to two novels by Barry Lyga, author of The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl and Boy Toy. In Hero-Type, which is due out in fall 2008, 16-year-old Kevin goes from Hero to Zero in his small town after he is seen removing Support the Troops magnets from his car. The second book, which is not yet titled, will be published in the fall of 2009. The agent was Kathleen Anderson of Anderson Literary Management. |
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Julia Richardson at Houghton Mifflin has acquired worldwide hard/soft rights to The Sleeping Knights and the Quest for Dormia by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski, their first book for young readers. The book, scheduled for fall 2009, tells the story of Alfonso, a 12-year-old boy who can harness the ancient power of sleep, and his quest to save a legendary kingdom. Kate Schaffer of Janklow & Nesbit Associates was the agent.
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People |
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Scholastic has announced two new hires and a promotion. Emily Sharpe has joined as trade marketing assistant. Seraphim Reycraft has joined Scholastic's publicity department as publicity assistant. And Sheila Marie Everett has been promoted to publicist, from senior publicity coordinator. |
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Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has announced a new hire and several promotions. Leyah Jensen has joined Little Simon as associate art director; she was previously at Scholastic. Giuseppe Castellano has been promoted to art director for Simon Spotlight. Aviva Shur has been promoted to senior designer for Little Simon. Laura Reddick has been promoted to junior designer for Little Simon. And Kim Waymer has been promoted to senior production manager for S&S Children's. |
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Amalia Ellison has joined Abrams Books for Young Readers/Amulet Books as assistant editor; she was previously at Delacorte/Random House.
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In the Winners' Circle |
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Australia's major children's book awards, The Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Awards, were announced on August 17. The winners are: for picture books: The Arrival by Shaun Tan (honour books: The Rainbirds, illus. by Sally Rippin, text by David Metzenthen; and Woolvs in the Sittee, illus. by Anne Spudvilas, text by Margaret Wild; for early childhood: Amy & Louis by Libby Gleeson, illus. by Freya Blackwood (honour books: Doodledum Dancing by Meredith Costain, illus. by Pamela Allen; and Chatterbox by Margaret Wild, illus. by Deborah Niland); for younger readers: Being Bee by Catherine Bateson (honour books: The Tuckshop Kid by Pat Flynn, illus. by Tom Jellett; and Bird & Sugar Boy
by Sophie Lagune); for older readers: Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan (honour books: The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky; and Monster Blood Tattoo by D.M. Cornish); for information books: The Penguin Book: Birds in Suits by Mark Norman (honour books: Red Haze: Australians & New Zealanders in Vietnam by Leon Davidson; and Queenie: One Elephant's Story by Corinne Fenton, illus. by Peter Gouldthorpe).
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Did You Miss? |
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From the pages of PW |
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See the story we ran on the Worth the Candle backlist program at Hicklebee's Children's Books, which the ABC hopes to roll out on a national level next year. |
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Going to any of the fall regional bookseller shows? If so, be sure to check out our roundup of the hot galleys to grab. |
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PW's Comics Week newsletter ran a story on a new graphic novel series, Miki Falls, from Mark Crilley, creator of the Akiko comics and books.
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In the Media |
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From the Boston Globe: The story of how Peter Yarrow turned Puff the Magic Dragon from song into picture book.
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From the Globe and Mail: Yarrow refutes the urban legend that his song refers to drug use.
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New in ShelfTalker |
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This week Alison plugs a few back-in-print gems, and falls in love… with a first novel. Check out her ShelfTalker blog here.
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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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