David Macaulay. Credit Julie Brigidi.

Two books by Macaulay were signed up as part of the arrangement: Home Sweet Home, about the Earth’s climate and ecosystems, and a second book centering on American history. Decisions as to the specifics of Macaulay’s role as creative director or to the size of the imprint’s staff (Roaring Brook plans to use existing staff initially) have not yet been made.

"Roaring Brook has given me a chance to try something new and slightly daunting," Macaulay said. "Under my own imprint, with matching towels and pillow cases, I will not only be able to continue making my own books, but I’ll also have the opportunity to encourage and support creative people who share my commitment to meaningful content." Macaulay’s 35-year career as an author began in 1973 with the publication of Cathedral, and included such books as The Way Things Work, Pyramid, Mosque and Unbuilding. He won the 1990 Caldecott Medal for Black and White, and was a Macarthur Fellow in 2006. Macaulay’s long-awaited next book, The Way We Work, is due out from Houghton Mifflin this fall.   

Kidthing, based in Los Angeles, also offers publishers a way to retain complete control of the rights to their books while selling them digitally. Earlier this week, kidthing announced a partnership with Penguin Young Readers Group to offer digital versions of books including The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper, Don Freeman’s Corduroy, Jan Brett’s The Hat and Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs by Tomie dePaola. Last month, kidthing signed deals with Seuss Enterprises and Charlesbridge, and other deals are in the works, according to Hitchcock.

The kidthing program is a digital media player, like iTunes, with a bunch of extra features. After downloading the free player from kidthing.com, users can purchase content—like Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who ($7.99) and Jerry Pallotta’s Icky Bug Alphabet Book ($4.99)—from the kidthing store. (Parents
are able to set the program access so that their kids can’t make purchases.)
Other products, such as games and videos, are also available through kidthing. The digital books come equipped with format-specific extra features, such as character animation, narrations by professional actors and other ways of interacting with the text and illustrations. Kidthing also designs games to accompany the books—like a digital Horton coloring book—using its own technology.  

Clements speaking at Ball State.

“Usually when you book authors, you have one author going to one school, and you’ll have a bunch of people from the surrounding area [turn out],” says Jodie Cohen, associate marketing manager for education and library at S&S Children’s Publishing, who accompanied Clements to the Muncie, Ind., university. “This spanned the whole country and even the world, with a couple of schools in Canada and one in Germany. It’s a lot more far-reaching [than a traditional school visit] and it’s great for the author.”

During the broadcast, Clements discussed his books and answered children’s questions (a classroom of children was present at the recording, and students at participating schools could submit questions). Ball State records and broadcasts the sessions, which are available as streaming video online, on certain PBS stations and via satellite. According to Cohen, Clements’s appearance had the largest audience of any of the university’s broadcasts to date (the technology is also used for Ball State’s electronic field trips program, but this marked the first time it had been used for an author).  

Wayne Winstone.

Outside the shops, Winstone pointed out the fertile background for picture books, which included the U.K.’s National Year of Reading. Despite Winstone’s upbeat talk, however, publishers remain concerned about the picture book market.   

Saturday Night Dirt author Will Weaver, with his racing car, The Bookmobile, and driver Skyler Smith, who are on the road to promote Weaver's book, and literacy.

Fittingly, car racing is the driving force behind the publisher’s promotional plans for the novel. FSG is co-sponsoring Weaver’s own stock racing car, dubbed The Bookmobile, during this summer’s racing season of the Upper Midwest’s WISSOTA stock car league. The author and Skyler Smith, the car’s 17-year-old driver, will get the book publicity rolling next Monday, when they—and the car—appear at the Mall of America outside Minneapolis to participate in CommonBond Communities’ Literacy Day, presented in conjunction with Barnes & Noble. In April, they will take the car, which is emblazoned with the title of the novel as well as the publisher’s name, on a tour of Minnesota schools.

It was Weaver’s interest in literacy, in fact, that drove him to create the MOTOR series. Calling these novels "stealth literature," the author explains that his mission is to write fiction that hooks young "motorheads" on reading. "I had long been aware of the lack of books for kids who love cars but hate their English classes," he says. "I wanted to write high-quality novels for these kids and also for teachers and librarians, who are out there on the front lines of literacy every day and constantly hear kids say there is nothing for them to read."   

Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose, co-stars of The Return of Jezebel James.

According to HC Children's executive director of publicity Sandee Roston, Jezebel’s creators, Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino, visited Harper’s offices last year (they finished taping seven episodes in October 2007). "They met for some time with Harper’s publisher and editors, and we told them a few key things about the publishing process," said Roston. "They were really taken with the conference rooms and quotes—our conference room is painted with quotes from our classic books such as Goodnight Moon, The Giving Tree and Charlotte’s Web and new classics such as A Series of Unfortunate Events and Fancy Nancy," Roston explained. "That part of the decor was added to the show as a result." Cover posters of the Warriors series, The Luxe and Prom Nights from Hell also got some exposure on the small screen.  

Set in a dystopian future, Truancy follows the transformation of a hero named Tack as he is converted from a typical student into a member of the revolutionary Truancy, a militant group of students set on destroying the totalitarian education system that serves as the backbone to the City.

As a Stuyvesant alum myself, I was excited to talk to Fukui about his own experiences at Stuy and if his time there had influenced his writing. We met on the second floor of the building, at a row of lockers that students affectionately refer to as the “senior bar.” He arrives right on time, looking like so many of his peers: loose-fitting pants, grungy sneakers, black hair pulled back into a ponytail and the overworked appearance of someone who has spent many hours studying and attending classes. The stress of applying to Ivy League colleges as well as a number of book promotion events have surely taken their toll too.    

Barbara Park, with her grandchildren.

I like writing children’s books.

And I hate doing book tours.

If I could circulate a Random House memo, it would read: Barbara Park does not tour well. She is a whiner. She doesn’t sleep well away from home and she hates to fly. No matter how lovely we try to make it for her, she is never grateful to us for the “touring opportunity.” Barbara Park is one of
the great ingrate authors of all time.
Do not tour Barbara Park. 

Until last month, I had done exactly two book tours in my 28-year career. It’s a record any ingrate author could be proud of. But that has never stopped my publicist Kathy Dunn from prodding for more. This year—with my picture book MA! There’s Nothing to Do Here! due out—Kathy knew she had me. This book was originally a poem to my daughter-in-law. I wrote it after seeing the sonogram of my first grandson. Since then, there has been a second grandson. There is a photo of both of them on the inside front flap of the book. Touring would mean I could gush over their picture with perfect strangers without pulling out my wallet in the grocery store line.

And so it began.