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March 27, 2008

In The News
More Book News
People
Did You Know?
In the Media
More News
In Brief
In the Winners' Circle
Featured Reviews
Bestsellers

Book News
Q&A
On the Radar
Rights Report
Slush Pile

In the News

Johnston to Start New Imprint at S&S

Allyn Johnston is joining Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing as v-p and publisher of a yet-to-be named imprint, effective immediately. Her imprint, which will concentrate on picture books and middle-grade fiction, will be located in San Diego. She will report to Rubin Pfeffer, senior v-p and publisher of Children's Trade Publishing.

Johnston worked for Pfeffer for many years when Pfeffer was president of Harcourt Trade; Johnston left the company last week, after 22 years. Authors she has worked with include Lois Ehlert, Marla Frazee, Mem Fox, Jane Dyer, Debra Frasier, Avi, Cynthia Rylant and Ursula K. Le Guin.

More News

Children's Book Week Springs into New Territory

For the first time in its 88-year history, Children’s Book Week moves from its traditional home in November to early May this year. For the Children’s Book Council, which has administered Children’s Book Week since 1944, the move is a chance to bring renewed attention to literacy and reading—
as well as to the week itself—on a national level.

“Children’s Book Week started in 1919 and has many, many years of history and tradition,” says Robin Adelson, executive director of the CBC. “It started for a fabulous reason that still holds true: the love of reading, the love of books and to celebrate books. But I think what’s happened over the years is it became a ‘week’ in name only. It’s always been highlighted by fabulous posters and original art, and it has always has been upheld by local celebrations. But there hasn’t been a centralized, unified force that’s really necessary to make it a truly meaningful week across the country.”


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Book News

Roaring Brook’s Web Wonder

One of the hottest things on the Internet right now is a one minute 20 second video of someone flipping through a children’s book. Pretty heady stuff in the age of Britney Spears and Twiggy the Water Skiing Squirrel. The bookish star of the clip is ABC3D (Roaring Brook/Neal Porter), an intricately designed pop-up by French artist Marion Bataille. Headier still, the title won’t even be published until October, but it has already hit the Amazon.com bestseller list and has enchanted booklovers, booksellers and design aficionados who have snagged a sneak peek via the widely shared video.


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More Book News

Sweet Valley High: Back in Session

In 1983, Bantam published the first of Francine Pascal’s Sweet Valley High novels, starring a pair of twins: sweet, studious Elizabeth and scheming, snobby Jessica. The good twin/bad twin dynamic proved very popular: sales of the 156 novels in the series reached 60 million copies, and SVH inspired a handful of successful spinoff series. Now Random House Children’s Books is introducing these teenage twins to a new generation of readers, reissuing updated mass market editions of the first 12 installments of the series under its Laurel-Leaf imprint. Featuring new, photographic covers, the inaugural releases, Double Love and Secrets, are due in April with a combined first printing of 100,000 copies. Two additional titles will follow in August.

The decision to bring the series back into print 25 years after its first appearance was based on a combination of factors, according to Beverly Horowitz, v-p and publisher of Bantam Delacorte Dell Books for Young Readers. “Even though decades have passed, we realized that these books haven’t lost their meaning,” she says. “Girls today are still drawn to stories about the bad girl and the good girl, sister relationships, friendships, family and high school life. And has any of those things changed much? I don’t think so. This series was one of the first to deal with issues and emotions realistically, and readers in the 1980s really connected with these characters. I think they, and the original plot lines, have withstood the test of time.”

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In Brief

Don't Let the Pigeon Call His Agent

©2008 Mo Willems

No, this isn't the next Pigeon book! It's just an early April Fool's joke for Bookshelf readers, from Pigeon creator Mo Willems. As we told you a few weeks ago, the name of the next Pigeon picture book is top secret. Hyperion is currently calling the book Pigeon Wants a... and is holding a nationwide contest for kids to guess the rest of the title. Be sure to read PW Daily next Tuesday, April 1, for the Big Reveal: we'll let you know what Pigeon really, really wants.

A (100) Grand Giveaway

Now in its sixth year, the Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories program, along with author John Lithgow and the nonprofit organization First Book, is launching the Cheerios Book Donation Challenge, with the goal of giving away 100,000 copies of the author's books. Via a dedicated Web site kids can answer multiple-choice questions about 47 different children's books. For each correct answer, they can cast a vote for a U.S. state, with 20,000 copies of Lithgow's books to be distributed to nonprofit groups in each of the five states that receive the most votes. Voting continues through June 15.

A Fair(y) Chance to Win

Borders and Disney Publishing have teamed up for the bookstore chain's latest "Dream Rewards" contest, this time inviting children to create a Disney Fairy. Children ages 6-11, whose parents or legal guardians are Borders Rewards members, are asked to draw their fairy on an entry form and describe it in 50 words or less. The winning entry, chosen by a panel of judges, will be included in an upcoming book in the series; the entrant also will win a trip for four to Disney World in Florida. Additional details and a printable entry form are available at the Borders Dream Rewards Web site.

Q&A

Philip Pullman

Bookshelf spoke with Philip Pullman about his new novel, Once Upon a Time in the North (Knopf, Apr.).

What occasioned you to write Once Upon a Time in the North?

Well, I had already done Lyra's Oxford, which
is just a short story really, but one framed in
a beautifully produced book with all the engravings and documents. We enjoyed playing with that model—the designer, publisher and I—and Once Upon a Time in the North is produced the same way.

Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North—they are like an amuse-bouche—you know, those little French hors d'œuvres served at the beginning of a meal to whet the appetite. Each one is a short story, really, intended to divert and entertain.
read more

People

Paula Hannigan has been named children's editor of the Accord division of Andrews McMeel. She will report to Accord publisher Christopher Navratil, and will be based in Accord's Denver headquarters. Hannigan was previously at Klutz Press.

Jennifer Roberts has been promoted to executive director of marketing, publicity,
and events at Candlewick Press; she was previously director of marketing, publicity,
and events. In her new position she assumes responsibility for trade promotions, including advertising.

Featured Reviews

Trainstop

Barbara Lehman. Houghton Mifflin, $16 (32p) ISBN 978-0-618-75640-7 In Lehman's (The Red Book) latest wordless fantasy, a young urban dweller's subway excursion with her family takes an unexpected turn. Much to the girl's surprise, the train magically arrives in an idyllic countryside, where it is flagged down by a tiny, toylike figure. Hopping off (all the grown-ups are dozing), the girl discovers a Lilliputian world in need of a hero: one of their number has crashed his propeller plane into a fruit tree. The girl neatly rescues the aviator, then hops back on the train home with no one the wiser. A horizontal format supports the train theme and reinforces the visual storytelling. As in Lehman's previous works, the crisp, clean drawings and comics-style framings generate visual momentum; the author knows when to give the big picture (literally) and when to break down the action into smaller steps. Kids should enjoy following this story to the very end of the line, where the surprise on the final spreads asks readers to reconsider what they've seen earlier; and it brings an element of mystery, or at least a playful challenge, to the way readers look at the world around them. Ages 4-8. (Apr.)

Keeping Score

Linda Sue Park. Clarion, $16 (208p) ISBN 978-0-618-92799-9
Although the jacket image shows a girl at a baseball stadium, Newbery Medalist Park's (A Single Shard) Korean War-era novel is best approached not as a sports story but as a powerful attempt to grapple with loss. Margaret Olivia Fontini, named after Joe DiMaggio ("Maggie-o, get it?"), loves Brooklyn's beloved but doomed Dodgers with a passion. When a new firemen arrives at her father's station wearing his allegiance to the arch-enemy Giants on his sleeve, Maggie keeps her distance until he teaches her how to score the game, a practice Maggie embraces with gusto, believing that recording every pitch and play might actually help Dem Bums finally win. And when Jim is drafted and sent to Korea, he and Maggie write, until Jim's letters abruptly stop. Park evokes the characters and settings with her customary skill and talent for detail; she shows unusual sensitivity in writing about war and the atrocity that, Maggie learns, has traumatized Jim into silence. Readers will be moved by Maggie's hard-earned revelation, that every instance of keeping score "had been a chance to hope for something good to happen," and that "hope always comes first." Ages 9-12. (Mar.)

Reviews from the March 24 issue of Publishers Weekly.

see all of this week's reviews
including our web exclusive Annex *

In the Winners' Circle

The winners of the 2008 Book Sense Book of the Year Awards have been announced. For Children's Literature, the award goes to The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press), and for Children's Illustrated, the award goes to Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Hyperion). The awards, which recognize the titles independent booksellers most enjoyed handselling during 2007, will be presented at the Celebration of Bookselling on Thursday, May 29, during BookExpo America.

The 59th annual Christopher Awards have been announced. They are: in the Preschool category, Taking a Bath with the Dog and Other Things That Make Me Happy by Scott Menchin (Candlewick); ages 6-8, How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? by Margaret McNamara, illustrated by G. Brian Karas (Random House/Schwartz & Wade); ages 8-10, Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship by Isabella Hatkoff, Craig Hatkoff, and Dr. Paula Kahumbu, photos by Peter Greste (Scholastic Press); ages 10-12, The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy (Viking); and Young Adult, Diamonds in the Shadow by Caroline B. Cooney (Delacorte).

Bestsellers

Series and Tie-ins Bestsellers
March 2008

Twilight saga.
Stephenie Meyer.
Little, Brown/Tingley

Horton Hears a Who!
Dr. Seuss.
Random House

Clique.
Lisi Harrison.
Little, Brown/Poppy

The Spiderwick Chronicles.
Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi.
Simon & Schuster

Fancy Nancy.
Jane O'Connor, illus. by Robin Preiss Glasser.
HarperCollins

see more bestseller lists

On the Radar

Considering the media attention that Jenna Bush's Ana's Story received last year (as well as the author's 25-city tour), it should come as no surprise that there's a lot planned for Read All About It! (HarperCollins), an April picture book written by Laura and Jenna Bush, illustrated by Denise Brunkus, about a reluctant reader who finally warms up to books when their characters start coming to life.

The book arrives with a 500,000-copy first printing, and the Bushes will be going on a joint seven-city tour. Mother and daughter will make numerous TV appearances, with coverage on The Today Show and NBC Nightly News on the book's pub date (April 22), as well as visits to The Early Show, Larry King Live, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show, among others. People and Good Housekeeping are among the print interviews lined up as well. A portion of the book's proceeds will go to Teach for America and the New Teacher Project, and Harper-Collins plans to donate one million dollars worth of children's books upon the book's release. The publisher will offer Read All About It! simultaneously in Spanish as ¡Leer para creer!

Did You Know?

The author-editor relationship can often develop into friendship, but in the case of Marla Frazee and her editor Allyn Johnston, that friendship extended to their sons, James and Eamon. The boys’ real-life trip to nature camp inspired (and landed them starring roles in) the picture book A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever, out this month from Harcourt.

The actual trip to camp took place in the summer of 2005, when Johnston’s parents invited the nine- and 10-year-old boys (and longtime friends) to stay at their Malibu home and enroll in the weeklong camp. Later, while the boys were spending a few days at Frazee’s Pasadena home, Johnston asked Frazee if she and the boys might put together “a little card and draw something on it as a thank-you,” to her parents.
Frazee and the boys collaborated on what she calls a “slightly snarky” illustrated card about their week in Malibu. Johnston’s parents sent their daughter a copy, and she saw the spark of a book idea, particularly how it encapsulated the boys’ friendship and in the way the text acted as “straight man” to the illustrations. “This little card had so much resonance and it felt so genuine,” Johnston says.
read more

Rights Report

Sourcebooks Jabberwocky has bought the bestselling Horrid Henry series by Francesca Simon from Orion Children's Books
in the U.K. The series, aimed at readers 7-9, has sold close to 12 million copies in the U.K., and has been translated into 25 languages, though the books have never been published in the U.S. Sourcebooks will publish its first six Horrid Henry titles in spring 2009, with two more the following fall. The author, an American who has lived in London for many years, said, "I am absolutely delighted to be published in my home country of America and that finally all my relatives and friends can see what I've been up to all these years!"
The Jabberwocky line launched in May 2007 with The Fairy Chronicles series; the imprint's first picture book, I Love You More, landed on the New York Times bestseller list last month.

HarperCollins has acquired world rights to Danielle Steel's The Happiest Hippo in the World. The world-famous romance novelist, who has penned 88 adult titles, is not a complete stranger to the genre, having published the Max and Martha picture books with Delacorte in 1989. The new title with Harper, about a baby hippo that's green instead of the standard gray, is slated to hit shelves in fall 2009. The book will be illustrated by Margaret Spengler. Kate Jackson, senior v-p, associate publisher and editor-in-chief of HarperCollins Children's Books, brokered the deal with Kate Schafter of Janklow & Nesbit.

The Last Apprentice: Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney (Greenwillow) has been bought for the movies. Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures will co-produce the film, to be titled The Spook's Apprentice (after the book's U.K. title) Kevin Lima (Enchanted) will direct. Revenge of the Witch is the first book in the seven-part series, about a 13-year-old boy who leaves his family to apprentice with a legendary warrior. Production is scheduled to start later this year.

Jane Startz Productions, in partnership with Lucky Monkey Pictures, has optioned rights to El Lector by William Durbin (Random House/Wendy Lamb). The movie will be shot on location in Argentina.

In the Media

From the Times of London: J.K. Rowling will testify in the court case currently scheduled to begin April 14, in her lawsuit with Warner Bros. against RDR Books, to prevent the publication of a Harry Potter Lexicon.
read more

From the New York Times: R.L. Stine's Goosebumps return this spring, after a 12-year absence.
read more

From the Sacramento Bee: A profile of Sisters Grimm author Michael Buckley. As a child, he says, "I wasn't a reluctant reader, just a bored one." Then Beverly Cleary changed his life.
read more

Contact Us

Dear Bookshelf Readers,

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

Click here to read Tales from the Slush Pile from the beginning