Some stores, like Joseph-Beth in Cincinnati, hold blood drives throughout the year. "We figured a blood drive would be a perfect way to tie in with Breaking Dawn," says Michael Link, director of publisher relations and events at the Joseph-Beth Group, which will have a blood mobile at its stores in Cincinnati and Cleveland. "A lot of parents will come to the party with their teens. It gives the parents a real way to participate in the event and in the community."    

Turner and McLaughlin worked together for many years at IDG Books Worldwide, publisher of the For Dummies series and Frommer's travel guides. "When we were at IDG, Christina and I both did a lot of traveling, since I was executive vice-president and she was director of international sales and then head of marketing," says McLaughlin. "We were both aware of the amazing children's books that were being published in other countries, yet in this country we seem to license out so much more than we license in. It occurred to us, as we talked about what our next career moves would be, why not start a company and introduce children to more aspects of their world—through books."   

Just when it looked to be a summer without Harry Potter hoopla, the boy wizard’s fans have something new to celebrate on this, Harry’s (and J.K. Rowling’s) birthday. The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a collection of wizarding fairy tales handwritten and illustrated by Rowling, will be published on December 4 by Children’s High Level Group, the English children’s charity co-founded by Rowling and Emma Nicholson.

Rowling initially produced only seven copies of the handcrafted project, last December. Six copies were given as personal gifts to Rowling’s friends who supported her through Harry Potter’s seven-book, 17-year journey. The seventh copy was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in London where it fetched a record £1,950,000/$4 million for CHLG on December 13, 2007. It was soon revealed that Amazon was the auction winner, and the online retailer created a Web site allowing fans to view the book electronically.  

Oprah.com to Offer Children's Book Recommendations 

As of tomorrow, the Book Club section of Oprah Winfrey's Web site will offer a list of recommended children's titles, courtesy of the American Library Association's Quick Lists Consulting Committee. According to Diane Foote, executive director at the ALA's Association for Library Service to Children, the organization was contacted by Winfrey's staff in the spring about putting together such a list. "We were gratified they came to librarians to do so," Foote says.

The ALA compiled a list of 100 titles (including both recent and "classic" titles) in five age categories: infant to two, three to five, six to nine, 10 to 12 and 12 and up. The ALA's Quick Lists Consulting Committee has prepared recommended reading lists for numerous organizations in the past, including the PBS Kids Web site, Toon Disney and the National Endowment for the Humanities Bookshelf Grant Program.

Web Partnership for Paramount and Bebo 

Paramount Pictures and social networking site Bebo.com have teamed up to promote the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging, which was released in the U.K. last Friday. The film, which is based on the first two books in Louise Rennison's Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series (HarperTeen), will be distributed in the U.S. by Nickelodeon Movies.

As part of the promotion, references to the film are integrated into two episodes of Sofia's Diary, a Web drama on Bebo that is popular in England. During the Web episodes, references are made to Georgia's video blogs, and the two characters chat via the site's messaging software.

Although a U.S. release date for the film has not been finalized, Georgia's fans can content themselves with the eighth book in Rennison's series, Stop in the Name of Pants!, which HarperTeen published on July 1 with a 100,000-copy first printing.

An observation made by Lies's daughter, then a second grader, inspired Bats at the Beach. "One morning she remarked that a frost pattern on the window looked like a bat and sea foam," Lies recalls. "I thought it was wonderfully creative of her, since to me it just looked like a bumpy line of ice. It started me thinking that bats going to the beach might be an interesting situation for a story." Readers seem to agree, as the book has sold more than 200,000 copies since its 2006 release.   

This type of promotion has a precedent at the house: in 2004, Penguin promoted Anthony Horowitz’s Stormbreaker with a $2.99 paperback edition, which resulted in a “significant increase in the Alex Rider fanbase,” according to Emily Romero, v-p of marketing at Penguin Young Readers Group. “This is the first time we are doing this type of promotion for a YA author,” Romero adds. “We’re excited to see what happens.”

In addition to generating excitement for Green’s new novel, Penguin is seeking to broaden the author’s readership with the lower price point and more commercial repackaging. According to Romero, Green was completely on board with the promotion. “John has always been forward-thinking when it comes to reaching his audience. The lower price point is a positive thing for him because more teens can have access to his books.”