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In the News |
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More News |
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Mathew Price Launches U.S. List |
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Twenty-five-year-old Mathew Price Ltd. is the latest U.K. children's publisher to expand into the U.S. by opening an office on this side of the pond. Like Barefoot Books and Candlewick Press (sister company to Walker Books), the company initially got a toehold in this market by selling U.S. rights to individual titles before deciding to go it alone. But unlike them, Mathew Price closed its U.K. office, and has shifted its global home to the U.S.—to Denton, Tex., 37 miles northwest of Dallas, to be exact.
"I think we'll be based in Texas for a long time," predicts Mathew Price, founder of the eponymous book packager and publishing house, and children's book author. "International is still a strong part of the business. From that point of view you can be anywhere." And so can staff. Both designer Gary Tooth and marketing head Janey Tannenbaum plan to telecommute from New York. New fall titles like Price's own Room for One More (Nov.), illustrated by Ian P. Benfold Haywood, will be published simultaneously in both countries. However, some titles being issued in the U.S. are already available in the U.K. |
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Book News |
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'Ologies' Extend Their Reach |
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It's a series that has tapped into tried and true kid-pleasing topics: dragons, Egypt, wizards, pirates and myths. Launched in 2003 with Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons, Candlewick's Ology books, originated in the U.K. by Templar Publishing, have sold 15 million copies worldwide. Now the series grows by two titles: Monsterology: The Complete Book of Monstrous Beasts, an August release with a 140,000-copy first printing; and Spyology: The Complete Book of Spycraft, due in October with a print run of 175,000 copies. And the books will soon cross over into other media: Codemasters, a Nintendo video game producer, is launching games on the Wii and DS game platforms, and Universal Studios recently optioned
the rights to a feature film based on the series.
The Ology books are conceived and penned by Dugald A. Steer, who uses various aliases depending on the conceit of each "facsimile" volume. Dragonology (which has sold more than 2.5 million copies in the U.S. alone, and has spawned numerous dragon-driven spinoffs) and Monsterology are credited to Dr. Ernest Drake, allegedly a renowned 19th-century British dragonologist. In the same pseudonymous vein, Wizardology was written by Merlin, Egyptology appears as a 1926 travel journal, and Pirateology is the ship's log of an 18th-century pirate hunter. |
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More Book News |
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'Hotel for Dogs' Returns—with a Sequel |
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Two siblings turn an abandoned house into a home for stray pups in Lois Duncan's Hotel for Dogs, first published by Houghton Mifflin in 1971. Next January, Scholastic will publish a new edition of the novel to coincide with the movie version of Hotel for Dogs, due from DreamWorks Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Duncan continues the story of the young dog rescuers in News for Dogs, a novel scheduled for April 2009 release by Scholastic, and a third installment will follow in 2010.
Both Scholastic's reissue of the original novel and Duncan's forthcoming sequels were set in motion by the film deal. The author explains that Jody Hotchkiss, the agent who negotiates film rights to Duncan's books, was in Hollywood "peddling rights to my young adult suspense novels," when a producer at DreamWorks asked if this was the same Lois Duncan who wrote Hotel for Dogs, "which was his favorite book when he was a child." Following a phone call to the author, a deal was soon sealed. |
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Even More Book News |
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A Collaboration Between (and About) Friends |
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For two children’s authors, who also happen to be friends, a true story about animal friendship in New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina proved impossible to ignore. Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival is written by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery, who became close after meeting at a writer’s conference almost 20 years ago. Due from Walker and Co. next month, the book relays the tale of animal pals Bobbi and Bob Cat. This inseparable duo—a dog and a blind cat—were found wandering the New Orleans streets in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane. They were taken in by workers for Best Friends Animal Society, a Utah-based organization that rescued many abandoned or orphaned pets
after the catastrophic storm, who then arranged for the pair to be adopted by an Oregon ranch owner. (Best Friends will receive 10 percent of the authors’ proceeds from the book.) |
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In Brief |
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Change for NYT Children's List |
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The New York Times has announced a change to its children's bestsellers list for the Series category. Effective September 14, all book series consisting of a minimum of three titles will be listed in that section. Previously, in the Times's criteria for what determined a series, at least one of the books in a series had to have been published in hardcover. The change is being made "in recognition of the increasing number of children's series titles that make their debut in paperback rather than in hardcover," according to a letter sent to publishers. In recent weeks, titles in Lisi Harrison's paperback Clique series, for instance, have occupied multiple spots on the Times's Paperback Books list; a single entry for Clique would appear on the Series list under the
new guidelines.
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Sonnenblick Roots, Roots, Roots
for the Home Team |
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Author Jordan Sonnenblick recently visited his native Staten Island in New York City to promote his latest book, Dodger and Me (Feiwel and Friends). Sonnenblick (seen here, r.) signed copies of the middle-grade novel at Richmond County Bank Ballpark during the Staten Island Yankees's minor league game against the Vermont Lake Monsters. Signed copies of Six Innings, a spring novel from Sonnenblick's fellow F&F author James Preller, were also given out, though Preller was unable to attend. |
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10 Years of Harry, 10 Hours of Reading? |
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Rowling enthroned
during her August
2006 appearance at
Radio City Music Hall
for Harry Potter and
the Half-Blood Prince.
Photo: Scholastic. |
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the U.S. release of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Scholastic will open the doors of its NYC headquarters on Tuesday, September 23 for a marathon reading. Beginning at 8:00 a.m., fans will be able to participate in a collective reading—while taking turns sitting in the throne Rowling used during past Harry Potter events at Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall. Potter fans worldwide can tune into the reading that day via a live webcast that day. An anniversary edition of Sorcerer's Stone goes on sale the same day, and fans who participate in the reading will receive commemorative
souvenirs.
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Q&A |
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People |
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At Simon and Schuster, Craig Mandeville has been promoted to v-p, general manager for adult and children's publishing; he was previously v-p, general manager for adult publishing. Frank Totaro has been named v-p, deputy publisher, novelty and licensed publishing, reporting to Valerie Garfield; he was previously v-p, general manager for children's publishing. Alyson Grubard, former associate publisher, novelty and licensed publishing, has become director of licensing and brand management, reporting to Totaro.
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Obituaries |
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Ann Reit |
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Ann Kleinman Reit, Scholastic editor and author, died on August 7. Reit worked at Scholastic for 28 years, from 1971 until 1999. She was a pioneer in the field of paperback series, working on such lines as Sunfire Romances, Girls of Canby Hall and The Guardians of Ga'Hoole. After her retirement she continued to work with several of her longtime authors. She also wrote many novels for Scholastic. Ellie Berger, president of Scholastic Trade, said in a memo to staff, "Ann was an important part of our Scholastic family. Ann made significant contributions to the world of children's books with her fine editing skills that influenced readers everywhere." |
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Jeannette Eyerly |
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Author Jeannette Eyerly died on Monday, August 18, in Des Moines, Iowa. She was 100. Eyerly was the author of 18 young adult novels, including Escape from Nowhere (Lippincott, 1969), about a girl's struggle with drugs, which was awarded the Christopher Medal, as well as He's My Baby Now (Lippincott, 1977), about an unmarried father seeking to keep his child, which was adapted into a movie for TV. Her books frequently dealt with serious subject matter, such as suicide, abortion and divorce. Eyerly grew up in Iowa and was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 2006.
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Featured Reviews |
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 The Whistle on the Train |
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 Margaret McNamara, illus. by Richard Egielski. Hyperion, $18.99 (16p) ISBN 978-0-7868-4890-4
Here's a great concept, handsomely executed. Take a song known to virtually every preschooler, "The Wheels on the Bus," and update it with a vehicle much more widely adored by this group, a train, then soup it up with lavish but resilient paper engineering. Involving plenty of repetition, McNamara's lyrics are easy to learn, so kids can "read" this to themselves if they wish, and extra-sturdy paper stock should make their explorations safe. The pop-ups, mostly stationary, are multidimensional renderings of Egielski's cheery cartoons: a pop-up train (with a separate row of pop-up passengers inside) rests aboard a track drawn on one spread; in front of the track, several rows of people pop up, and a porter wheels a three-dimensional trolley. A pop-up city includes a trestle bridge, and on
one spread readers can look through windows to see the engineer. Whoo whoo! Ages 2–5. (Sept.)
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The Cabinet of Wonders:
The Kronos Chronicles, Book I |
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 Marie Rutkoski. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $16.95 (272p) ISBN 978-0-374-31026-4
Add this heady mix of history and enchantment to the season's list of astonishingly accomplished first novels: in Rutkoski's multilayered version of late–16th-century Bohemia, magicians coexist with peasants and courtiers, a tribe of gypsies use specially endowed "ghost" fingers, and the fate of Europe hangs on the schemes of an evil prince. As the novel opens, a metalworker with extraordinary gifts has returned from Prince Rodolfo's palace in Prague, having finished his commission to build a magical clock—but the prince has gouged out his eyes, so that he can never duplicate the clock or, worse, better it. Even more disturbingly, the prince wears the eyes himself. Vowing to recover her father's eyes, 12-year-old Petra sneaks off to Prague, with little more than the company of
Astrophil, an erudite tin spider who can communicate with her. Proving herself a worthy relative of, say, Philip Pullman's quick-thinking, fearless heroines, Petra navigates her way past sorceress countesses, English spy magicians, dangerous gypsies and through bewitched palace halls until Rodolfo, wearing the ill-gotten eyes, catches sight of her. Infusions of folklore (and Rutkoski's embellishments of them) don't slow the fast plot but more deeply entrance readers. Ages 10–up. (Aug.)
Reviews from the August 18 issue of Publishers Weekly.
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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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What We're Circ'ing |
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Ask the Publisher |
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Rights Report |
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Ben Schrank at Razorbill bought North American rights to The Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider's Guide to Careers in the Fashion Industry by Amy Astley with Lauren Waterman; the book will include behind-the-scenes interviews with designers, photographers, stylists and others about their careers in fashion, accompanied by photographs and tips from the Teen Vogue staff. Pub date is fall 2009; the project was unagented. |
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David Saylor at Scholastic has bought two graphic novels featuring the character Missile Mouse by Jake Parker, for the Graphix imprint. The books tell the story of a space-age, crime-fighting mouse on a mission to protect the citizens of the Galactic Union from a deadly weapon. The first title, Missile Mouse: The Star Crusher, will be released in spring 2010; Judy Hansen of Hansen Literary Agency did the deal.
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Noel Streatfeild's 1936 novel Ballet Shoes, which was adapted by the BBC and shown in Britain earlier this year, has been picked up by Screenvision to be shown in U.S. theaters, according to Variety. The feature-length film reunites three actors from the Harry Potter movies: Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Richard Griffiths (Vernon Dursley) and Gemma Jones (Poppy Pomfrey). Limited release begins August 26, and a DVD will follow.
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In the Media |
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From The Bookseller:
Random House U.K., after receiving complaints about offensive language in Jacqueline Wilson's recent novel My Sister Jodie, will remove the language from future reprints. The book has sold more than 150,000 copies of the book since publication in March.
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From USA Today:
Publishers hope to lure kids into bookstores and libraries this fall with big sequels and new series launches.
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From the South China Morning Post:
Inspections have been increased at the cargo terminal in Hong Kong's airport after cocaine was discovered hidden in packages of children's books.
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From Wired:
As soon as the delay for the next Harry Potter movie was announced,
Potter fan sites bubbled over with outrage.
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From the Times of London:
Stardoll and Club Penguin top the list of most popular Web sites visited by children, in a survey of 40,000 British Internet users.
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From BBC Online:
As the age at which children start to get familiar with computers keeps getting lower, questions are arising about what that exposure is doing to brains and the ability to concentrate.
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From Scotland's Sunday Herald:
A slideshow celebrating the editorial work of illustrator Harry Horse, who died last year.
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From the Sheffield Telegraph:
The Horrid Henry books (which are coming to the U.S. via SourceBooks) have been adapted for the stage in England.
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Did You Miss? |
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From the pages of PW |
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What are the hot fall kids' galleys to grab? Check them out here.
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From PW Daily |
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When the film release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince moved from November 21 to July 2009, two other big movies—Twilight and Bolt —moved in quickly to fill the void.
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From PW Comics Week |
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DC Comics's line for kids continues to grow.
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New in ShelfTalker |
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What are you reading? This week Alison has been polling people from all walks of the children's book business, asking them about their summer reading. Add your own favorites 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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