I’ll bet you’ve gotten this question before: do you—like Mia, your main character—play the cello?

Not only do I not play the cello or any other instrument, but Mia arrived fully formed as a cellist in my imagination, and I was like, ‘A cellist? Really?’ I didn’t even like classical music, though I have gained an appreciation from having to learn about it in order to write this book. I had to do research to figure out what kind of music Mia would be playing at each stage of her development, and now I live in fear of actual cello players telling me how I got it all wrong.

David Levithan has been promoted to v-p, editorial director, Scholastic Trade Publishing. He was previously executive editorial director, Scholastic Press Fiction, Multimedia Publishing, and PUSH.

1. Twilight saga.
   Stephenie Meyer.
   Little, Brown/Tingley
2. Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
   Jeff Kinney.
   Abrams/Amulet
3. House of Night.
   PC Cast and Kristin Cast.
   St. Martin’s Griffin
4. The Mortal Instruments.
   Cassandra Clare.
   S&S/McElderry
5. Night World.
   L.J. Smith.
   Simon Pulse

If the recent premature heat wave felt across the Eastern U.S. didn’t get plenty of people thinking about hot summer reads, a new publicity push from Random House Children’s Books may well do the trick. The "Summer of the Sorceress" campaign, which heralds the arrival of The Sorceress, third book in Michael Scott’s bestselling Immortal Secrets of Nicholas Flamel fantasy series, kicked off last weekend with RHCB’s first-ever PDF/e-book giveaway.

Then last night, I got to go—by Honda, not by Hogwarts Express.

The 2009 Jane Addams Children's Book Awards have been announced. Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai by Claire A. Nivola (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Foster) won in the category of Books for Younger Children, and The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom by Margarita Engle (Henry Holt) won in the Books for Older Children category. There were several honor books; for a complete list, click here.

The first three inductees to the Indies Choice Book Awards Picture Book Hall of Fame have been voted in by members of the American Booksellers Association. The 2009 inductees are: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak (HarperCollins); Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (Viking); and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books for Children).

The 2009 New England Book Awards were announced on Tuesday. Andrew Clements is the winner in the children’s author category, and Tilbury House, which has many children’s titles on its list, won in the publisher category. The winners will accept their awards on October 1 at the NEIBA trade show in Hartford, Ct.

Ricky Gervais's Flanimals is going Hollywood, Variety reports. Illumination Entertainment will produce a 3D animated feature film based on his Flanimals books, illustrated by Rob Steen. Gervais will lend his voice to the lead character in the movie; others in the voice-over cast include Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Danny McBride, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig and Julie Andrews. It’s scheduled for release on July 9, 2010.

Tim Travaglini at Putnam Books for Young Readers acquired North American rights to Michael P. Spradlin’s Raven’s Shadow. The novel, which is set in Washington, D.C., after the 1824 election, pits teenagers Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin and Edgar Allan Poe against a mysterious monster that will become known as Dracula. Spradlin, author of the Youngest Templar trilogy, is a sales manager at HarperCollins. Putnam will pub in fall 2011; Steven Chudney of the Chudney Agency was the agent.

This week our ShelfTalker bloggers tackle the thorny issue of authors linking to Amazon on their sites, reveal the secrets of their store’s back room, and muse on the conflicts inherent in a creative collaboration. See all their latest posts here.