Children''s Bookshelf
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June 18, 2009

In This Issue

In the News

  • NECBA's Pub Crawl: Two Publishers, One Day
    Given the early hour at which the New England Children's Booksellers Advisory Council kicked off its June 10th meeting, aka Pub Crawl, it's probably just as well that co-chairs Kenny Brechner, owner of Devaney, Doak & Garrett Booksellers in Farmington, Me., and Vicky Uminowicz of Titcomb's Bookshop in East Sandwich, Mass., weren';t thinking of that kind of pub. more » » » 
  • Dalmatian Closes California Offices
    Dalmatian Publishing Group has closed the Santa Monica offices of its Intervisual Books and Piggy Toes Press imprints and transferred its operations to Dalmatian’s Atlanta headquarters. Dalmatian acquired Intervisual, once renowned for its pop-up children’s books, in summer 2006 after the company filed for bankruptcy. The company had always been based in southern California. more » » » 


  • Simon & Schuster Launches Teen Networking Site
    Simon & Schuster's children's division has launched Pulse It, a social network site where teens can read and react to S&S titles. The site is aimed at 14- to 18-year-olds and will let teens do things they can do on such places as Facebook—like create personal profiles and befriend other members—as well as read and react to S&S titles. more » » » 
  • Big Children’s Presence for Penguin’s New Online Network
    Penguin has just launched an online network called From the Publisher’s Office, consisting of original content in audio, video and reading channels, to promote its frontlist and backlist titles. And Penguin's children’s and YA books will be getting plenty of attention in each of the channels. more » » » 

Blogs

Book News

  • ‘Little Brother’ Takes a Bow at Chicago Theater
    Little Brother, the futuristic tale of teen-techno-revolution in a dystopian San Francisco by journalist/blogger Cory Doctorow, has done well since its release last May by Tor Teen. It received excellent reviews, has sold 90,000 copies to date, was nominated for a Hugo Award, and movie rights were recently optioned to producer Don Murphy. Now Little Brother has been adapted for the stage by Chicago’s Griffin Theatre Company. more » » » 
  • ‘Because of Winn-Dixie’: The Musical
    Author Kate DiCamillo’s first book, the Newbery Honor-winning Because of Winn-Dixie, is heading to Broadway as a musical. A creative team is not yet in place, but the show will feature a live dog playing the role of Winn-Dixie, trained by Bill Berloni (who trained the dog Sandy, for the musical Annie). “The opportunity to surround Kate’s story with top Broadway artists lends itself to creating an exciting new Broadway musical,” producer Gerarld Goehring said. more » » » 
  • DK Plans Out-of-This-World LEGO Star Wars Event
    DK Publishing, along with Lucasfilm and LEGO, is planning a one-day in-store launch event for its October release LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary by Simon Beecroft. The book is based on LEGO’s 10-year-old line of toys tied to George Lucas’s Star Wars saga; DK is offering participating stores an activity kit with game and trivia contests; giveaways and raffle prizes; and appearances from members of a volunteer group of Star Wars costume enthusiasts. more » » » 
  • ‘The Napping House’ Turns 25
    A quarter century has passed since Audrey and Don Wood created The Napping House, a cumulative tale about a boy napping with his grandmother—along with a dog, cat, mouse and flea, all piled one on top of the other. The picture book has sold 1.6 million copies since its 1984 release by Harcourt. The publisher recently issued a 25th anniversary edition; here’s how the various incarnations came to be. more » » » 

In the Media

  • From the Bookseller:
    The family of deceased author Adrian Jacobs issued a press release accusing J.K. Rowling of plagiarizing portions of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire from Jacobs's book The Adventures of Willy the Wizard—1 Livid Land. more » » » 
  • From Reuters:
    The next day, Bloomsbury, Rowling’s publisher in the U.K., denied those plagiarism charges, stating, “This claim is without merit and will be defended vigorously.” more » » » 
  • From the Sun:
    Anthony Browne, Britain’s newly appointed Children’s Laureate, says he has “the best job in the world,” explaining why he loves picture books, and revealing which one of his 40 books is his favorite. more » » » 
  • From Entertainment Weekly:
    Dave Eggers has written a 300-page novel that is "loosely based" both on Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, and his own screenplay for the Wild Things movie, co-written with director Spike Jonze. more » » » 
  • From the Bookseller:
    In the U.K., Pan Macmillan announced plans to reduce its 2010 children's list by one-third, and eliminated 10 jobs.

    And last week, also in the Bookseller, HarperCollins Children's Books U.K. cut 5% of its work force, with publishing directors Gillie Russell and Sue Buswell leaving the company.     more » » » 

Q & A

  • Q & A with Jarrett J. Krosoczka
    Q: According to the several fake bios on your Web site, you are a former child-actor, a rock star in Japan and a super secret agent spy. Does your ability to shoot lasers out of your eyes help you at all as an illustrator?

    A: What’s funny is that an old Web site of mine just had one fake bio, and everyone went crazy for it. So when I made the new Web site, I thought I just need to make this one even more absurd. But now kids will ask questions in regards to these fake bios, and I have to stop and think, “What did I say?” more » » » 

Galley Talk

  • 'Shiver' by Maggie Stiefvater
    Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is the love story of Sam and Grace, told in chapters that alternate between their points of view. Sam, a werewolf, rescues a young Grace from a wolf attack. Werewolves in Stiefvater's world respond to the cold—they are wolves in winter, humans in summer, and each year they are human for a shorter period of time, until they remain wolves permanently. So Sam and Grace are on a deadline. more » » » 

Featured Reviews

  • All of Baby, Nose to Toes
    Victoria Adler, illus. by Hiroe Nakata. Dial, $14.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8037-3217-9 As infectious as a baby's first smile, this celebratory book will enchant any family with a newborn to love. While ostensibly exploring a baby's anatomy, Adler's sunny poem and Nakata's ebullient watercolors demonstrate not only a baby's exploratory joy but also the palpable delight a baby brings to a family. more » » » 
  • The Morgue and Me
    John C. Ford. Viking, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-670-01096-7 Ford's dark and stellar debut, which nicely updates many classic mystery tropes, tells the story of high school valedictorian Christopher Newell, who takes a summer job at the hospital morgue before heading to college. Naturally, he stumbles across something he shouldn't—$15,000 in cash and a dead body that the medical examiner has ruled a suicide, even though the body had been shot five times in the torso. more » » » 



  • Tales from the Slush Pile






Rights Report

Universal has picked up Lunch Lady, a new graphic novel series by Jarrett Krosoczka (Knopf), with Amy Poehler attached to star. The series centers on a mild-mannered school cafeteria server who secretly dishes out helpings of justice as she and her assistant investigate wrongdoings.

Barbara Lalicki at HarperCollins acquired world English rights to Cinderella Smith by Stephanie Barden. The novel stars a young, witty and strong heroine reminiscent of Beverly Cleary's Ramona; it's slated for a winter 2011 release. The debut author was signed by the late Craig Virden from the Nancy Gallt Literary Agency; Nancy Gallt finalized the deal.

Framelight Productions and producer David Uslan have bought rights to Ian Beck's Tom Trueheart trilogy (Greenwillow), and will make them into a series of live-action feature films. Production on the first film is targeted to start in mid-2010.

Click here to see more rights deals.

In Brief


On Tour for "Treasure"


Lucy Hawking recently spent two weeks touring the U.S. for George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt (S&S), the middle-grade novel she co-wrote with her father, physicist Stephen Hawking, as a followup to their George's Secret Key to the Universe. At one of her stops, the World Science Festival in New York City this past Sunday, she gave a presentation focusing on previous scientific achievements and future challenges in the science community. Here she signs books for fans at the Festival.

Teaming Up for Tweens

Her Interactive, creator of the Nancy Drew video games, has announced a collaboration with B*tween Productions, developers of the virtual Beacon Street Girls, a brand that originated from a book series that has sold more than 800,000 copies to date. Her Interactive includes links to the Beacon Street Web site, which offers a preview of a new Nancy Drew game, as well as a "Mystery Girl Giveaway," with a chance to win Nancy Drew merchandise and a new Beacon Street Girls mystery book.

All in the Neighborhood

Local talent came out to shine in South Orange, N.J. last Saturday for the SOMe Book Fest, organized by SOMe Book Nook, located inside Sparkhouse Kids. The event was an opportunity for children's book authors and illustrators from the area to share their work with the community through panel discussions, workshops, craft projects and other activities. Writers and artists in attendance included Adam Gustavson, Liz Murphy, Shari Halpern and (pictured here) Irene Kelly (l.) and Karen Baicker.

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PW Children's Bookshelf
Editor: Diane Roback
Associate Editor: John Sellers

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