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July 30, 2009

In This Issue

In The News

  • Former Firebrand Agents Hangs New Shingle
    Michael Stearns, a former editor at HarperCollins Children's Books, who recently left his agent position at Firebrand Literary, is starting a new endeavor called Upstart Crow Literary. Chris Richman and Danielle Chiotti, who worked with Stearns at Firebrand, are joining him in the new venture. Stearns and Richman will focus exclusively on representing children's book authors while Chiotti will handle a range of fiction and nonfiction authors. more » » » 
  • San Diego Comic-con 2009: Not Just for Grown-ups
    The annual San Diego Comic-Con International ended July 26, leaving 125,000 attendees alternately dazzled and exhausted by the four-and-a-half day marathon of comics, movies, panels, signings and parties. More than ever, the show has become the biggest marketing platform of the year for film and TV as well as comics—including comics material aimed at children and teens. more » » » 


  • Crocodile Pie Really to Shut Down This Time
    A year almost to the day after dentist Kim Zizic bought Crocodile Pie, a children’s bookstore in Libertyville, Ill., hoping to save it from closing, she’s giving up. Crocodie Pie is slated to close its doors August 14. Crocodile Pie was founded in 1989 by Kim White, who sold it to Zizic on August 1, 2008. The store stocks about 20,000 titles for children, from birth through teen, in a 400-square-foot space. more » » » 
  • ‘Ranger’s Apprentice’ Hits the Road
    Having toured the U.S. last year, Australian author John Flanagan isn’t coming stateside for the release of The Siege of Macindaw (Philomel, Sept.), the sixth book in his Ranger’s Apprentice series. But beginning September 2, readers in 27 U.S. cities will be able to see a theatrical performance entitled “Escape to Araluen,” based on the first Ranger’s Apprentice book, The Ruins of Gorlan, thanks to a national bus tour Penguin has put together. more » » » 
  • Sylvan Dell Launches New E-Books with Giveaway
    Children’s book publisher Sylvan Dell debuted its second-generation picture book e-books this week and is celebrating the launch by offering a free trial of its 45 e-books. The new e-books include Auto-Flip and Auto-Read features; the text of each book can be listened to in either English or Spanish, and the publisher plans to add additional language options in the future. more » » » 

Blogs

Book News

  • Clarion Celebrates Two Decades of Monkey Business
    It’s a rhyme that very easily gets stuck in one’s head: "The mama called the doctor. The doctor said, ‘No more monkeys jumping on the bed!’ " And, brought to life in Eileen Christelow’s 'Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed,' it is a refrain that has been delighting young readers for 20 years. One day Christelow's daughter, Heather, came home from preschool chanting the rhyme. "It occurred to me that this might make a good picture book," Christelow says. more » » » 
  • Betsy, Tacy, and Meg Meet in Deep Valley
    The Betsy-Tacy books were written between 1940 and 1955 by Maud Hart Lovelace, a resident of Mankato, Minn. Novelist Meg Cabot, a huge fan of the books, wrote the foreword to a recent Betsy-Tacy reissue, and was the keynote speaker at the recent Betsy-Tacy Conference in Mankato. Our photo-essay reveals all the stops on her Betsy-Tacy tour. more » » » 
  • Galley Talk: ‘Candor’ by Pam Bachorz
    Emily Fear, manager of children’s books, Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Pittsburgh, Pa., talks about a fall favorite, Candor by Pam Bachorz. 

    Candor     is a Stepford Wives-esque tale. But instead of a novel about the brainwashing of wives, this is about brainwashing an entire community, especially its teenagers. The founder of the town of Candor tries to shape what he believes should be model teens—down to what they should eat and how they should dress. more » » » 
  • S&S and LivingSocial Partner for E-Promotion
    Margaret K. McElderry Books is running a three-week online promotion, offering a free web-only version of Cassandra Clare’s City of Bones, the first book in the author’s Mortal Instruments trilogy, which has more than one million copies in print. Via a partnership with LivingSocial, Simon & Schuster is making a version of the book available for reading on a LivingSocial landing page, through August 5. more » » » 

In the Media

  • From Wired.com:
    A featurette to view starring Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze, talking about the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are movie. more » » » 
  • From the Bookseller:
    In British publishing news, Orchard publishing director Kate Burns will join HarperCollins in October as its new deputy publisher of children’s books. Also at HC, Rachel Denwood has been promoted to fiction publishing director, and Nick Lake has been appointed editorial director. more » » » 
  • Also from the Bookseller:
    Author Jacqueline Wilson has written her first work of historical fiction, set in the Victorian era at London’s first home for abandoned children. Hetty Feather will be published by Random House U.K. in October. more » » » 
  • From the Guardian:
    A profile of author Gayle Forman, whose YA novel If I Stay is just out in the U.K. more » » » 
  • From the New York Times:
    Is there actual beer in butterbeer? In a story called “Harry Potter and the Pint of Liquid Courage,” the Times wonders if Hogwarts has a drinking problem. more » » » 

In Brief

  • On ‘Julia’
    Foodies, film-enthusiasts and book-lovers alike are awaiting the upcoming movie Julie & Julia, adapted from the memoir of the same name by Julie Powell, about her experiences blogging her way through the recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (click here to watch a trailer). But HarperCollins is trying to make sure readers remember its own recent Julia Child-themed YA novel. Dear Julia by Amy Bronwen Zesmer (Greenwillow, Oct. 2008) follows an aspiring chef who writes (but doesn't send) letters to Child as she pursues her culinary dreams. To re-promote the book, Harper is sending copies to food bloggers and sending select booksellers a cooking-themed mailing. In a starred review, PW called Dear Julia "hilarious and surprisingly moving." more » » » 
  • He Ain’t Heavy...
    Three middle-grade and YA authors from Chicago have teamed up to form the Brothers Delacorte, aimed at promoting both their books (published by Random House’s Delacorte imprint) as well as reading among boys. The group, similar in spirit to the Delacorte Dames and Dudes, consists of novelists (seen here, l. to r.) Adam Selzer (I Put a Spell on You), James Kennedy (The Order of Odd-Fish) and Daniel Kraus (The Monster Variations). The writers will be making joint appearances, including a visit to The Book Cellar in Chicago on August 26, which will also serve as the launch event for Kraus's The Monster Variations. Kennedy and Kraus will also be on YA panels during the Illinois School Library Media Association on October 31. Additional info about the group (and some funny photographs) are available on the Brothers Delacorte Web site. more » » » 
  • A Campy Contest
    Author Brenda A. Ferber's latest book, Jemma Hartman: Camper Extraordinaire (FSG, Apr.), follows the eponymous heroine through a tumultuous trip to summer camp. But while authors generally don't want their books judged by their covers, Ferber has built a giveaway contest around the cover for Jemma Hartman, which features the bespectacled heroine on a boat. Having received some lookalike photos of girls who resemble Jemma, Ferber is offering a signed copy of the book to girls who look most like her heroine. Visit Ferber's blog to see some of the photos and follow the contest. more » » » 
  • S&S Gets Justice
    Simon & Schuster's Aladdin Mix imprint has partnered with tween-centric Justice stores (formerly Limited Too) to promote a different Aladdin Mix title each month, both in 900 stores nationwide as well as online. The first featured book, for the month of July, is Liberty Porter, First Daughter by Julia DeVillers. Subsequent books in the promotion will be Things Are Gonna Get Ugly by Hillary Homzie, Four Truths and a Lie by Lauren Barnholdt, DeVillers's Trading Faces, Maggie Bean in Love by Tricia Rayburn and The Cupid Chronicles by Coleen Murtagh Paratore. An excerpt from Liberty Porter is currently available on the Justice Web site. more » » » 
  • The Wiggles Tour for Books
    Australia's fab four for preschoolers, aka The Wiggles, recently set off on a 34-city U.S. tour to promote their newest album, The Wiggles Go Bananas—and literacy. At each stop on their Go Bananas Live! tour, the group is setting up information tables, placing Public Service Announcements and collecting new books for Reach Out and Read. According to ROR spokesperson Matt Ferraguto, the book drives have been very successful. The first stop in Everett, Wash., netted 900 new books. Other stops on the tour include: Denver, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia, Long Island and a final concert in Louisville, Ky., on August 30. Pictured here at their Seattle-area concert, the Wiggles are joined by Washington state ROR program director Page Pless (l.) and director Jill Sells (r.). more » » » 

Q & A

  • Q & A with Jerry Pinkney
    Q: You’ve illustrated so many classic tales, including The Ugly Duckling, Little Red Riding Hood and Aesop’s Fables. What is it that draws you to these timeless stories?
    A: A while back I started to think about those stories that have stayed with me over the years. I don’t remember when I first heard these stories that were read to me when I was growing up in the 1940s, but they have been coursing through my veins for all these years. more » » » 

Featured Reviews

  • Finn Throws a Fit
    David Elliott, illus. by Timothy Basil Ering. Candlewick, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-7636-2356-2
    Droll text and exuberant illustrations render a toddler's tantrum in all its magnificence. “Finn likes peaches. Usually,” the book opens, as tiny egg-shaped Finn sits on a chair, dangling his yellow boots and holding his peach. “But today, Finn doesn't like peaches. Today, Finn doesn't like anything.” Finn's parents attempt to placate him as he glowers; his mother, kneeling, proffers peaches, his father holds out toys—even the dog grins. No dice. more » » » 
  • The Last Newspaper Boy in America
    Sue Corbett. Dutton, $16.99 (208p) ISBN 978-0-525-42205-1
    Corbett (Free Baseball), a journalist and PW contributor, writes an energetic story of a boy whose passion saves the spirit of his small town of Steele, Pa. Twelve-year-old Wil cannot wait to take over his brother Sonny's paper route, a job that has been in his family for decades. So when the publishers of the Cooper County Caller decide to cut costs by eliminating delivery to Steele, Wil takes action (“He has a tendency to argue his point until the other person collapses from fatigue,” his mother remarks). But Wil discovers that he has more to contend with than losing his job when the town clairvoyant gives him some ominous advice. more » » » 

  •  






People


Anne Diebel will join the Macmillan Children's Publishing Group in the newly created position of senior creative director for Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers and Roaring Brook Press. She will oversee art direction and design for both imprints, filling the unoccupied position of art director for the Roaring Brook list and working with creative director Robbin Gourley on the FSG list. She was most recently art director at Disney-Hyperion Books for Children, and had been art director at Clarion Books. She starts Aug. 3.

Rights Report


According to Variety, Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment are teaming up to turn the 1971 Dr. Seuss picture book The Lorax into a 3-D CG animated feature. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax is slated for a March 2, 2012 release, which would have been Dr. Seuss's 108th birthday. Chris Meledandri will produce and Audrey Geisel will be executive producer.

Variety also reports that Paramount is in talks with director Neil Burger to adapt Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH with Cary Granat, formerly at Walden Media, producing. MGM adapted Robert C. O'Brien's 1971 novel in 1982 as an animated feature, directed by Don Bluth. No word on whether the new version will be live-action, animated or a combination.

A zombie novel written entirely in haiku? Read on. Neal Porter has bought world rights to a middle grade novel by K.A. Holt, tentatively called Brains! for his imprint at Roaring Brook. The story—which unfolds in a series of haiku—is about the day in the life of a zombie boy, set in a world where zombies and humans and chupacabras (blood-sucking critters) co-exist uneasily. Cartoonist Gahan Wilson is set to illustrate, for fall 2010 publication. Daniel Lazar of Writers House was the agent for the author, and Rosemary Stimola of Simola Literary Studio was the agent for the artist.

James Mangold will direct an adaptation of Three Little Words (Atheneum), a memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter about her traumatic childhood in foster care. Lime Orchard Productions, recently launched by actress Jami Gertz, and Tree Line Film will produce.

Rosemary Brosnan at HarperCollins has bought North American rights to two new untitled works by Lauren Oliver in a six-figure deal. Oliver is the author of the forthcoming YA debut Before I Fall (March 2010) and its untitled follow-up, about a 17-year-old girl in a near future where love has been defined as a deadly disease. The deal was negotiated by Stephen Barbara at Foundry Literary + Media. Stephanie Abou at Foundry is handling foreign rights; Before I Fall has been sold in six foreign territories to date.

Liz Bicknell at Candlewick has bought rights to The Anti-Prom by Abby McDonald, author of Sophomore Switch and the forthcoming Boys, Bears & a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots. The book follows three unlikely allies—the clique queen, Miss Invisible and the baddest girl in school—as they ditch the biggest party of the year and embark on a night of rule-breaking, romance and revenge. Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio did the deal.

Media Notes


This morning on The Today Show, Al Roker announced that Savvy by Ingrid Law (Dial/Walden Media, 2008) is the latest pick in his Al's Book Club. Savvy, a first novel that won a 2009 Newbery Honor, tells the story of a special power that every member of the Beaumont family receives on their 13th birthday. Law will appear on Today later this summer; she is currently working on a sequel to Savvy, called Scumble, which is scheduled for fall 2010.

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

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