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August 20, 2009

In this Issue

In the News

  • CPSIA Update: Progress, But Still Some Loose Ends
    Several provisions of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act went into effect on August 14, 2009. As that deadline approached and on the heels of the confirmation of new CPSC head Inez Tenenbaum, the Commission issued guidance on a raft of unresolved issues, some affecting publishers. Several loose ends remain, however. Lead levels in children’s books must be 300 parts per million or less, down from the 600 ppm level that went into effect in February. The publishing industry has argued... more » » » 
  • Counting Down to 'Catching Fire'
    The yearlong Catching Fire countdown will finally end on September 1, the laydown date for the second installment of the Hunger Games trilogy. With a first printing of 350,000 copies, Suzanne Collins’s dystopian tale is the first big children’s book of the fall. Jeff Kinney’s new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book may be bigger in terms of print run, as is Kate DiCamillo’s The Magician’s Elephant. But the buzz about the Hunger Games sequel is louder. more » » » 


  • Licensing Hotline
    Scholastic has acquired the license for Angel Cat Sugar, a Japanese property from the mind of Hello Kitty creator Yuko Shimizu. Two books for girls 4–8 will launch in the school market this fall, followed by two more in the trade starting in January 2010. See more licensing stories, including news of a new Nickelodeon series, Richard Scarry’s Busytown characters on TV, and a new Angelina Ballerina show on PBS. more » » » 
  • New Edition (and Content) for ‘Light in the Attic’
    First published in 1981, Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic was the first children’s book to reach the New York Times bestseller list, where it appeared a total of 182 weeks. Next month, HarperCollins will release A Light in the Attic: Special Edition, which contains 12 previously unpublished poems and 10 new drawings by the author, who died in 1999. To help promote this new edition... more » » » 
  • Author Irene Smalls Adds Exercise to Reading
    Concerned about declining reading skills and expanding waistlines for young people—nearly a third of U.S. children between the ages of 2 and 19 are overweight, according to the Alliance for a Healthier Generation—Boston author and storyteller Irene Smalls is looking to tackle both with Literacise, a children’s program that combines literacy and exercise. "Putting the mind and body together you get more learning and greater health," Smalls says. more » » » 

Blogs

In Brief

  • Tilbury House Offers Trunk Sale for Tarra’s Home
    Long before Tarra the elephant and Bella the dog became media sensations for their unusual friendship at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn., sanctuary cofounder Carol Buckley wrote two picture books about Tarra. To promote Travels with Tarra (2002) and Just for Elephants (2006), Tilbury House in Maine, this year's NEIBA publisher of the year, will hold a self-styled "Trunk Sale" promotion from now through the end of the year. For every 100 elephant books they sell, the press has pledged to sponsor an item on the Sanctuary's wish list... more » » » 
  • Book Release? A Piece of Cake
    Earlier this month, author Maggie Stiefvater celebrated the release of her new YA novel Shiver (Scholastic Press, Aug.) at the College of William & Mary Bookstore in Williamsburg, Va. Here, Stiefvater shows off a cake decorated with the cover design from Shiver, the story of a teenager named Grace and her intense relationship with a boy who becomes a wolf when temperatures drop. A sequel to Shiver, entitled Linger, is scheduled for fall 2010. more » » » 
  • Horrid Henry Hoofs It Stateside
    Horrid Henry, the eponymous (and mischievous) star of Francesca Simon's bestselling British series, brought to the U.S. by Sourcebooks, is wrapping up a summer tour of the U.S. Since July, "Henry" has appeared at Borders stores in six states, and will be stopping in at locations in San Jose and Folsom, Calif., this weekend. Here, Henry visits with bookseller and storyteller Matha Nelson, at Borders in Allen, Tex. Horrid Henry will also make appearances in bookstores in New York and New Jersey around Halloweeen... more » » » 
  • Debuting the 2009 Debutantes
    Earlier this month during the SCBWI conference in Los Angeles, 10 members of a group of new middle-grade and young adult writers who call themselves the Debutantes met up for dinner to talk shop. The online group counts more than 40 debut writers in its ranks. Here (l. to r.) are authors C. Lee McKenzie (Sliding on the Edge), Cindy Pon (Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia), Sydney Salter (My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters), Chris Rylander (The Fourth Stall), Malinda Lo (Ash), Cynthea Liu (Paris Pan Takes the Dare), L.K. Madigan (Flash Burnout), Cheryl Renee Herbsman (Breathing), Kimberly Derting (The Body Finder) and J.E. McLeod (Waiting to Score). more » » » 
  • Books of Wonder’s Glassman Hits the Air
    Visitors to children's bookstore Books of Wonder in New York City have been getting reading suggestions from founder Peter Glassman for decades. But starting next month, listeners to Sirius XM satellite radio will be able to listen to Glassman discuss children's books on the radio show "Absolutely Mindy on Sirius/XM's Kids Place Live." The segments featuring Glassman will be archived on both the Books of Wonder and Absolutely Mindy Web sites. The show airs every other Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. Listeners eager for other children's book discussions can also check out free podcasts at Just One More Book!, featuring hosts Andrea Ross and Mark Blevis. During the past three years, the hosts have amassed more than 600 podcasts. more » » » 

In the Media

  • From the New Yorker:
    The New Yorker spoke with Dave Eggers about his book and screenplay of Where the Wild Things Are, the Spike Jonze movie that releases on October 16. The magazine also ran an excerpt from the novel. more » » » 
  • From the New York Times:
    The Brooklyn Public Library removed the controversial title Tintin au Congo from public shelves two years ago, after objections that it is "racially offensive"; it’s now in a locked room and viewable only by appointment. more » » » 
  • From School Library Journal:
    SLJ interviewed Anthony Browne, Britain’s newest Children’s Laureate, about where he finds his muse for his work, and why he believes adults should read children’s books too. more » » » 
  • From Oprah.com:
    A list of the children’s books that First Lady Michelle Obama has been spotted reading. more » » » 

Q & A

  • Q & A with Loren Long
    Q: Your new picture book, Otis, has a classic, playful feel. What inspired the look of this art?
    A: Well, to back up a bit, The Little Engine That Could marked a new direction for me, from the standpoint that this was the first book where I was obviously digging into a tried and true classic. I’m very proud of the books I did beforehand, but The Little Engine That Could opened up a new world for me. more » » » 

Galley Talk

  • Galley Talk: ‘Once Was Lost’ by Sara Zarr
    Jennifer Laughran of Books Inc. in San Francisco talks about a favorite fall galley. 
    With a Mom in rehab, and a pastor Dad who knows a lot more about shepherding his congregation than taking care of his own family, Samara feels like her whole world is falling apart. When a girl in her town is kidnapped, Sam latches on to the case as a way to feel useful and a part of something bigger than herself, but nobody in town is beyond suspicion, even the people that Sam trusts most. more » » » 

Featured Reviews

  • Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated)
    Florence Parry Heide, illus. by Lane Smith. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-375-93753-8
    While Heide’s celebrated Treehorn found himself shrinking, her new Princess Hyacinth floats. The delight to be found in both books is not in explaining why these fantastical things occur, but in how children with even the most unusual problems solve them in ways that adults cannot even imagine. To keep her from floating away, Hyacinth’s protective parents have literally weighted her down with diamond pebbles and a crown with “the heaviest jewels of the kingdom.” Smith pictures Hyacinth yearning for freedom as she sits in her bathing suit watching swimmers while belted to a heavy bench… more » » » 
  • Odd and the Frost Giants
    In this simple but well-done tale, Newbery Medal–winner Gaiman (The Graveyard Book) introduces Odd, a boy with an injured leg whose Viking father died at sea. Odd befriends the Norse gods Odin, Thor and Loki, who have been transformed into animals and exiled from Asgard. The gods, having previously tricked and bested the Frost Giants, are now receiving some of their own medicine. Showing great ingenuity, Odd figures out how to create a winter rainbow (and hence a bridge to Asgard) and then convinces the Frost Giant that ruling Asgard isn’t so great… more » » » 






What Are You Reading?

Throughout August we'll be featuring kids across the country, talking about the books they're reading this summer.


Vivien Makos, 12,
Homewood, Ill.

I went to sleepaway camp for the first time and as a going-away present, my parents gave me the final book in the Percy Jackson series, The Last Olympian. I'd read the earlier books and I really like how he mixes up mythology and modern times. It turned out to be a great book for camp because it kept my mind off the mosquitoes. I got into swapping books with two of the girls who shared my tent, so I read some of their manga, like Ouran High School Host Club and Fruits Basket.

Click here to read more from Vivien and her brother.

Rights Report

According to Variety, 20th Century Fox is adapting Kate DiCamillo's new novel, The Magician's Elephant. The story centers on what happens after a fortuneteller tells an orphan boy that an elephant will lead him to his long-lost sister. "What attracted me to the project was that Fox wanted to make a fable which could both be a classic but not take itself too seriously," Hynes told Variety. Two other Kate DiCamillo novels, The Tale of Despereaux and Because of Winn-Dixie, have been made into movies.

Bow-Wow has a new home. Neal Porter at Roaring Brook Press has bought rights to two more wordless books about the intrepid terrier Bow-Wow, star of Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash. Bow-Wow's new adventures are Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors, about a house haunted by a mama cat and her prankster kittens, tentatively scheduled for fall 2011; and Bow-Wow's Curious Comics, a collection of short and slightly surreal canine adventures, which has not been scheduled. Brenda Bowen at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates was the agent.

Annette Bourland at Zonderkidz has acquired North American English and Spanish rights to Archbishop Desmond Tutu's The Children of God Storybook Bible. The book will highlight more than 50 favorite Bible stories, and will be released next summer. Lynn C. Franklin Associates did the deal, on behalf of South African publisher Lux Verbi and Archbishop Tutu.

Nancy Conescu at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers has signed debut YA author Daisy Whitney to a two-book deal. The first novel, The Mockingbirds, about an underground vigilante group of boarding school students committed to righting the wrongs of their peers, is tentatively scheduled for publication in fall 2010. Andy McNicol at William Morris did the deal for world English rights.

Conescu also acquired Cat Patrick's debut YA novel Forgotten, about a 16-year-old girl who wakes up every morning with no memory of her past. This first in a two-book deal is tentatively scheduled for fall 2010 publication. Daniel Lazar at Writers House did the deal for North American rights.

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

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