Children’s Bookshelf
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September 24, 2009

In this Issue

In the News

  • CPSIA: The Waiting Game Continues for Libraries
    Children's librarians are still waiting for resolution on how, specifically, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will affect them. The Consumer Products Safety Commission recently issued a final lead rule that deemed many - but not all - of the components in ordinary children's books safe. At the same time, it reiterated its belief that books printed before 1986 potentially could contain lead, leaving libraries to wonder for a bit longer about what they should do with their older holdings... more » » » 
  • Bologna Reinstates Fourth Day    
    The Bologna Children's Book Fair has yielded to protests and reinstated the fourth day of the event. The 2010 fair will now take place from Tuesday to Friday, March 23-26. A group of U.K. publishers petitioned Bologna after they had learned that the 2010 fair had been scheduled to take place over three days rather than the usual four. Gloria Bailey, manager of international book fairs at the Publishers Association, met Bologna Fair director Roberta Chinni... more » » » 
  • QR Codes Tie Print, Online Marketing
    As publishers continue to hunt for ways to use new technology to draw the attention of teens to books, HarperCollins has been extremely pleased with the response it has received to the use of QR (quick response) codes, which it used for recent releases L.A. Candy and The Amanda Project. To access the codes, teens (or anyone else) take a picture of the code with a smartphone, which then links the user... more » » » 
  • Obituaries: Milton Meltzer and Bernie Fuchs
    Historian Milton Meltzer, author of more than 110 books for young people, and a five-time finalist for the National Book Award, died on September 19 after a battle with cancer. Illustrator Bernie Fuchs, who worked for many years as an editorial illustrator before turning his talents to children's books, died of cancer on September 17... more » » » 

Blogs

Book News

  • Books Go 3-D Starting with Ology Series in U.K.
    Up until this spring, augmented reality - a software program developed in France by Total Immersion to create a hologram-like 3-D experience - has mostly been used in print for marketing brochures for cars. Then in March Topps added augmented reality to enhance its baseball cards. So it was only a matter of time before the program, which ties a brand with a Web site, migrated to books... more » » » 
  • Toon Treasury: Open Sesame
    With The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, published this month by Abrams, Art Spiegelman and his wife, Françoise Mouly, are bringing comics classics to kids of a new generation. “Comic books were considered the most disposable ephemera, yet clearly those who grew up with them cherished them,” Spiegelman says. “It seems like some of the most important literature for children in the middle of the 20th century is in these comic books.” more » » » 
  • Debut Author Draws from Her Own Childhood
    Penelope, a big-hearted doll character, mends a tear in her grandfather’s khakis in Poppy’s Pants, out this month from Blue Apple Books. Penelope's story recalls that of her creator, first-time author/illustrator Melissa Conroy, who began sewing at an early age and displayed her prowess with a needle by repairing torn pants belonging to her father, novelist Pat Conroy. Melissa went on to develop the WoOberry line of dolls. Conroy's path to becoming a children's author began... more » » » 

In Brief

  • Barbers Touch Down at 'The Today Show'
    Authors, identical twins and (former and current) NFLers Tiki and Ronde Barber stopped by The Today Show to promote their latest book for children, Wild Card (S&S/Wiseman, Aug.), in which the Hidden Valley Eagles' eighth-grade season is threatened when the team's star kicker is benched. During the segment on the show (where Tiki Barber is a correspondent), the Barbers discussed their book with co-host Matt Lauer… more » » » 
  • Live (Authors) at the Kennedy Center
    Celebrating its 14th year, the Kennedy Center's Multicultural Children's Book Festival was held earlier this month in Washington D.C., part of the Center's Open House Arts Festival, which also included music, magic and street performance. Six children's book authors and illustrators took part, reading from and signing copies of their books… more » » » 
  • Beard's 'Jungle' in New Jersey
    The annual Princeton Children's Book Festival was recently held at the Princeton Library in New Jersey, and nearly 50 children's book authors and illustrators read from and signed copies of their latest children's books. Here, two young readers show off some artwork of their own with debut author Alex Beard… more » » » 
  • The Maine Event
    In even more book festival news, the Bar Harbor Book Festival, which was organized by author Carrie Jones (Need), also took place earlier this month in Bar Harbor, Maine. The event featured readings and several workshops; more than 25 authors were in attendance, including the three festively attired children's book authors seen here… more » » » 

Q & A

  • Q & A with Richard Peck
    Q: When you wrote the short story 'Shotgun Cheatham’s Last Night Above Ground' years ago, did you have any inkling that it would grow into three entire novels? 
    A: No, I didn’t. I was asked by Harry Mazer to contribute something to a collection of stories about guns and I thought, "He’s going to get too many guy stories, so I’m going to think up a female character." That’s how Grandma Dowdel was born. more » » » 

Galley Talk

  • Galley Talk: ‘The Maze Runner'
    Shannon O’Connor of the Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, Pa., talks about a favorite fall galley.
    In James Dashner’s The Maze Runner (Delacorte, Oct.), Thomas wakes up in a strange place, surrounded by strange boys—and the only thing he can remember is his name. Where has he been taken? To the center of a giant maze that is guarded by Grievers, creatures born of your darkest nightmares. more » » » 
                                                                  

Featured Reviews

  • Long Shot: Never Too Small to Dream Big
    Chris Paul, illus. by Frank Morrison. S&S, $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4169-5079-0

    Paul, star guard for the New Orleans Hornets, recalls how through hard work and sheer grit, he overcame being one of the shortest kids in school ("The ball is bigger than you," teases his big brother) to win a coveted place on the basketball team. The off-court text is mainly standard-issue motivational: Mom reminds Chris to have a balanced sense of priorities and to "Just do the best you can with the gifts you have," while Chris's grandfather, Papa Chilly, advises, "Work harder than everyone else on the court and your size won't matter." But when the action concentrates on basketball, the writing soars almost as high as Morrison's (Out of the Ballpark) acrylic pictures… more » » » 


  • Lips Touch: Three Times
    Laini Taylor, illus. by Jim Di Bartolo. Scholastic/Levine, $17.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-545-05585-7

    Taylor offers a powerful trio of tales, each founded upon the consequences of a kiss. She explores the potentially awkward conceit in three dramatically different fantasies, each featuring a young female protagonist out of place in the world she inhabits: contemporary Kizzy, who so yearns to be a normal, popular teenager that she forgets the rules of her Old Country upbringing and is seduced by a goblin in disguise; Anamique, living in British colonial India, silenced forever due to a spell cast upon her at birth; and Esmé, who at 14 discovers she is host to another—nonhuman—being. The stories build in complexity and intensity… more » » » 








Rights Report

Laura Godwin of Henry Holt Books for Young Readers acquired the Ruby Red trilogy by Kerstin Gier at auction. In the first book, Ruby Red, 16-year-old Gwendolyn, whose family in London passes a time-travel gene through the female line, must go back in time to learn who she can trust and love; pub date is spring 2011. Anthea Bell will translate the trilogy from the German, and Kate Farrell will edit. Alex Webb at Rights People did the deal for U.S. and Canadian rights, on behalf of Arena Verlag.

Nancy Hinkel at Knopf has bought three middle-grade novels by Mike Beil. Two are new adventures in the Red Blazer Girls series, in which the title sleuths face new puzzle challenges in pursuit of solving mysteries; the third is a standalone novel, The Seaweed Strangler, in which a 12-year-old boy discovers his father's unfinished movie hidden in the wall of his uncle's lake house. Rosemary Stimola of Stimola Literary Studio did the deal.

People

Tara Weikum has been promoted to editorial director at HarperCollins Children's Books; most recently she was executive editor. She leads the editorial group responsible for single-title teen fiction and tween girls' fiction, as well as Erin Hunter's Warriors and Seekers series. Authors she has worked with include Louise Rennison, Joyce Carol Oates, Louise Erdrich, Adriana Trigiani and Aprilynne Pike.

Jessica Kaufman has joined Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as senior publicist; she was previously publicist at Penguin Young Readers Group. Among her new responsibilities are Lisi Harrison's Alphas and Clique series, and the Dewey publishing program.

Caroline Sun has been promoted to senior publicist at Macmillan Children's Publishing Group; she was formerly publicist. Sun is in charge of publicity for Feiwel & Friends, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers and Square Fish.

In the Media

From the Guardian:
Screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno; Jennifer's Body) has signed to adapt Francine Pascal's Sweet Valley High series for the big screen; she is said to have grown up reading the books. read more

From Entertainment Weekly:
With Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs #1 at the box office, and with Where the Wild Things Are opening next month, EW made tongue-in-cheek suggestions for four other children's books to adapt, and opened up the floor for comments. read more

Mark Your Calendar

The New School in New York City is hosting a series of forums on writing for children, hosted by editor Deborah Brodie. The next forum, a picture book panel, takes place on October 13 from 6:30–7:30 p.m. at 66 W. 12th St., Room 510, and features author-illustrators Geoffrey Hayes, Tad Hills and Amy Schwartz, along with Anne Schwartz and Lee Wade of Schwartz & Wade Books. Tickets cost $5 and can be ordered by calling 212-229-5488. For more information about the series, call 212-229-5611.

Contact Us

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Hope you enjoyed this week's issue. We'd love to hear from you with any comments and suggestions—please drop us a note here.
 
  


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

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