“We’ve nurtured it and built it book by book,” says Yaged of the series. “And now we’ve got a phenomenon on our hands. Book four will take Percy Jackson and the Olympians to the next level of awareness.”

This fourth installment “really raises the stakes,” according to author Riordan. “It’s the beginning of a big war between the titans and the gods, and Percy must come to terms with his role in this perplexing world. There’s an invasion in the works and Percy takes his crew into the most dangerous place known in mythology—the labyrinth. This was a fun one to write.” 

The solid trajectory of the series got a bit of a rocket boost this past summer when the Today Show’s Al Roker selected The Lightning Thief, the first book about Percy, for his Book Club for Kids. To date, the Percy Jackson books have sold more than one million copies. “It’s doing well across the board—with independents, chains, libraries,” says Yaged. “That tells us we’re satisfying the needs of our consumers as well as retailers and institutions.”   read more

Elizabeth Merritt of Titcomb's Bookshop in East Sandwich, Mass., with dinner speaker Natalie Babbitt at NEIBA.

At the presentation on Maximizing School and Library Partnerships, moderated by Bluemle, consultant Deborah Sloan provided statistics from a recent survey she conducted of 60 school librarians and teachers. Among the highlights (her full findings are posted on her Web site: 75% of teachers shop once a month at their local bookstore, but only 50% meet regularly with the store manager or staff. Sloan said that she was especially encouraged to learn that 70% of teachers would like to have their school book fairs run by a local store, and 95% of school librarians would like to meet with booksellers and learn how they can work together.

Panelist Alison Morris, children's book buyer at Wellesley Booksmith in Wellesley, Mass. (and PW blogger), said that her store has seen an exponential increase in its school business over the past six years. "The way I started," she said, "was just talking to people who come in the store." She recommended that booksellers partner with libraries to do free programming in the schools. Libraries, she noted, can get flyers into kids' backpacks. And she advised that booksellers seek out PTO parents, who can plug store events in school newsletters.

One unusual way that Carol Chittenden, owner of Eight Cousins Children's Books in Falmouth, Mass., and a buyer for BookStream, got contact information for area teachers was by giving children who bought a book an apple coupon for their teachers to redeem at her store. The dollar-off coupon netted such a good response that she's planning to run it again.

A panel entitled Top Ten Things You Need to Know About Selling Children's Books, moderated by Beth Reynolds of Norwich Bookstore in Norwich, Vt., actually offered closer to five times that number. Random House sales rep Kate Sullivan led off with a reminder that "reps are your eyes and ears in the bookselling world," and told booksellers to rely on them to advocate for author tours, help with co-op and get ARCs and other "stuff." Paige Bacon of Bank Square Books in Mystic, Conn., recommended that booksellers meet and greet customers and offer help, but know when to walk away. She also keys information on the appropriate age range of YA books, and why, into the comments field of her inventory system. —Judith Rosen   

Wayne Winstone, children's category manager of Waterstone's in the U.K., is leaving the company after just 10 months. "The decision is a lifestyle choice, to enable me to spend more time with the family and avoid 4:30 AM starts," Winstone told PW [his new job meant a two-hour-plus commute]. "There's no successor as yet. That process starts in the new year."

Previously children's director at Ottakars, where he had worked for 10 years until the chain was acquired by Waterstone's, Winstone has been instrumental in shaping Waterstone's children's books policy and its flagship specialist children's shops. Publishers' initial fears about the effect of the Ottakars takeover on the market were proved unfounded largely because of Winstone's input.

Elaine McQuade, managing director of Scholastic UK, said, "It is sad to see such a champion of children's books leave Waterstone's, the U.K.'s leading book retailer. However, we are reassured by Waterstone's' assertion that its recent commitment and investment in children's books will continue.

John Newman of Newham Bookshop in London and chair of the Children's group of the Booksellers' Assocation, added, "Wayne made Ottakars a center of excellence in children's books in many ways, including allowing local managers the opportunity to make decisions for their own communities. He transferred the same enthusiasm to Waterstone's and we will miss his expertise." —Julia Eccleshare   

After months of practice, perseverance and hard work, these preschool- and elementary school aged girls—who use walkers or wheelchairs in their off-stage lives and perform with the help of teenage volunteers—gave their first recital. Their preparation and performance are documented in Ballerina Dreams: A True Story by Lauren Thompson, with photographs by James Estrin. Feiwel & Friends will publish the book this month with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Publisher Jean Feiwel explains that she first learned about Ferrara and these aspiring ballerinas in a May 2006 article in the New York Times. “The girls’ faces just spoke to me,” Feiwel recalls. “They were so beautiful and so ethereal. Of course they have cerebral palsy but I just didn’t see that. I saw them living every little girl’s dream of being a ballerina—wearing tutus, tiaras and glitter. I knew this story would make a wonderful book.”

“These books are often studied at school, and therefore seen as ‘school work’ rather than read for pure enjoyment, and we wanted to change this,” says Emma Matthewson, editorial director of Bloomsbury UK Children’s Books, which first published the new editions in Britain last year. To that end, the new editions were given eye-catching pop-art style covers with simple, iconic images. “We wanted to keep well away from the traditional, rather dark painting that is often associated with classic literature,” she says, “and create a look that was much more dramatic and contemporary.”

Each edition also features a “Why You Should Read This” foreword by a contemporary YA author, including Philip Reeve, Meg Cabot and Celia Rees, among others. “The introductions were intended to be as if your very best friend had rung you up and said, ‘Hey, I’ve just read this great book—you must read it!’ ” says Matthewson. “The idea was that it was an instinctive, passionate introduction from an author about the book that they absolutely loved.”