Live From BEA:
Fiction's Hot For Kids
By Diane Roback -- Publishers Weekly, 6/2/2007 2:26:00 PM
The book of the show? Nowhere to be seen. That book, of course, being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, due out next month, all 12 million copies. But as the booksellers of America wait for the trucks to arrive, they’ve been spending this weekend learning about the books they’ll be selling after Harry.
Fall will see lots of highly anticipated sequels, most notably Eclipse, the third title from Stephenie Meyer featuring the characters from her phenomenally successful vampire novels, Twilight and New Moon. Little, Brown is printing 700,000 copies, but because it’s embargoed for an August 7 pub, no copies were available. Other big followups include The Sweet Far Thing, the concluding volume in Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle trilogy (Delacorte, 250,000, Dec.); Peter and the Secret of Rundoon by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Disney Editions, 250,000 copies, Nov.); and Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, followup to his Stargirl from seven years ago (Knopf, 250,000 copies, Aug).High Fidelity author Nick Hornby has written his first novel for teens: Slam, due in October from Putnam with a 300,000-copy first printing. Other novels to watch for: E.L. Konigburg’s The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World (Atheneum/Seo); Spud by John van de Ruit, a smash hit in South Africa that Razorbill is pubbing in October; Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, kicking off a fantasy/adventure series in September by Adrienne Kress, on the debut Weinstein Books list; and The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (Little, Brown, Oct.), who entertained booksellers with a mini-magic act after the ABC annual meeting. Picture Book Picks Lines snaked down the aisles as Peter Yarrow signed copies of Puff the Magic Dragon for two hours yesterday morning. Sterling plans a 250,000-copy first printing of the August picture book, illustrated by Eric Puybaret, and a 25-city tour. Actress Julianne Moore also had huge crowds for her booth signing of Freckleface Strawberry, illustrated by LeUyen Pham (Bloomsbury, 100,000 copies, Oct.). Trixie and her stuffed Knuffle Bunny are back, in Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity by Mo Willems (Hyperion, Sept.); and Ian Falconer’s irrepressible heroine returns for the holidays with Olivia Helps with Christmas (Atheneum, Oct. 2 laydown). Other likely big Christmas picture books: Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline (Candlewick, Oct.); and Angela and the Baby Jesus by Frank McCourt, illustrated by Raúl Colón (S&S, Nov.). The Penguin Group was showing a multitude of high-profile picture book offerings: Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner (Dutton). Cowboy & Octopus from the ever-popular Jon Sciezska/Lane Smith duo (Viking); Jan Brett’s latest, The Three Snow Bears (Putnam); and Toy Boat by Randall de Sève, illustrated by Loren Long (Philomel). Pop-ups are big business these days, and maestros Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart have been busy. Sabuda’s got a Chronicles of Narnia pop-up for HarperCollins (Nov., 500,000 first printing), and Reinhart will have Star Wars: A Pop-Up Guide to the Galaxy, complete with glowing light sabers (Scholastic, 350,000 copies, Oct.). "I thought it looked fabulous," said Ellen Davis of Dragonwings in Waupaca, Wis. And Candlewick is offering The All-New All-Different X-Men Pop-Up for fall, with a 150,000-copy first printing. In nonfiction, HarperCollins was giving out galleys for Ana’s Story by Jenna Bush, her account of a Panamanian teenage girl living with AIDS; they’ll print 500,000 copies, for an October 2 laydown. Feiwel and Friends’ debut list has For Boys Only: The Biggest, Baddest Book Ever by Marc Aronson and HP Newquist; it’s a 200-page compendium of "information, activities, and fun," Feiwel said. F&F is crashing it onto the schedule for November and printing 150,000 copies.
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