Al’s Book Club to Open ‘Cupboards’

Last Friday, Al Roker selected 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson as the latest title in Al’s Book Club for Kids on the Today Show. 100 Cupboards (Random House, 2007) is the first book in a fantasy series in which 12-year-old Henry York discovers magical cupboards at his aunt’s farmhouse, which lead to different worlds. The third book in the series, The Chestnut King, was published in January. Click here to read an excerpt from the book at the Today Show Web site.

On the Air with Peter Lerangis

Earlier this week, The Viper’s Nest, book #7 in the 39 Clues series, went on sale, and author Peter Lerangis appeared on Sirius XM Radio Kids Place Live to promote it. The guest host, a nine-year-old fan of the series, interviewed Lerangis, and during the segment Lerangis revealed the location in which The Viper’s Nest takes place. The radio spot was just the beginning—Lerangis is heading out on a national tour that is taking him to bookstores in New Jersey, New York, Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio, and Kentucky.

What’s Shaking?

Frailty, thy name is standee! Author Erin Dionne (r.) and her editor, Alisha Niehaus of Dial Books for Young Readers (l.), gathered around the Bard at a recent launch party for Dionne’s new middle-grade novel, The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet (Jan.). Dionne’s novel stars eighth-grader Hamlet Kennedy, who was given her unusual name by her Shakespeare-obsessed parents (Hamlet’s younger sister is named Desdemona—hard to say who got the better deal). The launch party was held at the Center for the Arts in Natick, Mass.