Fresh Start for Dear America

Launched in 1996, Scholastic's Dear America series introduced history through the diaries of fictional girls living in various eras. It was a format that resonated with middle-grade readers: the 35 titles published between that year and 2004 reached an in-print tally of 14 million copies. In September, the publisher will bring back this paper-over-board series with an updated design. The relaunch, which encompasses previously unpublished titles as well as reissues, will be supported by a $250,000 marketing campaign. "In-house, I'd say Dear America has been one of our favorite series," says Suzanne Murphy, v-p and group publisher, Scholastic trade. "And the authors who wrote the original Dear America Books were clamoring to see us relaunch the series...

Meet Carrie Bradshaw (Without the Sex or the City)

What was Carrie Bradshaw like before Sex and the City? That's the question Candace Bushnell answers in The Carrie Diaries, a young adult prequel to her 1997 book Sex and the City, which spawned the iconic HBO television series. In the new novel, out next month from HarperCollins's Balzer & Bray imprint with a 500,000-copy first printing, Carrie weathers her sometimes stormy senior year in a small-town Connecticut high school, coping with a turbulent family life, an unreliable boyfriend, friendships in flux, and uncertainty about her chances of launching a writing career. Bushnell explains that a comment made by her agent, Heather Schroder of ICM, sparked the idea for The Carrie Diaries...

One Year In, Seven Footer Is Standing Tall

Diversification, branding, and word of mouth are just a few ways Seven Footer Kids, the children's book imprint of New York City-based Seven Footer Press, is expanding its presence in the kids' market as it marks its one-year anniversary. Founded by David Gomberg and Justin Heimberg, Seven Footer takes its name from its founders' appreciation of the combination of "awkwardness and grace" of seven-foot (and taller) basketball stars like Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and Manute Bol. During its first year, Seven Footer Kids' bestseller was Life-Size Zoo, a picture book by Teruyuki Komiya that features full-size, up-close photographs of animals from a hedgehog to a giraffe. The book sold 50,000 copies in Japan before Seven Footer brought it to the U.S.; since its publication last March, there are 136,000 copies in print (around 100,000 to book fairs, and the rest to the trade).

Licensing Hotline: March 2010

Dover has acquired its first major license, Sesame Street, for a line of Little Activity Books, stained glass coloring books, paper dolls and other formats, including some out-of-print titles from the 1970s and 1980s. "We've long wanted to be part of their exclusive formats," says Jennifer Perry, Sesame Workshop's assistant v-p and editorial director, worldwide publishing. Dover has sold four million units of its 1,000 nonlicensed Little Activity Books, mostly in specialty stores, and has a racking program for chains such as AC Moore, Michael's and Cracker Barrel.

Read on for news on American Girl's craft line, new licensees for Encyclopaedia Britannica, Goodnight Moon licensing, and what's up with The Jim Henson Company.

Fiction Hot, Digital Not at Upbeat Bologna

The mood at this year's Bologna Book Fair has been much improved over last year when publishers were dealing with the impact of the worldwide recession. Young adult titles and series are drawing the most attention, but there remains caution about what to do on the digital front. "There's a lot of activity and everyone's very upbeat. Last year this place was dead," said Stephen Roxburgh, now with his new company namelos. "But I walked in yesterday morning and you could feel the energy." Roxburgh, who says he's on a one-man hunt to find a "digital pulse" at the fair, reports that the fair's overwhelming focus continues to be "ink on paper," but says he's finding people more receptive to the digital idea.

David Almond, Jutta Bauer Win Hans Christian Andersen Awards

The 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the most prestigious international award for children's books, has been given to British author David Almond and German illustrator Jutta Bauer. The award was announced Tuesday afternoon at the Bologna Book Fair.

Obituary: Sid Fleischman

Author Sid Fleischman died March 17 in his home in Santa Monica, Calif., at the age of 90. Fleischman won the Newbery Medal in 1987 for his novel The Whipping Boy, and wrote more than 50 books for children, as well as screenplays and adult fiction and nonfiction. His first children's book, Mr. Mysterious & Company, was published in 1962, and his most recent was The Dream Stealer (Greenwillow, 2009). Fleischman was a National Book Award finalist in 1979 for Humbug Mountain. He also received a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Waxman's CPSIA Amendment Could Address Publishers', Libraries' Concerns

Steps are being taken in Congress that could resolve many of publishers', resellers', and libraries' concerns regarding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. On March 12, Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) released a draft amendment to the Act that addresses some of the complaints from a variety of industry groups.

All-New Shel Silverstein Poetry Collection Due in 2011

HarperCollins Children's Books has announced the fall 2011 release of a collection of never-before published Shel Silverstein poems and illustrations. Not yet titled, the book will share the same format as the late author's previous poetry collections, Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up. These and other children's books by Silverstein, who died in 1999, have sold more than 25 million hardcover copies in the U.S. alone and have been translated into more than 30 languages.

A 'Reckless' Reveal

Cornelia Funke's fantasy novel Reckless—first in a planned series—is set for a worldwide laydown September 14, but Bookshelf readers are the first to get a sneak peek of the cover images for the three simultaneously released editions due from Little, Brown (U.S), Chicken House (U.K.) and Dressler (Germany). This comes on the eve of next week's Bologna Children's Book Fair, where Funke will be hosting all of her international publishers at a celebratory Reckless Reception.

Little, Brown Attends
Monster High

Under license from Mattel, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will be publishing a new YA series, Monster High, written by Lisi Harrison, best known for the Clique and Alphas series. In the books, the sons and daughters of Frankenstein, The Mummy, and other famous movie monsters, disguised as humans, interact with the modern teenagers who are their fellow students. The concept was created in-house by Mattel, which sought out a publisher to help establish the brand and its storylines and characters.

March 18: In Brief

This week, Holly Black spreads the word on her new series, the Hans Christian Andersen Medal shortlist is revealed, Candlewick makes an e-book push, and BEA's YA Buzz Panel.

Q & A with Carrie Ryan

Carrie Ryan is the author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth (2009) and The Dead-Tossed Waves (Mar.), both from Delacorte. Ryan is currently crossing the country on tour to celebrate the publication of her new novel. PW caught up with her via phone on her Lansing, Mich., stop.

Dav Pilkey Trades Underpants for Time Travel

Do cavemen wear underpants? Readers may soon find out when Scholastic's Blue Sky Press imprint releases The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, a new graphic novel from Dav Pilkey—perhaps best known as the creator of the bestselling Captain Underpants series. Scholastic's Ellie Berger negotiated a four-book deal for world rights for the series with Amy Berkower of Writers House.

Million-Copy Print Run for Grisham's First Kids' Book

Dutton has revealed the cover art and first printing for John Grisham's first book for young readers, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, which will be published in May 25. Now the publisher has unveiled the cover for that book as well as its first printing: a massive one million copies. Aimed at readers ages eight to 12, the book centers on a 13-year-old amateur attorney who gets involved in a murder trial.

Besser to Head Putnam Books for Young Readers

Penguin Young Readers Group has announced that, effective April 12, Jennifer Besser will join the publisher as v-p and publisher of G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, a position previously held by Nancy Paulsen, who is launching an eponymous imprint with Penguin.

Movie Alert: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Marketing Staff Changes at Macmillan Kids

The Macmillan Children's Publishing group, which was streamlined in late 2008 as part of a larger company-wide restructuring, has a new hire and several promotions in its marketing department, moves that have been announced by Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, senior v-p, director of marketing. Liz Hartman has joined the company in the newly created position of executive director, publicity and institutional marketing. Hartman will oversee publicity and school and library marketing for all Macmillan Children's Publishing imprints.

Toronto Conference Studies Ways to Cultivate Environmental Imaginations

Can children's literature increase people's sense of connection and accountability to the natural world? And if so, how? In these days of anxiety about environmental degradation and climate change, these are timely questions, which were considered at length at the Children's Literature and the Environmental Imagination symposium held earlier this month at the University of Toronto's Trinity College.

Q & A with Ally Carter

In Ally Carter's Heist Society, a crew of teenage thieves—led by Kat, youngest in a clan of accomplished heistmasters—gets down to the sticky business of retrieving valuable paintings stolen from an Italian mobster. Kat has strong incentive for recovering the masterpieces: to clear the name of her father, prime suspect in the theft, and to return the paintings, plundered by the Nazis decades before, to their rightful place. Launching a series, this latest work by the author of I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You and subsequent Gallagher Girls novels was published by Disney-Hyperion with a 200,000-copy printing. Carter talked to Bookshelf about why—and how—she dunnit.