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Children's Book Reviews: 8/31/2009
Reviewed this week: picture books from David Ezra Stein, Mac Barnett and Adam Rex, and Jonah Winter and Sean Addy; novels from Lisa Yee, Sid Fleischman, Patrick Ness and Malinda Lo; nonfiction from Candace Fleming and Albert Marrin; and a round-up of spooky Halloween books for kids of any age.
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Spreading the Word: Summer Reading at DDG
Inspired by a summer reading program at the Alphabet Garden in Cheshire, Conn., Kenny Brechner, owner of Devaney Doak and Garrett Booksellers in Farmington, Maine, came up with what he regards as the 18-year-old store’s most successful summer reading program to date. If Goldilocks were testing out a summer reading program, Brechner says, this year’s Spread the Word program would be just right. It captured the attention of both children and parents—and sold books.
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If You Give Fans Some Cheer
Author Laura Numeroff is trying to spread some cheer during these challenging times by bringing people together—publishers, as well as parents and their children. On September 13, Numeroff, whose latest releases are 'Would I Trade My Parents?' and 'What Brothers Do Best/What Sisters Do Best,' is embarking on Laura Numeroff’s Bringing Families Together Tour. Abrams and Chronicle are teaming up to send Numeroff to primarily independent bookstores in two economically stressed Midwestern states....
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A Monster of a Coincidence?
Call it "ologyology": the study of the proliferation of children’s books with titles referencing the study of the supernatural. Candlewick’s Ologies series is perhaps the most prominent example, but this fall will see the arrival of several "ology" titles similar to the Candlewick series in name only. Two of them—'The Monstrumologist' and 'The Monsterologist'—have nearly identical titles, but very different ways of addressing their ghoulish subject matter.
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U.K. Publishers Protest Bologna Curtailment
Representatives from more than 30 publishers, literary agencies and other firms in the U.K. have signed a petition protesting against the shortening of the Bologna Children's Book Fair. Sarah Pakenham of Andersen Press and Margot Edwards of Piccadilly Press organized the petition in dismay both at the reduction of the fair from four days to three and at a failure to introduce a corresponding reduction in fees.
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Leo Lionni’s First Book Turns 50
Five decades ago, graphic artist Leo Lionni was riding on a train with his two young grandchildren. When their behavior turned from angelic to devilish, Lionni took a copy of Life magazine out of his briefcase and ripped out a page featuring a blue, yellow and green design. After tearing the page into small pieces, he used them to tell a story to entertain the rambunctious youngsters. That story became Little Blue and Little Yellow, Lionni’s first picture book...
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Roker Gets ‘Clues’
Thursday morning on The Today Show, Al Roker announced that 39 Clues #5: The Black Circle by Patrick Carman (Scholastic) is the latest pick in his Al’s Book Club. The Black Circle pubbed on August 11. The 39 Clues series, which will consist of 10 books in total, has more than four million copies in English in print. And the 39 Clues online game has drawn more than 580,000 registered users since it launched last September, when the series started.
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One ‘Fantaskey’ Wedding
This week, author Beth Fantaskey sent out wedding invitations. Surprising, since she is, in fact, already married. However, the invitations aren’t for her—they are for the two main characters in her debut novel, Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, published by Harcourt this past February. The invitations are just the first step in a new promotion featured on Fantaskey’s Web site.
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A Tribute to Karla Kuskin
I didn’t know Karla well. I’d read and admired her poetry, but I met her in person only three times, casually, at book-related events. And then, several years ago, I put together my first collection of poems, made some sketches, and had the nerve to send her the dummy, hoping she’d take the time to look it over. She did — it came back weeks later, covered in Post-its. She not only critiqued and revised the poems but also suggested clever changes...
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New Snicket Series in Works
The Series of Unfortunate Events may have came to a close back in 2006, after 13 volumes, but Lemony Snicket and his persona linger on. Snicket and his alter ego, Daniel Handler, have turned their hand to picture books in recent seasons, and now comes word of a new Snicket series. It will be a four-book series for middle-graders, edited by Snicket’s longtime editor, Susan Rich. "I can neither confirm nor deny that I have begun research into a new case," Snicket said in a statement...
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A Crowning Achievement
Florence Parry Heide published her first picture book in 1967. At the time, she was looking for a creative outlet as the youngest of her five children headed off to school. To date, Heide has more than 80 titles for children to her credit. One of her best-known works, The Shrinking of Treehorn, illustrated by Edward Gorey, struck a chord with both readers and critics. But Treehorn also found a huge fan in one young illustrator, Lane Smith.
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Karla Kuskin, 1932—2009
Author and illustrator Karla Kuskin died on August 20, at the age of 77. Her career as an author spanned half a century, with her first book, 'Roar and More,' published by Harper & Row in 1956. Since then, Kuskin wrote more than 50 books for children, most often in rhymed verse, including 'The Philharmonic Gets Dressed'; 'Soap Soup'; 'In the Middle of the Trees'; and 'Moon, Have You Met My Mother?' HarperCollins will publish her book 'A Boy Had a Mother Who Bought Him a Hat' in March 2010.
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A Month-Long Birthday Celebration for Roald Dahl
Penguin Young Readers Group is gearing up to celebrate Roald Dahl Month in September, marking the author’s 93rd birthday and heralding the forthcoming Twentieth Century Fox film based on Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, slated for release on November 13. The publisher will issue three tie-ins to this stop-motion movie. which features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson.
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Saturday in the Park with Cassie
Last Saturday afternoon’s gray skies deterred no one: 300 eager fans flocked to New York City’s Bryant Park to hear Cassandra Clare discuss her Mortal Instruments series. And Clare gave news of several forthcoming projects, including a new book in the Mortal Instruments series, the creation of a prequel series and a movie adaptation of her books.
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E-Books Go Interactive
"We're really going after the kids' space in a big way,” said Josh Koppel, co-founder of ScrollMotion, the iPhone book-app developer, which will launch a new kids' e-book reader app this fall that will bring enhanced picture books to the iPhone. The company has already gone after the adult market, bringing many frontlist titles to the iPhone. Now ScrollMotion is making a big push into the YA and children's market.
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Children's Book Reviews: 8/24/2009
This week's reviews include a new picture books from Tomie dePaola, Nonny Hogrogian, Toni and Slade Morrison, and Danielle Steel; fiction from John Feinstein, Scott Westerfeld, Patricia McCormick and Justine Larbalestier; and a round-up of concept books.
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Counting Down to 'Catching Fire'
The yearlong Catching Fire countdown will finally end on September 1, the laydown date for the second installment of the Hunger Games trilogy. With a first printing of 350,000 copies, Suzanne Collins’s dystopian tale is the first big children’s book of the fall. Jeff Kinney’s new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book may be bigger in terms of print run, as is Kate DiCamillo’s The Magician’s Elephant. But the buzz about the Hunger Games sequel is louder.
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Licensing Hotline: August 2009
Scholastic has acquired the license for Angel Cat Sugar, a Japanese property from the mind of Hello Kitty creator Yuko Shimizu. Two books for girls 4—8 will launch in the school market this fall, followed by two more in the trade starting in January 2010. See more licensing stories, including news of a new Nickelodeon series, Richard Scarry’s Busytown characters on TV, and a new Angelina Ballerina show on PBS.
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Q & A with Loren Long
Q: Your new picture book, Otis, has a classic, playful feel. What inspired the look of this art?
A: Well, to back up a bit, The Little Engine That Could marked a new direction for me, from the standpoint that this was the first book where I was obviously digging into a tried and true classic. I’m very proud of the books I did beforehand, but The Little Engine That Could opened up a new world for me. -
In Brief: August 20
This week, Tilbury House starts a promotion for its Tarra and Bella books, 'Shiver' gets a cake for its release, Horrid Harry hoofs it Stateside, and 10 debut novelists meet up to talk shop.
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