-
Putnam to Publish Tale of Pachyderm and Pooch Pals
An animal odd couple that has captivated the mainstream media and has become a YouTube sensation will soon star in a picture book. In September, Putnam will publish Tarra & Bella: The Elephant and Dog Who Became Best Friends by Carol Buckley, documenting the friendship between an elephant and a stray dog at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tenn.
-
It’s the Dog Days of Summer at Square Fish
Square Fish Books is going to the dogs this season: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group’s paperback imprint is featuring its six new canine capers in The Dog Days of Summer promotion. The cover of each book displays a crisp, close-up photo of a pooch on its cover, giving the middle-grade novels a uniform look and surefire appeal to young dog devotees. The promotion encompasses five reprints of books originally published by one of the group’s imprints, as well as one Square Fish original.
-
In Brief: June 25
This week, we toast Ellen Krieger's retirement, watch Sarah Dessen kick off her book tour, visit Jill Santopolo's pub party, hear about a LipSmackers giveaway with a new novel from Tricycle, and see an outdoor book signing for James Prosek at the Smithsonian.
-
Makeover Alert: Gossip Girl’s Sporting a New Jacket
With the third season of the Gossip Girl TV series not starting until September, and with teens ever in need of summer beach reading, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers’ Poppy imprint is promoting its flagship Gossip Girl series with new slipcover jackets for all 12 titles, as well an iPhone book app. The new jackets feature members of the cast in stills taken from the TV show.
-
Blue Marble Celebrates 30 Years
The Blue Marble, a children’s bookstore located in Ft. Thomas, Ky., celebrated its 30th anniversary with an in-store celebration Saturday, June 20. Seventeen local authors and illustrators spent the day mingling with customers. The daylong celebration culminated in a dinner that included the day’s featured authors, past and present store employees, a few sales reps, and friends of the store from the community.
-
Chicago School Keeps Alexie Novel on Summer Reading List
Despite public calls to do so from a group of parents, Sherman Alexie’s critically acclaimed YA novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, will not be pulled as required summer reading for 400 incoming freshmen students at Antioch (Ill.) Community High School. In a meeting on Monday night, school district 117 superintendent Jay Sabatino and the seven-member school board voiced their strong support for the book as an educational tool that engages young readers.
-
Children's Book Reviews: 6/22/2009
Reviewed this week: new books from Kenneth Oppel, Rebecca Stead and Paul Griffin, plus PW's review of the sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire.
-
Web Exclusive Reviews: 6/22/2009
Four Daily News sports reporters turn in the definitive story of Roger Clemens and drugs in baseball; Miles Kington presents a lively epistolary meta-nonfiction collection about dying; Sam Pocker catches retailers gone wild; and smallpox eradicator D.A. Henderson chronicles his showdown with the disease. Plus: fiction from Jane Porter, Sarah Prineas's second Magic Thief novel, and Alex Flinn's Gossip Girl makeover of "Sleeping Beauty."
-
Spring 2009 Flying Starts
This spring saw many strong children’s book debuts, but for our semiannual Flying Starts, which highlight standout first books, we narrowed the field to four. The novels we selected feature a girl who embraces science one stifling summer in 1899 Texas; a boy coming of age in rural Oregon against the backdrop of war; a group of delinquent teenage boys investigating the disappearance of a friend; and a family quietly suffering an abusive father.
-
NECBA's Pub Crawl: Two Publishers, One Day
Given the early hour at which the New England Children’s Booksellers Advisory Council kicked off its June 10th meeting, aka Pub Crawl, it’s probably just as well that co-chairs Kenny Brechner, owner of Devaney, Doak & Garrett Booksellers in Farmington, Me., and Vicky Uminowicz of Titcomb’s Bookshop in East Sandwich, Mass., weren’t thinking of that kind of pub.
-
‘Little Brother’ Takes a Bow at Chicago Theater
Little Brother, the futuristic tale of teen-techno-revolution in a dystopian San Francisco by journalist/blogger Cory Doctorow, has done well since its release last May by Tor Teen. It received excellent reviews, has sold 90,000 copies to date, was nominated for a Hugo Award, and movie rights were recently optioned to producer Don Murphy. Now Little Brother has been adapted for the stage by Chicago’s Griffin Theatre Company.
-
Rights Report: June 18, 2009
Universal has picked up Lunch Lady, a new graphic novel series by Jarrett Krosoczka (Knopf), with Amy Poehler attached to star; Barbara Lalicki at HarperCollins acquired world English rights to Cinderella Smith, a first novel by Stephanie Barden; and Framelight Productions and producer David Uslan have bought rights to Ian Beck’s Tom Trueheart trilogy for Greenwillow.
-
Galley Talk: 'Shiver' by Maggie Stiefvater
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is the love story of Sam and Grace, told in chapters that alternate between their points of view. Sam, a werewolf, rescues a young Grace from a wolf attack. Werewolves in Stiefvater’s world respond to the cold—they are wolves in winter, humans in summer, and each year they are human for a shorter period of time, until they remain wolves permanently. So Sam and Grace are on a deadline.
-
‘Because of Winn-Dixie’: The Musical
Author Kate DiCamillo’s first book, the Newbery Honor-winning Because of Winn-Dixie, is heading to Broadway as a musical. A creative team is not yet in place, but the show will feature a live dog playing the role of Winn-Dixie, trained by Bill Berloni (who trained the dog Sandy, for the musical Annie). “The opportunity to surround Kate’s story with top Broadway artists lends itself to creating an exciting new Broadway musical,” producer Gerarld Goehring said.
-
Big Children’s Presence for Penguin’s New Online Network
Penguin has just launched an online network called From the Publisher’s Office, consisting of original content in audio, video and reading channels, to promote its frontlist and backlist titles. And Penguin's children’s and YA books will be getting plenty of attention in each of the channels.
-
DK Plans Out-of-This-World LEGO Star Wars Event
DK Publishing, along with Lucasfilm and LEGO, is planning a one-day in-store launch event for its October release LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary by Simon Beecroft. The book is based on LEGO’s 10-year-old line of toys tied to George Lucas’s Star Wars saga; DK is offering participating stores an activity kit with game and trivia contests; giveaways and raffle prizes; and appearances from members of a volunteer group of Star Wars costume enthusiasts.
-
‘The Napping House’ Turns 25
A quarter century has passed since Audrey and Don Wood created The Napping House, a cumulative tale about a boy napping with his grandmother—along with a dog, cat, mouse and flea, all piled one on top of the other. The picture book has sold 1.6 million copies since its 1984 release by Harcourt. The publisher recently issued a 25th anniversary edition; here’s how the various incarnations came to be.
-
Q & A with Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Author/illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka is best known for his picture books; his latest books are a bit of a departure, and are his first foray into the comic/graphic novel format. We caught up with Krosoczka to find out about his latest projects, and whether or not he has a “thing” for any lunch ladies in particular.
-
ShelfTalker's Summer Reading List
Last week when I asked for summer reading suggestions, 31 people offered truly wonderful suggestions. It would seem that just about everyone suggested The Hunger Games — clearly this was the most popular book on the list.
-
Children's Book Reviews: Week of 6/15/2009
This week's reviews include a picture book debut from swimmer and Olympian Michael Phelps; new novels from Sharon Draper, Jamila Gavin and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor; and a round-up of science-themed titles just in time for summer exploration and experimentation.
Browse archive by date:
