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Winter Institute: Children’s Books in a Digital Age
Children's books are a secure category in the marketplace and bookstores will continue to play a key role as a driver of sales were among the chief findings of a joint study undertaken by Bowker/PubTrack and the Association of Booksellers for Children, which was unveiled yesterday at Winter Institute. Sponsored by Random House, Little, Brown, Macmillan, Penguin, and Scholastic, the survey examined consumer attitudes toward purchasing children’s books in three categories: adults buying for children ages 0-6, adults buying for children ages 7-12, and teen consumers ages 13-17.
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CPSIA Update: Testing Requirements Go Into Effect in February Unless Stay Is Extended
As the children's book industry approaches the two-year anniversary of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which was enacted in August 2008 and went into effect February 10, 2009, it continues to face many unresolved issues.
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Goosebottom Books Seeks to Empower and Entertain ‘Thinking Girls’
Shirin Bridges's belief that girls can do anything they set their minds to became the basis for the creation of Goosebottom Books and its first series, The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses, which includes six middle-grade titles by Bridges, illustrated by Albert Nguyen.
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This Week in Children's Apps: January 13, 2011
This week we take a look at apps featuring the Berenstain Bears and Little Critter, one from Cajun artist and author George Rodrigue, and an original app about making the perfect blueberry muffin.
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Listening Library Launches Judy Blume Contest
Fans across several generations have paid heartfelt tribute to Judy Blume in their entries in the Judy Blume Journal Contest, which Listening Library debuted January 3 on a dedicated Web site. Readers are asked to share a "Judy Blume story or memory" and to vote for their favorite journal entry posted on the site. From the five contestants receiving the most votes, Blume will select a winner, who will receive an iPod Touch, an audiobook collection, and a personal message from Blume.
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Midwesterners Sweep Top Awards
Those interested in the American Library Association's youth media awards, announced Monday morning, have probably already noticed that Clare Vanderpool, this year's Newbery Medalist, is a debut novelist, and that Erin Stead, this year's Caldecott Medalist, is a debut book illustrator. What’s also unusual about this year's crop of award recipients is how many of them don’t live on either coast. In fact, Midwestern authors and illustrators literally swept the most prestigious of the ALA prizes this year, winning both the Newbery and the Caldecott Medals, as well as the Theodor Seuss Geisel Award.
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No 'Today Show' for Vanderpool or Stead
It's become a tradition that, the day after the Youth Media awards are announced at ALA's midwinter meeting, the Newbery and Caldecott Medal winners are interviewed live on the Today Show. But for the first time in 11 years, there was no special coverage featuring the newly minted Medalists.
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New Children's Bookstore Opens in Lexington, Mass.
Children's bookstores seem to be having a resurgence, at least in the Greater Boston area. Two weeks after Wit & Whimsy opened on December 4 in Marblehead, Mass., the Elephant's Trunk Children's Bookshop in Lexington, Mass., had a soft opening the week before Christmas to celebrate the arrival of the store's bookshelves. Owner Danielle Kreger, age 28, is planning a grand opening in early February, when the 1,000-square-foot store is fully up and running, and the latest blizzard to hit New England is more of a memory.
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Movie Alert: 'I Am Number Four'
Has a book ever become a movie so quickly? Published by HarperCollins last August, just five months ago, I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore arrives in theaters next month. Of course, the YA science fiction novel, first in the Lorien Legacies series, is not really by Pittacus Lore, who is one of the Loric elders mentioned in the book. Rather, I Am Number Four was pseudonymously co-written by adult author James Frey and Jobie Hughes, a graduate of Columbia University’s creative writing program. The extremely quick path from page to screen makes some sense, since film rights to the project were sold before the book was.
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An Initial Ambassadorial Report
Katherine Paterson has just concluded the first of two years as the nation's second Ambassador for Young People's Literature. We asked her to describe her first year in the role.
Yes, to answer the obvious question. I was absolutely thrilled when Robin Adelson called asking me if I would consider being nominated as the second National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. But there were problems attached. The first problem was not to tell anyone. I don't mean don't tell anyone until after the press conference this morning, I mean don't tell anyone until January 5th, 2010. That was months away, but I was good. I didn’t tell anyone—well, I did tell my husband and my children when the Librarian of Congress made the appointment in the fall—but that doesn’t really count as telling, surely. -
Children's Holiday Roundup: Strong Ending to a Flat Year
Neither torrential rains in Southern California nor snows in the Midwest dampened shoppers this holiday season, particularly those looking for children's books. Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, N.C., saw a steady increase in sales for the entire month of December. But "the last week was giant," says general manager Linda Barrett-Knopp. "Every day was the equivalent of three or four days during the year. It was great."
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B&N Targets Bullying
January is No Name-Calling Month at Barnes & Noble, which is partnering with Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network on a series of anti-bullying storytimes and panels in its stores and videos with authors ranging from Laurie Halse Anderson to Hilary Duff at barnesandnoble.com. "Bringing awareness to the seriousness and severity of name-calling, teasing, bullying and cyber bullying is very important to Barnes & Noble," says v-p of children's books Mary Amicucci.
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B&N Introduces Nook Kids for iPad
Barnes & Noble has introduced a Nook kids for iPad application. The app makes B&N's digital catalog of children's content--which includes 100 new interactive kids' books--available on the e-reading device.
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Scholastic's New Line of iPad Apps Targets Preschoolers
Scholastic has introduced a new line of iPad apps called Touch & Tilt. The line launches with three apps, I Love You Through and Through; The Magic School Bus: Oceans; and Go, Clifford, Go! The apps are targeted at children ages two and up and were developed in-house.
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Skyhorse Acquires Sports Publishing Assets; Launches Children's Imprint
Following two other acquisitions this year, Skyhorse Publishing has just closed a third deal, buying Sports Publishing. Sports Publishing went bankrupt in 2008 and Skyhorse's acquisition, which does not include any of Sports Publishing's liabilities, will add books by, among others, Michael Phelps and Dick Vitale to its backlist. The company also announced that it will launch a children's book imprint next fall. The new imprint, set for fall 2011, is called Sky Pony Press.
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Points of Sale: Tips for Children’s Booksellers
This column grew from first-hand experience that many of the best bookselling ideas come from other booksellers. Each tip offers an inventive way to solve problems that you may not have even been aware of in your store, like getting more mileage out of writing contests and giving old spinner racks another spin with different books.
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The Week in Children's Apps: December 23, 2010
This week we take a look at more new apps from publishers. There's a varied range, from originals to spin-offs of classic children's books, and subjects cover science, vocabulary, and more.
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Licensing: The Year in Review
As 2011 approaches, we asked a range of editors and executives with responsibility for licensed publishing about this year's trends. The consensus: there were no real blockbuster properties this year, but several licensed lines performed well.
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Kids Can Press Grows a Graphic Novel Line
Kids Can Press has been publishing children's books since 1973 and launched its first graphic novels in 2008: Claire and the Bakery Thief, a fantasy tale, and No Girls Allowed, an anthology of true stories about women who disguised themselves as men. Since then, they have built up a diverse line of graphic novels offering everything from historically based works to fantasy, adventure and mysteries.
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The Week in Children's Apps: December 16, 2010
The app field is heating up in children’s books, with a critical mass of titles coming to the market. This week we spotlight four releases, from Random House, Ruckus Media, HMH/Oceanside Media, and Greenwillow/Curious Puppy.
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