Pittsburgh Celebrates Children's Books and Authors

Author Katherine Paterson, author-illustrator Marla Frazee, and illustrator E.B. Lewis formed the award-winning lineup of featured speakers at last Friday's Fall Festival of Children's Books in Pittsburgh, held in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh's Lecture Hall.

Atlanta Mom's Homegrown Book Series

Not only is Britt Menzies is an unlikely publishing success story—she's an unlikely art, t-shirt, and plush-doll success story as well. Beginning five years ago in her Atlanta home with a colorful, cartoony painting she made of her daughter in a tutu, Menzies has crafted a child-, parent-, and retailer-pleasing brand she calls StinkyKids.

B&N Divides Out Teen Fiction Genres

In a sign of just how popular teen fiction has become, Barnes & Noble is in the midst of rearranging its teen fiction section chain-wide this week in an effort to improve the shopping experience and boost sales. Already teen fiction is the biggest book growth category at Barnes & Noble, according to Mary Amicucci, v-p of children's books. In terms of volume, it is the second largest subject, behind adult fiction. After testing the concept at a Barnes & Noble store in Hackensack, N.J., three weeks ago, the chain pushed the go button to reorganize all its teen sections by separating out the two most popular genres—paranormal romance and fantasy and adventure—from teen fiction.

Original 'Charlotte's Web' Cover Art Sells at Auction

Featuring the image of Fern and Wilbur gazing at a dangling Charlotte, Garth Williams's original cover art for E.B. White's Charlotte's Web sold at auction on October 15 for $155,350, more than five times the pre-sale estimate. This figure sets a world record for the sale of any art created by the legendary Williams, who died in 1996 at the age of 84.

Children's Booksellers "Dance a Little Faster" at NCIBA Show

"We always have a great time at the show, and this year is no different," said Susan Kunhardt, children's book buyer at Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calif., of last weekend's Northern California Independent Booksellers Association annual trade show in Oakland.

Sterling to Start Teen Fiction Imprint

Sterling Children's Books will launch a new teen fiction imprint in January, called Splinter. The list will debut January 11 with the release of Tiger's Curse, the first in a fantasy-romance saga by Colleen Houck, self-published before she signed with Sterling. Frances Gilbert, v-p, publisher of Sterling Children's Books, said the goal of Splinter "is to give teens what they want to read, when they want to read it and how they want to read it."

Picture Book Series from Satya House Has International Flavor

A girl from a small town in China spends a day visiting her aunt in Shanghai in I See the Sun in China, a paperback released this month by Satya House Publications. Written by Dedie King and illustrated by Judith Inglese, this is the inaugural title in a series of picture books portraying the daily lives of children from various countries.

Regional Trade Shows 2010: Kids' Books

GLiBA: Great Vibes at Great Lakes

"I know I'm biased, but [GLiBA's] children's programming just rocked this year," said Great Lakes independent Booksellers Association president Cynthia Compton, owner of 4 Kids Books & Toys in Indianapolis and Fishers, Ind. "I am continually encouraged by the amount of programming, conversation, and buzz that children's lit creates at our bookseller events."

Julie Just Moves to Agent Side, Joins Janklow & Nesbit

The New York Times just lost its children's books editor to the agenting world. Julie Just has joined Janklow & Nesbit as an agent. Just, who was deputy editor of the New York Times Book Review before taking the job as children's books editor at the paper in 2005, will start at Janklow & Nesbit in November.

NEIBA and NECBA: Slimmer but Still Vital

The 37th annual New England Booksellers Independent Booksellers Association conference, held in Providence, R.I., from September 30 to October 2, was like the YA version of a bestselling adult title. All the important elements were there; it's just that they had been slimmed down, along with the show's footprint, which fit on a single floor of the Rhode Island Convention Center for the first time.

Children's Books and Authors Sparkle at MBA

For children's booksellers, the two highlights of this year's Midwest Booksellers Association's trade show, held in St. Paul, Minn., on October 1 and 2, were a panel of three children's booksellers pitching their favorite fall releases to a room of about 75 of their colleagues, and the annual children's book and author breakfast.

New Brubaker and Ford Imprint for Templar

Templar UK has announced a new imprint, called Brubaker, Ford & Friends, which will launch in spring 2011. The acquisition marks the next stage in the life of Brubaker & Ford, a book packager and consulting firm founded in 2007 by David Ford and Brett Brubaker.

Lemniscaat Goes Solo, Offers Dutch Treat

Named for geometry's lemniscate with its figure-8 curves, a Dutch publisher is introducing a curve of its own when it comes to the U.S. market. After a decade and a half as an imprint of Front Street and then Boyds Mills Press, Lemniscaat will move to a straight distribution model with Ingram Publishers Services on January 1. As a result, Lemniscaat will have greater control of what it publishes in the U.S.

Scholastic Releases Study on Future of Bookworms – and E-Bookworms

Kids are still consuming print books – because they want to and because only six percent of their parents own an electronic reading device. In its third national Kids & Family Reading Report, released on Wednesday. In this survey, a third of kids said they would read more for fun if they had e-books.

Brains + Brawn = Literacy

The Story Book House and the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation hope that brains and brawn, when brought together, can promote literacy. The independent bookstore and the nonprofit foundation are partnering to launch a new community speakers series in Arlington, Tex.

Canada's First Teen Reads Awards Judged a Hit

Canadian bookselling giant Indigo Books & Music is counting its first Teen Reads Awards contest as a big success, with more than 15,000 teens voting for their favorite books and authors and 500 coming out to cheer the winners at an awards ceremony in Toronto on September 25. I

YA and Children's Book Authors Rock MPiBA

Even though only six of the 22 authors on the speakers roster at this year’s Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association trade show in Denver were children’s and YA book authors, the buzz created by three of them among the 150+ booksellers almost surpassed the amount of buzz about the new adult releases.

Boardwalk Empire: NAIBA on the Jersey Shore

Children's books were tightly woven into the warp and weft of this year's New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association fall conference, including the Moveable Feast at which authors like M.T. Anderson and Lincoln Peirce spoke. It could be a harbinger of the role that children's books will play in the upcoming holiday season.

Children's Books at the National Book Festival: A PW Photo-Essay

Marking its 10th anniversary this year, the National Book Festival took place this past Saturday in Washington, D.C. According to the Library of Congress, an estimated 150,000 book-lovers flocked to the National Mall to hear presentations from more than 70 authors, including many children's and YA writers.