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L.A. Times Festival: Feeding the Imagination
Humor and charming revelations were the highlights of the hour, when children's authors and illustrators Kadir Nelson, Pam Munoz Ryan, and David Shannon shared the stage last Saturday at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books for a lively panel called Children's Books: Feeding the Imagination. Sonja Bolle, children's book columnist for the Times, moderated a discussion that was frequently interrupted by bursts of laughter from the audience as the panelists teased and cajoled one another into disclosing the inspirations for their bestselling picture books and the childhood experiences that led them to become illustrators and authors.
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Children's Books in Full Force at L.A. Times Festival
More than 130,000 book-lovers came out over two days to celebrate books and reading at the 2010 Los Angeles Festival of Books, held this past weekend on the campus of UCLA. For those who couldn't make it, here's a visual tour of the happenings, and the many children's book authors and illustrators in attendance.
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New and Familiar Events Headline Children's Book Week
Observed since 1919, Children's Book Week will be celebrated this year on May 10-16. Administrated by Every Child a Reader and sponsored by the Children's Book Council, 2010's CBW includes several brand-new events and initiatives as well as the third annual Children's Choice Book Awards Gala, at which this year's awards will be presented. We've got an extensive preview of some of the week's highlights.
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Newtonville to Close Children's Store
Yes, Newtonville Books in Newton, Mass., is shuttering its five-year-old connected children's bookstore, the Lizard's Tale, and selling down its inventory with a week-long 40% off sale that begins on Saturday. But that's the only similarity to other stories about children's bookstore closings. For one thing, the store hasn't lost money. In fact, according to co-owner Jaime Clarke, sales have increased at Newtonville for each of the past three years that he and his wife, Mary Cotton, have owned it. Plus this story has a happy ending. Cotton and Clarke haven't aren't abandoning children's books. They are reintegrating them into Newtonville's inventory. As for the space occupied by the Lizard's Tale, it will become a Used Book Annex at the beginning of next month.
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Facts and Figures 2009: Meyer's Reign Continues
The Stephenie Meyer juggernaut continues. Though the queen of the vampire novel didn't release any new books in 2009, demand was still enormous, fueled by the New Moon film and the DVD release of 2008's Twilight. Combining the various hardcover, paperback, and movie tie-in editions, Meyer sold just under 26.
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Lee & Low Gets New Imprint
Independent children's book publisher Lee & Low will launch a new imprint, Tu Books, in fall 2011. Tu Books will publish multicultural science fiction and fantasy for middle-grade and teen audiences. "Increasing our offerings in both the MG and YA markets is something Lee & Low has wanted to do for some time," said Lee & Low publisher Jason Low. "Our customers have asked for books for older readers with the same emphasis on cultural diversity that we have applied to our picture books."
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Lerner Moves into YA Market with Carolrhoda Lab
Lerner Publishing Group has announced that the Minneapolis-based children's book publisher will launch Carolrhoda Lab, a new line of fiction for YA readers. A total of four titles will be released during Carolrhoda Lab's debut season this fall. Carolrhoda editor Andrew Karre will acquire and edit six to eight Carolrhoda Lab titles each year. Lindsay Matvik, Lerner's senior publicist, said that Karre's expertise in YA fiction provided the impetus for the company to more aggressively target the YA market than it had previously.
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Harper Debuts Writing Site for Teens
Monday marked the official launch of inkpop, an interactive writing platform and community for teenagers created by HarperTeen. Inkpop serves as an online community for young writers; the publisher calls inkpop the "anchor" of its digital strategy for the teen market. "As with all of our online consumer programs, the concept of community-building is aligned with our ongoing corporate digital marketing efforts to cultivate a two-way dialogue with our readers," said Susan Katz...
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The 2009 Cuffies
For our annual “Off the Cuff” awards, we asked booksellers around the country for their picks in a variety of categories. The winners (and selected comments) appear below. Favorite Picture Book of the Year The Lion & the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (“a masterpiece”) Honorable mention: Otis by Loren Long Favorite Middle Grade Novel of the Year When You Reach Me by Rebecca...
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CPSC Report to Congress Recommends CPSIA Exclusion for Books
On January 15, the Consumer Product Safety Commission responded to a directive from Congress to deliver a report outlining what it sees as the problems with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act and offering suggestions for revisions. As reported earlier, the request was part of last year’s Consolidated Appropriations Act. The report acknowledges, among several other points, the challenges faced by libraries and used booksellers...
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CPSIA Timeline
Want to catch up on PW's CPSIA coverage? Here are some highlights to date.
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CPSIA: The Year in Review
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 has been in the news all year, and December is no exception, as the Consumer Product Safety Commission is scheduled to vote imminently on some key issues that will affect children’s book publishers. While the industry continues to await that ruling, Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the ALA's Washington office, was scheduled to meet with CPSC head Inez Tenenbaum on Thursday.
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Sourcebooks Adds Teen Imprint
Chicagoland-headquartered Sourcebooks announced Tuesday that it will launch a young adult imprint in spring 2010. In its debut season the imprint, called Sourcebooks Fire, will release seven titles, including a bestselling paranormal romance series from the U.K., a novel based on the true-life story of teenage sisters who invented the séance in 1848, a romantic mystery set against the backdrop of the Civil War, and a YA supernatural thriller set in New York City...
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CPSIA: The Waiting Game Continues for Libraries
Children's librarians are still waiting for resolution on how, specifically, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will affect them. The Consumer Products Safety Commission recently issued a final lead rule that deemed many - but not all - of the components in ordinary children's books safe. At the same time, it reiterated its belief that books printed before 1986 potentially could contain lead, leaving libraries to wonder for a bit longer about what they should do with their older holdings...
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CPSIA Update: Progress, But Still Some Loose Ends
Several provisions of the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act went into effect on August 14, 2009. As that deadline approached and on the heels of the confirmation of new CPSC head Inez Tenenbaum, the Commission issued guidance on a raft of unresolved issues, some affecting publishers.
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CPSC Issues Policy Statement on CPSIA Tracking Labels
The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued its long-awaited statement of policy on the tracking labels required for all manufacturers of children's products, under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. New chairman Inez Tenenbaum, as well as commissioners Thomas Moore and Nancy Nord, voted on Monday to approve the guidelines, which allow publishers to be flexible in how they comply with the provision.
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New CPSC Head Promises to Make CPSIA a Priority
Last Friday's Senate confirmation of Inez Tenenbaum as the new head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission has given many in the publishing industry hope that some of the issues surrounding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act may finally be resolved. In her prepared remarks before the U.S. Senate’s Commerce Committee on June 16, Tenenbaum noted that the implementation of the Act will be her highest priority.
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No Stay on CPSIA-Mandated Tracking Labels
Late last week, the two current members of the Consumer Products Safety Commission denied a request from children’s products industries to grant a stay of enforcement on the tracking label provision of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
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CPSIA Update: Still Waiting
Publishers, librarians and others in the children’s book industry are still waiting for resolution on a number of questions that will determine how they can comply with the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act(CPSIA).
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