In Brief: March 3

New Silverstein Collection Due in September

HarperCollins Children's Books has just announced the publication of a new book from Shel Silverstein, the second original book of his to be published posthumously. Every Thing On It will arrive on September 20, 2011 with an announced one-million copy first printing; the collection will include more than 130 previously unseen poems and drawings, selected by Silverstein's family from his archives. Silverstein died in 1999; in 2005 HarperCollins published his Runny Babbit, and in 2008 reissued his 1964 poetry collection Don't Bump the Glump! And Other Fantasies in color.

Yesterday was Read Across America Day, a national celebration of reading organized by the National Education Association; observed annually on Dr. Seuss’s birthday, the program is now in its 13th year. The NEA expected 45 million people to participate—simply by reading a book—yesterday; First Lady Michelle Obama joined many celebrities for an event at the Library of Congress. To generate early excitement, last week Target unveiled a 26-foot tall “Read” sculpture on the steps of the New York Public Library, created entirely from Dr. Seuss books. Random House donated the books for the sculpture, 25,000 of which will be given to New York City schools. The publisher is also giving away sets of five Dr. Seuss books through Sunday on its Dr. Seuss Facebook page.

Author Dori Hillestad Butler appeared on Fox & Friends on February 24 to discuss her picture book My Mom’s Having a Baby! (Albert Whitman, 2005), after a Texas mother objected to the book’s “graphic” descriptions and depictions of a mother’s pregnancy, including conception. Butler appeared opposite the mother on the show and described the book’s portrayal as “accurate” rather than graphic, noting, “It’s up to the parents to guide a child’s reading” and that the book “isn’t shelved with Goodnight Moon. It’s shelved in the nonfiction section... where you find books on sex and childbirth.” Click here for video of the segment.

The Birmingham Stage Company’s production of David Almond’s Carnegie Medal–winning novel Skellig is traveling from the U.K. to the U.S. for a brief run in New York City. The show, for audiences nine and up, opens tomorrow at the New Victory Theater and runs through March 13. The Times of Londongave the show four stars, while the Guardian called it “a darkly glittering production that makes you see the extraordinary in the everyday and the turbulent intensity of childhood.” Photo: Ian Tilton.

Johanna Hurwitz’s middle-grade novel Class Clown (Morrow, 1987) is also headed to the stage, running from March 11 to 20 at the Hartford Children’s Theatre in Hartfortd, Ct. Hurwitz herself was commissioned by the theater to create a theatrical adaptation of her book; following its run, the play will be performed for area schools. In Class Clown, fourth-grader Lucas tries to give up his mischievous ways after his teacher sends home a note to his parents. Photo: Thomas Giroir.