Lois Duncan Thrillers Get an Update

A string of thrillers by Lois Duncan, including I Know What You Did Last Summer, Killing Mr. Griffin, and Don't Look Behind You, first sent shivers down the spines of teen readers in the 1970s and '80s. These three novels are the first of 10 Duncan titles that Little, Brown plans to reissue in trade paperback editions...

David Baldacci on Author Roster for Second '39 Clues' Wave

The powerful Cahill family will be pitted against a ruthless cabal in Scholastic’s follow-up to its multimedia franchise, The 39 Clues. The new series, The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers, launches in April 2011 with Vespers Rising by Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, and Jude Watson, and will wrap up in March 2013 with a seventh installment penned by bestselling thriller author David Baldacci. Vespers Rising has an announced first printing of 500,000 copies.

Sfar's 'Little Prince Graphic Novel' Offers New Take on a Classic

Next month Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish The Little Prince Graphic Novel, adapted from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic illustrated novella, with drawings by acclaimed French cartoonist Joann Sfar.

In Brief: September 16

In brief this week: Cornelia Funke's 'Reckless' Tour; Zombies in Austin; the Thalia Book Club Camp; 'Ghost Hunters' authors on the road; and writer Christina Gonzalez at the Decatur Book Festival.

New Line from American Girl

American Girl Publishing, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2011, is going in a new direction by launching a contemporary middle-grade book line, Innerstar University, that is somewhat reminiscent of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. The Innerstar University books will be written from a second-person point-of-view, with the reader assuming the role of protagonist and making selections from among multiple story lines.

Houghton to Publish 'Mysteries of Harris Burdick' Spinoff

One Pulitzer Prize, five Newbery Medals, three Newbery Honors, two Caldecott Medals, one Caldecott Honor, three National Book Awards, and five Coretta Scott King Awards. This is just a partial list of accolades that have been bestowed upon the contributors to a book due from Houghton Mifflin in fall 2011.

Kids' Books in Brooklyn: A PW Photo-Essay

This past weekend marked the fifth annual Brooklyn Book Festival. And although Sunday's weather was less than cooperative, it didn't stop booklovers — including the very young ones — from coming out to see their favorite authors. See our gallery of photos from the festival's many panels, signings, and readings.

Knopf to Publish Picture Book from President Obama

This November, Knopf Books for Young Readers will publish Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters, a picture book by President Barack Obama, and illustrated by Loren Long. The book has a national laydown date of November 16, and will arrive with a 500,000-copy first printing.

Komikwerks Adds New Actionopolis Series Via Kindle E-books

Komikwerks, an online comics site and digital comics provider, is expanding its line of Actionopolis adventure novels aimed at young people with a list of 16 new series delivered through the Kindle e-book platform and available for Kindle on iPad, iPhone, PC, Mac, Blackberry, or Android device.

Disney Announces Print Run, Plans for 'Percy Jackson' Spinoff

Rick Riordan's bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series may have ended last year, but the author's fans have hardly been without options in the meantime. A film based on the first Percy Jackson book, The Lightning Thief, was released back in February, and Riordan launched his Kane Chronicles series in May.

Galley Talk: 'Revolution' by Jennifer Donnelly

Kira Porton, a buyer at A Children's Place in Portland, Ore., recommends a new work of historical fiction for young adults.

Penguin Adds Poptropica Imprint

No man may be an island, as John Donne so eloquently wrote, but in the virtual world of Poptropica kids between the ages of six and 14 can visit lots of islands and hang out with literary friends. And with the launch of a Poptropica imprint from Penguin next fall, they'll also be able to read island-related books.

Movie Alert: 'It's Kind of a Funny Story'

Ned Vizzini's critically acclaimed 2006 novel, It's Kind of a Funny Story, hits the big screen next month. The Focus Features film is directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, who also co-wrote the screenplay, based on Vizzini's novel. Keir Gilchrist (The United States of Tara) stars in the movie as Craig, a Brooklyn teenager who checks himself into a psychiatric hospital, after having difficulty coping with the stresses of his first year at a competitive high school.

Candlewick Partners with Toon Books

On October 1, Candlewick Press will launch a Toon Books imprint, a partnership with the already existing Toon Books, a press founded by New Yorker art editor Françoise Mouly in spring 2008 with the mission of getting kids to read using comics.

Debra Frasier Takes Up Residence at the Minnesota State Fair

The Minnesota State Fair is nicknamed the Great Minnesota Get-Together for good reason: practically every Minnesotan seems to spend a day or two there during its 12-day run (August 26 to September 6 this year), doing such things as gorging themselves on food-on-a-stick, hanging out at the Mighty Midway, and watching a sculptor carve a 90-pound block of butter. Author Debra Frasier went a step beyond the typical Minnesotan fairgoer...

'Mockingjay' Sells More Than 450,000 Copies in First Week

Mockingjay, the final book in The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, sold more than 450,000 copies (hardcover and e-book) in its first week on sale in the U.S., its publisher, Scholastic, announced Thursday. The book debuted at number one on both the USA Today and New York Times bestseller lists. Scholastic has gone back to press for an additional 400,000 copies, bringing the total number of copies in print for Mockingjay in the U.S. to 1.6 million since its August 24 publication.

First Second Graphic Novel with Banned Book Theme Appears First on Web, Later in Stores

A book-loving boy from the small Oklahoma town of Americus grapples with the travails of high school and takes a stand when it looks as though his favorite fantasy series, starring a young sorceress who hunts monsters and tyrants, might be banned from the local library. That's the storyline of Americus, written by MK Reed and illustrated by Jonathan Hill, due from Roaring Brook's First Second Books in fall 2011. This graphic novel is making an earlier, serialized appearance on the Web, where new installments have been posted three times a week since early June.

Digging for Dino Bones: An Author's Summer Research

Earlier this summer, author Michele Torrey got down and dirty (literally) in preparation for her new book, The Case of the Terrible T. Rex, joining the paleontologists of the PaleoWorld Foundation in the Hell Creek Basin of the Montana Badlands for a week-long dinosaur dig.

In Brief: September 2

In brief this week: schools reading books by Suzanne Selfors and Suzanne Morgan Williams; a celebration of John Claude Bemis's new book; and a tour for Kelly Pulley's new picture book.

It's a Wonderful (Sales) Life: The Staying Power of 'The Book Thief'

The Book Thief, a novel by Australian author Markus Zusak set in Germany during WWII, was published by Knopf Books for Young Readers to much critical acclaim in March 2006. By early 2007 it had appeared on many Best Books lists and won a Printz Honor. But what has been truly unusual about The Book Thief is that its sales—to adults as well as young readers—have risen steadily since publication. The book is a regular fixture on bestseller lists more than four years later, and it has sold more than 1.5 million copies across print, audio, and e-book formats in North America.

It's a success story that not even Zusak imagined. "I honestly thought it would be my least successful book," he recently told the Palm Beach Post. "I thought, 'A book set in Nazi Germany, narrated by Death, and it's 580 pages long. Who wants to read that?' "