Fat Vampires, Sexy Werewolves and the Future of Teen Reading

The continuing prevalence of sexy vampires (and the rise of related comic sub-genres), the growth of teen-focused dystopian fiction, and the transformation of the children's publishing niche into a big advance—along with big financial pressure—publishing category, were just some of the topics covered by a panel of agents at Publishers Weekly's "Beyond Twilight: What's Hot in the Teen Market in Publishing and Hollywood." The well-attended event ranged freely across the YA and children's book and film market, touching on the growth of middle-grade fiction, paranormal genres, the use of public domain works (like Alice in Wonderland and Sherlock Holmes) and the obvious and not so obvious ways that Hollywood studios and book publishers have an impact on the category. But the panel quickly got to the overriding theme of the morning session—are book publishers only interested in signing the next Twilight-like megase

Bologna Gets Back to Business

After a 2009 fair when many Americans stayed home over economic worries, the 2010 Bologna Children's Book Fair proved a much more upbeat gathering. "There's a lot of activity, and everyone I'm talking to seems positive," said Andrew Smith, deputy publisher of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. HarperCollins children's rights director Helen Boomer said it was "great to see many of the publishers who skipped last year return this year." And Penguin Young Readers associate publisher Jennifer Haller reported, "People are chatting about what the year's going to hold. There are a lot of really good conversations."

Rick Riordan's Big Year

With two new trilogies launching this year, Percy Jackson author Rick Riordan stands likely to boost his already (ahem) Olympian output—and sales. Disney-Hyperion will release one million copies of The Red Pyramid, first in his Kane Chronicles series inspired by ancient Egyptian magic. An as-yet-unnamed Percy Jackson spin-off will follow, which will combine familiar characters with some new half-human, half-Greek-god kids.

Until now, Riordan has stuck to one book a year. "I've set myself a challenge of putting out two books a year so the readers don't have to wait longer than a year for either series," said Riordan. "That's a pretty big jump for me."

A Big March for Kids' Books at the Movies

Conventional wisdom has March coming in like a lion and going out like a lamb. But when it came to the box office, it was in like a White Rabbit (as in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland) and out like a dragon, with DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon. Opening March 5, Alice in Wonderland drew in more than $116 million in its first weekend, and has grossed more than $295 million in the U.S. so far. And movies derived from children's books made strong showings at the end of the month, too. Fox's Diary of a Wimpy Kid, based on the bestselling series by Jeff Kinney, was the number two film during its opening weekend of March 19-21.This past weekend, the computer-animated How to Train Your Dragon, based on the 2003 book of the same name by Cressida Cowell, claimed the top spot, taking in $43.7 million.

In Brief: April 1

This week, Kristin Cashore joins a swordfight in Bologna, a new Harry Potter campaign targets new readers, Sourcebooks launches its YA imprint, and Laura Numeroff helps spread the word about bedtime reading.

Jewish Group Boycotts Canadian Kids' Book

For the second time in four years, a Jewish group is calling for the removal of a title published by Canadian house Groundwood Books from recommended-reading lists at schools and libraries. Anne Laurel Carter's novel The Shepherd's Granddaughter tells the story of Amani, a Palestinian girl who wants to be a shepherd. Her flock and family are threatened by encroaching Jewish settlements. This last plot point does not sit well with Jewish advocacy group B'Nai Brith. The organization issued a statement calling the book "anti-Israeli propaganda" and "a one-sided work of fiction which demonizes the Jewish State."

New Stephenie Meyer Novella Arriving in June

Fans whose hopes were dashed when Stephenie Meyer sidelined Midnight Sun, her planned fifth book in the Twilight Saga, after it was leaked online, have reason to get excited. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will publish Meyer's The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, on Saturday, June 5. The book goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. with a 1.5 million-copy first printing (an e-book version will be available at 6:00 a.m.). One dollar for each copy sold from the first printing will be donated to the American Red Cross International Response Fund.

Prairie Lights Basks in Presidential Glow

The staff at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City is used to hosting celebrity authors, but they were taken by surprise last Thursday afternoon when President Obama made a stop at the store to pick up a few children's books. The president was in town to give a speech touting health care reform on the University of Iowa campus. During his speech, Obama gave a shout-out to Prairie Lights, celebrating them for being a local small business that has offered health care coverage to its full-time employees for 20 years.

After Obama's noontime speech, Prairie Lights co-owner Jan Weissmiller reports that "someone in a suit" came into the store and asked to speak to her. When she told the man she was on the phone with a Washington Post reporter and he would have to wait, he responded that she'd better hang up the phone because, "I'm from the White House and you're going to have a visitor." She told PW she knew instantly he was referring to the president.

Cormorant Books to Start Children's Imprint

Toronto-based Cormorant Books is launching a children's and YA imprint, Dancing Cat Books, which will focus on literary fiction, nonfiction and poetry for young adults and middle grades. It will also publish picture books. Cormorant is a respected small press with a good record of publishing first books by authors who go on to success and critical acclaim such as Scotiabank Giller Prize winners Elizabeth Hay and Joseph Boyden. The company has published some children's books before, and publisher Marc Côté said the success of two books by artist Charles Pachter and the support shown by children's booksellers first sparked the idea of a new imprint.

Fresh Start for Dear America

Launched in 1996, Scholastic's Dear America series introduced history through the diaries of fictional girls living in various eras. It was a format that resonated with middle-grade readers: the 35 titles published between that year and 2004 reached an in-print tally of 14 million copies. In September, the publisher will bring back this paper-over-board series with an updated design. The relaunch, which encompasses previously unpublished titles as well as reissues, will be supported by a $250,000 marketing campaign. "In-house, I'd say Dear America has been one of our favorite series," says Suzanne Murphy, v-p and group publisher, Scholastic trade. "And the authors who wrote the original Dear America Books were clamoring to see us relaunch the series...

Meet Carrie Bradshaw (Without the Sex or the City)

What was Carrie Bradshaw like before Sex and the City? That's the question Candace Bushnell answers in The Carrie Diaries, a young adult prequel to her 1997 book Sex and the City, which spawned the iconic HBO television series. In the new novel, out next month from HarperCollins's Balzer & Bray imprint with a 500,000-copy first printing, Carrie weathers her sometimes stormy senior year in a small-town Connecticut high school, coping with a turbulent family life, an unreliable boyfriend, friendships in flux, and uncertainty about her chances of launching a writing career. Bushnell explains that a comment made by her agent, Heather Schroder of ICM, sparked the idea for The Carrie Diaries...

One Year In, Seven Footer Is Standing Tall

Diversification, branding, and word of mouth are just a few ways Seven Footer Kids, the children's book imprint of New York City-based Seven Footer Press, is expanding its presence in the kids' market as it marks its one-year anniversary. Founded by David Gomberg and Justin Heimberg, Seven Footer takes its name from its founders' appreciation of the combination of "awkwardness and grace" of seven-foot (and taller) basketball stars like Hakeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing, and Manute Bol. During its first year, Seven Footer Kids' bestseller was Life-Size Zoo, a picture book by Teruyuki Komiya that features full-size, up-close photographs of animals from a hedgehog to a giraffe. The book sold 50,000 copies in Japan before Seven Footer brought it to the U.S.; since its publication last March, there are 136,000 copies in print (around 100,000 to book fairs, and the rest to the trade).

Licensing Hotline: March 2010

Dover has acquired its first major license, Sesame Street, for a line of Little Activity Books, stained glass coloring books, paper dolls and other formats, including some out-of-print titles from the 1970s and 1980s. "We've long wanted to be part of their exclusive formats," says Jennifer Perry, Sesame Workshop's assistant v-p and editorial director, worldwide publishing. Dover has sold four million units of its 1,000 nonlicensed Little Activity Books, mostly in specialty stores, and has a racking program for chains such as AC Moore, Michael's and Cracker Barrel.

Read on for news on American Girl's craft line, new licensees for Encyclopaedia Britannica, Goodnight Moon licensing, and what's up with The Jim Henson Company.

Fiction Hot, Digital Not at Upbeat Bologna

The mood at this year's Bologna Book Fair has been much improved over last year when publishers were dealing with the impact of the worldwide recession. Young adult titles and series are drawing the most attention, but there remains caution about what to do on the digital front. "There's a lot of activity and everyone's very upbeat. Last year this place was dead," said Stephen Roxburgh, now with his new company namelos. "But I walked in yesterday morning and you could feel the energy." Roxburgh, who says he's on a one-man hunt to find a "digital pulse" at the fair, reports that the fair's overwhelming focus continues to be "ink on paper," but says he's finding people more receptive to the digital idea.

David Almond, Jutta Bauer Win Hans Christian Andersen Awards

The 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Award, the most prestigious international award for children's books, has been given to British author David Almond and German illustrator Jutta Bauer. The award was announced Tuesday afternoon at the Bologna Book Fair.

Obituary: Sid Fleischman

Author Sid Fleischman died March 17 in his home in Santa Monica, Calif., at the age of 90. Fleischman won the Newbery Medal in 1987 for his novel The Whipping Boy, and wrote more than 50 books for children, as well as screenplays and adult fiction and nonfiction. His first children's book, Mr. Mysterious & Company, was published in 1962, and his most recent was The Dream Stealer (Greenwillow, 2009). Fleischman was a National Book Award finalist in 1979 for Humbug Mountain. He also received a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and was a finalist for the Hans Christian Andersen Award.

Waxman's CPSIA Amendment Could Address Publishers', Libraries' Concerns

Steps are being taken in Congress that could resolve many of publishers', resellers', and libraries' concerns regarding the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. On March 12, Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) released a draft amendment to the Act that addresses some of the complaints from a variety of industry groups.

All-New Shel Silverstein Poetry Collection Due in 2011

HarperCollins Children's Books has announced the fall 2011 release of a collection of never-before published Shel Silverstein poems and illustrations. Not yet titled, the book will share the same format as the late author's previous poetry collections, Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up. These and other children's books by Silverstein, who died in 1999, have sold more than 25 million hardcover copies in the U.S. alone and have been translated into more than 30 languages.

A 'Reckless' Reveal

Cornelia Funke's fantasy novel Reckless—first in a planned series—is set for a worldwide laydown September 14, but Bookshelf readers are the first to get a sneak peek of the cover images for the three simultaneously released editions due from Little, Brown (U.S), Chicken House (U.K.) and Dressler (Germany). This comes on the eve of next week's Bologna Children's Book Fair, where Funke will be hosting all of her international publishers at a celebratory Reckless Reception.

Little, Brown Attends
Monster High

Under license from Mattel, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will be publishing a new YA series, Monster High, written by Lisi Harrison, best known for the Clique and Alphas series. In the books, the sons and daughters of Frankenstein, The Mummy, and other famous movie monsters, disguised as humans, interact with the modern teenagers who are their fellow students. The concept was created in-house by Mattel, which sought out a publisher to help establish the brand and its storylines and characters.