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YA Panel with Black, Clare and Link to Benefit Hospital
A trio of YA authors will celebrate the publication of Holly Black's The Poison Eaters: and Other Stories, the first original fiction collection from Big Mouth House, the children's publishing arm of Small Beer Press. A portion of the $5 ticket price as well as of book sales will be donated to the the Franciscan Hospital for Children in Brighton, Mass., where the 11-month-old daughter of press founders Link and Gavin Grant is being cared for on the pulmonary ward....
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Immedium Expands Its Offerings Online
When Oliver Chin—an author who previously worked for several book publishers—decided to start his own small press in 2005, he mashed up the words “medium” and “immediate” and launched Immedium in San Francisco. “Our goal is to publish books that get positive first impressions and great reactions from readers,” Chin said.
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Bray Lands Major Deal at Little, Brown
Libba Bray, hot off her Printz win for Going Bovine, has landed a major book deal at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Bray's agent-husband, Barry Goldblatt, sold North American rights, in an auction featuring six houses, to a new YA series called The Diviners to LBBYR senior v-p and publisher Megan Tingley, deputy publisher Andrew Smith, and senior editor Alvina Ling.
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ABC-ABA Potential Merger Update
At the Association of Booksellers for Children's board meetings held earlier this week, the organization took one more step closer to a possible merger with the American Booksellers Association, which was first raised close to a year ago. Although ABC president Elizabeth Bluemle, co-owner of the Flying Pig Book Store in Shelburne, Vt., cautioned that "the task forces still have a significant amount of work to do before bringing any final proposal to the membership,"...
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Q & A with Carrie Jones
Carrie Jones has been spending lots of time with pixies, shape shifters and other fantasy creatures-and it doesn't look like she'll be stopping anytime soon. Her books Need and Captivate, about a smart girl being stalked by a pixie, have struck a chord with readers; both books landed on the New York Times bestseller lists. Now the series could be as many of five books. Jones spoke with Children's Bookshelf about how she became enchanted by pixies, what comes next in the series, and why teen readers need fantasy books right now.
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Licensing Hotline: February 2010
These days, publishers often are leery of creating licensed publishing programs based on original, non-franchise-based films. But the risk paid off for HarperCollins Children's Books when it tied in with Avatar, which has become the top box-office earner of all time. Read on for information about the Percy Jackson movie, a Between the Lions program from Gryphon House, a new Sherlock Holmes merchandising effort, and more...
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Galley Talk: 'The Sky Is Everywhere'
After hesitating to read it, Angela K. Sherrill, children's book buyer at Chicago's 57th Street Books, is won over by a spring YA novel.
Many booksellers have probably already read The Sky Is Everywhere. Those who haven't should definitely get started. My Penguin rep enthusiastically recommended this teen debut by literary agent Nelson, both in person and with a Must Read! sticker on its cover. But seeing the billowing heart on the jacket... -
In Brief: February 4
This week, Al Roker picks another book for his club, The 39 Clues adds book seven to its list, and author Erin Dionne, and her editor, Alisha Niehaus, celebrate the arrival of Dionne's new middle-grade novel.
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‘Flanimals Pop-Up’ Shipment Missing—No Joke
Ricky Gervais is involved, but for once it’s no laughing matter: a shipment of more than 12,000 copies of Flanimals Pop-Up by actor/comedian Gervais went missing last week en route to Candlewick’s warehouse in Indiana. Police are investigating the incident as grand theft (the books are valued at more than $240,000).
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Penguin Looks for 'Break-out' Success with 'Incarceron'
Incarceron, a young-adult dystopian fantasy by Catherine Fisher, is set in a dark world —a vast, living prison that contains metal forests, dilapidated cities, and boundless seas. Yet the outlook for the novel, released this week by Dial, is bright: the book has received five starred pre-publication reviews (including one from PW), has returned to press before pub date, and has provoked considerable enthusiastic chatter online and in bookstores...
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Q & A with Frank Cottrell Boyce
Q: What inspired you to write this insanely funny and wonderful book?
A: Two things, really. People of my age, we all wanted to go to space. Fly to the moon? That was the dream. So I started with that. And then, my family went away for a year, and when we came back one of my son's friends had had a growth spurt. He was barely recognizable. His mother said something that I actually put in the book. She said, "That's not a growth spurt. That's a mutation." -
In Brief: January 28
This week, a library mouse camps out in a New York bookstore, Taro Gomi brainstorms projects at Chronicle Books, and Vampire Academy author Richelle Mead draws fans in an online webchat.
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Keystone and Garden States Join Black Dog & Leventhal Series
Inquisitive, chatty kids lead readers on tours of individual states in State Shapes, a series of die-cut, paper-over-board books published by Black Dog & Leventhal. The volumes introduce historical, geographic, and pop-cultural facts and feature eye-catching formats designed to mimic the outline of each state. This month, the series touches down in two new locales with the release of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, bringing the total number of State Shapes titles to 13...
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Arte Público Takes Aim at Childhood Obesity
It's not just First Lady Michelle Obama who is making the eradication of childhood obesity a priority. Arte Público Press is marking its 30th anniversary and the 15th anniversary of its children's imprint, Piñata Books, with the launch of Latino Children's Wellness, a program dedicated to combating childhood obesity and the health problems associated with it, including diabetes...
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Galley Talk: 'Mercury'
Leslie Hawkins, owner of Spellbound Children's Bookshop in Asheville, N.C., talks about a spring graphic novel.
Set in a fictional small town in Nova Scotia, Hope Larson’s new graphic novel Mercury features lots of local color and an engaging story that weaves together history, romance, and teen angst. Tara is starting high school, made even more challenging by the recent loss of her home and belongings in a fire... and by the odd experience of being the new kid... -
Bloomsbury to Rejacket ‘Magic Under Glass’
Earlier this week, criticism grew online over the cover of Jaclyn Dolamore's Magic Under Glass, a January fantasy novel from Bloomsbury Children's Books—the second time in recent months one of the publisher's covers has come under fire. Today, Bloomsbury apologized for the cover and released a statement saying that it would stop supplying copies of Magic Under Glass, Dolamore's debut novel, and that books with a new jacket would be made "available shortly."
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When the ALA Calls: Stead and Pinkney on Winning the Big Prize
When you win a Newbery or a Caldecott Medal, you find out in a phone call — usually very early in the morning—and then your life is instantly changed. Both Rebecca Stead and Jerry Pinkney got recently that phone call; we spoke with both of them to find out where they were when the phone rang, what their reactions were, and what came next.
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Kaiser Media Report Finds Kids' Book Reading Steady
A report on media usage released Wednesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found some relatively good news for book publishers, amid findings that generally determined that eight- to 18-year-olds are consuming more digital media than ever. According to the report, called Generation M, total media usage by that age group rose to seven hours and 38 minutes per day in 2009, up from six hours and 21 minutes in the 2004 study...
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Movie Alert: The Lightning Thief
Next month, another wildly popular fantasy series makes the jump from print to the big screen. Following in the footsteps of Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Inheritance Cycle comes The Lightning Thief. Based on the first book in Rick Riordan's bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, the film arrives in movie theaters on February 12, with an all-star cast that includes Pierce Brosman, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, and Uma Thurman, with Logan Lerman starring as Percy...
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Katz's Kids: A Career Built on Babies
Cherubic, bright-eyed babies are Karen Katz’s stock in trade — and in mass market as well. Though hers may not be a household name to all, seven million copies of Katz's 40-plus board books and picture books have been sold through both the trade and mass market since her first title, Over the Moon: An Adoption Tale, was published by Henry Holt in 1997. Due this month from Little Simon is a 10th-anniversary oversize edition of Katz’s bestselling book...
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