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Debut Author Draws from Her Own Childhood
Penelope, a big-hearted doll character, mends a tear in her grandfather’s khakis in Poppy’s Pants, out this month from Blue Apple Books. Penelope's story recalls that of her creator, first-time author/illustrator Melissa Conroy, who began sewing at an early age and displayed her prowess with a needle by repairing torn pants belonging to her father, novelist Pat Conroy. Melissa went on to develop the WoOberry line of dolls. Conroy's path to becoming a children's author began...
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In Brief: September 24
This week, the Barber brothers appear on 'The Today Show," the Kennedy Center celebrates multicultural kids' books, and two book festivals feature children's authors as guests.
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Obituaries: Milton Meltzer and Bernie Fuchs
Historian Milton Meltzer, author of more than 110 books for young people, and a five-time finalist for the National Book Award, died on September 19 after a battle with cancer. Illustrator Bernie Fuchs, who worked for many years as an editorial illustrator before turning his talents to children's books, died of cancer on September 17...
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Books Go 3-D Starting with Ology Series in U.K.
Up until this spring, augmented reality - a software program developed in France by Total Immersion to create a hologram-like 3-D experience - has mostly been used in print for marketing brochures for cars. Then in March Topps added augmented reality to enhance its baseball cards. So it was only a matter of time before the program, which ties a brand with a Web site, migrated to books...
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Q & A with Richard Peck
Q: When you wrote the short story 'Shotgun Cheatham’s Last Night Above Ground' years ago, did you have any inkling that it would grow into three entire novels?
A: No, I didn’t. I was asked by Harry Mazer to contribute something to a collection of stories about guns and I thought, "He’s going to get too many guy stories, so I’m going to think up a female character." That’s how Grandma Dowdel was born. -
Galley Talk: ‘The Maze Runner'
Shannon O’Connor of the Doylestown Bookshop in Doylestown, Pa., talks about a favorite fall galley.
In James Dashner’s The Maze Runner (Delacorte, Oct.), Thomas wakes up in a strange place, surrounded by strange boys—and the only thing he can remember is his name. Where has he been taken? To the center of a giant maze that is guarded by Grievers, creatures born of your darkest nightmares. -
Bologna Reinstates Fourth Day
The Bologna Children's Book Fair has yielded to protests and reinstated the fourth day of the event. The 2010 fair will now take place from Tuesday to Friday, March 23-26. A group of U.K. publishers petitioned Bologna after they had learned that the 2010 fair had been scheduled to take place over three days rather than the usual four. Gloria Bailey, manager of international book fairs at the Publishers Association, met Bologna Fair director Roberta Chinni...
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Children's Book Reviews: 9/21/2009
This week's children's book reviews include new picture books from Ursula K. Le Guin, Jeff Smith and NBA-er Chris Paul; fiction from Jutta Richter, Laini Taylor, Gordan Korman and Joanne Dahme; and a collection of Thanksgiving books (none of them turkeys).
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QR Codes Tie Print, Online Marketing
As publishers continue to hunt for ways to use new technology to draw the attention of teens to books, HarperCollins has been extremely pleased with the response it has received to the use of QR (quick response) codes, which it used for recent releases L.A. Candy and The Amanda Project. To access the codes, teens (or anyone else) take a picture of the code with a smartphone, which then links the user...
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Children’s Publishing in the Digital Age
In a forum this past Tuesday on “The Current State of E: Publishing in the Digital Age,” a group of panelists discussed some of the thorniest issues that the industry is currently facing: where digital publishing stands and where it is headed. Speakers included Len Feldman of Follett Digital Resources, Andrew Weinstein of Ingram Digital, Erica Lazarro of OverDrive and Josh Koppel of ScrollMotion; digital publishing reporter Craig Morgan Teicher served as moderator.
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Kids' and YA Authors at the Brooklyn Book Festival
More than 200 authors and illustrators participated in the Brooklyn Book Festival this past Sunday, many of whom were creators of books for children. The one-day festival drew 30,000 attendees, according to the Village Voice; more than 150 booksellers, publishers and other organizations were on hand as well. See our photos from the event.
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Harry Potter Heads to Orlando
From tasting Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans to visiting Ollivander’s wand shop, Potterphiles will soon be able to live out fantasies of life in Hogwarts. Universal World Resort has revealed some advance details about The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a Potter-themed addition to Universal’s Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Fla. Scheduled to open in spring 2010, the 20-acre attraction will feature shops, food and entertainment drawn from J.K. Rowling’s books as well as...
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Happy Birthday, Tomie!
Tomie dePaola celebrated his 75th birthday this past Tuesday, and Penguin Young Readers Group threw a birthday party in honor of the beloved author and illustrator last week at New York City’s Valbella Restaurant. Numerous friends, writers and publishing folk turned out to wish dePaola well; see our photo-essay from the party, after the jump.
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Amulet Series Delivers Good News to Nerds
Five geeky fifth-graders-turned-spies transform issues they’re coping with—among them asthma, hyperactivity and allergies—into superpowers, in a new middle-grade adventure series by Michael Buckley, author of the Sisters Grimm series. Out this month from Amulet with a 100,000-copy first printing is the inaugural book, NERDS: National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society, Book One. In this novel, the popular captain of a peewee football team gets kicked off the squad...
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A Pooh Party: Eeyore, Piglet and Pooh Return
“Promise me you’ll never forget me because if I thought you would I’d never leave.” --Christopher Robin
But will those who have never forgotten A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh and The House on Pooh Corner be pleased with the first authorized sequel in 80 years? Dutton will find out on October 5, when it releases 300,000 copies of Return to the Hundred Acre Wood. -
Q & A with Julia Donaldson
Q: In 'Stick Man,' you introduce a humble stick that is taken far from home and almost becomes kindling. How did you invent this unusual hero? A: It was two things coming together. In my book 'The Gruffalo’s Child,' the child drags a stick doll everywhere, and that must have sparked it. And I fully remember my own children, 20-odd years ago, loving sticks. When we would go out for a walk, they would find a stick, and it wouldn’t always become a weapon. A stick could be anything to anyone.
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Getty Brings Politi Classics Back to Life
Four works of Leo Politi, who wrote and illustrated dozens of children’s books primarily set in the Latino communities of Southern California, are being made available again in October from Getty Publications. John Harris, Getty’s children’s book editor, was approached by Politi’s heirs at last year’s Bologna Book Fair about republishing the books, long out of print. Although the four titles represent a slight departure for the Getty...
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Ripple’s First Content Partner Is Charlesbridge
Last month PW reported the upcoming debut of Ripple, a Web-based platform that will allow loved ones to record personalized audio versions of children’s books and send them to the children in their lives. The site is set to debut this fall, but the company was still working on contracts with content partners, recordings of whose books would be sold through the site. Ripple has just announced that Charlesbridge is its first content partner....
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Hot Topic: Love at Stake
Teenagers and adults across the country have never had a more diverse array of romantic partners available. Zombies, werewolves, angels, ghosts—they're all fair game these days on bookstore shelves. Given the popularity of novels from Anne Rice, Stephenie Meyer, and P.C. and Kristin Cast, among others, as well as a steady stream of guidebooks, it's safe to say that vampires have held read...
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Children's Book Reviews: 9/14/2009
In this week's reviews: new picture books from David Lucas and Molly Bang; novels from Pete Hautman and Gena Showalter; a round-up of picture book sequels; plus starred reviews for a pair of debuts: Il Sung Na's A Book of Sleep and Jennifer Brown's Hate List.
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