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The Last Hurrah for Percy Jackson
Fans have only five days left to wait for the May 5 release of The Last Olympian, the fifth and final book in Rick Riordan’s mythological fantasy series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians. Here’s a roundup of the plans for The Last Olympian.
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Muggles at the Museum
A few weeks ago I opened an invitation to the preview reception for the world premiere of Harry Potter: The Exhibition.” I instantly followed the instructions to RSVP “by owl or online.” Fortunately, the party was at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, where I live.
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Jane Smiley and S.E. Hinton Keep It Real (and Funny) at L.A. Times Festival
“My name is Susie, but you can also call me Your Majesty,” quipped S.E. Hinton at the beginning of the discussion about her work with Jane Smiley at the L.A. Times Festival of Books on April 26.
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Multi-Platform 'Mackenzie Blue' Arrives
When HarperCollins publishes the first Mackenzie Blue novel on May 5, author and Buzz Marketing Group founder Tina Wells hopes the book will be only one of many ways that tween girls will engage with the title character—a 12-year-old student and aspiring pop star.
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More Merchandise for a Curious Monkey
Universal Studios Consumer Products will launch a licensing program focusing on infant merchandise, ranging from layette and nursery décor to early development toys and daily-care essentials, based on Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s new Curious Baby Curious George brand extension.
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Free Speech Groups Criticize Dismissal of Wisconsin Library Board Members
Four members of a library board in West Bend, Wis., were dismissed last week for refusing to remove controversial books from the library’s young adult section—and yesterday, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the National Coalition Against Censorship, the Association of American Publishers and PEN American Center criticized the firings.
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Children's Galleys to Grab
Even in lean times, there's no shortage of galley giveaways at BEA. Here are some to look out for. Brave New Worlds Alphas by Lisi Harrison (Little, Brown/Poppy) is a Clique spinoff set at an elite island boarding school, starring Clique's Skye Hamilton. The Amanda Project: Book 1: invisible i by Stella Lennon (HarperTeen).
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Children's Book Reviews: Week of 4/27/2009
This week's reviews include new picture books from Ed Young and Vladimir Radunsky, summer-ready fiction from Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han, and a pair of translated novels from popular Japanese series.
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Scholastic Web Game Show to Test Kids’ Knowledge
On April 30, Scholastic will host a live game show, to be webcast on the publisher’s Web site, in which four teams of New York City fifth-graders will test their book knowledge in a trivia competition. The competition, to be held at the Scholastic Auditorium in the company’s NYC headquarters, will be hosted by the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jon Scieszka.
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Licensing Hotline: April 2009
The success of Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight books, movies and DVDs has carried over into licensed merchandise as well. A case in point: Borders, which has featured front-of-store displays of non-book merchandise, much of it exclusive, along with complementary books and media, since November.
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Three Cheers for 30 Years at Hicklebee’s
This past Saturday afternoon I was lucky enough to attend the 30th anniversary celebration at Hicklebee’s Children's Bookstore in San Jose, Calif. Guest after guest told of their amazing connection to this valuable resource for children’s books. And it was evident from the huge turnout that families and children have cherished this special store, as well as the knowledgeable staff, for over three decades.
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Swashbucklers with Bite
British author Justin Somper is a man of many hats: he worked as a children’s book publicist and owned his own publicity consultancy group, before creating the hybrid-genre series, Vampirates. According to Somper’s U.S. editor, Nancy Conescu at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, the first four books in Somper’s series, popular in the U.K. have now been translated into more than 20 languages—and are reaching a growing American readership.
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Secret Mountain Offers Music to Kids’ Ears
The Secret Mountain, a publisher with offices in Montreal and Paris, is striking a chord with consumers with its line of storybook-music CD sets. In 2005, the publisher entered the U.S. market when it acquired NBN as its distributor of book-and-music packages in this country.
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MacAdam/Cage Introduces Its Inaugural Children’s Series
Playwright and novelist Mark Dunn’s debut book for young readers marks a new chapter for MacAdam/Cage Publishing as well. The Age of Altertron launches The Calamitous Adventures of Rodney & Wayne, Cosmic Repairboys, the first children’s book series to be published by this San Francisco house.
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Q & A with Mark Teague
Mark Teague is the illustrator of the bestselling How Do Dinosaurs… series by Jane Yolen, as well as the author/illustrator of the Dear Mrs. LaRue picture books. In 2009, Teague tackles farm life in a new picture book, another Dinosaur book, and a new (for him) format.
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Children's Book Reviews: Week of 4/20/2009
Among this week's reviews: Rotten Ralph's latest rotten adventure, a pair of edgy YA novels sure to grab boys' attention, and a round-up of interactive titles for the younger set.
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Dallanegra-Sanger Heading to Macmillan Children’s
Joy Dallanegra-Sanger will join Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group in the newly created role of senior v-p, director of marketing. Dallanegra-Sanger will start at Macmillan on May 4, reporting to Macmillan Children’s president Dan Farley.
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Children’s Book Week Goes Digital
The Children’s Book Council turns to the Web to promote this year’s Children’s Book Week, which will take place May 11—17. Here are a few highlights of its virtual campaign, as well as information on some of the planned Children’s Book Week events.
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Mario Lopez to Write a Picture Book
Actor Mario Lopez, host of EXTRA and America’s Best Dance Crew, has become the latest celebrity to pen a children’s book. Along with his sister Marissa Lopez-Wong, he has signed with Celebra Children’s Books, a Penguin imprint, for a picture book called Mud Tacos!, which will be published on October 15. Maryn Roos, who did the artwork for Whoopi Goldberg’s Sugar Plum Ballerinas, will illustrate.
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Flux Holds Steady Through Changes
Llewellyn Worldwide’s YA imprint, Flux, which has published teen fiction for the past three years, is moving in a new direction this fall with the release of its first graphic novel: Black Is for Beginnings (Sept.). The book is a continuation of Laurie Faria Stolarz’s Blue Is for Nightmares series of four novels, the first of which launched the Flux line in 2006.
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