-
Los Angeles Conference Focuses on Children’s Holocaust Literature
“The truth of the Holocaust shatters the idea that the world is a trustworthy place and that we’re here to protect children. When it comes to literature, we must first tell the truth to the age of the child,” said Sinai Temple librarian Lisa Silverman in her opening remarks on Sunday, February 1, at the Jewish Literature for Children Western Conference in Los Angeles.
-
Children's Book Reviews: Week of 2/2/2009
Picture Books Mama Says: A Book of Love for Mothers and Sons Rob D. Walker , illus. by Leo and Diane Dillon. Scholastic/Blue Sky , $16.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-439-93208-4 A sure-fire hit for Mother's Day, this elegantly designed book pairs a series of poems with stunning illustrations to celebrate the bond between mothers and sons.
-
Licensing Hotline: January 2009
News of new licensees for The 39 Clues, Random House’s latest Pixar tie-ins, the first-ever VeggieTales Bible, the latest on Lucy Cousins licensing, a new brand from author Todd Parr, and merchandise and broadcast plans for Gaspard and Lisa.
-
Newbery, Caldecott Announced in Denver
Neil Gaiman has won the 2009 Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins). Beth Krommes has won the 2009 Randolph Caldecott Medal for The House in the Night (Houghton Mifflin), written by Susan Marie Swanson.
-
Children's Book Reviews: Week of 1/26/2009
Picture Books Good Night, Baby Ruby Rohan Henry . Abrams , $14.95 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8109-8323-6 Her parents say it’s bedtime, but preverbal Ruby is proving elusive. With her pet cat at her heels, she runs away to play with the newspaper, hide in the closet and make mischief with the flowerpots.
-
'Hunger Games 2': A First Look
When readers of the bestselling fantasy novel The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins turn the last page, many of them are left to wonder, “But what happens next??” Unfortunately, we can’t tell you yet, but we can show you, for the very first time anywhere, the cover for the sequel, Catching Fire. Scholastic is publishing the book on September 8 with a 250,000-copy first printing.
-
Children's Book Reviews: Week of 1/19/2009
Picture Books Same Same Marthe Jocelyn , illus. by Tom Slaughter. Tundra , $15.95 (24p) ISBN 978-0-88776-885-9 Jocelyn and Slaughter (previously paired for Eats) strikingly introduce the concept of classification. Slaughter's graphic cut-paper compositions command attention with their paint-box—bright colors.
-
Children’s Bookseller Opens Store of Her Own
After working in children’s books at several Vermont independents, Natacha Liuzzi has opened Brown Dog Books & Gifts in Hinesburg, Vt.
-
Scholastic Rolls Out Carman’s Multimedia Venture
Skeleton Creek -- conceived, written and produced by Patrick Carman, author of the Land of Elyon, Atherton and Elliot’s Park series -- is a new ghost mystery from Scholastic that plays out on the page and in online video footage.
-
Movie Alert: ‘Coraline’
Neil Gaiman’s acclaimed 2002 novel, Coraline, about a girl who ventures through a door into a strange, parallel world, hits theaters February 6.
-
Children's Book Reviews: Week of 1/12/2009
Picture Books My Brother Bert Ted Hughes , illus. by Tracey Campbell Pearson. Farrar, Straus & Giroux , $16.95 (40p) ISBN 978-0-374-39982-5 Pearson provides a suitably sunny setting for this light verse by the late acclaimed British poet, about a boy, Bert, who can't say no to any exotic pet. Among those hidden in his bedroom are a gorilla, a lion, pangolins (a kind of anteater) and R...
-
Safety Act Catches Publishers Off Guard
The children's book industry is currently dealing with a new and pressing challenge that is threatening publishers, bookstores, libraries and schools. It's not the economy or school spending or reading rates—it is a recent act of Congress, which has blindsided the industry with the implementation of stiff safety standards on all children's products, and whose application to books is vague.
-
Industry Scrambling to Comply with Child Safety Act
A new government regulation that requires testing of all products aimed at children 12 and under is causing headaches for publishers, booksellers and manufacturers. Books, audiobooks and sidelines fall under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which is set to go into effect Feb. 10; industry organizations are attempting to get books excluded from the Act, even as they work to understand just what the rules could mean for all parties involved.
-
Holiday Rebound: Children’s Sales Pick Up in December
Children’s books proved to be one of the most recession-resistant segments of the book business this holiday season, with the Twilight series and the latest from J.K. Rowling leading the pack.
-
Stone Arch, DC Comics Ink Kids’ Book Pact
Stone Arch Books has reached an agreement with DC Comics to produce a series of illustrated chapter books based on DC Comics heroes.
-
Comics in the Classroom
Long ghettoized—even demonized—in North America as puerile and pulpy, both “comic books” (traditional comics periodicals) and book-format graphic novels are now being used in both k—12 and higher education classrooms as everything from early developmental reading tools to serious literary texts.
-
Movie Alert: Inkheart
On the heels of Harry Potter, Eragon and The City of Ember, another popular children’s fantasy series is ready to jump to the big screen. On January 23, New Line Cinema will release Inkheart, based on the 2003 novel of the same name by Cornelia Funke.
-
Children's Book Reviews
Picture Books Blueberry Girl Neil Gaiman , illus. by Charles Vess. HarperCollins , $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06-083808-9 In a magical blessing for unconventional girls, Gaiman (The Graveyard Book) addresses the “ladies of light and ladies of darkness and ladies of never-you-mind,” asking them to shelter and guide an infant girl as she grows.
-
Discovered! More Self-Publishers Hit the Big Time
When it comes to self-publishing success stories, children's books have had their share. Christopher Paolini's Eragon was originally self-published by the then-teenage author's family; the book and its sequels are now huge bestsellers for Knopf. And Michael Stadther's self-published novel/treasure hunt, A Treasure's Trove, which offered $1 million in prizes to those who solved its riddles, rode...
-
Licensing Hotline: December 2008
Penguin’s Grosset & Dunlap imprint in the U.S. and Puffin in the U.K. will release books tied to Tinga Tinga Tales, a TV series animated by Tanzanian artists and based on traditional Tanzanian art, in spring 2010.
Browse archive by date:
