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Anthology Reflects a Devotion to Poetry
After struggling with reading for years, Martin was so captivated by a college professor’s poetry recitations that he sought out poems and discovered a love of reading. He went on to earn a doctorate in education and write more than 300 children’s books. Due in November from Simon & Schuster is a tribute to Martin’s legacy, The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry, which he compiled with his longtime collaborator Michael Sampson.
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Scholastic to Publish New ‘Star Wars’ Series
Scholastic, a decade-long licensee of Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise, will debut a new 10-book series, Rebel Force, based on the characters and world portrayed in the original 1977 film, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
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Q & A with Ann Brashares
In 2001’s The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Ann Brashares introduced four best friends with whom young readers soon made fast friends: that first novel and its three sequels together have sold more than eight million copies. Brashares returns to these characters’ hometown in 3 Willows: The Sisterhood Grows. Delacorte will launch the novel with a 500,000-copy first printing and a six-city author tour.
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Children's Book Reviews
Picture Books How to Build an A Sara Midda . Workman/Artisan , $17.95 ISBN 978-1-57965-378-1 Offering a hands-on approach to learning the alphabet, this small-format book comes with 11 off-white foam shapes (as well as a mesh storage bag). In the book, miniature, stylized people (and the occasional dog) work together to construct each letter of the alphabet, using rectangular blocks and arcs...
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The Next Dead Thing
Ever since Stephenie Meyer's vampire romances became a smash success among teen readers, particularly girls, all things dead have been given a new life—at least in the minds of children's editors hoping to take advantage of the trend. But that's not to say that every project with a supernatural cast is being green-lighted.
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Q & A with Anita Silvey
Bookshelf spoke with Anita Silvey about her new book, I’ll Pass for Your Comrade (Clarion).
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‘Free to Be’ 35 Years Later
A generation of children grew up with Free to Be... You and Me by Marlo Thomas, first published in 1974 by McGraw-Hill. Now, with a 35th-anniversary edition just out from Running Press, which acquired rights in 1998, the book looks set to continue to spread its influence.
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Movie Alert: The Tale of Despereaux
Next month, the big screen is making way for a little mouse. The Tale of Despereaux, based on Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery-winning novel about the adventures of a brave, big-eared rodent, hits theatres December 19. Sam Fell (Flushed Away) and Robert Stevenhagen (his directorial debut) direct the CGI film from Universal Pictures, which was written by Gary Ross (Seabiscuit; Pleasantville).
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Hornik Named President and Publisher of Dial and Dutton
Lauri Hornik, president and publisher of Dial Books, has been appointed president and publisher of Dial Books and Dutton Children’s Books.
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'Three Cups of Tea' to Reach Younger Audience
In Three Cups of Tea, published by Viking in 2006, Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin reveal how Mortenson built 78 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Due next January is a young readers’ version of this story, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World... One Child at a Time . Dial will simultaneously issue a picture book told in the voice of Korphe’s children, Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and'Three Cups of Tea'.
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Children's Book Reviews
Picture Books Hush Little Polar Bear Jeff Mack . Roaring Brook , $16.95 (40p) ISBN 978-1-59643-368-7 In his first solo outing, Mack (illustrator of the Bunnicula series) sends an eager-looking polar bear on a series of dreamtime adventures: “Swim through a waterfall./ Splash in a stream./ Paddle past rainbows/ that glisten and gleam.
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read this b4 u publish :-)
I am of that population segment that is constantly derided as “not reading anymore,” and is therefore treated by publishing companies as a vast, mysterious demographic that's seemingly impossible to please. Kind of like the way teenage boys think of girls. The reason we read so little in our free time is partially because of the literary choices available to teenagers these days.
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There's a New Gang in Town: Austin's Delacorte Dames and Dudes
DDD—no, it’s not a heavy-duty new battery. It’s the acronym for an informal group of Austin, Tex., writers all published by Delacorte Press.
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Strega Nona Pops Up on Bookstore Shelves
Family, friends, eating together, patience, celebration and amore are the essential ingredients for a magical life, according to Tomie dePaola’s wise Strega Nona. She celebrates all six elements in Brava, Strega Nona!: A Heartwarming Pop-Up Book, featuring paper engineering by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart.
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New Notes for Peter Yarrow at Sterling
A member of the legendary 1960s trio Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Yarrow remains as passionate as ever about folk music, and is committed to sharing this genre with youngsters. Last year, Sterling Puff, the Magic Dragon, a picture book of the classic song, which has sold close to 750,000 copies. This month, Yarrow follows up that hit with the first two books in the Peter Yarrow Songbook series, also from Sterling.
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Q & A with Marcia Williams
Bookshelf spoke with Marcia Williams about her new book, My Secret War Diary by Flossie Albright: My History of the Second World War, 1939—1945 (Candlewick).
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Goodnight Goon, Hello Hit
As bedtime books go, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd (HarperCollins, 1947), remains one of the gold standards. But author/illustrator Michael Rex thought the classic tale could use a healthy dose of spookiness, so he set to creating Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody (Putnam).
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Two Publishing Homes for Yarrow
Peter Yarrow’s Puff, the Magic Dragon has been a breakout bestseller for Sterling Publishing, and the book world is about to see a lot more of the musician/author. In addition to launching the Peter Yarrow Songbook series with Sterling this month, Yarrow has several other titles signed up with the company, as well as an eponymous imprint, Peter Yarrow Books, at Imagine Publishing, recently founded by Charles Nurnberg, former publisher and CEO at Sterling.
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On the Scene with Darren Shan
It’s the right time of year for books about demons, vampires and other creatures of the night, making the recent U.S. tour for Cirque du Freak and Demonata series author Darren Shan particularly well-timed.
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Hope for the Holidays: A Bookseller Survey
Despite the difficult economic climate, children’s booksellers nationwide expressed cautious confidence in the upcoming holiday sales season in our pre-holiday survey, though they were less certain about the prospects for early 2009. And several felt that children’s books, as a category, might fare better than adult.
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