'Battle of the Kids' Books'Is Back
Getready, get set. Next Monday marks the return of School Library Journal's Battle of the Kids' Books, in which 16children's books will duke it out, March Madness-style, for the honor of topbook of 2009. This year's judges include Anita Silvey, Christopher Paul Curtis,and M.T. Anderson, with Katherine Paterson choosing the overall winner. SLJ has a brand-new Web sitefor the contest this year. Through Sunday, site visitors can vote in the UndeadPoll, which will allow one eliminated titles to be resurrected in the finalshowdown. This year's contenders include Charlesand Emma, Fire, Marching for Freedom, The Storm in the Barn, and When You Reach Me.
CheeriosNew Author Contest Returns
Alsomarking an anniversary is the Cheerios New Author Contest. 1 Zany Zoo by Lori Degman, who won the second annual contest, will appearin a bilingual paperback edition in 2.2 million boxes of Cheerios in late March/earlyApril. The book, which features illustrations by Colin Jack, will be published inhardcover from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in July. S&Sand Cheerios also announced the winner of the third contest: Laurie Isop, of Renton, Wash., for her story How Do You Hug a Porcupine? And thefourth contest kicks off next Monday, with details available at the New AuthorContest Web site.
Tunnelingto America
In late February, Britishauthors Roderick Gordon and BrianWilliams traveled to the U.S. to promote theirlatest collaboration, Freefall (Scholastic/ChickenHouse, Feb.). Freefall is third in aseries of books that began with Tunnels andDeeper, which have hit bestsellerlists both in the U.S. and abroad (thebooks are available in 40 countries). Seen here in Chicago, the authors also visited Milwaukee and Minneapolis(click here for anextensive photo gallery from the tour). In other Tunnels news, film rights for the book have been acquired by RelativityMedia, with Vincenzo Natali (Splice) slated to direct.
SharonFlake Hits Harlem
AuthorSharon G. Flake recently visited the Harlem Children's Zone in New York City topromote her latest book, You Don't EvenKnow Me: Stories and Poems About Boys (Disney-Jump at the Sun, Feb.), acompanion to her 2005 Coretta Scott King Honor Book Who Am I Without Him? The new book is a collection of nine poemsand 13 stories about African-American teens, from a 17-year-old who's marryinghis pregnant girlfriend, to a teen's tour of his North Philadelphia neighborhood on asweltering Fourth of July. During her visit, Flake read from You Don't Even Know Me and, seen here,met with students.
Onthe Road with Tracy Trivas
LastSaturday, author Tracy Trivas had an event at Barnes & Noble at The Grove inLos Angelesfor her first middle-grade novel, TheWish Stealers (S&S/Aladdin, Jan.). In the novel, a wish-obsessed sixthgrader named Griffinmust deal with 11 cursed pennies she has been given, which prevent her fromhaving any good wishes come true. Trivas, who also wrote the memoir A Princess Found (St. Martin's, 2009),will visit Barnes & Noble in Naples, Fla., on April 6.
