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Children's Religion Books for Fall
Our listings of upcoming religious titles for fall 2011.
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Books for Jewish Children Nurture Joy in the Faith
There is an old Jewish joke, but only the punch line applies to publishing books for Jewish children: ask two rabbis a question and you get three opinions. That is true of the five Jewish publishers who do trade books for children, who spoke with PW about the current state of the changing market.
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From Bible Stories to Buddha Mind
If the Bible is the dairy section of religion publishing, then Bible stories for children are milk cartons sized for kid consumption. Children’s religion publishing sells a lot of those cartons, but it also offers a wide variety of books on topics beyond the Bible, such as good manners, mindfulness, and dystopia. Publishers agree that the children’s market is a challenging one. It’s sensitive to price points, has different gatekeepers than the adult market, requires its own kind of marketing, and is broad enough to accommodate lots of niches and needs.
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Short Takes
David C. Cook reshuffles top staffers, celebrates Francis Chan’s bestselling success; Revell author wins coveted RITA Award; Tommy Nelson relaunches Hermie & Friends™ line; Deepak Chopra introduces real-time video workshops; NavPress author honored by the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association.
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Editor’s Note
While Christian booksellers and their association, CBA, continue to struggle in the face of tough general-market competition and trade show troubles, there were some encouraging signs at the recent International Christian Retail Show. Attendance was up, as was international participation, and while stores continue to go out of business CBA also gained some new members in the past year. Despite the challenges, hopeful prospective retailers still follow their hearts into the business, and, like all booksellers, clearly for love and not (just) money. Bookstores don’t sell products—they sell ideas and they serve communities, and I’m thankful there are still brave people who enter the fray.
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Religion in Review
Harold Bloom’s admiration of the King James Bible; John Townsend moves Beyond Boundaries; Rohr leads readers through the 12 Steps; A Marriage Carol illuminates the power of small choices ; Girzone is back with a tale of being poor in America; Thich Nhat Hanh retells a Buddhist classic; soulful stories from Mark Nepo; a young evangelical re-examines faith and politics; why religion can and should be funny; Parker Palmer on healing our politics; four reviews of books for Jewish and Christian kids; plus Web exclusive reviews.
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Dalai Lama in Chicago: All Religions Can Bring Inner Peace
The Dalai Lama doesn’t exactly do book tours, but a two-day visit to Chicago this week (July 17-18) saw him highlighting many of the ideas in his last book, Toward a True Kinship of Faiths: How the World’s Religions Can Come Together (Harmony, 2010). At two separate public events that drew almost 10,000 people, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate presented ideas on building bridges between faiths. The Dalai Lama reiterated key themes of his life’s work: all people want to be happy, which gives humanity a unified goal; religions differ, but they all have the same potential to bring inner peace; and investigation, whether it be scientific work or the inner investigation of meditation, is the way to know reality. “Nobody gets up in the morning and says, ‘Today I should have more problems,’ ” His Holiness said. “Many problems are actually mental creations. You can have peace of mind.”
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Joshua Author Girzone Returns with New Tale
When he was growing up, Joseph Girzone’s mother used to tell him, “ ‘Joseph, stop telling stories.’” At the age of 81, the retired priest and creator of the popular Joshua series of novels still hasn’t stopped. The Homeless Bishop (Orbis, Sept.; reviewed in this issue), his first novel since 2008’s Joshua’s Family, features Carlo Brunini, an Italian bishop who experiences a crisis of faith and decides to live as a homeless man, a decision that brings him to the United States. The bishop goes on to amazing adventures even after his homeless pilgrimage concludes.
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Churches Also Turn to Social Media
Pope Benedict XVI sent his first tweet last month, again confirming what many religion publishers have already discovered: churches are paying attention to social media. Many congregations use Web sites like Facebook and Twitter as tools for ministry and evangelization, but these resources also pose unique challenges. Three new books try to help the spiritually minded make sense of social media.
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Mark Galli: A Fuller, Richer God
Mark Galli is the senior managing editor for Christianity Today. Earlier this month Tyndale published God Wins: Heaven, Hell, and Why the Good News is Better Than Love Wins, a response to pastor Rob Bell's controversial Love Wins.
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New Ventures, Products Launch at ICRS
The show brought the debut of a new imprint, Influence Resources, a general evangelical market imprint of the Assemblies of God, as well as the complete Common English Bible, a new translation developed by five mainline Protestant denominations using 120 scholars who span the ethnic, racial, and theologically liberal-to-conservative spectrum. Zondervan launched its ambitious The Story line of products, with Max Lucado addressing show-goers at a Tuesday morning breakfast, and two advance screenings of the new film Courageous—from the producers of Fireproof-- were filled. B&H Books featured its two related fall titles, The Resolution for Men and The Resolution for Women
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Christian Fiction Going Strong
At the International Christian Retail Show (July 10-13), several indicators attested to the robustness of Christian fiction. Publishers were pleased by a recent Bowker market study (which PW reported on June 20) showing Christian fiction the third most popular genre in sales of e-books, with a 16 percent share, which surpasses both general trade romance and mysteries. Bowker representative David Campbell also said at ICRS that the same survey of 40,000 book-buying consumers showed the religion category was 10 percent of the book market, measured in sales dollars.
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The International Christian Retail Show: New Ways of Doing Business
The International Christian Retail Show met in Atlanta July 10-13. CBA—the association of Christian stores, which produces the show—reported total attendance of just under 5,000, a 6% increase over last year’s convention in St. Louis. The association itself has seen some growth through new memberships, but store attrition continues. Most publishers say the show is still an important place for them to have a presence, even if scaled back, but they are approaching it with new strategies.
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FaithWords at 10
Rolf Zettersten knew change was afoot more than a decade ago in his role as trade publisher at Thomas Nelson. He'd been watching sales of religion books move increasingly into the general trade and club markets as those accounts became more interested in carrying inspirational, and especially Christian, books.
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Fall 2011 Religion Listings: Religion's Remedies: Humor, Silence
Penn Gillette's forthcoming atheist screed, GOD, NO! Signs You May Already Be an Atheist and Other Magical Tales, may be a late entry in the does-He-or doesn't-He-exist debate, but it's sure to be freshly funny. Playing counterpoint to the magician-comedian is an author who's entertaining enough to have earned a trip to The Colbert Report.
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Editor’s Note
This issue debuts a new initiative from Publishers Weekly, a significant expansion of our reviews and other editorial coverage of children’s religion/spirituality books (see details in this issue). We’ll also soon be rolling out a new design, and some new columns and departments are in the works for this fall. As we strive to provide the premier coverage of the religion publishing industry, we also look to you, our readers, for ideas on what you’d like to see, here in RBL as well as in the print magazine. So bring it on!
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Short Takes
Thomas Nelson wins an ADDY, has a book selected for B&N’s Discover Great New Writers program; Self-Realization Fellowship book wins award from Latino Literacy Now; Christian Small Publishers Association launches review program for bloggers; Inner Traditions book soars in sales; CBA partners with On Demand Books to market Espresso Book Machine®; Zondervan title recognized by the National Autism Society; Robert L. Kregel dies at 92.
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New Press Offers Bahá’í-themed Messages of Inspiration, Unity
One Voice Press, a new publisher of Bahá’í-themed inspirational literature based in the Baltimore area, is releasing its first book. The Flower at the End of the World by David Erickson (July) is a book of poetry and short fiction. It’s Erickson’s first book, though the Canadian author has been published in anthologies and has been writing for 43 years. One Voice publisher Dale Lehman launched the new press last year. Lehman owns the Web site Planet Bahá’í, which hosts writings about the faith and offers an online community for members.
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Religion in Review
Francis Chan adds his voice to the hell debate; a sweeping history of the popes; ruminations of a Catholic essayist on the passage of time; searching for Satan; a fresh take on Celtic spirituality; finding God in the natural world; Joe Lieberman on the gift of the Sabbath; a journalist exposes the truth about the closing of a parish church; treasuring a disabled child; a parable of spiritual yearning; being Christian in the public square; our first children’s religion reviews; plus Web Exclusive reviews.
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PW Expanding Reviews and Coverage of Children’s Religion Books
With this issue of Religion BookLine, we expand PW’s coverage of children's religion/spirituality books. You’ll find our first children's religion review section here, in addition to the adult nonfiction reviews we usually provide. Children’s reviews will also appear in the print magazine’s third issue of the month, beginning July 18.
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