Harry Was Hiding
...but plenty of other strong titles were in evidence
Jennifer M. Brown and Shannon Maughan -- 6/19/00
Kid wizard Harry Potter may have been out of sight during this BEA, but he was certainly not out of mind. Not even a jacket for J.K. Rowling's fourth book about Harry (the title is still under wraps) could be seen, yet booksellers were animatedly discussing their preparations for Harry Potter IV's unveiling on July 8 (see sidebar below).
And there were many other titles on the floor to get excited about. In the words of Janet Zuse, children's manager of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Conn., "I've had a great book-buying season so far. There are lots of other choices besides Harry; most everyone has great things to show." The second biggest title of the show, The Amber Spyglass (though a complete galley was not available either--an excerpt was distributed instead) featured another cast of characters who have made their way across the Atlantic. At Friday's ABA/CBC children's breakfast, British author Philip Pullman held listeners rapt as he read from the conclusion of the His Dark Materials trilogy, due on October 10 from Knopf. (Also at BEA, the audio adaptation of Pullman's The Golden Compass--the first title in the trilogy--which was read by the author and a full cast, was given an Audie Award by the Audio Publishers Association for Best Children's Title.)
| Peter Sis, who was also on the Friday breakfast program, took the audience on a tour of an internationally flavored city block via a slide presentation of illustrations from his forthcoming picture book Madlenka (FSG/Foster). Sis then produced a hand-painted yellow umbrella, identical to that carried by Madlenka, citing as inspiration his young daughter's fascination with fellow breakfast speaker Julie Andrews Edwards's movie role as the umbrella-wielding nanny. The anecdote made for a most fitting segue, as Sis presented the umbrella to Edwards, who good-naturedly struck a Mary Poppins pose. |
Children's Highlights
Booksellers count down to
Harry IV on July 8 ABC celebrates 15 years with
a bonus day of meaty programming Web sites a key topic in speeches
and workshops ABC silent auction raised $19,000
|
When co-chair Valerie Lewis of Hicklebee's in San Jose, Calif., introduced Edwards, she called upon audience members to admit that, finding themselves alone in the countryside, they, like her, have been known to belt out "The hills are alive¦." This prompted the actress cum author to make an admission of her own: while visiting Switzerland, surrounded by mountains and thinking she was on a solitary stroll, she burst into a rendition of that very song herself, only to discover a group of Japanese tourists with cameras, madly clicking away. In her talk, Edwards thanked booksellers for the success of last fall's bestselling Little Bo (Hyperion) and informed them of her collaboration with daughter Emma Walton Hamilton, Dumpy the Dump Truck, due out in September, also from Hyperion.
 | Breakfast speakers Peter Sis, Julie
Andrews Edwards and Philip Pullman |
Two other picture books had children's booksellers buzzing. A debut from author/illustrator Ian Falconer, called Olivia (Atheneum/Schwartz), stars a porcine heroine whom Enchanted Forest Bookstore's Jennifer Anglin described as "Eloise meets Lilly." Olivia will be featured on a poster with her ruby-red wardrobe and on a hanging sign that is convertible to a stand, plus notepads. "I love Olivia!" exclaimed Zuse of R.J. Julia. "We're going to feature it on our Web site and I have ordered in high, high quantities." Booksellers also enjoyed hammering out their frustrations with Stephen T. Johnson's My Little Red Toolbox (Harcourt), with removable card-stock tools that interact with each spread.
This fall, HarperCollins will roll out new titles from an array of star authors. Among them: If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond (Geringer); Wemberly Worried by Kevin Henkes (Greenwillow); and Where Do Balloons Go? by Jamie Lee Curtis, illustrated by Laura Cornell (Cotler); each will have a first printing of at least 250,000 copies. So far, Henkes is scheduled for a 10-city tour in the fall and Curtis is expected to do several television publicity appearances. Another celebrity book for children (though it's being marketed by the publisher's adult division) is Katie Couric's The Brand New Kid, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman (Doubleday); the Today Show co-anchor spoke at Sunday's book-and-author breakfast. And bestselling author Roddy Doyle did a dramatic reading from his first book for children, The Giggler Treatment (Scholastic/Levine) at a breakfast for children's booksellers.
Oldies with New Goodies
New titles from proven favorites include David Macaulay's Building Big (Houghton/Lorraine), a September release timed to precede an October PBS series of the same name. Denise Fleming was autographing her latest title, The Everything Book (Holt), which combines concepts and an array of babies' expressions. And Harcourt hopes that Janell Cannon's Crickwing will do for the cockroach what her Stellaluna and Verdi have already done for fruit bats and snakes, respectively. Cannon will embark on a tour this fall, the destination of which will be determined by where the winner of Harcourt's "Stellaluna's Biggest Fan Contest" lives.
A surprise offering from the esteemed couple Margret and H.A. Rey, Whiteblack the Penguin Sees the World (Houghton) was discovered by publisher Anita Silvey when she was in Hattiesburg, Miss., for a lecture last fall; the never-before-published manuscript dates back to 1937 and will have a 50,000-copy first printing. The Little, Brown booth showcased I Love You Like Crazy Cakes from a new writer, Rose Lewis, illustrated by Jane Dyer, and Holiday House boasted Russell Freedman's latest work of nonfiction, Give Me Liberty: The Story of the Declaration of Independence.
 | Scholastic honored author Roddy
Doyle (second from l.) at a breakfast
hosted by Arthur Levine, Barbara
Marcus and Michael Jacobs. |
In response to numerous bookseller queries of "What song will Sylvia do next?," Deck the Hall (Chronicle) is a new holiday title by Sylvia Long, author-illustrator of Hush Little Baby. North-South will kick off a major promotion of bunny character Davy this fall by publishing the seventh title about him, Happy Birthday, Davy! As a bonus, consumers who purchase the book at retail this fall will receive a poster and a clip-on Davy doll packaged with the book; later, the doll will be sold separately. Scholastic will release Dav Pilkey's four Captain Underpants titles (Blue Sky) in paperback in a boxed set with a whoopee cushion in October. And No, David! author David Shannon's newest title is The Rain Came Down, also for Blue Sky.
Booksellers were also excited about Harcourt's celebration of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's 100th birthday this month, which included new editions of the classic The Little Prince; and were also enthusiastic about Pleasant Company's reissuing of the Angelina Ballerina titles in a larger trim size. "I'm so glad Angelina is back in print," said Zuse of R.J. Julia.
Several new music-themed books caught booksellers' interest, including Charlesbridge's book-and-CD package The Farewell Symphony by Anna Harwell Celenza, illustrated by JoAnn Kitchel, about Haydn's writing of this famous composition; a book-and-CD package from Alice McGill, author of Molly Bannaky, called In the Hollow of Your Hand: Slave Lullabies (Houghton), illustrated by debut artist Michael Cummings; and The Stars That Shine (S&S) by Julie Clay, illustrated by Dan Andreasen, a picture book featuring stories by country music stars.
Lyrick's new president, L. Spencer Humphrey, made her first appearance with the company at BEA since taking on the position. This fall and winter Lyrick will publish two new book series inspired by its latest licensed properties: San Diego artist Suzy Spafford, creator of Suzy's Zoo greeting cards and other novelties, will debut a line of books starring her cuddly animal characters beginning in January 2001. And Putt-Putt, Pajama Sam and Freddi Fish, familiar names from the popular children's software titles from Humongous Entertainment, will also find a home in their own line of books.
 | Disney's Lisa Holton (center)
dines with authors Rosemary Wells
and Ann M. Martin. |
On the fiction front, two National Book Award finalists are publishing new titles: Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak, has a book set in Philadelphia during the yellow fever epidemic, Fever 1793 (S&S) and is also launching the Wild at Heart series (Pleasant Co.); Jack Gantos has a sequel to J y Pigza Swallowed the Key, titled J y Pigza Loses Control (FSG). Three Newbery medalists also have new fall books: E.L. Konigsberg's Silent to the Bone (S&S), Lois Lowry's Gathering Blue (Houghton/Lorraine) and Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl (Knopf), a title that was recommended in booktalks at Wednesday's ABC gathering. Lisa Dugan, children's book buyer for K n Kids, is among those enthusiastic about Joan Bauer's new YA novel, Hope Was Here (Putnam), about a 16-year-old girl who supports an unlikely candidate in a small-town mayoral race. Two other highly anticipated works of fiction, both from HarperCollins, included Francesca Lia Block's Rose and the Beast (Cotler), a collection of slinkster cool fairy tale retellings, and Diana Wynne Jones's Year of the Griffin (Greenwillow).
Also garnering attention from booksellers was Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned (Holt), a YA graphic novel by Judd Winick, a former member of MTV's The Real World San Francisco cast. The book chronicles Winick's friendship with fellow cast member and AIDS activist Pedro Zamora, who has since died of AIDS-related complications. A national author tour is planned and the title has already been selected by the Teen People Book Club.
 | At the Greenwillow table, author/
illustrator Kevin Henkes talks to
bookseller Ginny Penzes and
his editor, Susan Hirschman. |
25BEAkids_3.gif#87419}}Making Their Imprint
Two new imprints were much discussed by booksellers. Simon & Schuster touted the launch of Dick Jackson Books this fall, helmed by the esteemed editor formerly of DK Ink and Orchard, with novels from Janet Taylor Lisle (The Art of Keeping Cool) and Avi (The Christmas Rat). And the North-South booth was abuzz with news of the launch of SeaStar Books, an imprint led by David Reuther, president and publisher of North-South and SeaStar, and formerly publisher at Morrow Children's Books. SeaStar will continue "established relationships" Reuther has had with a number of top authors and illustrators. Books on the first fall list include Aesop's Fables by Jerry Pinkney and Give the Dog a Bone by Steven Kellogg. Fall will also see the debut of four Reading Rainbow Readers, which SeaStar is publishing in conjunction with Lancit Media, the company behind Reading Rainbow. Each book is a five-chapter anthology of works by noted authors excerpted from other books. Silly Stories, Scary Stories, Pet Stories and School Stories will feature a combined first printing of 600,000 copies, a figure that includes trade, book club and book fair orders thus far.
Like the fog that creeps in on little cat feet, Harry Potter's aura seemed to surround the proceedings in Chicago. But booksellers weren't relying on Harry's magic to carry them; their eagerness to share ideas, to tout new titles, to weigh the pros and cons of e-commerce and to remain a strong presence in their communities was clearly visible.
Red Carpet for Harry's Arrival
Many booksellers are mounting gala events in preparation for Scholastic's rollout of a 3.8 million-copy first printing of Book 4. ABC members' sharing of ideas and plans for the event rated a half-hour discussion at Thursday's ABA/CBC afternoon program. Here are a few highlights:
Anderson's Bookshop is offering free pizza starting at 11 p.m. on Friday, July 7; HP glasses and T-shirts, using co-op money; searchlights will play up Harry's star status. Anne Irish of Pooh Corner and Valerie Lewis of Hicklebee's are serving breakfast Saturday morning as they parcel out their presolds. Beth Puffer of Bank Street College Bookstore is starting a "Muggles marathon" at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, at which children can take turns reading the projected 700-plus page tome and create a collaborative mural. Anne Ginkel says that in order for children to enter her bookstore, Hobbit Hall in Roswell, Ga., they will have to jump over the 9 3/4 platform (just as Harry must to board the express train to Hogwarts); thereafter, they can visit Harry's cupboard, douse Dudley with water balloons and take a Hogwarts pop quiz with magic writing. Children will purchase tickets to the event to offset the discount Hobbit Hall is offering on the sale of Harry IV. One general bookstore is hosting a party from midnight to 2 a.m. on Friday for adults and a Saturday afternoon party for children, with activity stations in which kids can design their own wand and broom. Other helpful hints came from a librarian, who is posting a "Support your local bookstore" sign in the library's window. On H-Day, July 8, Scholastic will sponsor planes pulling banners over beaches on Long Beach Island and Wildwood in New Jersey; from Jones Beach to the Hamptons in New York; and over San Diego and Santa Monica, Calif, Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and Hilton Head, S.C. In New York City, Harry will be featured on the Times Square Jumbo Tron news ticker at midnight. Rowling's British publisher, Bloomsbury, has contracted a steam locomotive christened the "Hogwarts Express." Prior to Harry Potter IV's publication, the train will sit at Gate 9 3/4 in London's Kings Cross Station. On July 8, author J.K. Rowling will board the train and chug along on a one-week tour to Manchester, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Perth, London, Brighton and St. Albans.
--Jennifer M. Brown and Shannon Maughan |
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