PW: Kid Bits

Celebrities Take Center Stage on Fall Lists
A quartet of large- and small-screen stars steps into a different spotlight this fall, adding new picture books to their lists of credits. Making her debut as children's book author is Katie Couric, co-host of NBC-TV's TodayShow and a contributing anchor for Dateline. Couric's The Brand New Kid, illustrated by Marjorie Priceman, tells of two girls who reach out to a classmate newly arrived in this country from Hungary. Doubleday, which will publish the book in October, has sold first serial rights to Good Housekeeping and Parents.

Another newcomer to children's books is John Lithgow of 3rd Rock from the Sun fame. Illustrated by C.F. Payne, Lithgow's The Remarkable Farkle McBride introduces a musical prodigy who masters every instrument he plays, yet is not satisfied until he discovers the joy of performing in an orchestra. Simon & Schuster has a 100,000-copy first printing on order for this September release.

Jamie Lee Curtis has taken time from her movie-making schedule to pen her fourth collaboration with illustrator Laura Cornell. When a boy accidentally lets go of his balloon, his imagination takes flight in Where Do Balloons Go?: An Uplifting Mystery. HarperCollins has a national advertising and publicity campaign and an activity kit scheduled for this Joanna Cotler title.

And actress and choreographer Debbie Allen has again teamed up with artist Kadir Nelson (Brothers of the Knight) to create Dancing in the Wings, a September release from Dial. Here an aspiring young ballerina who worries that her feet are too big and her legs too long gets a chance to shine onstage.

All four of these performers-turned-writers now have a chance to shine on the page.

Cinderella's Numerous New Faces
A favorite rags-to-riches tale is revived in no fewer than six fall picture books, each of which gives the story of Cinderella a new twist. Robert D. San Souci is the author of a pair of such titles, including one that offers a bare-bones plot in which the heroine is a skeleton who loses not a slipper but her entire foot while fleeing Prince Charnel's Halloween Ball. David Catrow provides spine-tingling illustrations for Cinderella Skeleton, a September release from Harcourt. San Souci has also penned Little Gold Star: A Spanish American Cinderella Story, illustrated with watercolor art by Sergio Martinez. Due in October from HarperCollins, this Junior Literary Guild selection tells how the Blessed Mary rewards Teresa's good deeds with a shining gold star and punishes her wicked stepsisters by giving them hideous horns and donkey ears.

A crocodile plays the role of fairy godmother in Judy Sierra's The Gift of the Crocodile: A Cinderella Story, an Indonesian version of this fairytale, in which the heroine loses her sarong in the river. Reynold Ruffins is the illustrator of this October Simon & Schuster title. A down-trodden spaniel is treated, well, like a dog, by her growling stepsisters in Cinderella: The Dog and Her Little Glass Slipper by Caldecott Honor artist Diane Goode, due from Scholastic/Blue Sky Press in September. Luckily, the prince, a handsome Jack Russell terrier, fits the glass slipper on his beloved's dainty paw to rescue Cinderella from her dog's life. And a more straightforward retelling of this well-known story is on SeaStar's fall list: K.Y. Craft's Cinderella features paintings inspired by the lavish artwork of late 17th-century France. Clearly, this timeless belle of the ball will grace booksellers' shelves in many guises over the coming months.

Favorite Characters Return
This fall, picture-book readers will catch sight of a number of familiar her s and heroines are returning to the page in new titles. A full quarter-century after her debut, Tomie dePaola's Strega Nona enjoys a holiday at the seashore in Strega Nona Takes a Vacation. While the title character attempts to relax, an out-of-control bubble bath gets the mischief-prone Big Anthony into trouble in this September release from Putnam. The publisher will promote Strega Nona's 25th anniversary with a party kit and banner, a collectible doll available to booksellers ordering a minimum of eight copies of the new book and a tour of a Strega Nona costume.

The star of more than 30 books with an in-print total topping seven million copies, Babar is back in his first new adventure in seven years. Due from Abrams in September is Babar and the Succotash Bird by Laurent de Brunhoff, son of Babar creator Laurent de Brunhoff, which tells of Babar's son Alexander's encounter with an exotic bird that turns out to be a wizard. The publisher plans national advertising and publicity to promote this book.

Another animal steals the show in Martha and Skits, in which Susan Meddaugh's conversing canine tries to adjust to her household's addition of a new puppy. This Walter Lorraine title from Houghton Mifflin is Martha's fifth picture-book caper.

If You Take a Mouse to the Movies, he's certain to ask for popcorn, which he'll then want to string together to decorate the Christmas tree and then.... Fans of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond (and this duo's subsequent tales, which together have racked up sales of more than 4.5 million copies) will find out exactly what else this imaginative mouse has in mind in this new Laura Geringer Book from HarperCollins. The publisher will promote this BOMC main selection with an in-store floor display and signage, and an event kit that includes a bonus for hungry youngsters: microwave popcorn.

Rosemary Wells's impish bunny Max is up to his long ears in accumulated rubble, and the always-efficient Ruby has a plan to help her younger brother pick up his bedroom in Max Cleans Up. Alas, things don't go quite as planned in this October release from Viking, which booksellers can promote with an activity kit and a teacher's guide.

Finally, a pair of pigs return to teach youngsters the alphabet in Holly Hobbie's Toot & Puddle: Puddle's ABC. Little, Brown's promotional plans for this September title include national advertising and publicity; and booksellers ordering a minimum of five books can receive three-foot-high, cardboard figures of these characters and the chance to enter a drawing to win a visit from the brand-new Toot and Puddle costumes.

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