Farfallina & Marcel (Greenwillow, Aug.), a quiet picture book by Holly Keller about the friendship between a caterpillar and a gosling, is making some big noise—sales-wise, that is. On Saturday, October 12, the book was featured by Daniel Pinkwater during his children's book segment on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday with Scott Simon. As usual when Pinkwater spotlights a book, sales of the title surged immediately. "It's been huge for us, just incredible," said Greenwillow v-p and publisher Virginia Duncan. "The book went to number one on Amazon.com [by 7:30 p.m. that evening], all the way from 821,484."
While publishers always welcome the attention that an NPR spot generates, Pinkwater's selections often take them off-guard. "We sold everything we had [of a 15,000 first printing] after the radio piece and we went out of stock," said Duncan. "But, luckily, our production department was able to bring a disk back from overseas and we reprinted [an additional 20,000 copies] in New Jersey," she said. "We should be back in stock very soon."
Booksellers often have an equally tough time with the Pinkwater surprise effect. "We sold out really quickly," said Jill Bailey, children's buyer for BookPeople in Austin, Tex. "Pinkwater always seems to pick something you were unsure of initially and only ordered four or five of. Then people come out of the woodwork for it. I wish Pinkwater would tell us [what his choices are]."
But in Mount Vernon, Wash., the situation was a little different. "That book hasn't really done a lot for us," said Sarah Parker, children's buyer for Scott's Bookstore. "For us it's hit or miss as far as NPR is concerned. We still have Farfallina in stock."
Inventory issues and Pinkwater aside, Duncan couldn't be more pleased with the book's reception. "It's still early in the game, but the nice thing about it is that this book was an in-house favorite from the beginning," she said. "It's such a universal story—it works for parents and for kids. We noticed on the call reports from the reps that booksellers, especially independents, loved it. It's a main selection of the Children's Book-of-the-Month Club and Junior Library Guild. There's been such nice support for it all along, but Pinkwater takes it to a whole new level. We're so thrilled for Holly."
Hear Ye, Hear Ye, All Hail Lady Knight
As far as legions of young readers are concerned, King Arthur and his knights have nothing on Keladry of Mindelan, the heroine of Lady Knight (Random House, Sept.), the fourth and final volume in Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small quartet. Lovers of fantasy have long known Pierce's work, but with Lady Knight, she seems to have hit her stride in terms of sales and exposure. The book debuted in the number one spot on the New York Times children's bestseller list on September 15 and held the slot for four consecutive weeks. The book also ranked well on bestseller lists in PW, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today as well as the BookSense 76 list. After a first printing of 45,000 copies, the book has been back to press three times and now has 105,000 copies in print.
Pierce's editor Mallory Loehr chalks up Pierce's success to several factors, first and foremost the books themselves. "Her characters are very well-realized; they are people you care about and want to spend time with," Loehr said. "Though Tammy's books are set in medieval times, she deals with contemporary issues and tough subjects that kids are thinking about—love, women breaking into men's roles, questions of 'who am I'."
Though Lady Knight appears to be Pierce's best-performing book out of the gate, the author's success has been building for a while. "She's been writing since the early '80s," Loehr said, "and she has an incredible fan base. What has been so great is that a lot of people are just discovering her. And some are rediscovering her; people who read her books when they were younger are now buying them for their children." In addition, she said, "Her fans seem to want her books in hardcover. Many re-read them obsessively."
Darlene Daniel, owner of PAGES Books for Children and Young Adults in Tarzana, Calif., has some of those fans working in her own store. "Lady Knight is one of the books we were most excited about this season," Daniel said. "It's a title that our staff loves; we've gotten behind it and have done very well with it." Parker at Scott's Bookstore noted that Protector of the Small is "one of those series that is eagerly awaited. Kids always know when the new one is coming out."
Loehr doesn't mind giving credit to a certain fictional boy wizard for bringing Pierce along on his cloak tails, either. "Harry Potter has helped Tammy a whole lot," Loehr said. "Trade fantasy for kids wasn't doing very well in hardcover before that. After Harry, kids suddenly realized 'wow, there are more great fantasy novels out there.' Tammy was there, with a few other authors, just waiting to happen."
Random House intends to keep Pierce happening, too. The author recently finished an 18-city tour that included bookstore events, stock signings, visits to distributors and media interviews. Online the book was featured in the Teachers@Random and Teens@Random areas of randomhouse.com, as well as in an Instant Messenger Banner Board on America Online. At retail approximately 800 accounts took advantage of an 18-copy mixed floor display for the Protector of the Small books and 850 free posters were mailed out pre-publication. All told, Lady Knight is off at full gallop.
So You Want to Sell Some Books
Much like Tamora Pierce, accomplished author Diane Duane has seen her books come into wider popularity in recent years. First published in hardcover in 1983 by Delacorte, her So You Want to Be a Wizard received good reviews, but was long out of print when author Jane Yolen brought the title and its sequels to the attention of editors at Harcourt Children's Books. Harcourt reissued a Magic Carpet paperback edition of So You Want to Be a Wizard in 1996; repackaged paperbacks of the first four of Duane's Young Wizards series were released in 2001, along with a hardcover of book number five in the series, The Wizard's Dilemma. Book number six, A Wizard Alone, hit shelves last month with a first printing of 35,000, closely following the August paperback edition of The Wizard's Dilemma (50,000 first printing).
To date, the total in-print quantity for all editions of Duane's six Young Wizards books, which feature the often suspenseful adventures of a teenage wizard, Nita, and her best friend Kit, exceeds 600,000 copies.
Harcourt hopes to cast a spell on holiday shoppers with a Box of Wizardry boxed gift set which was also released in October and includes the first three titles in the series. A hardcover 20th-anniversary edition of So You Want to Be a Wizard is due in fall 2003, along with book number seven, A Wizard's Holiday. After that comes A Wizard at War, tentatively scheduled for 2004.
According to Duane's editor Michael Stearns, senior editor and director of paperback publishing at Harcourt, the author's "breakout" was due. "We've finally reached critical mass with her books," he said. "They've been around long enough so that people know about them."
At BookPeople, Bailey noted, "One of our booksellers and her son just loved these books, so she has hand-sold a lot of them. And people love boxed sets. We should do well with that." Parker from Scott's Bookstore also has kind words about Duane's works. "It's an excellent series," she said. "It's not quite so well known yet, but kids who do read it are die-hard fantasy fans. They often stumble upon it and are glad they did."
Duane recently had the opportunity to meet a number of fans on an East Coast tour in late October that included stops in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City. And judging from the enthusiastic reports on her Weblog (at www.youngwizards.net), Duane kept her attentive audiences appropriately spellbound.
Artemis's Artful Ascension
When an author describes his own work as "Die Hard with fairies," as Eoin Colfer has done, readers and retailers might expect big action and big baddies. It seems that few were disappointed when presented with Artemis Fowl (Miramax/Hyperion Books for Children), Colfer's first fantasy-adventure novel about a 12-year-old criminal mastermind's plan to steal gold from the fairy folk. The book rolled out in May 2001 with a hefty initial print run of 150,000 copies and promptly landed on PW's and the New York Times children's bestseller list. The hardcover now boasts 263,000 copies in print; a trade paperback edition, released in May 2002, accounts for 295,000 additional copies.
Much of the buzz around this title arose from Miramax's announced plans to develop Artemis Fowl as a feature film, though booksellers who received readers' copies were enthusiastic about the book from the start. And as the buzzing grew louder, a seven-city tour, a New York City meet-and-greet with booksellers and appearances on Good Morning America and at the premiere of the film Spy Kids helped create Colfer's reputation as a crowd-pleaser.
It's no surprise, then, that a sequel, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident, was greeted with high expectations. 
Arctic Incident was published in May 2002 with a 200,000-copy first printing; it debuted in the top spot on the New York Times children's bestseller list and spent 21 weeks on the list. A second, seven-city tour kicked off in May and Miramax/Hyperion did a promotional mailing of Arctic mints to accounts. After seven trips to press, Arctic Incident has reached a total of 245,000 copies in print.
"We've sold 86 hardcovers of the first book, which is phenomenal for us," said Parker at Scott's Bookstore. "The second one is right on track to do just as well. The books have a lot of dialogue, which keeps kids interested. On his tour [where he spoke to a group of seventh and eighth graders from a nearby middle school], he was really great. Lots of kids in the area bought the book after that."
Bailey at BookPeople raved, "We love the Artemis Fowl books. We've sold 135 of the paperback and 98 of the first hardcover. We sold two hardcovers last month, which means it's still selling even while the paperback is available. Of the new hardcover, we've sold 60 so far," she added.
It seems that Artemis Fowl is indeed raking in lots of gold, and the end of the rainbow is nowhere in sight. A third volume, Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code, is due out in spring 2003 and there may be a fourth book as well, though plans have not been finalized.
The (Not-So-Sweet) Smell of Success
If ever there was a surefire giggle-inducer for kids (okay, and many adults, too), it has to be the mention of a certain bodily function. So, is it any wonder that a book called Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray, illus. by Audrey Colman (North Atlantic Books/ Frog Ltd., Oct. 2001) has wafted onto several bestseller lists (including BookSense 76, PW and the New York Times)?
To use another funny "f" word, North Atlantic's director of sales and marketing, Oliver Chin, is a bit flabbergasted by the turn of events Walter has brought. "We weren't particularly known for publishing children's books," he said of the Berkeley-based company that produces alternative health and martial arts titles, among others. "As you can imagine, there were a lot of publishers who didn't want this book," Chin continued. "But we thought it was unusual and on the edgy side so we decided to do it."
A first print run of "under 10,000 copies" sold briskly, and grassroots and regional publicity efforts (free sample copies, lots of handselling to retailers) along with some nudge-nudge-style word-of-mouth helped blow Walter out of the water. "Feedback from retailers has been great," said Chin. "We think it works because it's a purely funny story with a distinct digital collage art style. There's a lot of crossover appeal—parents as well as kids find it funny. And book buyers often buy it for their friends because they get such a laugh out of it."
The inspiration for Walter, a dog with chronic flatulence, was a real-life bull mastiff that the authors became acquainted with years ago in Canada. Understandably, newspaper articles on this angle helped boost sales north of the border, where the book was simultaneously released with the U.S. edition. Chin estimates that Walter's in-print figure will soon reach into the six figures. "Demand and sales keep increasing every month and it hasn't peaked yet," he said. "We've done six printings so far, each one larger than the one before."
Walter is not by any means the first picture book to wander into noxious territory. Titles like The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts by Shinta Cho, Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi, Dog Breath: The Horrible Trouble with Hally Tosis by Dav Pilkey and Dr. Dog by Babette Cole have previously provided kids and adults with a heady mixture of bodily function humor and, in some cases, information.
Some booksellers seem to have mixed feelings about Walter. "The book does really well, and surprisingly, a lot of librarians pick it up," said Parker. "At first I told my rep I didn't want to buy it, but, quirky things do sell. And this book is like Captain Underpants—it just makes kids laugh."
At BookPeople, Baily said, "we continually sell out of Walter. We had the poster up and that really created demand. We have special orders for the book and we have sold 40 altogether. One man bought five copies. I'm assuming he either has a dog named Walter or a dog with a farting problem. He bought it for all his friends."
In Brief
By now most of the season's highly anticipated books have had a chance to strut their stuff. We had a look at how some of them are performing.
Whoooo's first book for young readers is flying high? That would be Carl Hiaasen, whose novel Hoot (Knopf, Sept.), about a boy's fight to protect an endangered owl species, currently has 200,000 copies in print after a 75,000 first printing and three trips back to press. A major national media blitz befitting Hiaasen's position as a bestselling adult author included appearances on The Today Show and coverage in People, Time and Newsweek. "We're doing well with Hoot partly based on the ecological tie-in," said Daniel of PAGES. "We included the book on a list of titles for our adult discussion group of middle grade and YA books when we covered the topic of ethical choices."
Two other adult authors who successfully released children's novels this year are Michael Chabon and Neil Gaiman. Chabon's baseball-themed fantasy Summerland (Miramax/Hyperion, Oct.) shot out of the gate with a 165,000 print run and is now up to 195,000 copies in print. And Coraline (Harper, July), Gaiman's chilling tale of a girl's adventure in a creepy alternate world, now has 150,000 copies in print after 10 printings and an initial quantity of 50,000 copies. Both authors have been able to capitalize on their recognition as award-winners for their adult work and have benefited from strong reviews and solid bookseller support as well as good trade and national consumer publicity. Speaking about Coraline, Bailey of BookPeople commented, "There isn't a single staff member that doesn't love this book. He really nailed it. We've sold 128 copies and it's our bestselling middle-grade novel." Summerland "is my favorite book of the fall," said Parker. "I was kind of cynical about all the big adult names coming out with children's books. But [Chabon's book] is a great epic—even if you don't like baseball."
Also in the fantasy realm, The Thief Lord by German author Cornelia Funke, about orphans on the run in Venice, has made an excellent showing in its U.S. edition from Scholastic/Chicken House. The first printing of 75,000 copies, released in September, was well received as was Funke herself during a high-octane publicity campaign. The author visited four U.S. cities in October (San Francisco, New York, Denver and Chicago) and appeared on The Today Show and National Public Radio. The attention paid has sent Thief back to press nine times for a total of 237,500 copies in print. It has also landed on several bestseller lists. "We are thrilled," said Michael Jacobs, Scholastic's senior v-p of trade. "Although not a first novel, it is the author's first novel to be translated into English and the book has far exceeded our expectations."
Barbara Park's spunky protagonist Junie B. Jones continues her march to the head of the class in her latest outing Junie B. Jones, First Grader: Toothless Wonder (Random House, Oct.). The hardcover debuted at #1 on the New York Times children's bestseller list just as it was released with a 300,000-copy first printing. Back to press once already, the title has 325,000 copies in print. Comparatively, hardcover Junie B. Jones, First Grader: Boss of Lunch boasts 350,000 copies in print after five printings and the paperback of Junie B. Jones, First Grader (at last!) has 415,000 copies in print after two printings. "We were really concerned when the books started to come out in hardcover [in May], but they are still selling," said Bailey. Parker noted, "Junie B. is one of our most popular chapter-book series. Parents don't like her because she's bratty, but that's what kids like."
In the celebrity corner, comedian Jerry Seinfeld and Jamie Lee Curtis helped lead the pack. Seinfeld's picture book Halloween (Little, Brown, Sept.) has had three printings bringing the total in-print figure to 210,000. A special book-with-CD edition currently boasts 125,000 copies in print. The famous funnyman enthusiastically plugged his children's book project during TV appearances and media junkets for his fall film release, Comedian. These included appearances on the Tonight Show and Good Morning America. As October 31 drew near, Little, Brown offered a 40% discount on the books; according to publicity director Allison Devlin, this was meant "to give the sales an extra boost before the Halloween holiday was over and to encourage accounts to keep the books on hand for the Christmas holiday season."
Actress Curtis took the message of her picture book on self-esteem I'm Gonna Like Me (HarperCollins/Cotler, Sept.) to the airwaves as well, showing up on Dateline NBC, The View and The Oprah Winfrey Show, among others. This, her fifth picture book, held the top spot on the New York Times bestseller list for six weeks. "We're lucky she's a celebrity because it helps her get on Oprah," said her editor, Joanna Cotler. "But we're luckier that she's a lovely writer who has a unique connection to kids' hearts and minds." And book buyer Bailey enthused, "It's my favorite of hers. It has universal appeal and it's so positive. We've sold 27 so far."
Speaking of the Hollywood-children's book connection, the big screen version of Tuck Everlasting, while not a blockbuster (it's made just over $16 million at the box office as of November 3), has given Natalie Babbitt's classic novel of the same name a lift. "We've seen major increases in sales in all four editions that are available," said Michael Eisenberg, senior v-p and co-publisher of FSG Books for Young Readers. "On average we would sell 10,000 copies for the month of October. This year, our October sales were 66,000 copies," he noted.
The paperback movie tie-in edition of the book currently has 170,000 copies in print since its September publication, with 150,000 of those spoken for. "We're longtime fans of Tuck," said Daniels, who carries the tie-in edition. "Some of the purists say they'd rather sell the traditional cover. But if we're looking to spread the word about a wonderful book, there's no reason not to take advantage of whatever is going to get someone's attention." At BookPeople, Bailey commented, "We only ordered the classic book cover and we can't keep it in stock. It's one of our favorite books anyway and it's never had a drop in sales." Only fitting for a story with "everlasting" in its title.
