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Obituary: Norma Fox Mazer
Children's book author Norma Fox Mazer died on Saturday, October 17, after being diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor earlier this year. She was 78. Fox was the author of numerous picture books and novels for young readers, and was awarded a Newbery Honor in 1988 for After the Rain. Mazer is survived by her husband and occasional collaborator, children's book author Harry Mazer...
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Kane/Miller Conspires to Build a Hit
Educational Development Corp. chairman Randall White was pretty sure he had uncovered a gem of a small company when he acquired Kane/Miller Book Publishers last December, but the purchase has worked out even better than he thought. With the holiday season still to come, revenue at Kane/Miller in 2009 has already topped that of all of 2008, according to White.
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Soapbox: The More Things Change...
When I first conceived of Heather Has Two Mommies in 1988, I had no idea that it would be so loved - and so hated. I had no idea it would appear on “most challenged” book lists alongside Huckleberry Finn and The Catcher in the Rye. I had no idea it would become part of the congressional record and be debated on the Senate floor.
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Children's Book Reviews: 10/19/2009
This week, stars for Jim Aylesworth and Barbara McClintock's The Mitten, John Hendrix's John Brown: His Fight for Freedom, Sharon Shinn's Gateway, and Julie Halpern's Into the Wild Nerd Yonder. Plus: roundups of Hanukkah titles and gift ideas.
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Q & A with Elizabeth Partridge
Q: Had you been contemplating a book on the Civil Rights Movement before you saw photographer Matt Herron’s photos? You credit him with jumpstarting the book.
A: No, I had not had the least inkling to do a book on the Civil Rights Movement. And then I ran into Matt’s Web site. I fell in love with his photos, 100 percent in love with what he had done on the march, and I just wanted to get those photos out there. -
In Brief: October 15
This week, the Force is with Kepler's in Menlo Park, Mo Willems hosts a webcasts to schools and libraries, and Educator Night at Hicklebee's in San Jose features a group of guest authors.
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Cruising Maine's Waterways to Launch The Circus Ship
In suitably seafaring fashion, Chris Van Dusen set sail last week to promote The Circus Ship, his September picture book from Candlewick, which is loosely based on a true maritime story that has intrigued residents of coastal Maine for many generations. The Circus Ship was inspired by the tale of the Royal Tar, a steamship carrying circus animals and a brass band that set off from New Brunswick in 1836, bound for Portland and Boston...
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Laughter Sets the Scene at NCIBA Children’s Author Breakfast
At a breakfast that was more stand-up comedy than standard presentation, authors James Dashner (l.), Nancy Farmer and Berkeley Breathed charmed the sold-out crowd gathered for the Children’s Author Breakfast at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association annual trade show in Oakland on October 10. Award-winning YA author Nancy Farmer began her talk with a humorous, detailed description of her recent eye surgery...
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Scholastic Adds Novel Dimension to Book Cover
An ominous-looking character pops—literally—from the front of Malice, Chris Wooding’s YA novel about London teens who get trapped in a world that exists inside a horrifying comic book. Published this month by Scholastic Press, this paper-over-board volume has a cover that features a 3-D, molded plastic figure and display type, which presented design and production crews with challenges they’d never before encountered.
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Kids’ Books in the NAIBAhood
Children's books shared the stage with adult titles at the New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association conference earlier this month. Longtime Baltimore institution The Children's Bookstore was one of several stops on a DIY bookstore tour that preceded the official opening of the conference, which began with a dinner with children's author Laurie Halse Anderson and adult author Paul Rudnick. Sporting a blue IndieBound T-shirt, Anderson thanked booksellers for fighting the good fight for shopping local.
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NAIBA’s Tween Reader Panel
At a panel on tween readers held at the recent New Atlantic Booksellers Association fall conference, Association of Booksellers for Children executive director Kristen McLean, who got her start selling toys, observed that 15 years ago, the toy business changed its definition of "kids" from age 12 to age eight. Around the same time, she said, publishers and booksellers began breaking out middle-grade fiction...
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Galley Talk: A Whole Nother Story
Angela K. Sherrill of 57th Street Books in Chicago talks about a favorite 2010 galley.
For me, there’s something of Mark Twain in Dr. Cuthbert Soup’s upcoming middle-grade novel, A Whole Nother Story (Bloomsbury, Jan. 2010), a winking satire that grabs readers and pulls them along a swiftly narrated adventure. The action follows Mr. Cheeseman and his three unique and savvy children... -
A Closer Look at Disney Digital Books
Late last month, Disney Publishing Worldwide unveiled the launch of Disney Digital Books, and further details were announced during Disney’s presentation to the media on October 8. An online library of more than 500 classic and contemporary titles, Disney Digital Books was designed around three key components: an Interactive Reader, Look and Listen, and a Story Builder, which lets kids create their own books. Because Disney owns its own content...
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Workman Trots Out New Scanimation Books
When Rufus Butler Seder's Gallop!, featuring Seder's Scanimation technology, hit the scene back in 2007, readers responded. Gallop! landed at the top of bestseller lists and stores had trouble keeping it in stock. That book was followed in 2008 by a sports-themed sequel, Swing!, and Workman has just released a third book, Waddle!, as well as a Spanish-language edition of Gallop! called ¡Al Galope!
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YA or Not YA?: 'Stitches' Gets NBA Nomination
On Wednesday, Caldecott Medalist David Small’s graphic novel-style memoir, Stitches, became a 2009 National Book Award finalist in the Young People’s Literature category—which has led to some discussion and debate, along with the usual congratulations.
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Web Exclusive Children's Book Reviews: 10/13/2009
This selection of web-exclusive children's book reviews from Publishers Weekly includes new titles from Kevin Sherry, Chris Van Dusen and Carolyn MacCullough, as well as a starred review for Joaquin Dorfman's new novel.
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Children's Book Reviews: 10/12/2009
This week's children's book reviews include new picture books from Kazuna Kohara, Emily Gravett, and Julianna, Isabella, and Craig Hatkoff; PW's review of the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, Dog Days; new fiction from Josh Lieb, Robin Brande and Barry Lyga; as well as nonfiction, new picture books about the Obamas and a trio of small but thought-provoking gift books.
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In Brief: October 8
This week, Jarrett J. Krosoczka went on morning TV, Susan Meddaugh visted her hometown, six children's authors and illustrators got lucky, and Porter Square Books in Cambridge turned five.
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Q & A with Patrick Ness
Q: Your first two books were written for adults. What made you decide to write YA fiction, and how is it different from writing adult fiction?
A: I was playing around with an idea for a long time. It didn’t originally start as a young adult novel. The voice was an adolescent voice, though, and I thought, "Well, that's interesting." I tried to let the material tell me what it was, rather than forcing it to be something. I found it really liberating, actually. -
iStoryTime Brings New Authors to Smartphones
The digital revolution means it isn't just big companies and established authors getting into the e-book app game - anyone with an idea, some start-up capital and tech know-how can now successfully bring a high-quality e-book app to market. That is exactly what happened with three friends with technology backgrounds who wanted to give their children books, not video games, to occupy themselves at the grocery store. The result is iStoryTime, an e-book platform for iPhone and Android OS that is getting...
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