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Page to Screen: Smith-Ready's YA Series and an L.A. Teen's Debut
This week in Page to Screen—PW's weekly column tracking film rights circulating and sold in Hollywood—Curtis Brown moves on Jeri Smith-Ready book, and Gotham shops an L.A.-teen-turned-Harvard-undergrad's novel.
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Q & A with Jane Smiley
Q: You obviously love horses. Is this the kind of book that you would have liked to have read as a child?
A: Well, it's more or less the kind of book I did read. When I was a child in 1960 - I was 10 and 11 that year - there were plenty of horse book series. I loved them all and read them all. I read the Black Stallion series, and other Walter Farley books. I also read Nancy Drew and other series. That was what kids' literature was back then. -
Movie Alert: 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs'
Based on Judi and Ron Barrett’s picture book of the same name, an animated film adaptation of 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' hits theaters September 18. The story is set in the town of Chewandswallow (renamed Swallow Falls in the film), which is plagued by food and beverages that rain down from the sky on a daily basis. The film features the voices of Anna Faris and Bill Hader in the lead roles of weathergirl Sam Sparks and luckless inventor Flint Lockwood.
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McGuirk Dishes Up New Picture Book with Four Seasons Restaurateur
Dog may be man’s best friend, but for children’s book author/illustrator Leslie McGuirk, he doubles as her artistic muse. In her latest title, Wiggens Learns His Manners at the Four Seasons Restaurant (Candlewick, Aug.), the Vero Beach, Fla.-based writer, best known for her Tucker series of picture books, pays tribute to her canine companions once again.
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Diego Rivera’s Daughter Shares Memories of Her Father
Born in 1886, muralist, painter and political activist Diego Rivera was one of Mexico’s most influential 20th-century artists. His daughter, Guadalupe Rivera Marín, has compiled recollections of her father and personal commentaries on 13 of his works in My Papa Diego and Me/Mi papá Diego y yo, a new bilingual picture book that reproduces paintings and murals featuring children, who were the focus of many of Rivera’s paintings.
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Tess’s Tree: Online Picture Book Moves to Print
As the release date nears for the print edition of Jess Brallier’s Tess’s Tree (HarperCollins, Aug. 25), illustrated by Peter H. Reynolds, two questions remain: can a picture book with an online following succeed in print? And can lightning strike twice for a book originally "published" at FunBrain.com? (Hint: Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid already showed that a series of graphic novels can successfully make the transition.)
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Book Parties on Twitter
"The release of a new book is something to celebrate. Each story winging out into the world deserves a communal "HURRAH!," wrote children’s book author Mitali Perkins on her blog earlier this summer, to announce the launch of Twitter Book Birthday Parties (@bookbday). In the intervening weeks since she threw down the e-marketing gauntlet to help other children’s book authors and illustrators, she has filled most of the 75 slots that she had set as her limit.
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In Brief: August 13
This week, David Letterman's son gets his first book dedication, Walter Dean Myers takes fans on a historical tour, and Jarrett J. Krosoczka is reunited with his elementary school lunch ladies.
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Teen-Authored Series Gets Live Web Show
Marni suffers from Trichotillomania, a disorder that causes her to pull out her own hair. Chelsey’s father was murdered days before her 14th birthday. Emily has been diagnosed with West Nile Virus. Their stories are told, in their own words, in Louder Than Words, a new teen-authored memoir series from HCI Books. In support of the new series, HCI launched a weeklong live Web show, which premiered this past Monday on Kyte.tv.
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MetaMetrics Providing Lexile Measures for Simon & Schuster
Earlier this summer, MetaMetrics began providing Lexile measures for books under many of Simon & Schuster’s imprints. S&S's announcement of its partnership with MetaMetrics today follows the recent news that Barnes & Noble will start offering its customers the ability to search for books by Lexile measure, both in stores and at BN.com.
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Children’s Book Reviews: 8/10/2009
This week: picture books by Jon Scieszka and David Shannon, Deborah Hopkinson and Carson Ellis, and Yin Chang Compestine and James Yamasaki; novels from Patricia Reilly Giff, Ann M. Martin, Kaleb Nation and Adriana Trigiani; and an extensive round-up of fall picture-book biographies.
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A New Look for 'Liar'
Bloomsbury Children's Books has told PW exclusively that it will change the controversial cover of Justine Larbalestier's 'Liar.' Bloggers and the author herself had criticized the publisher's choice of a white girl with long, straight tresses for a novel about an African-American girl with "nappy" hair.
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Kids Can Rolls Out CitizenKid
Corus Entertainment’s Kids Can Press this month launches its first branded program, CitizenKid, a collection of books that focus on global issues and inspire young readers to become better global citizens. The debut collection consists of two new titles plus five backlist books. "As a company, we are very interested in global citizenship and making complex world subjects more accessible to kids," says Karen Boersma, publisher of Kids Can Press.
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Kids' Authors Team Up for 'Exquisite Corpse'
Plans are ramping up for the ninth annual National Book Festival in Washington, D.C., which will take place on September 26. For 2009, the Library of Congress and the National Children’s Book and Literary Alliance have teamed up with 18 children’s book authors and illustrators for a special presentation entitled The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, an ongoing story that will be unveiled over the course of a year.
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What Are You Reading?
Throughout August we’ve been featuring kids across the country, talking about the books they’re reading this summer.
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A Gesture of Generosity Inspires Picture Book
In 14 Cows for America, Carmen Agra Deedy, in collaboration with Wilson Kimeli Naiyomah, tells the true tale of Kenyan villagers after the horrific events of 9/11. Naiyomah was in New York City on the day of the terrorist attacks. He later relayed the story of the tragedy to his fellow Maasai. In response, tribe members donated 14 cows, revered in Maasai culture, which they asked the tribe elders to bless before symbolically offering the animals to Americans to help them heal.
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Drawing Comics Is Easy! (Especially When You’re Alexa Kitchen)
When Alexa Kitchen says that she started drawing at age three, but didn’t start to get good until she was six or seven, you don’t need to take her word for it. Her first book, Drawing Comics Is Easy! (Except When It’s Hard), was composed of illustrations done when she was just seven years old. Now 12 and about to start seventh grade, Alexa says that her new book is "basically about kids and how adults frustrate them."
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The Phenomenon of Fandom: An NYPL Panel
Whether one is actually part of the fan community or not, the impact of the Twilight and Harry Potter worlds are inescapable. Melissa Anelli of The Leaky Cauldron and Laura Byrne-Cristiano of the Twilight Lexicon witness firsthand the intensity of the online fan community, and spoke about it at a recent New York Public Library panel.
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In Brief: August 6
Stephen Colbert comes to the rescue of a seven-year-old library patron in Pennsylvania, Click Clack Moo takes to the stage, Sophie Blackall illustrates Craigslist's Missed Connections, and Tomie dePaola turns 75.
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Q & A with Gennifer Choldenko
Q: When you finished writing Al Capone Does My Shirts, did you think Moose’s story wasn’t finished? How did this second book come about?
A: Actually, while I was working on the first book, there was so much material and I tried to shove it all in the first book. But honestly, it was so challenging to write the first book. So when I finished the first one, I did not want to do a second one. I knew there was a lot more to Moose’s story, but I needed time away from it.
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