Children’s Book Reviews: 10/5/2009

This week's children's book reviews include picture books from Tom Tomorrow, Walter Dean Myers and Christopher Myers, Jeanette Winter, Sharon Robinson and Kadir Nelson, and Marilyn Nelson and Jerry Pinkney; new fiction from Mark Teague, Lauren Myracle, and Francesca Lia Block; and round-ups of new pop-up titles and coffee table—ready gift books.

Web Exclusive Children's Book Reviews: 10/2/2009

This collection of web-exclusive children's book reviews includes new work from R.L. LaFevers, Lynne Jonell, Mark Dunn and a star for Sally Gardner's sequel to The Red Necklace.

Q & A with Katherine Paterson

Q: What inspired you to write this book?

A: This is the first time in my long life as a writer when somebody has suggested a story to me and I’ve taken the suggestion. Some years ago, our church sponsored a refugee family from Kosovo, and a good friend of mine said you should write the Haxhuis’ story. And so I went over there...

New Square Fish Program Packs Double Punch

This month Square Fish is debuting its Flip Me paperback line, which presents two back-to-back, flip-over chapter books by one author in a single volume. The program draws from the backlists of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group’s four imprints. A practical concern provided the inspiration, explains Jean Feiwel, senior v-p and director of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, who informally refers to the Flip Me line as "Square Fish Squared."

A Bountiful Crop of Young Readers’ Adaptations

It’s that time of year again. Booksellers are stocking up for the holiday selling season and publishers’ fall lists are sprinkled with the names of tried-and-true authors. Some of those familiar authors are testing new waters, with children’s adaptations of their successful adult books—often with hefty first printings. Though it is hardly a new phenomenon, the adaptation business appears to be thriving in these tight times.

Building a Book for Habitat for Humanity

Since 1976, Habitat for Humanity has built more than 300,000 houses in over 3,000 communities in 90-plus countries. David Rubel chronicles the history and accomplishments of this organization in If I Had a Hammer: Building Homes and Hope with Habitat for Humanity, an October title from Candlewick. The book features a foreword by former president Jimmy Carter, who first picked up a hammer to participate in a Habitat project a quarter-century ago.

Attendance Up at New York Anime Fest Despite Costs

Although the anime and manga markets have had a mixed year in 2009, with consolidation and downsizing, it was belied by the enthusiastic fan participation at this years New York Anime Festival, held Sept. 25-27. With an attendance of 21,388 people, a 16% increase over last year, NYAF 2009 was precisely that, an anime festival with less of a manga focus than in previous years.

Small Press Expo Feels the Love

Indie cartoonists, web comickers and the fans who love them once again mingled in a weekend of camaraderie and appreciation at this weekend's Small Press Expo, held in North Bethesda, MD. This year's edition lived up to its well-deserved reputation as one of the year's mellowest and enjoyable comics fests, and a strong slate of recent comics kept sales at high levels.

Comics Briefly 9/29/09

Photo Mania: NY Anime Festival and Small Press Expo

It was a crowded weekend for comics, as the New York Anime Festival and Small Press Expo took place concurrently. PWCW's photographers were there to catch both scenes.

Self-Published Trader Joe's Book Inspires Sequel and Imitator

In the department of unlikely books becoming hits are often those that relate somehow to a subject that has a cult following of sorts. Take Trader Joe’s, the chain of grocery stores with low prices, exotic treats and friendly employees. The store has inspired numerous fan clubs and online community pages. So is it any wonder that a self-published book on all the dishes you can make using Trader Joe’s products has sold 70,000 copies, spawned imitators, and inspired a sequel?

Cooking the Books with Ree Drummond, aka The Pioneer Woman

Morrow will release The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond, who writes the blogs Confessions of a Pioneer Woman and Pioneer Woman Cooks. Drummond’s loyal fans—her site registers two million visitors a month—helped make The Pioneer Woman Cooks the #1 pre-ordered hardcover on Amazon recently. The author talked to PW from her Oklahoma ranch about her writing, from blog to cookbook to a forthcoming narrative nonfiction book.

Cookbook Publishing in Brazil, Eating in Ipanema

Tall and tan and young and... hungry? I recently spent a week in Brazil, attending a book fair in Rio de Janeiro and meeting with book publishers in São Paulo. Although the purpose of the trip was for me to get an overview of Brazil’s publishing industry, I also got a fantastic impression of Brazil’s food culture. Here’s a look at what I ate in Brazil, how cookbooks are marketed there, and how well one cookbook publisher is doing.

Children's Book Reviews: 9/28/2009

This week's reviews include new picture books from Peter Yarrow, Satoshi Kitamura, Patricia Polacco and Lois Lowry, as well as fiction from Sharon Creech, Nancy Farmer, Cinda Williams Chima, Julia Donaldson and Siobhan Dowd.

Fiction Book Reviews: 9/28/2009

Reviewed this week, new novels from Patricia Cornwell, Joseph Wambaugh, Alexander McCall Smith, Jonathan Dee and Tracy Chevalier. Plus, the 34th Pushcart Prize anthology, Javier
Marías concludes his disquieting Your Face Tomorrow trilogy and Zachary Mason reinterprets the Odyssey.

Tokyopop, Harper Team To Release ‘Shutter Island’ Graphic Novel

Graphic novel publisher Tokyopop is working in conjunction with HarperCollins to release a comics adaptation of bestselling novelist Dennis Lehane’s psychological thriller Shutter Island in January 2010 in time for the February release of a new Martin Scorsese film based on the novel.

Web Exclusive Children's Book Reviews: 9/24/2009

This selection of web-exclusive children's book reviews includes new books from Rachel Isadora, Peter Yarrow and Amber Kizer, as well as debut work from Jan Bozarth, Carolyn Q. Ebbitt and Donny Bailey Seagraves.

Recipe Report: September 28

Q & A with Richard Peck

Q: When you wrote the short story 'Shotgun Cheatham’s Last Night Above Ground' years ago, did you have any inkling that it would grow into three entire novels?

A: No, I didn’t. I was asked by Harry Mazer to contribute something to a collection of stories about guns and I thought, "He’s going to get too many guy stories, so I’m going to think up a female character." That’s how Grandma Dowdel was born.

Toon Treasury: Open Sesame

With The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, published this month by Abrams, Art Spiegelman and his wife, Françoise Mouly, are bringing comics classics to kids of a new generation. “Comic books were considered the most disposable ephemera, yet clearly those who grew up with them cherished them,” Spiegelman says. “It seems like some of the most important literature for children in the middle of the 20th century is in these comic books.”