Movie rights for Kristin Cashore’s YA fantasy  Graceling (Harcourt) have been optioned, with an eye towards a “potential franchise,” according to Variety. Producer Deepak Nayar, who is also producing Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters, an adaptation of the first in a series by Richelle Mead which begins filming next month, notes that Graceling “combines elements of Hunger Games and Game of Thrones.”

The first volume in the series came out in 2008, the same year as The Hunger Games. It was followed by  Fire (Penguin/Dial, 2009), which the author describes as a “stand-alone prequel-ish companion book,”  and another companion focusing on a different character introduced the first book, Bitterblue (Penguin/Dial, 2012).

The first trailer for the first film adaptation of a book by Judy Blume, Tiger Eyes, just debuted online. Directed by the author’s son, Lawrence Blume, it arrives in theaters and on VOD on June 7. It stars Willa Holland as Davey, Amy Jo Johnson (former Felicity star), as Davey’s mom, Cynthia Stevenson as Bitsy and Tatanka Means (The Host) as Wolf and was named Best Feature Film at the Palm Beach International Film Festival this month

Blume talked about the movie on NBC’s Rock Center in March in an inteview with Chelsea Clinton.

Official Web Site: TigerEyesMovie.com

Several charming picture books are on their way next week (gotta love that pug in Everyone Sleeps), Lauren Myracle is set to reach a younger audience and screenwriter Paul Rudnick publishes his first YA novel with a cover that lives up to the title, Gorgeous.

All the titles highlighted here, and more (including a roundup of several new board books and several middle grade series that shouldn’t be overlooked, plus roundup of graphic novels and superhero comics), are on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of 4.29.13.

Picture Books

My Lucky Birthday, Keiko Kasza, (Penguin/Putnam Juvenile)
From the creator of the storytime favorite My Lucky Day, another animal trickster romp.

Everyone Sleeps, Marcellus Hall, (Penguin/Paulsen)
Illustrator Hall (City I Love, Cow Loves Cookies) strikes out on his own, writing as well as illustrating his first picture book, featuring and adorable pug.

When You Wander: A Search-and-Rescue Dog Story, Margarita Engle, illus by Mary Morgan, (Macmillan/Holt BYR)
A gentle portrayal of the work of search and rescue dogs. Don’t worry about getting lost, they will find you.

Early Chapter Book

The Life of Ty: Penguin Problems, Lauren Myracle, illus by Jed Henry, (Dutton)

Myracle is known by YA readers for several titles including Shine. To 9- and 10-year-olds, she is known for the Winnie Years series. She’ll soon to be known to a younger crowd with Ty, Winnie’s younger brother, appealing to fans of Judy Moody’s brother Stink. What are his “penguin problems”? Ty smuggles one out of the local zoo.

Young Adult

Gorgeous, Paul Rudnick, (Scholastic; Scholastic Audio)

The first YA novel by the stage and screen writer and frequent contributor to the New Yorker, a fantasy princess romance with a snarky voice and social commentary (PW says the writing is “hilarious, profane and profound — often in the same sentence”), likely to find an audience with the Princess Diary crowd.

Graphic Novels

Note:  superhero comics arriving next week are rounded up in the spreadsheet.

My Life as a Cartoonist, Janet Tashjian, Jake Tashjian, (Macmillan/Holt BYR)
In this sequel to My Life as a Book and My Life as a Stuntboy, Derek is being bullied by a tough kid who, upending the stereotype, is in a wheelchair. A Wimpy Kid look alike.

New Moon: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1 , Stephenie Meyer, Young Kim, (Hachette/Yen Press)
Continues the graphic version of  the Twilight series.

Oz: Road to Oz, Skottie Young, Eric Shanower, (Marvel)
The graphic retellings of the Oz series are collected in this bind-up. Eric Shanower is the Eisner Award-winning and New York Times best selling cartoonist of Age of Bronze series, a graphic novel rendition of the Trojan War.

We’re pleased to see that, even though she faces a major challenge now that she’s been named  the editor of the NYT Book Review, Pamela Paul is still able to write her weekly children’s book column in the daily NYT.

This week, she devotes the column to a single picture book, Mary Wrightly, So Politely, by Shirin Yim Bridges, illus. by Maria Monescillo (HMH, 4/16/14), the story of a quiet little girl who finally musters the courage to speak up for herself (and her baby brother). Paul calls it a “smart, affecting and original story.”

Last night during dinner with one of my oldest friends, I asked if she’d heard that E.L. Konigsburg had died, she said, “Oh no! You don’t know what she meant to me.”

And I didn’t. I only know what she meant to me. My friend, who isn’t a librarian and hasn’t been to the kids’ section of the library since her son was little, vividly recalled reading Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth (S&S/Atheneum) in elementary school. She and her friends were so entranced by the book that they became witches, making up spells and wreaking havoc.

I was only half listening as I recalled my first visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in my early twenties. I walked from the grand stairs to the entrance. As I sat, enchanted by the fountains, I realized I was following the footsteps of the famous run-away Claudia in From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (S&S/Atheneum).

One of the delights of being a school librarian is rereading Konigburg’s titles. A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver (S&S/Atheneum) was required reading in our 5th grade for a very long time.

I have a brother who is sight impaired. When it became obvious that he wouldn’t be able to read again using his eyes, I started shipping him audio books I had reviewed. At a family gathering he took me aside and said he never was much of a reader and wasn’t interested in these kids books, so please  stop sending them. “Sure,” I said. “Sorry.”

Then I reviewed the audio of The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place (RH Audio). It was fabulous. Five stars! Not thinking, I popped it in a jiffy pack off to the brother.

About a week later, a phone call. “Hey, Lisa, you know that audio book you sent me?”

I sputtered, “Oh, I am sorry, I wasn’t thinking … I just loved it so much …  I won’t send anymore.”

“No, no,” he interrupted, ” it was great! Send me more just like that.”

And I would, I thought at the time, except, there are no more just like that. And now there won’t ever be.

Next week, a new picture book arrives from Mo Willems and there’s not a pigeon in it (or a piggie, or an elephant) … the prolific Neil Gaiman is releasing two books … Chris Columbus and Ned Vizzini publish THE middle-grade book of the season … and Kiera Cass continues her mashup of The Hunger Games and The Bachelor. 

All of the titles highlighted here and more, on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of 4.22.13

Picture Books

Tiptoe Joe, Ginger Foglesong Gibson, Laura Rankin, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow)

Read-aloud perfection for the preschooler with a new sibling in the house. (“Shhh, the baby is sleeping!”) It’s a Kids IndieNext Spring: “One by one, Tiptoe Joe the Bear gathers his menagerie of friends to experience something special. As dear friends thud, stomp, and tiptoe towards the surprise, each wearing a colorful and different accessory, the happiness grows until wonderful treasures are revealed. Both inviting and suspenseful, this is a joyful book to share. Beautifully illustrated, Tiptoe Joe has the makings of a classic!” —Joanne Doggart, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Chatham, MA

That Is Not a Good Idea!, Mo Willems, (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray)

Employing the framework of a silent movie, the dastardly villain (a fox) entices an innocent damsel (a goose), all while the readers and their surrogates (the chicks) will be shouting the title refrain. Rock star Mo hits another read-aloud homerun.

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Fancy Nancy: Fanciest Doll in the Universe, Jane O’Connor, Robin Preiss Glasser (HaperCollins)

Is Fancy Nancy a guilty pleasure? Why do I have judgmental opinions about sparkly pink books? O’Connor is a brilliant writer who delves into the psyche of little girls and lets us wade in the everyday issues of childhood. There should be an award for that. Robin Preiss Glasser brings light and line and delight to every page, we KNOW Nancy and her family through her detailed portraits. Don’t miss it.

Bink and Gollie: Best Friends Forever, Kate DiCamillo, Alison McGhee, Tony Fucile, (Candlewick)

They are back!! Kudos to Alison McGhee, Kate DiCamillo and Tony Fucile for another delightfully dry easy-to-read tale about this pair of friends.

Dinosaur Zoom!, Penny Dale (Candlewick/Nosy Crow)

Dale who created the high-interest mashup of paleontological creatures and construction vehicles, Dinosaur Dig! is back with dinos driving cars as they hurtle to a birthday party.
 

Middle Grade

House of Secrets, Chris Columbus, Greg Call, Ned Vizzini, (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray)

This is THE MIDDLE GRADE BIG BOOK OF THE SEASON! Yes, I know I am shouting. Chris Columbus (the director of the first  two Harry Potter movies) and Ned Vizzini (It’s Kind of A Funny Story, The Other Normals) have teamed up to tell a tale that all the Riordan/Colfer/Rowling fans will be fighting over. Magic, adventures, good vs. evil AND its almost 500 pages!

Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain: Lunch Lady #9, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, (RH/Knopf)

One of my favorite graphic novel series for the Captain Underpants set.

Young Adult

Unnatural Creatures: Stories Selected by Neil Gaiman, (HarperCollins)

Gaiman has curated a selection of short stories that reads as if he were sitting across the table saying, “Read this…now read this…okay…read this.” Who wouldn’t follow this expert’s advice? He explains here why he put this volume together. Also out this week is the second InterWorld novel, The Silver Dream (HarperTeen) written with another sci fi master storyteller, Michael Reeves.

The Elite, Kiera Cass, (HarperTeen)

PW called the first in this series “A cross between The Hunger Games (minus the bloodsport) and The Bachelor (minus the bloodsport)” Teen readers will be anxious to get their hands on number 2. The CW is at work on a second pilot for a possible series (they scrapped the one shot last year). We’ll learn in a few weeks if it will go to series, but early buzz is good. Cass has a new YA romance series in the works, described as “Matched meets Never Let Me Go — children trained in academies to be perfect friends can be purchased by the wealthy as companions and a forbidden romance ensues.”

Jane Austen Goes to Hollywood, Abby McDonald, (Candlewick)

I like chicklit. There I said it. Books about women and girls navigating the world of friendships and romantic relationships. I missed McDonald’s Sophomore Switch, loved Boys, Bears & a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots (couldn’t resist the title). The title of this new one says it all. If you are looking for what the “trenders” are calling the “new young adult” or YA crossover, don’t overlook Abby McDonald.

Arclight, Josin L. McQuein, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow)

This debut is a Kids IndieNext Spring pick: “This is a page-turner of dystopian fiction unlike anything I’ve ever read. A stunning debut novel, there’s a reality throughout this work that one doesn’t usually find in science fiction aimed at adolescents. So much more than just an ‘entertainment for young people,’ this story of identity and the courage found when one faces one’s worst nightmares deserves a very wide audience.” —Keri Rojas, Cornerstone Cottage Kids, Hampton, IA

Veronica Roth’s dystopian YA trilogy began with Divergent, continued with Insurgent and will end with Allegiant (HarperCollins/Tegen; Dreamscape audio; both, 10/22/13). The author revealed the title in a video on the USA Today Web Site just before midnight yesterday.

This is a good opportunity to offer lessons in the spelling of suffixes (some tips here).

The film adaptation of the Divergent began shooting earlier this month in Chicago, starring Shailene Woodley as Tris. Ashley Judd recently joined the cast to play her mother and Tony Goldwyn is in talks to play her father.

DivergentOfficial.com

Facebook/DivergentSeries

No more mini-teasers. Here’s the first full-length trailer for The Hunger Games 2, which debuted on the MTV Movie Awards last night.

Next week brings a new opportunity to get boys excited about reading with a new title from the team of Griffiths and Denton. In picture books, get ready for another sure-fire bedtime book from the author and illustrator who created the enduring best seller, Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site. And, tie-ins are arriving for Lego’s latest theme.

All the titles highlighted here, and more, on our downloadable spreadsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of April 15.

Middle Grade

The 13-Story Treehouse, Andy Griffiths, Terry Denton, (Macmillan/Feiwel & Friends)

Last summer’s big debut from Random House was The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker, a crossover sci-fi novel about a girl growing up at the time of a developing disaster caused by the gradual slowing of the earth’s rotation. It became a librarian favorite and went on to appear on several best books lists.

Optioned before publication, the next step in the often rocky road to the screen has been announced; Catherine Hardwicke is now set to direct the adaptation. Hardwicke directed the first Twilight movie, as well as Red Riding Hood, Thirteen and Lords of Dogtown and was attached to direct The Maze Runner, but Word & Film reports she left that project in favor of The Age of Miracles. The Maze Runner is now moving ahead with Wes Ball as director.

Hardwicke was also once attached to direct a movie based on Gayle Foreman’s If I Stay, but that project is now in limbo. In January, the author told  Entertainment Weekly that Chloe Moretz might star, but admitted, “I feel like Hollywood is that boyfriend that keeps breaking my heart … I’ve heard things about dates and pre-production about when things were happening, but there’s been nothing that’s been certain. And I’ve heard it so many times before I don’t know.” Meanwhile, Moretz, who stars in the upcoming new adaptation of Carrie, is in talks to join Charlize Theron in the film of Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places.

Get an early peek at James Dashner’s forthcoming YA novel, which doesn’t hit shelves until Oct, The Eye of Minds (RH/Delacorte YR; Listening Library) on USA Today.com, where the first chapter is posted today (ARC’s have not been sent out yet, but RH Childrens tells us that they will have them at ALA).

It is the first in a new series, Mortality Doctrine, which is described as “a series set in a world of hyperadvanced technology, cyberterrorists, and gaming.” During a TwitterChat last month, Dashner said that it is “basically for the exact same people who love The Maze Runner. A very different story, as Dashner as you can get … but more intellectual and plot-driven than TMR” and that the main female character, Sarah, “is more central than Teresa was in TMR.”

Dashner is currently at work on the sequel titled The Rule of Thoughts.

A film of The Maze Runner, starring Kaya Scodelario, is scheduled for release on Valentine’s Day, 2014.

UPDATE, 5/8/13: Fox ultimately rejected the series.

Filming wrapped this weekend on a pilot for a possible FOX-TV series based on the popular YA novel Delirium by Lauren Oliver.

The enthusiastic cast members, including Emma Roberts and Daren Kagasoff have been Tweeting and instagramming from the set in Malibu (check out a roundup here).

The final book in the trilogy, Requiem, (HarperCollins; Listening Library), was published in early March.

In other dystopian-YA-novels-to-film news, shooting for the big-screen adaptation of Divergent (Veronica Roth, HarperCollins/Tegen; Dreamscape audio) begins today in Chicago, starring Shailene Woodley as Tris Prior and The Maze Runner, based on the book by James Dashner, is going into production with Kaya Scodelario starring.

Below is a quick look at titles to know before you work the information desk today.

Media Attention

The Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army, and a War at the Ends of the Earth, Mark Mazzetti, (Penguin Press) — NYT front page story, Washington Post book review, plus an appearance on Face the Nation, with much more coming this week (see our New Title Radar, Media Magnets).

Carrie and Me: A Mother-Daughter Love Story, Carol Burnett, (S&S; S&S Audio) — Carol Burnett was featured on CBS Sunday Morning, yesterday (see video).

Holds Alert

Life After Life, Kate Atkinson, (Hachette/Little, Brown/Reagan Arthur; Hachette Audio; Hachette Large Print) is on the rise. It has been reviewed widely, most recently in the L.A. Times and the Seattle Times.

Expect to see it on next week’s best seller lists; it is currently at #4 on Amazon sales rankings and has been in the top 100 for 2 weeks.

NYT Notable Hardcover Best Seller Debuts

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, Therese Anne Fowler, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio; Thorndike Large Print)

The latest in the “Real Housewives of Historical Fiction” genre (recent titles include The Paris Wife, which continues as a best seller at #8 on the Trade Paperback list and The Aviator’s Wife, which is now on the extended hardcover list) follows in the footsteps the other titles’ footsteps, arriving on the NYT Fiction best seller list at #10. See our earlier coverage (also note that promotion for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby may bring additional interest).

World War II continues to be a strong interest in Nonfiction, with

Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America’s Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941, (Random House) — #10 in nonfiction. It was featured on NPR at the end of March.

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, Denise Kiernan, (Touchstone, $27.) About the women who worked on a project was enriching uranium for the first atomic bomb. — at #14. The author appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The popularity of “bonnet fiction” continues with a new title by the “queen of the genre,”  Beverly Lewis’s The Guardian, (Baker/Bethany House). It debuts at #5 on Trade Paperback fiction list.

Childrens Books 

New to the NYT Children’s Picture Books best seller list:

Poems to Learn by Heart, collected by Caroline Kennedy, illus. by Jon J. Muth, (Disney/Hyperion, 3/26/13). arrives at #1. See our earlier story.

Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, (Macmillan/Roaring Brook), the perfect title for spring,  debuts at #9  even though it has been out for a year. EarlyWord Kids contributor Lisa Von Drasek included it in her annual list of “Best Books To Give Younger Kids You Don’t Know Very Well.”  The book’s trailer shows off its clever cut-outs:

Next week brings a debut that may be a Newbery contender, Zebra Forest … Another debut, is a twisted modern version of Rumpelstiltskin … Tracy Kidder’s book about a remarkable doctor who works with the poorest in Haiti is rewritten for kids … Tie-ins are being released for the summer animated movie, Epic, based on William Joyce’s The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs.

All the titles highlighted here and many more coming next week, are listed on our downloadable spreadsheet Kids New Title Radar, Week of April 8.

Picture Books

Tea Rex, Molly Idle, (Penguin/Viking)

This is Idle’s second book of 2013 after February’s charming word-less pink pas de deux Flora and the Flamingo, (Chronicle). Here, she brings the same sweet, stylish vision to a tea party where the guest of honor is bigger than life.

Middle Grade

Zebra Forest, Adina Rishe Gewirtz, (Candlewick; Brilliance Audio)

A compelling debut novel of family secrets and how to deal with them once they are revealed. Put it in the mix for your Mock Newbery discussions.

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin, Liesl Shurtliff, (RH/Knopf BYR)

The perfect next read for fans of Adam Gidwitz’s Grimm stories, a twisted fairytale with accessible characters and modern humor, as the following trailer demonstrates.

Nonfiction

Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, Tracy Kidder and Michael French,  (RH/Delacorte BYR)

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Tracy Kidder (Soul of the New Machine, Among the School Children, House) has reworked his profile of Dr. Paul Farmer to be accessible to readers in the 10 and up range. The doctor is an infectious disease specialist and humanitarian who works with the poorest of the poor in Haiti.

Movie Tie-ins

The 3D animated Fox movie Epic, coming to theaters May 24, is based on William Joyce’s The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs (HarperCollins, 2000).

See the trailer on the Official Web Site: EpicTheMovie.com

Epic: Welcome to Moonhaven, Annie Auerbach (HarperFestival, 4/9/13) — Ages 4 to 8

Epic: The Junior Novel, Annie Auerbach (HarperFestival, 4/9/13)  – Ages 8 to 12

Epic: Meet the Leafmen,  (I Can Read Book 2), Lucy Rosen, (HarperCollins, 4/9/13)

Epic: M.K. Saves the Day,  (I Can Read Book 2), Lucy Rosen, (HarperCollins, 4/9/13)

We have learned to adjust to the concept of a premiere for a movie trailer. Now things have gone a crazy step further, a teaser for a teaser.

The teaser for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire debuts on April 14 during the MTV Movie Awards at 9 p.m. ET. Below is the teaser for that teaser (warning: even for a teaser, it’s pretty slight). The movie releases on Nov. 22.

Official Site: TheHungerGamesExplorer.com