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Summaries of chats and announcements are posted to the right. Use them to add to your own TBR piles and for collection development.
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GalleyChatters
Eric Carle posted this Valentine’s Day greeting on his blog, and there’s more in store for his fans. Penguin Young Readers announces that a new picture book will arrive this fall, entitled Friends, (no ISBN or cover are available at this time).
Carle’s most recent book, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse,(Penguin/Philomel) was released in 2011.
Speaking of Harry Potter, David Heyman, who produced the movie adaptations, was signed by DreamWorks last fall to do the same for the debut YA novel, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (Macmillan/Holt BYR; 2012).
A script writer is now in place (chillingly, his name is Christopher Kyle, who shares a name with the recently killed author of American Sniper), according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Shadow and Bone was praised by the NYT Book Review and appeared on the NYT Chapter Book Best Seller list for one week, at #8. The second book in the planned trilogy, Siege and Storm (Macmillan/Holt BYR), is scheduled for release this June.
After 150 million copies in print in the US (450 million worldwide), how can you get customers to buy even more Harry Potter books?
Perhaps new covers will do the trick. For HP‘s fifteenth anniversary, Scholastic announced today that they will release all seven titles in trade paperback, with new covers by cartoonist Kazu Kibuishi (author/illustrator of the Amulet Series for Scholastic’s GRAPHIX imprint) in September, unveiling the first in the series. The American hardcovers will retain the original coves by Mary GrandPré.
Perhaps the film adaptation of James Dashner’s dystopian The Maze Runner (RH/Delacorte, 2009) will play up the relationship between Thomas and Teresa? 20th Century Fox just announced that it’s scheduled for release on Valentine’s Day next year.
Wes Ball has replaced Catherine Hardwicke in the director ‘s chair, but no cast has yet been announced.
Dashner releases The Eye of Minds,(RH/Delacorte; Listening Library), the first in a new series, The Mortality Doctrine, in October.
Picture books are in the spotlight this week, with new titles from several old favorites. In Young Adult, a dystopian novel, Maggot Moon, breaks new ground and causes controversy. These titles, plus several more, are on our downloadable spreedsheet, Kids New Title Radar, Week of Feb. 11.
Maisy Learns to Swim: A Maisy First Experiences Book, Lucy Cousins, (Candlewick)
Maisy Grows a Garden: A Maisy First Science Book, Lucy Cousins, (Candlewick)
It’s time to refresh the preschool collection with these two new titles from early childhood rockstar, Cousins. In the first title, part of the Maisy First Experiences series, she goes to her first swim class. In the second, a Maisy First Science book, kids can use pull-tabs to learn what will grow from the seeds Maisy plants.
Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout (Book #8), Megan McDonald, illus by Peter H. Reynolds, (Candlewick Brilliance Audio)
If someone made me pick my favorite series for newly fluent readers, my first choice among second and third grade early chapter books would be Judy Moody and her little brother Stink. I was positively gleeful when I heard that the next one was imminent.
One Gorilla: A Counting Book, Anthony Browne, (Candlewick)
As demonstrated by the cover, every one of the primates in this series of portraits display a distinct personality. The book ends with U.K. Children’s Laureate Browne’s own self-portrait and a group of other humans, to show that, despite their variations, they are, “All primates. All one family. All my family, and yours!”
Doug Unplugged, Dan Yaccarino (RH/Alfred A. Knopf)
Picture books about the difficulty of making friends are featured in this week’s NYT Book Review‘s “Children’s Books” column. Yaccarino’s book, in which a young robot discovers the joys of the analog life, is called the “pick of the litter.”
Maggot Moon, Sally Gardner, Julian Crouch, (Candlewick; Briliance Audio)
On PW’s list of Most Anticipated for Spring (Children’s): “Gardner’s story of a boy taking a stand against a totalitarian government was one of the much-discussed titles at last year’s Bologna Book Fair. While dystopian YA novels are a dime a dozen these days, Gardner’s (alternate) historical setting and dyslexic narrator set this book apart.” It’s continuing to provoke discussion; reviews are polar opposites. Kirkus calls it “a book with a message but no resonance,” while VOYA see is as a “dark, haunting tale of secrets, lies, and those who fight for the truth.” The Wall Street Journal is a fan, calling it “a brilliant, shattering” novel that “suddenly [makes] dystopia feels new again; it reclaims its power to shock.”
Out of The Easy, Ruta Sepetys, (Penguin/Philomel)
Septys’ first novel, Between Shades of Gray, may have gained some readers who expected a quite a different book, but with a similar title. This new title is set in the New Orleans’ French Quarter. Librarians on YA GalleyChat were “head over heels in love” with it, calling it “very smart, very realistic, and very much an award-winner with juge crossover appeal.” Reviewers concur. Says Kirkus,”With a rich and realistic setting, a compelling and entertaining first-person narration, a colorful cast of memorable characters and an intriguing storyline, this is a surefire winner. Immensely satisfying.” It is also reviewed in Sunday’s NYT Book Review
The Indigo Spell, Richelle Mead, (Penguin/Razorbill)
The third book in The Bloodlines series got advance attention from Entertainment Weekly’s “Shelf Life” blog; “After her (hot!) dalliance with the irresistible Moroi Adrian in The Golden Lily, Sydney is struggling more and more to stick to her Alchemist teachings…[and] dares to hope that she might break free of the life she’s known… and embrace a love she thought to be forbidden…Edward Cullen, eat your heart out.” The adaptation of Blood Sisters, the first in Mead’s Vampire Academy series is moving forward. It is set to be directed by Mark Waters (Mean Girls, Spiderwick Chronicles) with Zoey Deutch (Beautiful Creatures) and Australian actress Lucy Fry set to star. Production is expected to begin this summer.
Sever, Lauren DeStefano, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
The Kirkus reviewer was not a fan of this third book in The Chemical Garden Trilogy, ” in this rushed effort to tie up loose ends, holes are left in its wake. Fans will delight in the symbolism and clues from the cover, but they will ultimately find the trilogy’s conclusion unsatisfactory.” DeStefano has just signed a deal for a new series, The Internment Chronicles, set to be begin next April with Perfect Ruin.
In an unusual blend of page and screen, the stars of the upcoming adaptation of Beautiful Creatures joined authors Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl and director Richard LaGravenes for a book signing at an L.A. Barnes& Noble on Saturday, (photos of the event are posted here).
The cast members at the event were Alice Englert (Lena), Alden Ehrenreich (Ethan), Zoey Deutch (Emily) and Thomas Mann (Link).
The movie premieres in Hollywood tonight and opens in theaters a week from Thursday, on Valentine’s Day.
Official Movie Site: BeautifulCreatures.WarnerBros.com
The fourth and final title in the series, Beautiful Redemption, (Hachette/Little, Brown YR), was published in October.
The trailer is light on humor, but Alden indicates the film may be different. He tweeted during a live Q&A on the movie’s Twitter site, “Alice and I from the beginning wanted to make this film as funny, offbeat, and unusual as possible.”
This week is all about series; all but one of the titles we’re featuring below are either continuations or the beginning of series. Please note that Maurice Sendak’s final completed book, My Brother’s Book, featured on NPR’s Morning Edition today, was covered in New Title Radar, as were the children’s tie-ins to the forthcoming Disney movie Oz the Great and the Powerful.
You can download an Excel spreadsheet here, listing the following titles and even more arriving this week.
The Kiss (Witch and Wizard series), James Patterson and Jill Dembowski, (Hachette/Little, Brown Young Readers; Hachette Audio), ages 12 and up
Patterson’s books are catnip to kids who need a high-interest read. The cover of this, the fourth title in the series, features a new look for the series (which began with the paperback edition of The Fire in November).
Scarlet, Marissa Meyer, (Feiwel & Friends; Macmillan Young Listeners), ages 12 to 17
The first title in the Lunar Chronicles series, Cinder, was on my list of top ten YA novels last year. As Cinder was a futuristic take on Cinderella, it is not much of a stretch to see Red Riding Hood in this one with a very scary wolf.
Hysteria, Megan Miranda, (Walker Childrens), Ages 14 to 19
When the galley came out of the box our hip, cool, fabulous cataloger Abbey Chapel snatched it from my hands. I need not say more, but I will quote YA GalleyChatters who say this is a great suspense story about a girl who has apparently killed her boyfriend but is not sure what happened.
Etiquette & Espionage, Gail Carriger, (Hachette/Little, Brown BYR), ages 7 to 17
Carriger already has a strong following for her Parasol Protectorate steampunk novels. With this, the first in the Finishing School series, she steps into YA,. The school is housed in a massive airship and is not what the mothers who send their daughters there expect; in this case “finishing” means “finishing people off” (those scissors on the cover are not for cutting silk). It was the title that came up most when I asked people at MidWinter what I should be reading. Don’t miss it.
Big Nate Flips Out , Lincoln Peirce, HarperCollins, Ages 8 to 12
Big Nate….seriously, any children’s librarian who doesn’t automatically buy this series should be put out to pasture . This is for the Wimpy Kid crowd, as underscored in the blurb from Jeff Kinney on the cover; “Big Nate is funny, big time.” Here, Nate tries to become a neat freak.
Seven Wonders Book 1: The Colossus Rises, Peter Lerangis and Torstein Norstrand, (HarperCollins), ages 8 to 12
Lerangis wrote two of the books in the 39 Nine Clues series, and here begins a new series, with a different publisher, which features an unexplored theme in children’s books, with four kids on a life-or-death mission to find seven orbs, hidden in the ruins of antiquity’s seven wonders of the world.
T
he Fourth Stall Part III, Chris Rylander, (HarperCollins/Walden Pond Press), ages 8 to 12
Funny and a little wacked. Rylander is a unique voice in series fiction.
Better Nate Than Ever, Tim Federle, (S & S Books for Young Readers), Ages 9 to 13
There’s another Nate in Town, as I found out when someone handed this to me as I roamed the aisles of ALA, and I am so glad they did. Smart and funny, first time author, Federle takes us behind the scenes into the world of working child actors in Broadway musicals.
Treasure on Superstition Mountain, Elise Broach, Antonio Javier Caparo, (Macmillan/Holt BYR), ages 8 to 12
Elise Broach knows how to tell a story. She especially knows how to keep those middle grade readers on the edge of their seats. This is the continuation of the Superstition Mountain series. If you didn’t read the first title, Missing on Superstition Mountain, pick it up now and count your lucky stars that you don’t have to wait for the second.
Follow Follow, Marilyn Singer, illus. by Josee Masse, (Dial), ages 6 & up
Singer stunned the picture book world with Mirror, Mirror, her first book of clever reworkings of fairytales in reverso poetry format (the poem is presented forward and then backward using the same text in reverse order). If you own the first (as you should), you won’t want to be without the second one.
Froggy’s Worst Playdate, Jonathan London, illus. by Frank Remkiewicz, (Penguin/Viking Juvenile), ages 3 to 5
London kills me. No kidding. From the first Froggy Gets Dressed, he reflects back the everyday lives of young children and finds humor in seemingly disastrous circumstances. This series is read-aloud gold.
On NPR last week, Neil Gaiman talked about his favorite movies and tv episodes, for a segment called “Watch This.” (Don’t be insulted that he didn’t mention books; they were not part of the assignment).
2013 may be an even bigger year than usual for Gaiman. Below are the many projects he’s released or has in the pipeline:
Chu’s Day was released in January. Says EarlyWord Kids Correspondent, Lisa Von Drasek, “It is every bit as delightful as the premise (Chu is a little panda with a big sneeze that gets him in to trouble). Illustrator Adam Rex’s rolly polly panda is a huggably ‘awww’ inspiring as he sneezes his way through what will be a story time treasure.”
Check out all the happy library users in the following spread (and what’s going on in the empty card catalog drawers; click on the image to enlarge it):
Also recently released, a new edition of The Books of Magic (DC Comics/Vertigo, 1/29), in which a boy is introduced to all the heroes and villains in the DC comics. The series is collected in hardcover for the first time, over twenty years after it first appeared. It gets a big push from the Comics Alliance.
And, after many delays, Ron Howard is in talks to direct an adaptation of The Graveyard Book. Also in the works are several re-releases, an adult novel (The Ocean at the End of the Lane) and a prequel mini-series to The Sandman comic book series (DC/Vertigo), which was announced at Comic-Con last year. Also, his fantasy epic American Gods (released on its 10th anniversary as an “Author’s Preferred Text” edition last year and available in paperback on 2/5) is being developed as a series at HBO and he’s written an episode of the new season of Doctor Who, to air this spring.
Details on publication dates for the upcoming projects, after the jump:
We are shocked and saddened to report the passing of legendary storyteller and author of 23 books of folklore, Diane Wolkstein, last Thursday, Jan. 31. To children’s book people, storytellers and librarians she brought weight and honor to the art, lightness and joy to the telling. She will be missed. For over 40 years, she introduced children to the joys of folklore by telling Stories at the Statue of Hans Christian Anderson.
In a message, her daughter, Rachel Zucker stated:
It is with profound sadness that I tell you that my mother, Diane Wolkstein, passed away very early this morning in Taiwan. She had had emergency heart surgery but the procedure was not sufficient to allow her heart to work on its own. She was not conscious and she was not alone. She had several of her close friends from Taiwan there with her and at the very end she had a rabbi say kaddish and Buddhist prayers were said as well. Her death is a terrible shock. Her life overflowed with joy, intensity, friendship, love and spirit. Her love for each of us and the stories she told live inside of us forever.
A public memorial service will be held this Sunday, February 3rd, at 3PM at the New York Insight Meditation Center, located at 28 West 27th Street, 10th floor (b/w 5th and 6th Avenue). A second memorial, celebrating Diane’s life, is planned for the summer/fall.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that people consider making a donation in Diane’s name to Partners in Health, or Tzu Chi Foundation. Videos of Wolkstein are on Vimeo.
Maurice Sendak’s final completed book, My Brother’s Book, (HarperCollins) arrives this coming Tuesday. The Vanity Fair Web Site heralds it with a slide show of five non-consecutive spreads, with this annotation:
The author’s beautifully illustrated narrative tells the story of his brother’s journey to the end of life, a deeply personal tale inspired by his brother Jack’s death, in 1995. Written in verse that echoes Shakespeare and William Blake, Sendak’s longing to be reunited with his deceased sibling serves as a suiting good-bye from the beloved Where the Wild Things Are author. As longtime friend Tony Kushner notes in the book’s jacket, “We’ll miss him forever.”
Pre-pub reviews are ecstatic, with Horn Book noting, “As the ultimate not-for-little-children Sendak, this profoundly personal book about loss and healing should find its audience among thoughtful adults (and perhaps some teenagers).”
Keep your eye out for these titles for kids and young adults, arriving this week.
Lick!, Matthew Van Fleet, Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books
Libraries participating in Every Child Ready to Read programs will want to own multiple copies of this heavy stock interactive title, the second in the new series that began with Sniff!. There are never enough truly engaging interactive books for the just toddling set and this new series is groundbreaking as was Van Fleet’s Tails.
Amelia Bedelia Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, Peggy Parish illustrated by Fritz Siebel 1/29
Amelia Bedelia Chapter Book #1: Amelia Bedelia Means Business, Herman Parish and Lynne Avril, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books)
Amelia Bedelia Chapter Book #2: Amelia Bedelia Unleashed Herman Parish and Lynne Avril, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books)
Amelia Bedelia Hits the Trail; I Can Read, Level 1, Herman Parish and Lynne Avril, (HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books)
It has been five decades since the literally minded housekeeper first arrived on the scene and grabbed pen and paper to “draw the curtains” and get some little clothes to “dress the chicken.” Early readers have loved her for generations and we rejoice that this series continues with Peggy’s nephew, Herman Parish who has carried on the misadventures of Amelia Bedelia with a new leveled reader and two chapter books.
Fans of Smile by Raina Telgemeier (Scholastic, 2010) will go nuts for Peanut (RH/Schwartz & Wade; paper original; ages 11 to 14) a graphic novel by Ayun Halliday, illustrated by Paul Hoppe. It’s the story of Sadie, who decides to try to win friends via a deception. Of course, she ends up weaving a tangled web.
Public and school libraries won’t want to miss Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, Americas First Black Paratroopers, by Sibert Winner Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick; ages 10 and up), out just in time for Black History Month.
An “exclusive peek” at Kate DiCamillo’s next book, Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures (Candlewick, 9780763660406, 9/24/13; Listening Library), appears in USA Today. The accompanying article notes, “The 240-page novel, which tackles issues like loss and grief with humor, is interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and illustrations by K.G. Campbell.” USA Today also interviews DiCamillo.
Below is the excerpt (available via Scribd., so we don’t feel that we’re breaking USA Today’s exclusivity):
The CW network has gone back and forth on a series based on Kiera Cass’s YA novel, The Selection (HarperTeen, 2012), but now it appears to be back on track. According to Deadline, a new script has the support of the CW’s President and will be made into a pilot.
Meanwhile, the book already has its own trailer:
The second title in the planned trilogy, The Elite (HarperTeen) arrives April 23.
A favorite at the Sundance Film Festival, which wraps on Sunday, is an adaptation of the 2008 National Book Award finalist, the YA novel, The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp, (RH/Knopf Books for Young Readers; Brilliance Audio). It was acquired by start-up distributor, A24 Film, which plans to release it this summer
The film stars Miles Teller (who won kudos for his role in the remake of Footloose) and Shailene Woodley (known for her role in the TV series The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and for nearly stealing the show from George Clooney in The Descendants). Woodley is also set to star in the upcoming adaptation of Divergent (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen, 2011) which is scheduled for release on March 21, 2014.
The film adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2009 Newbery Medal winner, The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins), is in the news again. Ron Howard is in negotiations to take over the director’s chair for Disney, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Previously planned as an animated film directed by Henry Selick, who directed the adaptation of Gaiman’s Coraline, it is now planned as a live-action film.