The New York Post‘s gossip columnist, Cindy Adams focused on a book yesterday, Give Please a Chance (Hachette/jimmy patterson; Nov. 21), a joint project from James Patterson and Bill O’Reilly, illustrated by a variety of artists, with all proceeds going to charity.

She writes, “O’Reilly, whose shy retiring lips have possibly been shut for minutes, says  … ‘The message for children is that ‘please’ is a magical word. Like if you need a cookie or if you need a bedtime story, you also need to use the word ‘please.’ ”

While both authors have written titles for kids, this will be their first picture book and first collaboration. O’Reilly tweeted about it in May.

Excited to announce I’m writing a kid's book with James Patterson @JP_Books. GIVE PLEASE A CHANCE out 11/21! https://t.co/EVfux6uLOk -BO'R

— Bill O'Reilly (@BillOReilly) May 9, 2016

After midnight release parties and a bit of flashback nostalgia for readers now all grown up, the reviews for the newest take on the wizarding world of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine), are flooding in.

While the play itself is a hit in London, the BBC reports in a round up of reviews of the book that “critics complained reading the script was an ‘incomplete experience’ as the story ‘demands to be seen’ [and that it was] ‘lacking the richness that acting and staging would add.'”

One review that arrived after that roundup, from the often critical Michiko Kakutani in the  daily NYT‘, disagrees, calling it  “absorbing and ingenious” and saying “even though it lacks the play’s much-talked-about special effects, it turns out to be a compelling, stay-up-all-night read.”

Finding the story well crafted (“the suspense here is electric and nonstop, and it has been cleverly constructed around developments recalling events in the original Potter novels”) Kakutani continues that author Jack Thorne “has a visceral understanding of the dynamics and themes at work in those novels … a dynamic, many readers can appreciate, with a particular resonance today.”

People acknowledges that  “Reading 300 pages of dialogue is not the same immersive experience as settling into one of Rowling’s massive tomes, but for fans of the series? It’s a must. ”

USA Today says the print book is “almost ‘Harry Potter’ enough” adding, “reading the script (three out of four stars) is an incomplete experience — noticeably lacking the richness that acting and staging would add to a realized production and the familiar Rowling prose a novel would have contained — it may capture just enough of the old Potter magic to please even the most skeptical of fans.”

The first star has been announced for the forthcoming Disney adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s 1963 Newbery Award winning novel A Wrinkle in Time  and it’s a big one.

Variety reports Oprah Winfrey will play Mrs. Which, one of the three celestial guides who helps the Murry children and Calvin O’Keefe on their quest through time and space to find the Murry’s missing father.

As we noted earlier, Ava DuVernay (Selma) will direct. Jennifer Lee (Frozen) will write the adaptation.

Oprah worked with DuVernay on Selma and is currently working with her on the forthcoming OWN series Queen Sugar, set to begin on September 6th.

IndieWire reports that DuVernay plans a diverse cast for L’Engle’s novel and Variety notes that Oprah was always going to be one of the three Mrs. W characters (the others are Mrs. Whatsit and Mrs. Who).

The novel got a bit of a boost last night when Chelsea Clinton mentioned it as she introduced her mother during the Democratic National Convention. She also name checked Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo by Kevin Lewis – both are rising on Amazon.

Jan Berenstain, famous as the co-author and illustrator of the Berenstain Bears books has died at age 88. With her husband, who died in 2005, she created over 300 titles, featuring Mama, Papa, Brother, and Sister Bear. The books highlighted family life, learning from each other, being brave, and the everyday life lessons of early childhood.

In an obituary, the NYT reports that Dr. Seuss, Theodor Geisel, served as their first editor and that the couple credited him “with helping them achieve their trademark simplicity in language and illustrations. That style made their books popular as reading primers, by helping toddlers see connections between stories and words on a page.”

Their first book came out in 1962, a story written in rhyme titled The Big Honey Hunt. It is still in print but the series itself has developed into animated TV shows, video games, and an iPhone app. After her husband’s death, Jan Berenstain worked on the books with their son Mike, who will take over the series with his brother.

Nineteen new Berenstain books are expected this year.

Movie fan sites are reacting to the latest trailer for Kubo and the Two Strings by Oregon’s stop-motion animation house Laika as  “the studio’s most epic and visually stunning project yet.”

That’s a lot to live up to for the studio that produced Coraline (based on the book by Neil Gaiman,  ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls (based on Alan Snow’s Here Be Monsters!).

Set in Japan, the fantasy-adventure features the voices of  Charlize Theron, Matthew McConaughey, George Takei and Art Parkinson (Game of Thrones). It debuts in theaters on 8/19/16.

The week before the movie’s release, Universal Studios Hollywood will showcase the studio in a display titled  “From Coraline to Kubo: A Magical LAIKA Experience.”

Tie-ins are available for Kubo.

Kubo and the Two Strings: Meet Kubo, R. R. Busse
Hachette/ Little, Brown YR. Paperback, July 19, 2016
Passport to Reading, Level 2, Ages 4 to 8

Kubo and the Two Strings: The Junior Novel, Sadie Chesterfield,
Hachette/ Little, Brown YR. Paperback, July 19, 2016
Ages 4 to 8

The Art of Kubo and the Two Strings, Emily Haynes, Travis Knight,
Chronicle Books, Hardcover, July 19, 2016

Lauren Oliver’s best selling 2010 YA novel Before I Fall has been adapted as a film that now has a release date of April 7, next year, reports Deadline. Told by a girl who has everything, but then dies in a car accident and gets to relive the last day of her life seven times, it stars Zoey Deutch, Halston Sage and Jennifer Beals.

A tie-in paperback is set to be published on December 6, 2016 (HarperCollins).

Also opening that weekend is the film adaptation of R.J. Palacio best selling middle grade title, Wonder. In the lead role is Jacob Tremblay, who starred in the Oscar-winning adaptation, Room. Julia Roberts plays his mother.

Joining the ranks of super hot shows such as Hamilton is the next adventure in the Harry Potter world. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child which opens on July 30th in London’s Palace Theater. It is already sold out until May 2017, at one point selling 175,000 tickets in 24 hours.

It is getting raves as critics slip into preview sessions.

“It is, quite simply, spellbinding” says Variety.

The Telegraph says in its five star review “British theatre hasn’t known anything like it for decades and I haven’t seen anything directly comparable in all my reviewing days.”

The Guardian gives it four out of five stars, saying it is “a thrilling theatrical spectacle.”

In their strong A- review, Entertainment Weekly says “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has pulled off a transfiguration challenge worthy of Professor McGonagall: Converting the visually arresting world of Harry Potter into stage play … as spectacular as it is ambitious, stuffed with special effects and twists that had a preview audience gasping, Cursed Child is a story that doesn’t play it safe with the Potter canon and will change how fans see certain favorite characters forever.”

The script of the show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine), will go on sale Sunday, July 31, which also happens to be Harry’s birthday. The script is by playwright Jack Thorne and is credited as “Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne.” Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.Libraries are celebrating with special late night parties, live readings, and film screenings. As we reported last week, it is already a holds leader.

Walker Books in the UK, along with Candlewick Press in the US, announce plans for a series of novelty and interactive children’s books based on J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world, reports The Bookseller.

Karen Lotz of the Walker Group says the books will offer “unique and beautifully presented content and innovative play value.”

There are no details yet on titles which are set to release this October.

As we noted earlier, there is also an agreement in place with Scholastic to “publish children’s movie tie-in books for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and its sequels, as well as tie-in books based on the original eight Harry Potter films.” Harper Collins has adult tie-in rights and plans to offer titles that “delve into, and behind the scenes of, the richly textured film and its sequels to enhance fans’ enjoyment of the new stories. Books will include details about how the films were made, the process of art and design, interviews with the cast and crew, and interactive formats such as colouring and postcard books.”

The original Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Scholastic; 9780545850568), a faux Hogwarts textbook, is currently out of print an only available from used book retailers. However, the screenplay of the movie will be published on Nov. 19, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay, by J K Rowling (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books).

Another script is also about to be released, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One & Two (Special Rehearsal Edition Script): The Official Script Book of the Original West End Production, by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne (Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine), timed to debut a day after the premiere of the London stage production on July 30th.

Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them is written by Rowling and stars Eddie Redmayne as magician Newt Scamander, it opens on November 18. It also stars Ezra Miller, Colin Farrell, and Katherine Waterston and is directed by David Yates, who was responsible for 4 of the 7 original Potter films.

We posted the trailer previously, below is a featurette with commentary by Rowling:

According to Variety, the Divergent series is likely to move to the small screen as disappointing box office is leading the studio Lionsgate to consider skipping the big screen ending.

Instead the plan appears to be the release of a made-for-TV movie, using it to launch a spin-off series.

Although nothing has been finalized or confirmed, according to Variety it is likely that Ascendant will not open in June 2017 as planned and it remains unclear “if stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, and others will return for the Ascendant television movie.”

The first two films did well at the box office but the third film sank, leading to the possible change of plans. Deadline states there is a “decreasing interest in the property from its core audience at the box office each year.”

Girls’ soccer gets the spotlight from Amazon Studios, which just announced the launch of a new series based on the middle grade novls by U.S. Women’s National Team star player Alex Morgan. Like the books, the series is titled The Kicks. The pilot, which was released last year as part of Amazon’s kids pilot season, is still available on Amazon. All nine live-action episodes will be avail on Aug. 26 for Prime members.

Morgan introduces the series in the trailer:

Proclaims lead character, Devin Burke, played by  newcomer Sixx Orange, “I am NOT a princess, I am a soccer BEAST!”

No tie-ins are listed. but the trade paperback reprints now carry bursts reading “Now an Amazon Original Series!”

Read our chat with Lynn, below.

Join us for the next live chat on August 10, 5 to 6 p.m., ET with the bestselling author of the Shatter Me series Tahereh Mafi, to discuss her upcoming book, Furthermore.

To join the program, sign up here.

Heard of Five Nights at Freddy’s? If you haven’t, you soon will.

It is a popular point-and-click video horror game in which the player takes the role of a night security guard trying to stay alive while a gang of roaming animatronic creatures, possessed by the ghosts of murdered children, stalk the hallways of a pizza parlor.

The game will also have book and potentially movie components. In late June, Scholastic announced plans to start a new series based on the game. In 2015, Entertainment Weekly reported that Warner Bros. optioned the games for a possible film project. Mashup master Seth Grahame-Smith is involved as a producer and told The Hollywood Reporter that he is looking forward to making “an insane, terrifying and weirdly adorable movie.” Deadline Hollywood had news about a year ago that Gil Kenan (in charge of the remake of Poltergeist) is on board to direct. GameNGuide updated the story at the start of this month, speculating a 2018 air date.

The first book based on the series, a 2015 self-published novel titled Five Nights at Freddy’s: The Silver Eyes by Scott Cawthon, is currently soaring on Amazon, sitting just outside the top 100, moving up from a sales rank of 2,226. It will be re-issued by Scholastic in late September and is set ten years after the murders as a group of teens return to the boarded up pizza parlor.

Several libraries bought the self-pub edition and currently show hold ratios hovering around 3:1.

Tony-winning Daveed Diggs, who earned the coveted statue for his origination of the roles of Thomas Jefferson and the Marquis de Lafayette in Lin Manuel-Miranda’s Hamilton, is heading to the Stephen Chbosky film Wonder, based on the long-running middle-grade bestseller by R.J. Palacio, Wonder (RH/ Knopf Young Readers, 2012).

The critically acclaimed novel is about a 10 year-old boy with facial abnormalities who has been homeschooled and what happens when he enters a public school. Diggs will play Mr. Browne, says Deadline Hollywood, “an English teacher at the school whose approach to literature is to teach what it means to be human.”

He will star alongside Jacob Tremblay and Julia Roberts.

The novel is still on the NYT bestseller list, currently #3 on the Children’s Middle Grade Hardcover list.

The new trailer for the adaptation of Patrick Ness’s YA novel A Monster Calls is drawing kudos from a wide range of publications from Gizmodo to the Rolling Stone.

Vanity Fair comments that the trailer gives hope that the movie will live up to the book’s heart-wrenching story and beautiful illustrations.

The movie debuts on October 21st.

Candlewick is releasing two tie-ins, including a hardcover “Special Collector’s Edition” that, in addition to the original illustrated YA novel, includes new essays by Ness, who worked on the screenplay, previously unpublished early sketches by illustrator Jim Kay and interviews with the director, cast, and crew.

A Monster Calls: Special Collectors’ Edition (Movie Tie-in): Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd, Patrick Ness, Jim Kay, (Candlewick, October 4, 2016)

A Monster Calls: A Novel (Movie Tie-in): Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd, Patrick Ness, Jim Kay (Candlewick, August 2, 2016, Trade Paperback)

Back when she was eight years old, Hilde Lysiak, founder and publisher of The Orange Street News got major media attention, featured on the Today Show.

Lysiak went on to scoop older reporters on a murder case, bringing controversy over whether a child should be involved in such activities, even more national media coverage, and a 2016 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award from the Tribeca Film Festival.

Now, the news that she has a deal to write four books for Scholastic and has brought interest in film and TV rights to her story.

The first in the book series, titled Hilde Cracks the Case, will be published in 2017, under Scholastic’s early chapter books imprint, Branches.