One copy of every Dummies book in print is a lot of books — over 1,800 as Gwinnett County Public Library [GA] recently found out. As the winners of Wiley’s For Dummies 2011 Library Contest, the library won the full set of the books by creating a Dummies Fan Page on Facebook and gathering the most “Likes” (5,002).

Gwinnett County P.L. mascot Dewey the Dinosaur was assisted in unloading the books by The Dummies Man last week (it must have been hot inside those costumes).

It seems nobody told him that processing books is not for dummies.

Wiley is currently running a Frommer’s Library Display Contest, with the chance to win a visit and travel talk from Arthur and Pauline Frommer, as well as 50 Frommer’s travel guides.

The major question on librarians’ minds at OverDrive’s Digipalooza, which concluded yesterday, was when Kindle users will be able to download from OverDrive. The debut is viewed with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Librarians look forward to being able to serve Kindle users, but worry about being able to buy enough copies to meet the increased demand.

Throughout the conference, CEO Steve Potash, looking like a kid with a delicious secret, kept saying “soon” and, “I’m not allowed to announce a date yer.” During the final session, he delivered a broad hint,  by summarizing the main points of his “Crystal Ball Report” :

Streamlining (both downloading and ordering)
Explosion (we have gone from two reading devices to 85 and more are coming)
Premium (the library catalog as the most premium, value-added site on the Web)
Traffic (enormous growth coming by year’s end)

But Potash delivered a larger and more revolutionary vision in his report; the library website as the first place to go to find in-copyright ebooks with the WIN platform enhancements. For a title that the library does not own, users can recommend that the library buy it or buy it themselves from ebook retailers (including independent stores). As a result, Potash predicted, the value of owning a library card will grow exponentially and traffic will make last year’s increases look like “small fry.” To prepare, he has put his staff on “Maximum OverDrive” to ensure the system will be able to handle demand 100 times greater than last year.

Join us for GalleyChat this coming Tuesday, Aug. 2, from 4 to 5 p.m. (Eastern) when we will be discussing galleys of books coming out in Sept. and beyond.

Below are ten fall titles that rose to the top of participants’ TBR piles during last month’s chat:

The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach, Little, Brown, 9/7
Hachette Large Print, 9780316204729
Comments — a “masterpiece” and “Baseball and Moby Dick–what a combination! ”

When She Woke, Hillary Jordan, Algonquin, 10/4
Audio, Highbridge, 9781611745702
Comments — “brilliant, disturbing, unexpected turn. Much more than 1984 meets The Scarlet Letter.” –” Made me think of Handmaid’s Tale ”

Forgotten Waltz, Anne Enright, Norton, 10/3
Thorndike, 9781410443243

Lots of interest, although nobody had read yet.

Lost Memory of Skin, Russell Banks, Ecco, 9/27
HarperLuxe, 9780062088857
This is one I’ve become an evangelist for  and I’m happy to report that those I’ve gotten to read it are glad they did. Some say it’s Banks’ best yet.

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern, Doubleday, 9/13
RH Audio, 9780307938909
Large Print, Center Point, 9781611732023

We hardly need to say more about this one. As we reported earlier, it  has already been compared to The Help and The Da Vinci Code, in terms of potential popularity (but not at all in terms of plot or style or setting!)

The Night Strangers, Christopher Bohjalian, Crown, 10/4
RH audio, 9780307940773
RH Large Print, 9780739378366

Not many in the group have read this yet, but one who did said she “Couldn’t put it down,” causing others to grab their copies

Rin Tin Tin, Susan Orlean, S&S, 10/4
S&S Audio, 9781442344969; Thorndike, 9781410443441
This one has all the elements of a hit; fascinating historical detail (for instance, the heavy reliance on animals during combat in WWI), show business, triumph over obstacles and, of course, Susan Orlean and the dogs that were Rin Tin Tin through the years.

The Stranger’s Child, Alan Hollinghurst, Knopf, 10/11
RH Audio, 9780307966582
Comment — “Reminded me of Downton Abbey and Kate Morton.” Just announced as one of the titles on the Booker longlist. If it wins, the timing couldn’t be better; the announcement will come the week after it is published here.

Those Across the River, Christopher Buehlman, Ace,  9/6
Blackstone Audio
One who picked it up via NetGalley said she “Had nightmares after only reading the 1st quarter of it.”

Triangles, Ellen Hopkins, Atria/S&S, 9781451626339, 10/18 [No cover art yet]
S&S Audio, 9781442345362
Hopkins’ first book for adults, using the free verse style that is familiar from her YA titles; Comment “it’s riveting… she packs punch!

Thanks to hundreds of wonderful teachers and librarians, nearly ten thousand first- and second-graders voted on four finalists for the Irma Black Award and they chose How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills (Schwartz & Wade).

That so many of you read the finalists aloud to your students, led them in discussions, and encouraged them to vote, attests to the importance of the picture book format in supporting the development of critical thinking skills. As one of my second grade students put it, “Rocket should be the Irma Black winner because it tells the truth. You can’t learn to read in a day. It takes time. A lot of time. You can tell from the pictures; it takes seasons.”

Not only that, Rocket is a joy to read aloud, again and again.

Let the celebrating begin! Please join us:

May 19, 2011
Bank Street College of Education
610 West 112th Street
New York City

8:30 AM Light Breakfast | 9:00 AM Award Ceremony | 10:00 AM Book Signing

To RSVP or to make a contribution to the Irma S. and James H. Black Fund at Bank Street College of Education, please email Alesia Yezerskaya, or phone 212-875-4608.

Keynote Speaker: Perri Klass is a pediatrician who writes both fiction and non-fiction. She writes about children and families, about medicine, about food and travel, and about knitting. Her newest book is a novel, The Mercy Rule, and the book before that was a work of non-fiction, Treatment Kind and Fair: Letters to a Young Doctor, written in the form of letters to her son as he starts medical school.

Perri lives in New York City, where she is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University. She is also Medical Director of Reach Out and Read, a national literacy organization which works through doctors and nurses to promote parents reading aloud to young children.

We had a fabulous day discussing children’s books at BookFest@Bank Street. It began with Leonard Marcus exploring the work of Margaret Wise Brown. Diane Muldrow, editor at Golden Books, focused her talk on the lyricism and preciseness of MWB’s word choices and the reasons re-illustrators are chosen for new editions of some of her titles. Wendell Minor showed his sketches and finished paintings along with the originals of Nibble Nibble. Stephen Savage took us through the journey of the manuscript of Fathers are Coming Home from its contract in 1943 to its finally being published in 2010. He showed slides of the evolution of the illustrations from simple sketches to the final linoleum block printed art.

The keynote from Laurie Halse Anderson was a thought-provoking sprint through American history focusing on the Revolution, the founding fathers and her research through secondary and primary sources, in order to anchor her book, Forge, the sequel to Chains. Below is video of her talk, shot by School Library Journal.

BookFest at Bank Street 2010: Laurie Halse Anderson from School Library Journal on Vimeo.

Lastly, the irrepressible Jon Scieszka partnered with his protege Mac Barnett and accompanied by a slyly deadpan David Yoo, implored the audience of librarians, teachers and writers to inspire boys to read by providing high interest materials. They specifically advocated humor, but they were supportive of weapons, hunting and perhaps graphic bloody imagery (mostly they were kidding, I think).

More videos from the day are available at School Library Journal‘s web site.

Two big commitments are on the agenda for tomorrow — voting and GalleyChat. For information on how to join the latter (begins at 4 pm., EST), link here.

During the last GalleyChat, Harper offered copies of Tom Franklin’s Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Over 150 people took advantage of that offer; we’d like to hear how you are enjoying it.

We’re also curious to know if you are taking advantage of Simon & Schuster’s eGalley program (the latest title being offered is the paranormal thriller, Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann, coming in February with a 200,000 copy printing).

Cryer’s Cross Lisa McMann Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Simon Pulse – (2011-02-08) ISBN / EAN: 1416994815 / 9781416994817

Below are some other titles on our radar. We look forward to hearing what’s on your TBR list.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Laura Hillenbrand Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 1400064163 / 9781400064168

RH Large Print; 9780375435010
RH Audio; 9780739319697

During our last galley chat, several wondered whether Laura Hillenbran’s new book will have as much appeal as the author’s earlier book Seabiscuit. I’ve read it and believe it will. In that book, Hillenbrand was able to get thousands fascinated by the story of a long-forgotten race horse. Imagine what the same author can do with a WWII hero who survived 47 days in the open ocean only to be captured by the Japanese. The book’s already received universally strong prepub reviews; we’re expecting heavy consumer coverage when it arrives in two weeks.

Looking ahead to the spring,

Left Neglected Lisa Genova Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Gallery – (2011-01-04) ISBN / EAN: 1439164630 / 9781439164631

Large Print; Thorndike; (ISBN 9781410433824; price $35.99; release date 1/5/2011

After Still Alice, a novel about  early-onset Alzheimer’s, this is the story about a woman afflicted with another brain disease; one that makes the sufferer unable to recognize part of themselves. Booklist has already called it “more accessible than her somber first book,” There is strong inhouse buzz that this will reach a wider audience than Still Alice.

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ARE’s for The Fates Will Find Their Way, a literary debut with strong inhouse buzz were sent in the Oct B&T mailing. Lee Boudraux’s editorial letter asks people to “take a moment” to read it; it’s a refreshingly short book (Boudraux terms it “economical”).

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West of Here Jonathan Evison Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2011-02-15) ISBN / EAN: 1565129520 / 9781565129528

Highbridge Audio; 9781615731169

We’ve been hearing about this for months from Michael Rockliff, head of library marketing at Workman/Algonquin and we still have a few months to go before the public gets its hand on it. It’s picking up buzz at the regional bookseller shows, just received a star from LJ and it now has a Web site, complete with a timeline and newspaper clippings from the period the book covers.

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The Weird Sisters Eleanor Brown Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam – (2011-02-17) ISBN / EAN: 0399157220 / 9780399157226

Penguin Audio; 9780142428948

The sisters’ motto: “There is no problem a library card can’t solve.” From the editor that brought us The Help and The Postmistress, Booklist says that debut novel The Weird Sisters exhibits “no false steps.”

The deadline is nearing to sign up for a special look at 2011 adult titles from a wide range of publishers (sponsored by the Trade Library Committee of the Assoc. of American Publishers; they’re the library marketing folks), being held on Oct. 20, beginning at noon at Random House in New York City. More details here.

RSVP by October 8, 2010 to Marlene Scheuermann at mscheuermann@publishers.org.

Featuring: Laurie Halse Anderson, Jon Scieszka & Leonard Marcus
Link here for more information and to register

A few posts ago, I mentioned that S&S is doing a publisher preview for their adult imprints. Unfortunately, I got the date wrong — it’s Friday, September 24th  from 9 to 12:30 at the S&S offices in NYC (email Michelle Fadlalla to RSVP or for more information).

Such a deal; you get breakfast, a chance to hear S&S editors talk about the books they are passionate about, and to hear from National Book Award winner Carlos Eire about his new book, Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy (Free Press, Nov. 2, 2010), not to mention the opportunity to mingle with area colleagues.

Also, save the date for the AAP Fall Buzz Event for Tri-State area on Wednesday, October 20^th (don’t worry; I double-checked that date!); more details later.

And, if you’re not in the tri-state area, remember that you can get the HarperCollins Buzz — Fall 2010 right on your desktop.

Registration is now open for this year’s BookFest, which I am proud to say is being hosted by Bank Street College of Education, where I am the Coordinator of School Services and Children’s Librarian.

The event, which is designed for adults, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 30 and features a keynote address by Laurie Halse Anderson, a panel of authors led by Jon Scieszka, on how to write for kids who choose not to read and a panel devoted to Margaret Wise Brown, who began writing children’s books while a student at Bank Street. This year marks her hundredth birthday celebration.

This is a great opportunity for children’s librarians to get together with colleagues. For more details and registration (required; closes 9/10), please go to BookFest@Bank Street.

Librarians have the opportunity to win some very cool book-related prizes:

1) Trip to London! — Deadline, 9/17 — to celebrate the paperback publication of Audrey Niffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry, literary agent Regal Literary is sponsoring a trip to London, which includes a tour of Highgate Cemetary lead by Audrey Niffenegger. A separate blogger’s prize is lunch with a Regal Literary agent and an editor from one of NYC’s top trade houses (what an opportunity for an aspiring writer). To win that one, you must write a review of 250 words or more (positive or negative).

2) $200 gift certificates each for 50 reading groups — Deadline, 8/31 — Celebrating their 10th anniversary, ReadingGroupGuides.com asks groups to share their Top 10 Favorite Discussion Books. 50 winners will receive a $200 gift card to a retailer of their choice — which, in keeping with the 10th anniversary theme, totals $10,000. Be sure to tell your book groups (they’ve created special printable flyers for libraries so you can hand them out to your groups).

3) 50 copies of Frommer’s Guides and a visit from Arthur Frommer — Deadline, 9/30 — for the library display that best answers the question, “How do you travel with Frommer’s?”

Please join us at 4 p.m., EDT, tomorrow, to talk about galleys of forthcoming books (if you haven’t joined a GalleyChat before, click here for details).

Many of you have unpacked your ALA boxes, so there will be lots to talk about.

Here’s some titles that may come up:

Stiltsville: A Novel Susanna Daniel Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-08-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061963070 / 9780061963070

This title has come up at every one of our previous GalleyChats. I read it during the recent NYC heat wave and it was the perfect antidote. There’s plenty of heat because it’s set in South Florida, but there is also plenty of swimming, boating and a community of summer homes built on stilts. No high drama or madness here, thank heaven; just an engrossing story of an “ordinary” woman as she meets the man she will marry, forms lasting friendships, and raises a family. It’s refreshing to read about good, caring people who struggle with many of the same issues we all do, but who bring an extra ounce of wisdom to it.
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I’d Know You Anywhere: A Novel Laura Lippman Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 384 pages Publisher: William Morrow – (2010-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061706558 / 9780061706554

Of course, Laura Lippman already has a following, but this standalone is poised to bring her to a whole new audience.

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Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian Avi Steinberg Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Nan A. Talese – (2010-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 0385529090 / 9780385529099

This book had me at the opening line, “Pimps make the best librarians.” The author knows;  he had to draw on prison inmates to help run his library.

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The Watchman’s Rattle: Thinking Our Way Out of Extinction Rebecca Costa Retail Price: $26.95 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Vanguard Press – (2010-10-05) ISBN / EAN: 1593156057 / 9781593156053

I met author Rebecca Costa during her signing at ALA. She’s a real force and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her on the talk shows this fall.  The book’s scary subtitle addresses her central question; “Why can’t we think our way out of our problems any more?”

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Russian Winter: A Novel Daphne Kalotay Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Harper – (2010-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061962163 / 9780061962165

This debut sounds like a good, old-fashioned saga about a 76-year old former Russian ballerina who reviews her past as she puts together an auction catalog of her jewels.

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The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration Isabel Wilkerson Retail Price: $30.00 Hardcover: 640 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-09-07) ISBN / EAN: 0679444327 / 9780679444329

Isabel was the last speaker on the First Author panel at ALA and she had us hanging on her every word as she spoke passionately about the migration of African Americans to the North, told through the stories of ordinary people who made the trek.

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The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating Elisabeth Tova Bailey Retail Price: $18.95 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2010-08-24) ISBN / EAN: 1565126068 / 9781565126060

The true story of a woman recovering from an illness. Her friend gives her a very strange gift; a snail in a terrarium

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Exley Brock Clarke Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2010-10-05) ISBN / EAN: 1565126084 / 9781565126084

By the author of An Arsonist’s Guide to Writer’s Home in New England; it was a librarians’ Shout & Share pick at BEA and was featured at Algonquin’s booth at ALA.

…to Carol Fitzgerald, co-founder and President of the Book Report Network. She’s a strong believer in libraries and has written an impassioned letter urging authors and readers to join her in advocating for library funding by participating in the Library Advocacy Day Rally on June 29th from 11AM-12PM at Upper Senate Park, in Washington, D.C., writing to legislators, sending Op-Ed pieces to local newspapers and finding out what support local libraries need.

We enjoyed the last one so much, that we’re doing it again, tomorrow at 4 p.m., Eastern.

Here’s your opportunity to let your fellow librarians know what galleys to move to the top (or bottom) of their To Be Read piles. Log on to Twitter at 4 p.m.; hashtag is #ewgc (for more explicit directions, click here).

Some of you may have more to add about the titles that came up last time (see Galley Chat!). Here’s a few others you may have received lately:

Wanna Get Lucky? Deborah Coonts Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Forge Books – (2010-05-11) ISBN / EAN: 0765325438 / 9780765325433

One of the authors who will be featured at the AAP’s Librarian Lunch coming up at BEA.

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The Dead Lie Down: A Novel Sophie Hannah Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 480 pages Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) – (2010-06-01) ISBN / EAN: 0143117491 / 9780143117490

Author is appearing at the ALTAFF Tea at ALA next month.

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Broken: A Novel (Grant County) Karin Slaughter Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Delacorte Press – (2010-06-22) ISBN / EAN: 0385341970 / 9780385341974

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The Liar’s Lullaby (Jo Beckett) Meg Gardiner Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Dutton Adult – (2010-06-24) ISBN / EAN: 0525951725 / 9780525951728

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32 Candles: A Novel Ernessa T. Carter Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Amistad – (2010-07-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061957844 / 9780061957840

One of the Harper Buzz titles (check it out here). It sounded great even before we got to see this terrific cover.

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Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void Mary Roach Retail Price: $25.95 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company – (2010-08-02) ISBN / EAN: 0393068471 / 9780393068474

She was a riot grossing us out at the AAP Breakfast at PLA (everything floats at zero gravity, including dead skin — like being in a snow globe). Let’s see how she handles Jon Stewart, who is the MC of BEA’s Author Breakfast on Thurs, May 27th.

After weeks of waiting for the results to be e-mailed and phoned in, I am thrilled to announce that Robot Zot! by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by David Shannon, has won the 2010 Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature.

Robot Zot! Jon Scieszka Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing – (2009-09-22) ISBN / EAN: 1416963944 / 9781416963943

Three books received honors:

A Penguin Story Antoinette Portis Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: HarperCollins – (2009-01-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061456888 / 9780061456886

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Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem Mac Barnett Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 48 pages Publisher: Hyperion Book CH – (2009-06-23) ISBN / EAN: 0786849584 / 9780786849581

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Sergio Saves the Game Edel Rodriguez Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2009-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316066176 / 9780316066174

The Black Award will be presented on Thursday, May 13th at 8:30 am at the Bank Street College of Education. NY. The keynote speaker will be Carmen Deedy, who won a Black Honor in 2007 for Martina The Beautiful Cockroach, Peachtree Press.

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach Carmen Agra Deedy Retail Price: $19.95 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Peachtree Publishers – (2008-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 1561454680 / 9781561454686

Librarians who want to attend may RSVP by email to Linda Reing or by phone, 212.961.3332.

Irma Simonton Black was a writer and editor of children’s books and a founding member (in the 1930s) of the Bank Street Writers Laboratory, which included such stars of children’s literature as Margaret Wise Brown and Maurice Sendak.

The Black Award (for short), which commemorates Irma’s achievements, has been presented annually since 1973 by Bank Street College of Education. (The Award was presented in Irma’s name only until 1992, when James Black’s name was added in recognition of his ardent support of the Award.) The Award goes to an outstanding book for young children — a book in which text and illustrations are inseparable, each enhancing and enlarging on the other to produce a singular whole.

The Award is unusual in that children are the final judges of the winning book. The process is as follows:

Your fearless, tireless librarian/ friend, Lisa Von Drasek reads all of the picture books published in the year. We develop a short list of about 75 titles that meet our criteria of what is an excellent children’s picture book (my personal criteria is a little more basic; can I stand reading aloud this title over and over and over again? Will I hang my head in shame if the kids pick it as best of the year?)

Then a group of librarians and educators choose approximately twenty to twenty-five books that they consider the best candidates for the Award. These books are then sent (in four sets) to the four 8-9’s and 9-10’s classrooms at the Bank Street School for Children. Over the course of five weeks the children read and discuss all of the books before selecting four finalists. These four–called the Black Honor Books–are placed in classrooms or libraries in schools, in New York and elsewhere.

Over 2,000 children voted this year.

For collection development librarians who are looking for a list of great read aloud, The Black winners are surefire hits. More information and a list of previous winners is available at the Bank Street College Children’s Library site.