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What has Jon Scieszka, M.T. Anderson, Natalie Babbitt, Calef Brown, Susan Cooper, Kate DiCamillo, Timothy Basil Ering, Nikki Grimes, Shannon Hale, Daniel Handler, Steven Kellogg, Gregory Maguire, Megan McDonald, Patricia and Fredrick McKissack, Linda Sue Park, Katherine Paterson, James Ransome and Chris Van Dusen all working together? The Library of Congress and the National Children’s Book and Literary Alliance’s ongoing serial story project, The Exquisite Corpse Adventure.  The first installment, written by Scieszka, will be unveiled at the ninth annual National Book Festival on Sept. 26, 2009 in Washington, D.C. Over the course of the next year, until the 2010 Festival, chapters by the otherRead More →

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Justine Larbalestier’s new book, Liar, will be published by Bloomsbury in October 2009.  The early buzz about the book is focusing on Bloomsbury’s choice to have a long haired, white teen on the cover of the book when Micah, the protagonist, identifies herself as a mixed-race tomboy with “nappy” hair. Before realizing Micah’s race, I thought that this cover conveyed a sense of deception and mystery and tied well into the promise on the jacket flap.  But then I started to wonder why the cover would show a girl who is obviously not Micah; unless, of course, Micah was also lying about her race and look?Read More →

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Just for teens who read and are into making videos:  Listening Library is sponsoring The Fantasy Road Trip Contest for teens ages 13-18.  To enter, submit a short film based on an imaginary road trip with a character from a favorite audiobook.  Three winners will each receive an 8GB iPod Touch and a signed audiobook set. Entries accepted until August 17, 2009.Read More →

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The Fall 2009 Simon & Schuster catalog is packed with great books!  Here’s a sample: Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld, October 2009: The first book in a new trilogy, Leviathantakes place on the cusp of WWI, and all the European powers are arming themselves for combat.  The machine-loving Austro-Hungarians and Germans have their big steam-powered Clankers loaded with guns and explosives. Inspired by the discoveries of Darwin, the British have fabricated animals into warships. Their mothership, the Leviathan, is a marvelous whale-dirigible.  The Hollow, Jessica Verday, September 2009: When Abbey’s best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quickRead More →

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Penguin Young Readers Group has a great lineup for Fall 2009!  We’re looking forward to seeing awesome series continue, new titles from favorite authors, and some fantastic debuts.  Check it out: Arch Enemy: The Looking Glass Wars, Book Three, Frank Beddor – October 2009:   As SEEING REDD ended, King Arch had been successful in sapping Wonderland – including Alyss and Redd – of Imagination. Now the two enemy queens are forced to come together in an attempt to reclaim Wonderland and their imaginative powers. Hatter M is AWOL as he escorts his daughter, Molly, to our world, leaving her in the care of Charles DodgsonRead More →

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Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing hopes to attract more teens to its books through the creation of a new Pulse It social networking site. The site is aimed at 14- to 18-year-olds and will let teens do things they can do on such places as Facebook—like create personal profiles and befriend other members—as well as read and react to S&S titles. S&S will make two books per month available to be read online for free and members can choose one of those titles and have 60 days to finish the book. Message boards will let readers discuss the book and rank it. The site willRead More →

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From the latest issue of School Library Journal,Shonda Brisco highlights some cool online and digital resources.  Here are a couple: Animoto– create videos with sound on this site to quickly and easily mix book-cover images, photos, text and music to create 30-second online video book talks, book trailers, sneak peeks, etc.  There’s lots of potential here for both novice and tech-savvy students & educators. One More Story – an interactive instructional program that allows children to select, listen to, read along with, or read independently, over 50 award-winning childrens’ picture books.Read More →

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Katie Roiphe of the Wall Street Journal has written an interesting article on the darker bent of YA lit.  I think she hits the nail on the head with her statement that:  “unsettling as it is, there is a certain amount of comfort to be gleaned from the new disaster fiction; it makes its readers feel less alone. … there is in all of this bleakness a wholesome and old-fashioned redemption that involves principles like triumph over adversity and affirmations of integrity.” What do you think? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203771904574173403357573642.htmlRead More →

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Interested in the highlights for childrens’ & YA for Fall 2009 from BEA?  Publishers Weekly has great coverage: BEA Childrens’ Highlights Article: The Fall’s biggest titles were on display, updates on print runs, sequels and new titles you just can’t miss! Write up & Photos from Childrens’ Author Breakfast: 1,200 booksellers and librarians attended a special breakfast. Pictured: Breakfast speakers Meg Cabot, Tomie dePaola, Julie Andrews and Amy Krouse Rosenthal. Photo By: Stevekagan.com. YA Editors Buzz Session – Hot books for Fall 2009 that exemplify the 3 main elements of buzz:  emotional impact, suspense and heat – straight from the editors themselves. Some good forthcoming optionsRead More →