DK Plans Out-of-This-World LEGO Star Wars Event By Karen Raugust - 06/18/2009
DK Publishing, along with Lucasfilm and LEGO, is planning a one-day in-store launch event for its October release LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary by Simon Beecroft. The book is based on LEGO’s 10-year-old line of toys tied to George Lucas’s Star Wars saga; DK is offering participating stores an activity kit with game and trivia contests; giveaways and raffle prizes; and appearances from members of a volunteer group of Star Wars costume enthusiasts.
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Galley Talk: 'Shiver' by Maggie Stiefvater 06/18/2009 Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is the love story of Sam and Grace, told in chapters that alternate between their points of view. Sam, a werewolf, rescues a young Grace from a wolf attack. Werewolves in Stiefvater’s world respond to the cold—they are wolves in winter, humans in summer, and each year they are human for a shorter period of time, until they remain wolves permanently. So Sam and Grace are on a deadline.
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Knopf to Publish ‘Eragon’ Novelty Book By John A. Sellers - 05/20/2009
This fall, Knopf Books for Young Readers will publish Christopher Paolini’s Eragon’s Guide to Alagaësia, a novelty gift book tie-in to the author’s bestselling Inheritance cycle novels.
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Square One to Publish Woodstock Movie Tie-In By Lynn Andriani - 05/14/2009
Ang Lee’s latest film, Taking Woodstock, will have its world premiere Saturday, May 16, at the Cannes Film Festival—and Long Island independent publisher Square One has the movie tie-in edition. The house will release a trade paperback of Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life by Elliot Tiber with Tom Monte on June 1.
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McElderry to Publish ‘A Little Princess’ Sequel By Sally Lodge - 05/14/2009
News is just in from Margaret K. McElderry Books that the house has acquired the rights to publish Wishing for Tomorrow, a sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1905 classic, A Little Princess., to be written by British author Hilary McKay. McElderry Books will release the novel in January 2010.
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Simon & Schuster Prepares for Last Book in Pendragon Series By Lynn Andriani - 05/12/2009
S&S's children's division is gearing up for a multi-platform publicity and marketing campaign to coincide with the release of the 10th and final book in D.J. MacHale’s bestselling Pendragon series, The Soldiers of Halla, which goes on sale today.
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Alloy to Adapt "Private" for Web TV Series By Lynn Andriani - 05/07/2009
Alloy Entertainment, which created and produced Gossip Girl, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and other hits, is producing and financing its first online entertainment program and web series, based on its bestselling book series Private. The series will debut on Alloy Media + Marketing’s Teen.com network.
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Mario Lopez to Write a Picture Book By Diane Roback - 04/16/2009
Actor Mario Lopez, host of EXTRA and America’s Best Dance Crew, has become the latest celebrity to pen a children’s book. Along with his sister Marissa Lopez-Wong, he has signed with Celebra Children’s Books, a Penguin imprint, for a picture book called Mud Tacos!, which will be published on October 15. Maryn Roos, who did the artwork for Whoopi Goldberg’s Sugar Plum Ballerinas, will illustrate.
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Flux Holds Steady Through Changes By Claire Kirch - 04/16/2009
Llewellyn Worldwide’s YA imprint, Flux, which has published teen fiction for the past three years, is moving in a new direction this fall with the release of its first graphic novel: Black Is for Beginnings (Sept.). The book is a continuation of Laurie Faria Stolarz’s Blue Is for Nightmares series of four novels, the first of which launched the Flux line in 2006.
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New Pooh: A Preview of the Upcoming Sequel By Diane Roback - 03/26/2009
This week we provide a sneak peek at illustrator Mark Burgess’s artwork for Return to the Hundred Acre Wood, the first authorized sequel to Winnie-the-Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner. Return to the Hundred Acre Wood will be published by Dutton on October 5, 2009.
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On the Radar: The Vampire Is Just Not That Into You By John A. Sellers - 03/26/2009
Are you nursing a pair of fang marks in your neck, but also a broken heart? Scholastic may have just the book for you, when it crashes The Vampire Is Just Not That Into You by Vlad Mezrich (if you need to be told it’s a pseudonym...) onto its fall list. “It’s a dating guide for dating the undead—forked tongue firmly in cheek—and to getting the vampire of your dreams,” says editor David Levithan.
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Q & A with Melissa Marr By Donna Freitas - 03/12/2009
Bookshelf spoke with Melissa Marr about her new novel, Fragile Eternity (HarperCollins, Apr.).
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Hungry? The Latest on ‘The Hunger Games’ By John A. Sellers - 03/12/2009
One of the most heavily buzzed-about titles of 2008 was Suzanne Collins’s dystopian novel The Hunger Games, and there’s already plenty of anticipation—and news—ahead of the second book, Catching Fire, due this fall from Scholastic Press. Here’s a roundup of the latest, including an earlier release date for Catching Fire, as well as a new contest, which is being announced for the first time here in Children’s Bookshelf.
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Bestselling British Series Arrives in U.S. By Sally Lodge - 03/12/2009
His name says it all. Horrid Henry schemes to trick the tooth fairy into leaving him money when hasn’t lost a tooth and causes his cousin’s groom to fly head-first into the wedding cake. American kids will finally have a chance to meet this merry mischief maker—whose books have sold more than 12 million copies in the U.K. alone —when Sourcebooks’ Jabberwocky imprint releases four Horrid Henry paperbacks next month.
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Dial Hails the Return of 'Ladybug Girl' By Sally Lodge - 02/19/2009 Ladybug Girl evidently spoke to the inner superhero in young readers after this Dial picture book reached store shelves last March. The book spent 22 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold 120,000 copies. In a new follow-up tale, Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy, this imaginative gal acquires a sidekick.
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Licensing Hotline By Karen Raugust - 01/29/2009
News of new licensees for The 39 Clues, Random House’s latest Pixar tie-ins, the first-ever VeggieTales Bible, the latest on Lucy Cousins licensing, a new brand from author Todd Parr, and merchandise and broadcast plans for Gaspard and Lisa.
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Scholastic to Publish New ‘Star Wars’ Series By Karen Raugust - 11/20/2008
Scholastic, a decade-long licensee of Lucasfilm’s Star Wars franchise, will debut a new 10-book series, Rebel Force, based on the characters and world portrayed in the original 1977 film, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.
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Anthology Reflects a Devotion to Poetry By Sally Lodge - 11/20/2008
After struggling with reading for years, Martin was so captivated by a college professor’s poetry recitations that he sought out poems and discovered a love of reading. He went on to earn a doctorate in education and write more than 300 children’s books. Due in November from Simon & Schuster is a tribute to Martin’s legacy, The Bill Martin Jr. Big Book of Poetry, which he compiled with his longtime collaborator Michael Sampson.
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Movie Alert: The Tale of Despereaux By John A. Sellers - 11/13/2008
Next month, the big screen is making way for a little mouse. The Tale of Despereaux, based on Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery-winning novel about the adventures of a brave, big-eared rodent, hits theatres December 19. Sam Fell (Flushed Away) and Robert Stevenhagen (his directorial debut) direct the CGI film from Universal Pictures, which was written by Gary Ross (Seabiscuit; Pleasantville).
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