The Third Wheel, the seventh book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, will be released on November 13th. ABRAMS’ Amulet imprint at has ordered a first printing of 6.5 million copies.
In The Third Wheel, star character Greg Heffley will explore the wonders and complications of middle school romance. With this new installment, author Jeff Kinney promised that “the Wimpy universe will be changed in a way that will surprise fans of the series.”
Last month, Kinney was crowned “Author of the Year” at the Children’s Choice Book Awards gala in New York City. The series earned him $17 million in 2011 and a spot on Forbes’ list of the highest paid writers.
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BY JEN VAUGHN – Fantagraphics Books isn’t necessarily THE MAN of the comics world but since I’ve only ever self-published my own comics, MoCCA 2012 was my first two days on the job as a staff member of the independent comics publisher. There are more than a few differences between the two experiences. Read on!
Fantagraphics’ Kristy Valenti speaks with Kim Deitch before his signing
1- The Work, as in amount of time spent working the table is constant. Seeing as there is a bit more marketing, publicity and established artists’ work on the table we rarely had to describe the content of the books. Jacq Cohen, Kristy Valenti and me (along with former intern Sophie Yanow) manned the four tables full of books and artists signings. Kristy and Jacq barely left the tables to eat and I’m pretty sure that bottle of lemonade under the table was not . . . lemonade.
2- The Digs where we stayed were MoCCA-recommended because they were smack-dab in the middle of Manhattan, right next to the Armory making for an easier walk each morning and night. The hotel room was tiny but the expansive lobby (pictured above) was an homage to both Breakfast at Tiffany’s and those plastic hamster balls. Originally built in 1903 and called the Martha Washington, this former women’s residence-turned-hotel was the perfect place for the woman of Fantagraphics to rest their heads. No long train rides in from Brooklyn this time!
Daniel Johnston and Fantagraphics’ Jacq Cohen
3- Cross-promotion of artists turned out to be one of the joys. Some Fantagraphics artists spoke on panels (like the ever-charming Shannon Wheeler) so an attendee would grab his Oil & Water book but then toddle off in search of a signature at the Boom! Studios table where Wheeler was selling his Too Much Coffee Man. Likewise, folk artist/musician Daniel Johnston was too busy pouring over our new Nancy book to be bothered to remember what time his book signing was until Boom! editor Adam Staffaroni herded him in the right direction.
Nicolas Mahler signs not only his Fantagraphics book called Angelman but also previous publications bought from the Top Shelf table.
4- Table set-up and take down turned out to be an all-day
I've been reading a tad slower these days, having this child in the house, so I haven't been able to tell you about all of the great books I've been getting. These are both available now and I can't wait to read them myself.
Spiral by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams
This series is fantastic for kids that love long, exciting reads. Definitely page turners! I'm not sure if this is the last installment of the series or not, but either way, I'm really looking forward to opening it.
The Sisters Grimm: The Council of Mirrors by Michael BuckleyI LOVE the Sisters Grimm series and have sold them to many kids over the past couple of years. The latest (and last in the series, I believe) was published last Tuesday.
I am an affiliate of both IndieBound and Powells and will receive a small percentage of the purchase price.
Chuck Close: Face Book
By Chuck Close & Glue and Paper Workshop
Abrams Books for Young Readers
$18.95
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0163-4
Ages 9-12
On shelves now
The autobiography assignment. Oh, it exists. It exists and children’s librarians know to fear it. At a certain time of year a child will approach the reference desk and utter the dreaded words, “I have to read an autobiography of somebody famous”. Never mind that while biographies are plentiful, good autobiographies come out once in a blue moon and, when they are written for kids, tend to be about children’s authors anyway (See: Jack Gantos, Beverly Cleary, Jerry Spinelli, Walter Dean Myers, Jean Fritz, etc.). If a kid wants somebody famous in a field other than writing, the pickings are slim. You might find a good Ruby Bridges book or To Dance by Siena Siegel or that children’s autobiography Rosa Parks wrote. Beyond that, you’re on your own. It is therefore with great relief that we come across Chuck Close: Face Book. Sure, I’m relieved that at long last there’s an autobiography for kids by someone outside the children’s literary sphere, but what really thrills me is the sheer splendor of the thing. Chock full of gorgeous full-color reproductions of Close’s work and biographical info, the real treat is at the center of the book. It’s a game, it’s informative, it’s what we all needed but didn’t know it yet.
Culled from interview questions lobbed at the artist Chuck Close by P.S. 8’s 5th grade students, the book is is part Q&A, part explanation of artistic techniques, and part flip book. From his earliest days Chuck had the makings of an artist. Which is to say, he was a bedridden kid whose poor health enabled him to draw. His parents encouraged Chuck’s desire and though he was not a particularly good student in other areas, in art he thrived. Eventually he was able to cultivate a style entirely of his own, until “The Event” when he was paralyzed. Yet even after that trauma he was able to continue his art. The children’s questions go through Close’s life and even allow him to explain his artistic techniques. Backmatter includes a Timeline, Resources, a Glossary, a List of Illustrations and an Index. Curiously the only other children’s book about Chuck Close (Chuck Close, Up Close by Jan Greenberg) is not one of the eight books listed in the Resources section at the back of the book.
We talk all the time about role models and how to find them. Chuck Close is probably as close as you can get to a perfect role model in terms of difficulties he has faced. First and foremost there was the nephritis that rendered him bedridden at the age of 11 and gave him plenty of drawing time (he and Andy Warhol have this much in common). Then there was his prosopagnosia or “face blindness” which kept h
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Here are a selection of books due out this month. All of the information presented below [aside from my aside/snide comments] are from publisher or distributor websites.
ALL information is subject to change, and something which might ship this month to a comics shop might show up months later in regular bookstores. So, if you see something here which has been out for a while, that’s why. Just consider it a reminder, in case you didn’t notice it the first time.
Unless it’s something amazing (like omnibus volumes), I tend to ignore ongoing books series. You either know about the series, or unlikely to pick it up if there are numerous volumes on the shelves. Yes, I know it’s almost April. But many publishers announce their new titles via “Out This Week” posts, so that’s why I wait. (And some don’t even do that!)
I do work for a bookseller, so everything posted here has nothing to do with my day job.
________________________________________________________
Athos in America
Jason
Hardback
9781606994788, 1606994786
Author Bio: Jason hails from Oslo, Norway, but currently resides in the south of France. The Harvey and Eisner Award-winner continues to create new books at a breakneck pace-his books include Werewolves of Montpellier; Low Moon; Pocket Full of Rain and Other Stories; Hey, Wait…; Sshhhh!; The Iron Wagon; What I Did(collecting the previous three volumes); I Killed Adolf Hitler; The Last Musketeer;The Left Bank Gang; Why Are You Doing This?; The Living and the Dead; Meow, Baby!; You Can’t Get There from Here; Tell Me Something; and Almost Silent(collecting the previous four volumes) and (with Fabien Vehlmann) Isle of 100,000 Graves.
Summary: Another all-original collection of full-color graphic novellas in the format of Low Moon, Athos in America takes its title from the lead story, a prequel of sorts to the graphic novel The Last Musketeer, in which the seemingly ageless swashbuckler turns up in a bar in 1920 New York and relates the tale of how he went to Hollywood to play himself in a film version of The Three Musketeers. Another tie-in with a previous Jason story occurs in “The Smiling Horse,” in which the characters from the story “&” in Low Moon attempt to kidnap a woman.
Also in this volume: “The Brain That Wouldn’t Virginia Woolf,” a mash-up of The Brain That Wouldn’t Die and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, told in reverse chronological order; the Bukowski pastiche “A Cat From Heaven” in which Jason works on his comic, has a reading in a comic book store, gets drunk and makes a fool of himself; the dialogue-free (all the text occurs in thought balloons) “Tom Waits on the Moon,” in which we follow four people (one of them a scientist working on a teleportation machine) until something goes wrong; and “So Long Mary Ann,” a prison-escape love-triangle story.
____________________________________
The following three publishers have made some recent changes to their personnel staff: Milkweed Editions, Kensington Publishing Corp. and Abrams Books.
Milkweed Editions has hired Meredith Kessler as their new publicist. At Kensington, two editors have received promotions; Gary Goldstein has been named Executive Editor and Martin Biro has been named Assistant Editor.
At Abrams, the team has shifted to allow for one promotion and one new additional member. Eric Klopfer has been named editor. Michelle Montague makes the jump from Simon & Schuster; she will now serve as executive director of adult marketing and publicity.
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 1/31/2012
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Fake Mustache: how Jodie O’Rodeo and Her Wonder Horse (And Some Nerdy Kid) Saved the U.S. Presidential Election From a Mad Genius Criminal Mastermind)
By Tom Angleberger
Illustrated by Jen Wang
Amulet Books (an imprint of Abrams)
$13.95
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0194-8
Ages 9-12
On shelves April 1, 2012
I said it about Laini Taylor. I said it about Jeff Kinney. Heck, I even said it about J.K. Rowling and now, my friends, I’m saying it about Tom Angleberger: I was into him before it was cool. Seriously, a show of hands, how many of you out there can say that you read his first middle grade novel The Qwikpick Adventure Society written under the pen name of Sam Riddleberger? See, that’s what I though. I did and it was hilarious, thank you very much. The kind of thing you read and love and wish more people knew (plus it involved a poop fountain. I kid you not). Years passed and at long last Tom got his due thanks to a little unassuming title by the name of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda. By the time Darth Paper Strikes Back came out, Mr. Angleberger was a certifiable hit with the 9-12 year old set. Fortunately for all of us he hasn’t rested on his laurels quite yet. He’s still willing to stretch a little and get seriously wacky when he wants to. Case in point, Fake Mustache. Just your average everyday twelve-year-old-takes-over-the-world title, Tom’s desire for total and complete goofiness finds a home here. I was into Tom before everyone else was, but considering how much fun Fake Mustache is I guess I’m willing to share him a little.
If he hadn’t lent Casper the measly ten bucks then it’s pretty certain that Lenny Flem Jr. wouldn’t have found himself pairing up with famous television star and singer Jodie O’Rodeo to defeat the evil genius Fako Mustacho. You see, Casper wanted to buy a mustache. And not just any mustache, mind you, but the extremely rare (and luxurious) Heidelberg Handlebar #7. A mustache so powerful, in fact, that when Casper puts it on he’s capable of convincing anyone of anything. Now Casper, posing as Fako Mustacho, has set his sights on the U.S. presidency and only Lenny and Jodie are willing and able to defeat him.
To read this book, kid or adult, you need to have somewhere to safely place your disbelief. I recommend storing it in the rafters of your home. Failing that, launch it into the stratosphere because logic is not going to be your friend when you read this. Literal-minded children would do well to perhaps avoid this book. The ideal reader would be one who reads for pleasure and who enjoys a tale that knows how to have a bit of fun with its internal logic. Once that’s taken care of you’ll be able to really get into Angleberger’s wordplay. He throws in just a ton of fun details that are worth repeating. Things like the fact that the state legislature tends to meet in the local Chinese buffet restaurant because
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 10/25/2011
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What Animals Really Like
By Fiona Robinson
Abrams Books for Young Readers
$15.95
ISBN: 978-0-8109-8976-4
Ages 4-8
On shelves now.
I’m sitting in a room with other children’s librarians. Together, we are attempting to determine what the best children’s books of a given year are. It’s late in the publishing season and we haven’t a lot of time left when one of us walks in with Fiona Robinson’s What Animals Really Like. None of us are familiar with Ms. Robinson’s work (though we’ve heard nice things about The 3-2-3 Detective Agency) so our expectations are pretty low. The librarian who has the book, though, informs us in no uncertain terms that this is one of the best of the year. She then proceeds to read it aloud. Ladies and gentlemen, there are few finer pleasures that being read a picture book that works. I don’t care if you’re 5 or 55 or 555. Everyone likes storytime and many people like learning about great new picture books through readalouds. By the time the librarian was done it was unanimous. We were in love with What Animals Really Like and ready to join Fiona Robinson’s fan club, should someone ever feel the urge to start one. And trust me, after this book gains a bit of a following, folks are going to be lining up around the block to start organizations in honor of its author/illustrator. You want a surefire storytime gem? Baby, I got your back.
Maestro Herbert Timberteeth has written a brand new song going by the name of “What Animals Really Like”. For this one time performance he has assembled a chorus of some twelve different groups of animals. At the start, all goes according to plan. The lions reluctantly sing, “We are lions, and we like to prowl.” Next a tepid, “We are wolves, and we like to howl.” “We are pigeons, and we like to coo.” Finally, “We are cows, and we like to . . . dig.” There stand the cows holding various digging accoutrements and looking very pleased. Herbert, suffice to say, is not amused. He’s even less amused when the warthogs suddenly declare mid-song that they like to blow enormous bubbles. As the book continues, more and more animals start to sing what they really like to do, rather than what society expects them to. And though it causes him some serious stress, Herbert eventually lets everyone sing what it is that they really like, even though it doesn’t rhyme or, sometimes, make a lot of sense.
I’m a sucker for any book that upsets expectations. Kids are so used to picture books that allow them to guess the rhyme that when they encounter a book that turns that idea on its head they’re initially flummoxed, and then soon delighted. Not many picture books have the guts to do this. The best known, to my mind, is Mac Barnett’s Guess Again!, which takes the idea to its logical extreme. What’s nice about Robinson’s book is that while it’s not as downright goofy as Barnett’s, the upset expectations serve the story. In a way, all readers are automatically placed in the shoes of Herbert Timberteeth. We may not iden
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Abrams publishes some of the most beautiful (and bestselling!) books about comics. Here are some of their forthcoming titles! (Anyone want to wager how many Eisner nominations these titles will garner?)
Click on the title to discover more information!
Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular and the New Land
Edited by Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle, with an introduction by Neal Gabler
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 9/23/2011
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The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont
By Victoria Griffith
Illustrated by Eva Montanari
Abrams Books for Young Readers
$16.95
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0011-8
Ages 6-10
On shelves now
The American publishing industry is good at a lot of things. They produce some pretty delightful fare for children on a variety of different topics. If you want vampires or stories of cute puppies or twists on fairy tales then you are in luck. If, however, you’re looking for something about people who are famous in countries other than America, I have bad news. We’re not that great at highlighting other nations’ heroes. Oh, you’ll see such a biography once in a rare while but unless they’re a world figure (Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.) we’re not usually going to hear much about them. Maybe that’s part of the reason I get so excited when I see books that buck the trend. Books like Victoria Griffith’s The Fabulous Flying Machines of Alberto Santos-Dumont. The other reason is that in a greedy way I get to learn about new historical figures along with the child readers. Alberto Santos-Dumont, for all his charms, is not exactly a household name here in the States. Credit where credit is due, then since author Victoria Griffith is doing what she can to remedy that problem.
If you were a resident of Paris, France in the early 20th century you might have glanced up into the sky to see one Alberto Santos-Dumont in his handy dandy dirigible. A transplanted Brazilian and fan of the power of flight, Alberto was friends with Louis Cartier who bestowed upon him a wrist-based alternative to the pocket watch. Now he could time himself in the sky! Determined to create an official flying machine, Alberto announces the date and location that he intends to use one to take to the sky. But when sneaky Louis Bleriot arrives with the intention of stealing Alberto’s thunder, the question of who will go down in the history books is (ha ha) up in the air.
I’m having a bit of difficulty believing that this is Victoria Griffith’s first book for children. To my mind, writing nonfiction picture books for young readers is enormously difficult. You sit in front of a plate of facts with the goal of working them into something simultaneously honest and compelling for kids. Taken one way, the book’s a dud. Taken another, it does its subject justice. Griffith, for her part, takes to the form like a duck to water. The first sentence is “Alberto Santos-Dumont loved floating over Paris in his own personal flying machine.” After the first few pages don’t be too surprised if the kids you’re reading this book with start wondering why exactly it is that we don’t have our own personal dirigibles (this question is promptly answered when we learn that Alberto’s preferred mode of transportation had a tendency to .. um… catch on fire). Deftly weaving together the invention of the Cartier watch with Alberto’s moment in history, Griffith manages to create compelling characters and a situation that lets kids understand what was at stake in this story.
She also places Alberto squarely within his context in history. In the book we learn that while the Wright Brothers did fly at Kitty Hawn before Santos-Dumont, because their flight needed assistance then it wasn’t really flying. Griffith prefers to explain this not in the text but in the Author’s Note, but I think that’s fair. As long as you make clear to kids that there can be two different opinions on a
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 7/7/2011
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Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes
By Jonathan Auxier
Amulet Books (an imprint of Abrams)
$16.95
ISBN: 978-1-4197-0025-5
Ages 9-12
On shelves August 1st.
What is the most telling difference between those works of children’s literature written long ago and those written today? Pose this question to a room full of children’s librarians and I suspect that the answers would be myriad. Books today are less racist. They’re willing to push more boundaries. They’re smarter, hipper, less didactic, and so on and such. Pose the question to a room full of kids now. What do they answer? Would they even know where to begin? I wonder since the memorable children’s books of the past, the ones that we hold in our hearts and pass along from generation to generation have a quality that most children’s books today don’t bother to cultivate: timelessness. Of course there are as many bad books for kids that try to reach that golden goal as there are good ones. It is incredibly difficult to write a book for the youth of today that is interesting to them and yet manages to feel “timeless” without covering itself in must and dust. That Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes succeeds in this endeavor is a testament not only to its author but to a publishing world that’s willing to put out something that doesn’t slot into the usual five categories of books for youth.
Babies found floating in baskets usually turn out quite well. They get adopted by pharaohs’ daughters and the like, right? Well, that may be the case for some babies, but Peter Nimble isn’t exactly the lucky sort. Found floating in the sea, his eyes pecked out (presumably by the raven perched there), Peter is abandoned to the wilds of the world. On his own he manages to use his talents to become the world’s greatest thief. This talent is swiftly exploited by the nasty Mr. Seamus who makes Peter steal for him. All seems bleak until the day Peter stops to listen to a crazy haberdasher who has come to town. Next thing he knows, Peter has pilfered a box containing three pairs of magical eyes and in accepting them he allows himself to take part in a marvelous, epic adventure.
A difficulty with writing a story from the perspective of a blind protagonist is that you’re limited to that person’s senses. Or rather, you would be if the book was first person. Auxier sets his tale in the third, leaving the reader to decide whether or not the book should be this deftly described. We’re still with Peter every step of the way, after all. So is it fair that the text should show such a visual world when that is not Peter’s experience? I don’t find it much of a problem myself, though I can see how some folks would deem it strange. Yet the third person narration is the key here. It’s not even particularly intrusive.
The book is also dotted with small pen-and-ink illustrations throughout the text (created by the author himself, no less) that serve to show a bit of what is described to Peter. It is interesting to see what Auxier chooses to show and not to show. For example, the kitten/horse/knight that is his companion Sir Tode is never fully seen in any of the pictures in this book except for the odd rear view. So it is that Auxier uses his art to give readers just a hint of the story. He leaves most of the characters and situations up to child imaginations, though.
He also has his influences. Jonathan Auxier doesn’t love
0 Comments on Review of the Day: Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier as of 1/1/1900
By:
Chad W. Beckerman,
on 6/16/2011
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Hold on Tight, this Winter has Bite
USA TODAY, the #1 paper in the country with a 1.8 million circulation,
broke the news this morning that
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: CABIN FEVER
the sixth book in the game-changing series by Jeff Kinney,
will go on sale November 15, 2011, with a 6-million copy first printing—the largest to date!
They are also the first to run the cover, which will be “ice blue.”
Please see the full press release attached and below. We expect all major daily trades to follow today and tomorrow.
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 5/22/2011
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Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero
By Marissa Moss
Illustrated by John Hendrix
Abrams Books for Young Readers
$18.95
ISBN: 978-0-8109-9735-6
Ages 6-12
On shelves now.
If I want to depress myself on a given day I’ll compare the list of biographical subjects that kids in school are handed to pick and choose from with the biographical subjects that I had to pick and choose from when I was a kid some twenty odd years ago. It’s disheartening. Essentially, it’s the same list. Teachers always include Edison, Einstein, Washington, Tubman, Keller, etc. Once in a while someone will fall out of favor (Benjamin Banneker) to be replaced with someone new (Matthew Henson) but that’s just the way of things. How I long for the day when the core biographical subjects are thrown out the window and kids can take full advantage of the range of amazing stories in their libraries’ biography sections. That’ll be the day when a kid has an assignment to find a historical female hero who fought in a war and I can hand them Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, a Civil War Hero. Until then, I’ll just have to hawk the book on its own merits. Fortunately, this is not too terribly difficult to do.
I’m sure you’ve all heard stories of those women who cut their hair, donned men’s clothes, and joined the armed forces during the Civil War. Many a woman did this, but few were as brave and inventive as Sarah Edmonds. Having run away from home at the age of sixteen to escape an arranged marriage, Sarah had been living as a man for three years when she returned to Michigan to join the Union cause. On the field she proved a brave nurse, soldier, and eventual spy. When told to spy on the enemy, Sarah became a believable black male slave and managed to extract some much needed information across enemy lines. An Author’s Note at the end explains how the rest of Sarah’s life went and how she became “the only woman invited to join the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), the association for Civil War veterans of the Union Army.”
Marissa Moss is best known for her Amelia’s Notebook series, an early chapter book grouping of titles that served as the precursor to the current Diary of a Wimpy Kid journal boom we’re now in. I was under the distinct impression that fiction was Ms. Moss’s one and only bag, and this feeling was helped in no small part by the biographical sketch of her that appears on this title’s bookflap. Dig a little deeper, however, and you see that Ms. Moss has a longstanding appreciation of history that has manifested itself in a variety of different ways over the years. Penning everything from historical novels like Galen: My Life in Imper
I had a bad August.
A very bad August.As bad as pickle juice on a cookie.As bad as a spider web on your leg.
As bad as the black parts on a banana.
I hope your August was better.I really do.When Eleanor's beloved babysitter, Bibi, has to move away to take care of her ailing father, Eleanor must try to bear the summer without Bibi and prepare for the upcoming school year. Her new, less-than-perfect babysitter just isn't up to snuff, and she doesn't take care of things like Bibi used to. But as the school year looms, it's time for new beginnings. Eleanor soon realizes that she will always have Bibi, no matter how far away she is.
Written in a lyrical style with thoughtful and charming illustrations throughout by Matthew Cordell.
Here are a few of Matthew Cordell's first round sketches.
As you might have guessed the title wasn't working for us.
It worked for the story but was just to "quiet."
A list of new possible title was drawn up.
A Letter from Bibi
Waiting for
By:
Heidi MacDonald,
on 4/3/2011
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.
The following is a selection of new comics titles due to be published in April 2011. This list is not comprehensive, just what I’ve discovered browsing the Internet. Below, you’ll find selected titles which caught my interest. If you would like to browse forthcoming graphic novels and related books at your leisure, click here. These are not necessarily titles I will purchase, but which I will definitely look at once they arrive at my local comics shop or bookstore.
If you click that link above, you’ll see all the graphic novels at BN.com, sorted by date. Lots of graphic novels (and related books) scheduled from May to December. Of course, there will be even more titles added and announced in time for the Holidays! (You might want to use your tax return to buy some bookshelves.)
Please be advised that publication dates are not set in stone, titles may change, and covers may be altered. Also, your local comics shop might receive copies before your local neighborhood website or library. I consider my tastes to be rather eclectic. If you feel I’ve neglected or slighted a title, publisher, or creator, please feel free to mention it in the comments below. Yes, you may promote your own work, but please include the ISBN for easy searching (and shopping!)
Disclaimer: I am employed by Barnes & Noble. This and any other posts by me at this site have no official connection to B&N. As always, feel free to send us your PR. Even better, send us some free books!
Salt Water Taffy: Caldera’s Revenge! Part 1
by Matthew Loux
- $ 5.99
- Pub. Date: April 2011
- Publisher: Oni Press
- Format: Paperback, 72pp
- ISBN-13: 9781934964620
- ISBN: 193496462X
Patrick in A Teddy Bear’s Picnic and Other Stories
by Geoffrey Hayes
- $ 12.95
- Pub. Date: April 2011
- Publisher: Candlewick Press
- Format: Hardcover, 32pp
- Lexile: 0050L
- ISBN-13: 9781935179092
- ISBN: 1935179098
Pepper Penwell and the Land Creature of Monster Lake
by Steph Cherrywell
- $ 14.95
- Pub. Date: April 2011
- Publisher: SLG Publishing
- Format: Paperback, 200pp
- ISBN-13: 9781593622053
- ISBN: 1593622058
Scratch 9, Volume1: Pet Project
by Rob M Worley,Jason T Kruse
Pick Any Path. 3,856 Possibilities
by Jason Shiga
Amulet / Abrams 2010
2010 Cybils Winner for Middle Grade Graphic Novels
It seems like such a small decision – chocolate or vanilla ice cream? – but whichever one the reader chooses for Jimmy will send them down one of 3,856 paths. Some paths lead to death and the end of the world as we know it, some lead to a parallel dimension, some
I have been getting quite a few requests in the library for Choose Your Own Adventures these days. The requests are coming from both the younger and the older set, which is pretty interesting to me. One of the bolder of these that I am giving to the older kids is
Meanwhile, by Jason Shiga.
Chocolate or Vanilla? This choice will sets off an adventure involving quantum physics, inventions, and entropy among other things. Our young ice cream fan needs a bathroom, and finds one in a lab where he gets the privilege of testing out some inventions (which ones are entirely up to you!).
Differing from the typical Choose Your Own Adventure, this is in no way a linear journey. Readers get to the next segment of the story by following a series of pipes up, down, back and forth and occasionally through a tangled up maze to get to the next segment of the story.
Now, I in no way made it through all 3856 options, but you know what? I know *several* kids who will take the time and the renewals that it will take in order to do it! Shiga has a gift for making the uber scientific concepts accessible to kids (and adults) who may not know what things like entropy really mean coming into
Meanwhile.
The format is great. Laminated pages will hold up to all of the back and forth that the pages need to have to make the story work, and the explanation of how the book works is very clear. This is a great book to gift to someone as they will return to it again and again, even if they only have "10 minutes" to get some reading in.
Meanwhile was recently listed in
YALSA's Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for Teens, and I will extend the category to include the tweens as well!
By:
Scope Notes,
on 2/7/2011
Blog:
100 Scope Notes
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Hang-wringing complete. It’s time for the quarterly look at upcoming releases I’m calling 10 to Note.
What follows are the 10 titles set to hit shelves in March, April, and May that had me most saying “Yeah, boiiiii!” (or something along those lines). Not a guarantee of quality, but a subjective list of books that struck my fancy as a K-6th grade elementary school librarian.
Middle Grade Fiction
The Trouble with Chickens by Doreen Cronin; illustrated by Kevin Cornell
Mar. 1, 2011 | Balzer + Bray | Grades 2-5
Diary of a Worm and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type have made Doreen Cronin a well known figure in children’s lit. With The Trouble with Chickens, Cronin tries something she has never done – a middle grade novel. A mystery about a search-and-rescue dog (J.J. Tully) pulled out of retirement to crack a case of missing chicks, laughs are likely. And the “A J.J. Tully Mystery” tag on the front ensures more adventures to come. I’m anxious to see how this one turns out.
Invisible Inkling by Emily Jenkins; illustrated by Harry Bliss
Apr. 26, 2011 | Balzer + Bray | Grades 2-4
And hey, speaking of Diary of a Worm, the illustrator of that book, Harry Bliss, is handling the artwork for Invisible Inkling, written by Emily Jenkins. I love the premise of a boy with an invisible (I repeat: invisible – not imaginary) friend. When I hear the phrase “in the vein of Clementine”, my ears perk up, and that what the publisher is touting this middle grade title as.
Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider
May 2, 2011 | Clarion | Grades 2-4
No matter how many funny books come out, there will always be a clamoring mass of young readers ready for one more. This story about the lengths a father goes to to get his son to try new foods looks promising on the comedy front. A book that may speak to the scores of, ahem, selective eaters out there.
Nonfiction Picture Books
Nurse, Soldier, Spy: The Story of Sarah Edmonds, Civil War Hero by Marissa Moss; illustrated by John Hendrix
Mar. 1, 2011 | Abrams | Grades 2-4
Have you heard of Sarah Edmonds? This woman who disguised herself as a man to fight in the civil war isn’t a household name, especially with kids. This picture book biography by Marissa Moss and John Hendrix should help bring Edmonds’ story to younger readers. Is it okay for me to have favorites? I’m not sure how that works since I review books and all. Alright, I’m just gonna say it – I’m a big John Hendrix fan. Big. Fan. If you know his work from When Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek or the more recent
0 Comments on 10 to Note: Spring Preview 2011 as of 1/1/1900
…and I mean that in a good way.
Here’s the hold shelf at the 5th and 6th grade school library where I work:
Every color of the Wimpy rainbow (except blue).
By:
Heidi MacDonald,
on 11/26/2010
Blog:
PW -The Beat
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Were you a good boy or girl this year? Did you avoid Internet snark, practice goodwill towards your fellow human being, and cross with the light? Yeah, neither did I.
So, as Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, I offer the following list of graphic novel gift books, designed to help you assuage your guilt, and/or utilize those gift cards you’ll receive from relatives who know you love comics, but are afraid of getting you something you already have.
Of course, you can also use it as a suggestion list for those special geeks in your life. Just be sure to get a gift receipt, just in case they want to trade it in for something else.
As usual, The Beatrix and her minions get no remuneration from linking to Barnes & Noble. I do work for B&N, but nothing I post here is endorsed by Barnes and Noble.
Oh, and my criteria for this list? Anything over $40, published since July 2010. There’s no rhyme or reason to the order on this list… and since the new server is not liking pictures, please click on the ISBN-13 link, and you’ll be directed to the listing on BN.com, where you can see the covers. Click on the highlighted publisher name, and you’ll be directed to the exact book listing on their website. (Some publishers are very bad… they don’t have a dedicated page for these expensive and beautiful books, so I’ve linked to their homepage.)
What would you like Santa [Hanukkah Harry, Kwanzaa Kwame, Agnostic Agnes] to leave beneath your tree? Let us know below in the comments… perhaps Krampus will take pity on all you bad boys and girls!
The Simon and Kirby Superheroes
Joe Simon, Jack Kirby (Illustrator), Steve Saffel (Editor)
Blondie, Volume 1
by Chic Young
Art of Jim Starlin
by Jim Starlin
Absolute All Star Superman
by Frank Quitely, Grant Morrison, Neal Adams
- $ 99.99
- Pub. Date: October 2010
- Publisher: DC Comics
- Format: Hardcover, 320pp
- ISBN-13: 9781401229177
- ISBN: 1401229174
DC Super Heroes: the Ultimate Pop-up Book
by DC Comics Staff, Matthew Reinhart
The story of how the
Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes cover came to be started with Lisa's first book
My Life in Pink & Green. This cover was a huge success and perhaps the easiest cover I have ever worked on. I credit this cover to a relaxing Sunday afternoon. I had just finished a large tasty sandwich from Los
Paisanos in Brooklyn. My eyes were heavy and bored from watching the Sunday afternoon TV which means golf, a nap soon followed. Sadly, I was dreaming about work in particular this cover problem only to wake with an idea. Below is a sketch of my first idea which as you can see pretty much became the cover. Only I cropped out the
potato chip grease from my fingers.
The final cover
There is only one problem to having a successful cover idea . . . repeating that success. Ugh!
Since this cover idea went over so well everyone from sales, editorial and even buyers want deanother "Pink & Green" cover. Sure sounds great, right? Only Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes was its own story and didn't really work with the design of "Pink & Green." The other issue was now that we launched Lisa Greenwald, we wanted to create a brand look for her books. Ugh! How to do all this and make it look like it belongs with "Pink & Green." This was going to take more than tasty sandwich induced genius.
When a blizzard threatens to ruin Valentine’s Day, three seventh-grade friends make and distribute fortune cookies to their lonely neighbors—and confront the secrets they’
ve been keeping from one another.
Confident Kate
doesn’t notice much but the latest gossip, and shy Georgia can’t say out loud what’s always on her mind. They’re joined by observant, careful Olivia, whose epic, single-minded crush on
PBJ (real name: Phillip Becker-Jacobs) is starting to frustrate the other tw
“By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.”- Robert Frost (NUTS!)
At Abrams,
Susan Van Metre has been promoted to svp and publisher and will now oversee all comic arts books in addition to Abrams Children's and Amulet Books.
Charles Kochman is promoted to editorial director for Abrams ComicArts, adding oversight of children's comics and graphic novels, reporting to Van Metre. C
had W. Beckerman moves up to creative director and oversee design for all comic arts books, Abrams Children's and Amulet.
This review is part of the Green Books campaign. Today 200 bloggers take a stand to support books printed in an eco-friendly manner by simultaneously publishing reviews of 200 books printed on recycled or FSC-certified paper. By turning a spotlight on books printed using eco- friendly paper, we hope to raise the awareness of book buyers and encourage everyone to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.
The campaign is organized for the second time by Eco-Libris, a green company working to make reading more sustainable. We invite you to join the discussion on "green" books and support books printed in an eco-friendly manner! A full list of participating blogs and links to their reviews is available on Eco-Libris website.
All in a Day
by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Nikki McClure;
Abrams Books for Young Readers (March 2009); ISBN 9780810983212; 32 pages
Book Source: Review copy from publisher
"Every bird and every tree
and every living thing
loves the promise in a day,
loves what it can bring."Carpe diem (seize the day) is a phrase that most of us are familiar with but might not always take to heart. Each day is a gift, full of hope and promise. Cynthia Rylant reminds readers to live each day to the fullest in her book,
All in a Day. She doesn't often mention particulars in her wonderful, poetic verses, but rather describes a day using broad phrases that apply to all lives and appeal to all ages.
"The past is sailing off to sea, the future's fast asleep. A day is all you have to be, it's all you get to keep." Nikki McClure's idyllic cut paper illustrations provide the reader with imagery needed to visualize a perfect day in the life of a child. From sunrise to sunset, a little boy's life is full of simple moments outside as he takes joy in both work and play, observes nature and spends time with family. He feeds the chickens, blows dandelion seeds, cuddles in a hammock, and takes a walk through the woods. Each and every image is nature-based and full of astonishing detail. McClure is a master of cut paper art and each illustration is cut by hand from a piece of black paper.
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4 Comments on BYR Spring 2011 Cover Preview, last added: 11/23/2010
Great report as always, Jen!
Hey, you were the woman who sold me a Jason book and the new Thrizzle! You did a great job! I enjoyed meeting you!
Had a blast at Stumptown Comics Fest (as you’ll soon see) but DAMN I wish I could go to Mocca. Plus, David Mazzucchelli!
The Fantagraphics table was much smaller than previous years, and I was disappointed that you didn’t bring along the new Spain book, but I still love you guys!
[...] The Beat, May 1, 2012, “Working for The Man: MoCCa 2012″ ( with Shannon Wheeler and Liza Donnelly [...]
Fantatastic!
You Rock Jen! Great Job!