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Today we bring you our weekly sampler of cool youth media and marketing gigs. If your company has an open position in the youth media or marketing space, we encourage you to join the Ypulse LinkedIn group, if you haven’t yet, and post there for... Read the rest of this post

Today we bring you another installment of Youth Media Movers and Shakers. We’ve culled through industry publications looking for the recent executive placements we think you should know about. If you have executive news that you want us to... Read the rest of this post

HarperCollins Children's Books has signed a debut trilogy in which ordinary boys and girls are trained to become fairy tale heroes or villains.

HC US Editorial director Phoebe Yeh pre-empted world rights from Jane Startz of Jane Startz Productions to the three books by Soman Chainani. The first book in the trilogy, The School for Good and Evil, will be published in spring 2013.

The book follows two girls, one beloved and one reviled, who are kidnapped by a storyteller who runs the school for good and evil.

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HarperCollins Children's Books has bought a new collection of previously unpublished work and out of print folk tales by Alan Garner for publication this autumn.

Editorial director Nick Lake bought world rights to Complete Folk Tales from Karolina Sutton at Curtis Brown. Published in November 2011, the book comprises stories from Garner's out of print Book of British Folk Tales and The Hamish Hamilton Book of Goblins, as well as never before published stories from Garner's archive.

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HarperCollins Children's Books has bought a debut by an author discovered on the Inkpop website for budding writers of teen fiction.

Senior editor Lizzie Ryley bought UK and Commonwealth rights to the book from Jean McGinley at HarperCollins US. The Carrier of the Mark will be published in October 2011 as a paperback original.

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Today we bring you our weekly sampler of the cool youth media and marketing gigs. If your company has an open position in the youth media or marketing space, we encourage you to join the Ypulse LinkedIn group, if you haven’t yet, and post there... Read the rest of this post

Kids’ books: This ‘March Madness’ is literally playing by the book
“School Library Journal is sponsoring a “Battle of the Kids’ Books.” Patterned after the wildly popular NCAA March Madness, the “Battle of the Kids’ Books” pits 16 topnotch children’s books against each other and asks popular children’s-book authors to choose a winner.”

10 of the best: heroes from children’s fiction
Don’t miss this photo essay featuring 10 heroes and heroines from children’s fiction including Huckleberry Finn, Anne Shirley and Petrova Fossil.

All-New Shel Silverstein Poetry Collection Due in 2011
This week HarperCollins Children’s Books announced the fall 2011 release of a collection of never-before published Shel Silverstein poems and illustrations.

Alabama youth reading Mark Twain to promote literacy
Throughout Alabama, children, big kids and families are reading or re-reading Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ event The Big Read.

Author Name Pronunciation Guide
Ever wondered how you pronounce tricky authors’ names? This site offers a collection of brief recordings of authors & illustrators saying their names. Check out the recording from Adam Rex, a favorite of First Book staff member and author Erica Perl.

I received this book a few months ago, was intrigued by the cover and read it straight away. The discipline level it takes to not blog the '09s until '09 is pretty high. But since I am trying to play by the rules, I waited. It took me until almost the end of January to realize that I have a pile of stuff to get blogging about!

Verna, Carly, Aunt Maude and Papa have just moved into their new home on the grounds of an asylum. Papa is a well known psychiatrist, and he has very strong views on the treatment of the mentally ill. He is very happy to move his family to be among somewhat like minded doctors. The asylum and its grounds are a wonderful playground for the girls. The grounds and gardens go on and on, and there are many places to explore.

Sour Aunt Maude is the only one who is against this move. She is, after all, the sister of Isabel...the girl's mother and Papa's wife who passed away 2 years ago. Aunt Maude was against selling the house, against living on the grounds of the asylum, and most definite against having one of the patients keep house.

Eleanor is a patient, and it is her job to cook and clean for Papa's house. Aunt Maude is not kind in her treatment of Eleanor, and even though Eleanor's cleaning is impeccable and her food is delicious, Aunt Maude always seems to find fault. Imagine Aunt Maude's feelings when it becomes apparent that Verna and Carly prefer Eleanor's company to her own, and her brother-in-law appears smitten with Eleanor.

Gloria Whelan has written a story that explores not only family ties, but the historical treatment of the mentally ill, and she has done it in an incredibly accessible manner. The unlikable Aunt Maude struggles mightily with her sense of decorum and propriety, and it is apparent that she honestly thinks that she knows best. Readers will feel their heart strings pulled to the limit as Eleanor falters in her recovery and is misunderstood by her own family, due in large part to the meddlesome Aunt Maude.

Quietly poignant, The Locked Garden's descriptive language, and time setting of the early 1900s will find readers in fans of Creech, Jocelyn, and MacLachlan, among others.

Joanna Cotler Steps Down from Imprint