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Watertown, MA, July 7, 2010—Charlesbridge Publishing, Inc. today announced the acquisition of Imagine Publishing of New York, a publisher of unique and eclectic books for children and adults.

Imagine was founded in 2009 by the father/son team of Charles and Jeremy Nurnberg. The co-founders will both join Charlesbridge, effective immediately. Charles, a 40 year industry veteran and former CEO of Sterling Publishing, will become Vice President & Publisher of the Imagine imprint. Jeremy, former Vice President Trade & Institutional Sales at Sterling, brings his 15 years of publishing experience to Charlesbridge as Vice President of Sales.

Imagine’s list includes the Peter Yarrow Books imprint in partnership with legendary singer/songwriter and bestselling author Peter Yarrow of the iconic trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Books in this imprint include the current New York Times picture book bestseller Over the Rainbow, with a CD performance by Judy Collins, and the upcoming October 2010 release of The Night Before Christmas, with a CD by Peter, Paul and Mary.

“Our growing success motivated us to seek a publisher that could handle the needs of our expanding list,” said Charles Nurnberg. “Charlesbridge has the full range of promotional and distribution capabilities that Imagine needs. Their publishing strategy reinforces our own philosophy to publish books that stand the test of time.”

Charlesbridge—an independent publisher of children’s fiction and nonfiction—has grown steadily over its twenty-year history. It currently enjoys critical and commercial successes with books such as Sibert Award Honor The Day-Glo Brothers, by Chris Barton; ALA Notable Global Babies, one of many books published in partnership with The Global Fund for Children; and the newly released Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins, named to the Indie Next List.

“Imagine adds an exciting new dimension to our list,” said Charlesbridge Vice President and Associate Publisher Mary Ann Sabia, “while also leading us in a new strategic direction with our first general trade books, including Delicious Diabetic Recipes, the important new Curiosity Guides series, with titles on the human genome and global climate change, and for kids, Neil Sedaka’s Waking Up Is Hard To Do.”

Charlesbridge President Brent Farmer stated, “With the addition of Imagine we significantly increase our list and range. We look forward to enhancing the enduring relationships established over the years with children’s booksellers, wholesalers, librarians, and teachers, and creating new relationships in the general trade arena.”

Charlesbridge begins shipping Imagine Publishing titles immediately from their Massachusetts warehouse. Imagine customers may call Charlesbridge at (800) 225-3214 for questions pertaining to their orders.

The Quiet Book

by Deborah Underwood, illustrated by Renata Liwska

Houghton Mifflin

$12.95, ages 4-8, 32 pages

This enchanting book visits some of the ways animals can be quiet.

On one page a little bunny does stretches before anyone else wakes up. On another, a porcupine perched on a stool in a birthday hat makes a wish with all of his might, and later, two best friends, a bear and rabbit, chase waves on a beach together, contented in the silence of their play.

Liwska's illustrations are as soft and sweet as well-loved toys. What a wonderful way to segue into a little impromptu quiet time.

Over the Rainbow

illustrated by Eric Puybaret, with the voice of Judy Collins

Imagine Publishing, Inc., 2010

$17.95, ages 4-8, 26 pages

As a storm clears, a rainbow pours out of a cloud into a girl's window, beckoning her to crawl up its path to a magical place in the sky in this breathtaking adaptation of Arlen and E.Y. Harburg's song, "Over the Rainbow."

The girl, dressed in a night gown, sees a woman leaping from a cloud shaped like an outstretched hand, then follows her lead to play among the planets and soar with long-necked birds.

Readers will think they're already dreaming when they open the book and turn on the CD of Grammy Award-winner Collins' singing the classic song. Bring along a portable CD player and watch little faces grow serene.

With my blunt, redheaded sleuth songbird Dinah Galloway now starring in six published mysteries, I feel I can now officially take my place in the ranks of children’s series authors. Now, Dinah’s not unruffled and glam like Nancy Drew. Nor is she versed in magic à la Harry Potter – though just watch her make Purdy’s peanut butter chocolates vanish in a blink.

I’ve waited in vain for the postie to deliver a special membership card to this special cadre of writers. You know, The bearer of this card is an official Serial Flake, or something like that. In lieu of receiving that honor, I decided to investigate just who started children’s series.

Click your heels three times, and the answer is … L. Frank Baum, the actor-turned—farmer-turned journalist who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Raised by a Pennsylvania oil baron, Baum enjoyed an idyllic childhood on his Eden-like family estate, Rose Lawn. While a newspaper editor in South Dakota, he wrote Oz, basing Dorothy’s parched, gray surroundings on the Midwest drought of the time. I’m guessing Rose Lawn was his inspiration for her Over the Rainbow escape from the drought.

Fiona Bayrock interviewed me, along with Pam Withers and Deborah Hodge, about series books in an article for Children’s Writers and Illustrators 2010.

Last week, after Terryl Given’s piece about Mormonism and politics, I started to wonder about one of my favorite Mormons, Orson Scott Card. I’m not a huge Science Fiction fan, but the Ender’s Game series captivated me as a young teen and I still list the series among my favorite books. Below, in an excerpt from Given’s book People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture is a look at Card in light of his religion.

Orson Scott Card has been called the Mormon “who to this point best — and most radically fulfills the great prophetic hopes for a world-class as well as genuinely Mormon literature.” One of the most prolific and arguably the best science fiction writer alive, Card is best known for his Enders saga, the first volume of which won an unprecedented doubleheader, scoring both the Nebula and the Hugo awards, as did its sequel, in a feat still unequaled (Ender’s Game, 1986; Speaker for the Dead, 1987). Some of his corpus is recognizably Mormon in fairly conspicuous ways. Saints and Folk of the Fringe, for instance, represent direct engagement, the former historical and the latter futuristic, with Mormonism itself. His Tales of Alvin Maker series (six volumes and counting) is a thinly veiled version of Joseph Smith’s life, cast as fantasy that reconceptualizes American history. Earlier, he published a five volume science fiction series clearly based on the Book of Mormon (Homecoming, 1992–1996).

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Terryl L. Givens is Professor of Literature and Religion and James A. Bostwick Chair of English at the University of Richmond. His newest book, People of Paradox: A History of Mormon Culture not only traces the development of Mormon culture from Joseph Smith through today, but also looks at Mormon culture in the context of society at large. In the article below Givens uses Mormon history to elucidate why discussion of Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s religion is irrelevant.

On the 10th of September, 1846, the bombardment began and continued sporadically for three days. As many as 800 (some Mormons said 1800) U.S militiamen and area citizens with six pieces of canon had surrounded the virtually deserted city of Nauvoo, Illinois. The two to three hundred remaining Mormons converted some steamboat shafts to canon and threw up barricades in a feeble attempt to survive. (more…)

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