How to use this Page

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 11, 2011

Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.

Best iPad Apps for Kids

Learning How To Read

Review: Scat by Carl Hiaasen

Superhero Books: Batman, Superman, Spider-Man

Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online

---

THE NEW RELEASES

The most coveted books that release this month:

Skippyjon Jones, Class Action

by Judy Schachner

(Ages 3-7)

Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes

by Eric Litwin

(Ages 3-7)

Forever

by Maggie Stiefvater

(Young Adult)

Pretty Little Liars: Twisted

by Sara Shepard

(Young Adult)

Dragon’s Oath

by P.C. Cast

(Young Adult)

---

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

Silverlicious

by Victoria Kann

(Ages 5-8)

Add a Comment

We’re in ALA Annual Countdown Mode here in the office – it’s only one week away!  Dozens of boxes have been filled with galleys and we can’t wait to share them with you.  However, while galleys are certainly a huge incentive to come by Booth #1315 to say hi, we also want to offer up our OUTSTANDING list of authors and illustrators signing in our booth during the conference:

FRIDAY, JUNE 24

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Veronica Roth (DIVERGENT)

SATURDAY, JUNE 25

9:00 am-9:30am
Thanhha Lai (INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN)
Carolyn Mackler (TANGLED)

9:30 am – 10:30 am
Alex Flinn (CLOAKED)
Jack Gantos (GUYS READ: FUNNY BUSINESS)

10:30 am – 11:00 am
Kelly Milner Halls (SAVING THE BAGHDAD ZOO)
Bobbie Pyron (A DOG’S WAY HOME)

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Kadir Nelson (HEART AND SOUL posters)

11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Katherine Hannigan (TRUE…(SORT OF))

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Patrick Carman (DARK EDEN galleys)

12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Katherine Hannigan (BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA)

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Dan Gutman (THE GENIUS FILES: MISSION UNSTOPPABLE)

SUNDAY, JUNE 26

9:00 am – 9:30 am
Bob Shea (I’M A SHARK)

9:30 am – 10:30 am
Christopher Myers (WE ARE AMERICA)

10:30 am – 11:30 am
Rita Williams-Garcia (Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Winner for ONE CRAZY SUMMER)

11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Kevin Henkes (JUNONIA; LITTLE WHITE RABBIT)

1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Claudia Gray (FATEFUL)
Maureen Johnson (THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE)

1:30 pm &

Add a Comment

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: April 1, 2011

Here’s the scoop on the most popular destinations on The Children’s Book Review site, the most coveted new releases and bestsellers.

Kids’ Earth Day Books: Green with Environmental Awareness

The 39 Clues Blog Tour: Access Granted, Peter Lerangis

How Picture Books Play a Role in a Child’s Development

Review: Scat by Carl Hiaasen

Where to Find Free eBooks for Children Online

---

THE NEW RELEASES

The most coveted books that release this month:

The 39 Clues, Book 11: Vespers Rising

by Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Gordon Korman, Jude Watson

(Ages 8-12)

Ranger’s Apprentice, Book 10: The Emperor of Nihon-ja

by John Flanagan

(Ages 9-12)

Big Nate Boredom Buster: Super Scribbles, Cool Comix, and Lots of Laughs

by Lincoln Peirce

(Ages 8-12)

The Loud Book!

by Deborah Underwood

(Ages 1-6)

Athena the Wise (Goddess Girls)

by Joan Holub

(Ages 8-12)

---

THE BEST SELLERS

The best selling children’s books this month:

PICTURE BOOKS

Add a Comment

Alex Flinn, who shared the Cover Story for Beastly on Tuesday, is back to talk about another of her retold fairytale covers, A Kiss in Time, based on Sleeping Beauty. Here's Alex:

"I don't think I had much input for the Kiss in Time hardcover. I was pleased with the color scheme and general look, but I thought it was a bit bland. I've seen other covers by this designer, such as Fairest (below right) and Princess Ben, and they always have a little something more to them than just a girl in a pretty dress. It was obvious that the cover was 'set'when I saw it. It was a photograph, and they'd spent weeks going through dozens of photos to find the perfect one -- it was shot specifically for the book. I liked the colors and the font.

"The girl does look like Talia in my book, and the dress is important in the story and is as I portrayed it, the same color as the girl's eyes. But I was a bit disappointed that you couldn't tell it was Sleeping Beauty, as you can easily tell that Fairest is Snow White. That said, it has been a successful hardcover. I do think the cover art has caused it to be mostly overlooked by the young-adult library community, because it makes it look like a youngerbook. However, bookstore sales have made up for that. It is so pretty that you want to pick it up...."

Add a Comment

Alex Flinn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beastly (you may have heard of a little movie based upon this book, no?) is here to talk about the evolution of her cover. Take it away, Alex!

"I'm not a very visual person, and I knew the art department would do their thing. I've generally been pleased with my covers.

Add a Comment

Y'all know how much I love a good fairy tale retelling. Today, for your reading pleasure, I give you three, all of which I loved.

Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow Jessica Day George

Rejected by her mother, the lass remains unnamed and a target for trolls, but she bonds with her eldest brother, Hans Peter who returned from the sea a broken man. Then, the bear comes and demands she spend a year with him at his ice palace, where the unknown she controls everything and kills anyone who gives the lass any information.

A most excellent version of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon." This version doesn't set it someplace new or put a new spin on it (although there are some echoes to "Beauty and the Beast" but I think that's mainly because the original tales are fairly similar) but it takes the Nordic tale and expands it, embroiders on its edges and paints us a vast and frozen landscape. George's time spent in Norway, and her minor in Scandinavian studies clearly shine in this book, but not in a way that's annoying or gets in the way of the story. There's too much ice and snow for me to describe this as "lush" but... that's still the word I want to use, so I'm going to just go with it.

Beastly Alex Flinn

Kyle Kingsbury is the most popular, hottest guy at school. And he knows it. After playing an unoriginal and cruel trick at an ugly classmate, just for fun, he gets turned into a Beast. He has two years to find a girl to love, who will love him in return, despite his appearance.

An excellent retelling of "Beauty and the Beast." Flinn really gets inside the beast's head, and it's refreshing to hear the tale from his point of view. Kyle is a believable character that goes through a drastic transformation (literal and metaphorical) that Flinn makes completely believable as he learns to get beyond appearances. An extra touch is the chat room he visits where he talks to other transformed people, mainly the bear from "Snow White and Rose Red," the frog prince, and the Little Mermaid. It was a nice (if quick) glimpse into how the transformed characters thought about their transformation and their prospects for escaping it.

A must read for all fairy tale fans.

The Diamond Secret Suzanne Weyn

Oddly, the latest installment from the Once Upon a Time series isn't a fairy tale at all, but rather urban legend and rumor. Diamond Secret is about Anastasia Romanov, who was gunned down with the rest of the Imperial family in 1918. For years, rumors swirled that the youngest daughter of the Tzar had survived and many claimed to be her. Recent discoveries, however, have placed her remains near those of the rest of her family.

I'm not a fan of recasting history as a fairy tale (Disney-- I'm looking at you and your horrible version of Pocahantas!) History is an interesting enough story in itself, we don't need to rewrite it. (Now, historical fiction that is true to the history is awesome, as are speculative histories like books that explore what would have happened if... I don't read a lot of those, but I once saw a really cool show in England about what might have happened if the Germans had successfully invaded and taken England in WWII. Fascinating stuff.)

Anyway, I digress. Just, at the offset, I want to state my displeasure with the entire premise of the book. However, I love this series, and I like many of Weyn's offerings to the series. (Especially The Night Dance). So, I told the history major in me to shut up and sat down and just ate this up.

Ivan is a Red Army deserter, the violence he witnessed on the night of the Imperial family's murders turning him away from Communism.

Sergei is a Count who lost everything but the clothes on his back during the Revolution, desperately trying to find his wife and son, who were supposed to flee to Sweden but never arrived.

The two are friends, trying to find a girl they can pass off as Anastasia to collect the reward money that her grandmother is offering. They figure they have a leg up on everyone else, given that Ivan has actually seen Anastasia on a few occasions, including the night he saw her die.

They happen upon Nadya, a tavern waitress who knows nothing before her time in an insane asylum the year before. She has something that Ivan recognizes--Anastasia's certain je ne sais quoi and they take her to Paris to pass her off as the missing Grand Duchess.

Adventure and complications ensue.

My favorite part of the book is also my main complaint. Weyn's omniscient narrator doesn't focus on just one character, but rather shifts between the three. I loved seeing inside everyone's heads, but at the same time, it kept me from getting attached to the characters, because I also saw them at the same distance their companions did.

Weyn does include an author note with Anastasia's true story and some of the political background for those unfamiliar. She states "This story mixes true history with imagination to create a possible ending to the Anastasia tale. It is a story that the author would love to believe is true."

So, I did like it, even if I'm not wild about the idea of it.

Add a Comment

Alexandra Flinn, AKA Alex Flinn, has a lot going on in her writing life. Her newest book, A KISS IN TIME, is getting great reviews, and her book BEASTLY is being made into a movie starring Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer and  Mary Kate Olsen.   How cool is that?

I recently read A KISS IN TIME and found that its fascinating premise nestled within the comforting framework of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale made for a read that kept me intrigued. The premise is: what would happen if Sleeping Beauty was kissed by her true love 300 years later, and that true love turned out to be a teenager from modern-day Florida? How would their two worlds collide? How would it end? After all, according to the fairy tale they’re supposed to marry and live happily ever after.  But Jack’s still in high school and not about to be married yet. Now what?

How old were you when you first started seriously writing?

Depends what you mean by “seriously.”  I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was five.  I wrote plays for the kids in the neighborhood to perform when I was 9 or 10.  I started writing a diary and trying to write my novel at 12.  I wrote most of a manuscript for a novel (then lost it) at 19.  I started writing with a real eye toward publication, researching the market, etc., at 29.  My first book was accepted when I was 32.

  What age child do you have in your head?

That is the age I picture myself reading my books.

How do you make up names for your characters?

I love names!  It’s one of my favorite parts of writing.

Sometimes, the characters just tell me their names, which is what happened with Jack in A Kiss in Time.  Other times, I think about it more.  Like with Talia the Sleeping Beauty of A Kiss in Time, I found that Talia was one of the names given to Sleeping Beauty in old stories.   She has a whole slew of middle names, which I got from a list of royal names and also, from other names for Sleeping Beauty (Aurora and Rose).

I often consider the meaning of the name.  For example, Kyle (the Beast in Beastly) is named Kyle because it means “handsome,” and after he becomes a beast, he changes it to Adrian which means dark.  The girl in the story is Linda, which means “pretty.”  Kendra, the name of the witch in that story, means magical. 

I consider impressions that names give me, and if I know anyone with that name.  Charlie Good in my book, Breaking Point, was named Charlie because I knew someone who looked just like him in middle school, and his name was Charlie, and I knew a boy named Alex Good in high school.  He used to say his name was spelled, “No E, just plain good,” which I thought was funny.  I have a book called Baby Name Personality Survey, which tells me what impressions the name gives other people. 

I had a really hard time naming my own kids, so it’s fun to get to name more people.

What’s the earliest childhood memory you can think back to? Does it appear in any of your writing?

I can remember REALLY far back, and I remember a lot.  I remember standing in my crib, biting the sides, waiting for my mother to come in.  But my first vivid memory was from when I was three years old.  I remember my mother coming in and telling me we were going to meet the little boy and girl who had moved in next-door.  I was wearing a white dress with red polka dots.  We went over to their house and sat on their back step.  The boy’s name was Peter, and the girl’s name was Wendy (No, I did not make this up after watching Peter Pan), and they were two and five respectively.  I never used it in my writing, but I’ve used other stuff.

Do you wake up in the night with fantastic ideas for books?

Not in the night.  I usually think up story ideas when I’m supposed to be doing something else.  Like, once, I wrote a short story in my head while watching Piglet’s Big Movie with my kids.

Why write a take off on a fairy tale?

Initially, because part of the story wasn’t fleshed out enough for my liking.  I wanted to know more about the Beast, or it bothered me that Sleeping Beauty just got plunked down in another century.  Now, because kids don’t read fairy tales anymore.   They watch the DVD, and if there is no DVD, if Disney hasn’t done it, it’s dead.  You have no idea how many emails I get, asking who the bear in Beastly was supposed to be.  He’s from Snow White and Rose Red, but none of them have heard of that story.  I’m working on a novel now that is all fairy tales that haven’t been done by Disney.  Some of them, even I hadn’t heard of until I started researching.

What is your favorite fairy tale?

Sleeping Beauty was my favorite as a child.  Now, I sort of like adventure stories like The Brave Little Tailor, Lazy Jack, or The Golden Bird, where the hero has to surmount obstacles to gain the hand of the princess.

What do you have hidden in a dresser drawer? (We won’t tell, will we, everyone?)

Nothing.  It’s not that I’m so organized (I’m not), or that I don’t have hiding places (I do).  That’s just not one of them.  And I’m not going to tell you my hiding places because my kids are old enough to go online.

What do your favorite jammies look like?

Grey short gown with an embroidered pink kitty-cat on it that says, “It’s all about me-ow.”

Who would you rather have a date with (given you weren’t married), Strider from THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Dr. Watson, Wolverine, or Simon Cowell? Why?

Simon.  I was a music major in college, and I pretty much agree with everything he says (except when he ridicules the disabled, but I would try to cure him of that).

Have you ever been abducted by aliens? If so, what color were their jammies? And did they tell you the titles of any of their favorite books?

Well, if they abducted me, they must like my books, right?  And they weren’t wearing jammies.  In fact, they all looked exactly like Simon Cowell and were wearing black Tee-shirts and jeans.

Will you name a character in your next book after me?

Um, maybe.  Do you want me to?  How many other people have you asked to do this?

Thanks, Alex! 

(Who knows, maybe we’ll have a spate of characters named Shutta soon.)

Ciao!

Shutta

 

* Many of Alex Flinn’s books have made the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults lists, as well as Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. They have also received such teen-selected honors as the International Reading Association Young Adult Choices list (Breathing Underwater, Nothing to Lose, and Fade to Black). Flinn’s books seem to appeal to teens who might otherwise prefer not to read, which is the charge of the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list. Her books have also been nominated for numerous state awards. Breathing Underwater won the Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award in 2004. Beastly is nominated for the 2009 Lone Star State (Texas) Award.  (Wikipedia entry: Alex Flinn.)

(Alex Flinn author Portrait by J.A. Cabrera.)

Add a Comment

Princess Talia Aurora Augusta Ludwiga Wilhelmina Agnes Marie Rose of Euphrasia is tricked into pricking her finger on a spindle and fulfilling a curse that places obscures the entire nation of Euphrasia from the rest of the world and causes everyone to fall asleep until she is awakened by a kiss from her true love. Centuries go by until Jack ditches his European tour group and stumbles upon

Add a Comment

Ignore the fact that SCBWI Miami took place in January--I've finally downloaded/uploaded my pictures, and I want to post them. (Click to make them larger.) I was not only an attendee, but I also appeared as a speaker on the First Books Panel, along with Marjetta Geerling and Debbie Reed Fischer.


Linda Bernfeld, SCBWI Regional Advisor of Florida, (on the right) is ready to party down after months and months of planning! It paid off, Linda! From left to right, the other conference attendees are Lynne Hansen, Shannon Hitchcock, me, and Angelina Dunbar. Lynne writes YA horror and gave me great tips on how to drum up book signings. Shannon and I had some great conversations, and Angelina was my conference buddy.



I'm standing next to Marjetta Geerling, Alex Flinn and Mindy Weiss. Marjetta wrote Fancy White Trash and signed my copy with a fancy pink pen. She told me YA doesn't have to be depressing and she was right! I read her book, loved it, and saw positive themes throughout the novel even in the midst of serious subject matter. Alex Flinn is the author of many books and the recipient of many awards. Go Alex! Mindy is a Blueboard friend and it was nice to meet her in person.


The great Lisa Yee! What can I say? I loved Millicent Min! Don't let Lisa's small stature and cuteness fool you--she's sharp as a razor and really funny (very quick texter, too).



Gaby Triana worked behind the scenes for months to get the conference going. Not only is she the author of several award winning novels and a nice person to boot, she's hot, too!





Donna Gephart wrote As If Being 12 and 3/4 Wasn't Bad Enough, My Mother is Running for President! My daughter snagged this book from me when I got home and she loved it! Donna and I had exchanged a few emails before the conference, and I was eager to meet her. She is a warm and caring person, and I love her for that.



I had a blast hanging out with Debbie Reed Fischer. She introduced herself as a military brat like myself, and said we had much to talk about. The author of Braless in Wonderland and Swimming with Sharks, Debbie is quick, funny, and just as pretty as the models she writes about.



This is what it looks like when children's writers party! Kimberly Lynn constructed all the decorations, and she did a fantastic job!

Display Comments Add a Comment

“Kyle Kingsbury, you are beastly.”

That’s what Kendra said. Beastly. But Kyle had it all, popularity, good looks, money, and any girl he wanted. Kyle never missed an opportunity to let the inferior people know just how far beneath him they were, including his best friend, who’s dad was merely a doctor. Kyle’s dad was the nightly New York City news anchor. At Tuttle, an elite school for the richest of the rich, Kyle was a somebody.

Until the school dance. Until his stupid maid bought his girlfriend a rose instead of an orchid for her corsage, which Kyle tossed to a scholarship student. Until he deliberately set up Kendra to be embarrassed and humiliated when she realized that he, Prince of the dance, already had a date and never intended to be her escort.

Until Kendra appeared in his bedroom and he received his “comeuppance.”

“You will know what it is like not to be beautiful, to be as ugly on the outside as on the inside…”

The clock struck midnight and Kyle was left a beast, with only a magic mirror for company.

Kyle’s famous dad vows to spend whatever it takes to cure his son’s affliction. When he realizes even his money isn’t enough to find a cure, he banishes his son, with their maid and a tutor, to a New York brownstone.

Will Kyle ever be able to break the curse? Will he find true love’s kiss or be forever doomed to roam the New York City streets in the dark of night, hidden as the beast?

BEASTLY by Alex Flinn, is a modern retelling of the Beauty and the Beast. This novel is just plain fun . Ms. Flinn creates the perfect romantic tension when Kyle finds his true love and then has to let her go. Like the fragrance of the perfect rose, BEASTLY will linger with the reader, leaving the feeling that life is indeed good long after the pages of the book have been pressed closed.

This review is cross-posted here at Teens Read Too.

Add a Comment

Add a Comment

Kyle Kingsbury is good looking, athletic, wealthy, and the big man on campus at his elite private school. Kyle's dream life, however, is shattered by a curse placed upon him by a witch after Kyle plays a cruel prank on her at a school dance. The witch transforms Kyle into his truer self, a hideous beast. If within two years Kyle is able to kiss a girl that he loves who loves him despite his appearance, his curse will be broken. Unable to handle his son's new appearance, Kyle's father purchases a house for him to live in and employs a private tutor and maid and leaves him there. Kyle gives up on reversing his curse and finds comfort in growing roses and creating a greenhouse for them. When a thief caught breaking into the greenhouse offers his daughter in exchange for his freedom, Kyle discovers that unexpected things can happen. Flinn's completely modernized version is a worthy addition to the repertoire of Beauty and the Beast retellings. Narrated entirely by Kyle, readers will enjoy his transformation from cruel and brutal Kyle to the kind-hearted and sweet Adrian. Flinn accents the modernized version by including an online chat room support group for those transformed (a group in which the Little Mermaid and the Frog Prince make appearances). An author's note includes a short history of Beauty and the Beast tales and how she found her inspiration for her story, what she calls "two abandoned teens who find one another".

Add a Comment

Jump on over to whimsybooks to read her post. Come on. Everybody play!

I hand wrote thank you notes to Sharon Draper and Joan Bauer. As they are enormously successful, I don't expect they needed the boost, but they are two authors who hooked me on YA literature. There were others, and I may write more letters. I've already commented on Laurie Halse Andersons page about her incredible books, and how my students devour them. I may send a note to Joyce Sweeney, except I see her twice a year, and it's much more fun to praise her work in person. Same with Alex Flinn, Dorian Cirrone, Edward Bloor, Gaby Triana, and Laurie Friedman. Amazing Florida writers, all of them. I probably shouldn't have started listing names, because I'm sure I left someone off. I should go browse my bookshelf. Oh my gosh, I could go on and on. But I can't write them all thank you notes. See? That's why you have to play, too! We have to spread the joy! Have fun.

Add a Comment

You can barely stop to catch your breath when reading Alex Flinn's Breathing Underwater It's not just her pacing that keeps you turning the pages. It's the deft way that she interweaves scenes from the main character's past and present, as well as offers multiple perspectives into his character, that draws you underwater, deeper into the story and into the character's dilemma. Flinn grabs her

Display Comments Add a Comment

Keeping Up With Roo by Sharlee Glenn, illustrated by Dan Andreason (Grossett & Dunlap, 2004) has won the 2006 Dolly Gray Award for Children's Literature in Developmental Disabilities, sponsored by The Council for Exceptional Children's Division on Developmental Disabilities and Special Needs Project.

Scroll for Sharlee's acceptance speech and more information about the award.

More News & Links

"A Grown-Up Brouhaha over a Book for Kids" from the New York Times. Letters to the editor include one by young adult author Alex Flinn. Read a Cynsations interview with Alex.

Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess (MTV Books, 2007) is the currently featured title at the YA Authors Cafe. Surf by to learn all about it and ask Laura a question.

CCBC Choices for 2007 have been announced. Learn more about highlighted authors and illustrators, including M.T. Anderson, Dianna Hutts Aston, Karen Ehrhardt, Jenny Han, Kimberly Willis Holt, Cynthia Kadohata, Gail Carson Levine, David Levithan, Grace Lin, Cynthia Lord, Marisa Montes, Yuyi Morales, An Na, Rick Riordan, Susan Goldman Rubin, Lola M. Schaefer, Leda Schubert, Scott Westerfeld, and Jane Yolen. Check out all the honorees!

"So You're An Old Wanna-be" by Kathe Campbell from the Institute of Children's Literature. "A light-hearted look at how one late bloomer looks at rules, challenges, and success."

Add a Comment

Add a Comment