If you’ve ever walked into a book signing for cartoonist Stephan Pastis, there’s a chance you could mistake it for a rock concert, only one for adolescent boys.
But don’t be mistaken. The artist’s darkly funny comic strip, Pearls Before Swine, does well among most age groups; it’d have to, after all, to be syndicated in 650 papers in an era of declining newspaper readership. But it’s his Pearls collections, more than a dozen in all, that score particularly well among the Lego and Transformer set.
Candlewick Press
Rainforest Action Network has launched a campaign urging HarperCollins to end the use of fiber from controversial sources after it said that independent forensic tests found significant quantities of pulp from Indonesian rainforests in several of the publishing company’s books.
Mixed tropical hardwood and high-risk acacia fiber were found in HarperCollins’ bestselling children’s book “Fancy Nancy’s Splendiferous Christmas,” RAN said. Acacia was also found in HarperCollins titles including “Splat the Cat: The Perfect Present for Mom and Dad” and “Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past,” the environmental group said.
Candlewick Press has announced the hiring of John Mendelson as senior vice president of sales and digital initiatives. Mendelson will join the Somerville, Mass.-based children's publisher May 18. He is currently director of trade sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he has worked for more than a decade in a variety of sales positions.
Children are pulled in many directions today; at least, their attention is. They are occupied by MP3 players, gaming systems, computers, cell phones, handheld electronic games and other digital technologies. And yes, children still play old-fashioned board games. They also attend school, compete in team sports, and participate in community and extracurricular activities. With all of these outlets occupying children’s time, how are books faring? With an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 new children’s titles released each year, children’s book publishers are concerned with how their books can compete for young readers’ attention with the thousands of titles already in the market, according to Ron
A recent story from satirical news source The Onion (www.TheOnion.com), entitled “Area Eccentric Reads Entire Book,” read: Sitting in a quiet, downtown diner, local hospital administrator Philip Meyer looks as normal and well-adjusted as can be. Yet, there’s more to this 27-year-old than first meets the eye: Meyer has recently finished reading a book. Yes, the whole thing. “It was great,” said the peculiar Indiana native, who, despite owning a television set and having an active social life, read every single page of “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. … Meyer, who never once jumped ahead to see what would happen
Jon Scieszka is on a mission—a mission to get more kids reading. In January, Scieszka, a veteran author of several best-selling children’s titles, including “The Stinky Cheese Man” and “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs,” was named the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Committed to a two-year term in his new role, Scieszka will travel the country and speak as an advocate of youth readership. The Library of Congress’ Center for the Book, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and the CBC Foundation created the new Ambassador position. The initiative is financially supported by
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed children’s book author Jon Scieszka as the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. The appointment was announced yesterday at the Mulberry Branch of the New York Public Library. The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature initiative was created by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Children’s Book Council (CBC) and the CBC Foundation, and is financially supported by a variety of sponsors, including publishers Scholastic Inc., Macmillan, Candlewick Press, HarperCollins, Random House, Penguin and others. The new ambassador position, according to the organizations, is intended to raise national awareness of
Cambridge, Mass.-based Candlewick Press was launched 15 years ago as the U.S. publishing arm of London-based children’s book publisher Walker Books. Since its inception, the company has grown into one of the largest independent publishing companies in the world. Today, it boasts nearly 100 employees, more than 3,000 published titles and countless industry awards, including the 2007 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award for “Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways,” by Laura Kvasnosky, and this year’s E.B. White Read-Aloud Award for “Houndsley and Catina,” by James Howe and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay. Both of these award-winning titles were among the first four titles released in the
A “who’s who” of the book industry convened in the Big Apple last month to mingle as the annual National Book Awards were bestowed on this year’s batch of winning authors. The black-tie affair, the award’s 57th ceremony, took place at New York’s Marriott Marquis on Nov. 15. This year, the judges chose from 1,259 books submitted by publishers for what has become a leading literary prize for Americans since it was first given in 1950. Richard Powers’ “The Echo Maker,” published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, earned the top award for fiction this year, while Timothy Egan took home the nonfiction award for “The Worst
As the founders of Bookbuilders of Boston decreed in their 1937 mission statement, the organization affords “an excellent opportunity to become informed about new materials and processes ... to become better acquainted with fellow associates in the trade of bookcraft, and finally, to aim toward an improvement in the making and appearance of books.” This quote was featured in the Letter from the President that was included in the award catalog for this year’s New England Book Show, highlighting the show’s purpose in fulfilling the Bookbuilders’ mission. Celebrating its 49th year, The New England Book Show was held on March 15 at the Fairmont