Variety reports that producers have just bought the film rights to Stephenie Meyer’s adult title, The Host.

Why wasn’t it snapped up long ago, even before publication? According to the Variety, Meyer,

…spurned several overtures for The Host…[but] the producers continued lobbying the author and her reps… with a significant offer, a strong vision for the project, and a collaborative spirit. Meyer eventually said yes.

Andrew Niccol (Gattaca, Lord of War & the upcoming sci-fi film, The Cross) will write the screenplay and direct.

In April of last year, Meyer told MTV that she might turn The Host into a series,

If I were to continue on with The Host, which is a possibility, there are characters and stories that could continue…Next would be The Soul, and then The Seeker.

The Host: A Novel Stephenie Meyer Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 619 pages Publisher: Little, Brown and Company – (2008-05-06) ISBN / EAN: 0316068047 / 9780316068048

Just last night at around 6;30, I witnessed a father snatching a graphic novel out of the hands of his third-grader son because it wasn’t a “real” book.  I didn’t move fast enough at the moment, but for sure there will be a collection of graphic format books, comics, adventure stories and biographies hand-delivered to that kid’s classroom today.

I declare September 22 “Choose your own book day!”

If I was more on-the-ball last night I would have directed Dad to Guysread.com the newly revamped website of reading recommendations from our favorite guy, Mr Ambassador himself, Jon Scieszka.

Below are titles that are sure to be hits with kids this month, starting with one I probably don’t need to remind you about:

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days Jeff Kinney Retail Price: $13.95 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Amulet Books – (2009-10-12) ISBN / EAN: 0810983915 / 9780810983915

Ages: 9+

Greg who doesn’t “do” outdoors is perfectly satisfied spending his summer inside playing video games. His mom has other ideas.

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Syren (Septimus Heap, Book 5) Angie Sage Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 640 pages Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0060882107 / 9780060882105

Ages: 8+

Downloadable audio and eBook from OverDrive

This fifth book in the Magykal series does not disappoint its fans and may bring new ones to the fold. For all those kids who want more Harry Potter but may have missed this equally engaging tale.

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The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma Trenton Lee Stewart Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers – (2009-10-06) ISBN / EAN: 0316045527 / 9780316045520

Audio from Listening Library: CD; 9780307582393; $44.00

Downloadable audiobook from OverDrive

Ages: 10+

At Bank Street, our kids are nuts for these big fat, complicated adventure mysteries. They have been begging for number three since school started.

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Waddle!: A Scanimation Picture Book Rufus Butler Seder Retail Price: $12.95 Hardcover: 12 pages Publisher: Workman Publishing Company – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0761151125 / 9780761151128

Ages: 3+

From the creator of the best seller Gallop! This is a novelty book in the same vein with animated animals moving magically on the page. Collections with pop-up and interactive books shouldn’t miss. If you want it get it. do so now. Based on previous experience, this title will go out-of-stock quickly.

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Fire Kristin Cashore Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: Dial – (2009-10-05) ISBN / EAN: 0803734611 / 9780803734616

Audio from Penguin: CD; 9780143145110; $39.95

Ages: 12 and up

I am sure I gave the heads-up on this way back in May [Ed Note: actually, you first mentioned it way back in March and then again in May!]  If you didn’t listen to me then, listen now: Fire is a companion volume to the bestselling and delicious Graceling. Set in the same fantasy world at a slighty different time, the central character of this book has mind-blowing beautly and the the talent to bend others to her will. Will she use her powers for good or evil?

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Leviathan Scott Westerfeld Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 448 pages Publisher: Simon Pulse – (2009-10-06) ISBN / EAN: 1416971734 / 9781416971733

Audio from S&S Audio; CD, 9780743583886; $29.99

Ages: 10+

This one is nothing like Westerfeld’s previous young adult novels. He has turned his imagination to an alternative past sometime before the beginning of WW I. British society has evolved dependent on machines made of animals. They are the Darwinists, while the Germanic societies are dependent on a kind of steam punk machinery. The two cultures cross through children who find themselves caught in the middle of bigger events.

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The Amanda Project: Book 1: invisible I Stella Lennon, Melissa Kantor Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: HarperTeen – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061742120 / 9780061742125

Downloadable audio and eBook from OverDrive

Ages: 12+

I am generally not a big fan of books that have a web component, but I just adored The Amanda Project. Take archetypical teenagers – the popular girl, the band geek, the artist…you get it. Throw them together to solve the mystery. I am dying….totally for book two.

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The Day of the Pelican Katherine Paterson Retail Price: $16.00 Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Clarion Books – (2009-10-19) ISBN / EAN: 0547181884 / 9780547181882

Audio from Brilliance:

• Library MP 3; 9781441802095; $39.97
• Library CD; 9781441802071; $69.97
• PlayAway; 9781441829450; $49.99

Downloadable audiobook from OverDrive

Ages: 10+

I know, I know — you don’t need me to tell you to buy the new Katherine Paterson. What you don’t know is that as soon as it arrives, you should be uncharacteristically selfish and grab it first. It is a story of the Kosovo civil war, a refugee story, and a post-9/11 story. Because it is Paterson, the parts add up to more than the whole. Read it.

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Julie Andrews’ Collection of Poems, Songs, and Lullabies Julie Andrews, Emma Walton Hamilton Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 192 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers – (2009-10-06) ISBN / EAN: 0316040495 / 9780316040495

Audiobook from Hachette Audio: 9781600247583; $24.98

All ages

We admire Julie Andrews for her Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles. This volume is not a celebrity vanity project. It is a an exquisitly illustrated collection of familiar and new verse that has a place in every library and home to spend hours sharing delightful language and fine watercolor art.

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Wag! Patrick McDonnell Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316045489 / 9780316045483

Ages: 3+

Looking for a delight for storytime? What makes a dog’s tale wag? Turn the page to simple cartoon drawings of a delightful dog and children will soon know the answer. Resistance is futile. This book will cheer the most drab day.

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Luv Ya Bunches: Book One (Luv YA Bunches (Hardback)) Lauren Myracle Retail Price: $15.95 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Amulet Books – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0810942119 / 9780810942110

Ages: 9+

Tweens; for the crowd that isn’t quite ready for TTYL; finally something to hand over to them. For the girls who want REAL books, here it is.

Below is a roundup of Monday and Tuesday’s media coverage of eagerly-anticipated books

• Audrey Niffenger, Her Fearful Symmetry, reviewed by Michiko Kakutani in the NYT

• Gaile Parkin, Baking Cakes in Kigali,  reviewed in USA Today — a first novel that librarians buzzed at BEA

• Sarah Paretsky, Hardball, reviewed by Sarah Weinman in the Barnes & Noble Review

• Branch Taylor, Clinton Tapes,  profiled in USA Today

• Muriel Barbery, Gourmet Rhapsody, reviewed in SF Chronicle

• James Ellroy, Blood’s a Rover, interviewed on NPR’s Morning Edition (includes excerpt) and reviewed in the Washington Post

• Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross

• Ishiguro, Kazuo, Nocturnes, reviewed in the Barnes & Noble Review

The fall childrens movie season opened big this weekend with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs topping the charts.

As the list below reveals, plenty more kids movies based on books are coming this season, even without counting the YA titles (New Moon and Whip It!– the Drew Barrymore movie based on Shauna Cross’s Derby Girl).

Links are to the trailers (including the one just released last week for Disney’s A Christmas Carol). Tie-ins are listed in our Movie tie-ins: Scheduled section.

• 10/16 — Where the Wild Things Are
• 10/23 — Astroboy (based on the manga series)
• 10/23 — The Vampire’s Assistant (Cirque du Freak)
• 11/06 — A Christmas Carol
• 11/13 — The Fantastic Mr. Fox
• 12/11 — The Princess and the Frog

Believe it or not, there are some titles that are NOT based on books this season. That doesn’t prevent them from having tie-ins, however:

NOV. 20 — Planet 51

All ages:

The Art of Planet 51 Danny Graydon Retail Price: $39.95 Hardcover: 144 pages Publisher: Insight Editions – (2009-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 1933784970 / 9781933784977

Easy-to-read:

Planet 51: Lem Saves the Day (I Can Read Book 2) Gail Herman Retail Price: $3.99 Paperback: 32 pages Publisher: HarperCollins – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061844128 / 9780061844126

Ages 4 to 8:

Planet 51: It Came from Planet Earth! Annie Auerbach Retail Price: $3.99 Paperback: 24 pages Publisher: HarperFestival – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061844160 / 9780061844164

Junior Novel:

Planet 51: The Junior Novel J. E. Bright Retail Price: $5.99 Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: HarperFestival – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061844195 / 9780061844195

Young Adult:

Planet 51: Rover to the Rescue! Ray Santos Retail Price: $3.99 Paperback: 24 pages Publisher: HarperFestival – (2009-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061844179 / 9780061844171

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DEC 18 — James Cameron’s Avatar

All ages:

The Art of Avatar: James Cameron’s Epic Adventure Lisa Fitzpatrick Retail Price: $29.95 Hardcover: 108 pages Publisher: Abrams – (2009-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0810982862 / 9780810982864

Middle-grade tie-in:

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Na’vi Quest Benjamin Harper Retail Price: $4.99 Paperback: 64 pages Publisher: HarperFestival – (2009-12-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061801267 / 9780061801

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DEC 25 — Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

Junior Novel:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: The Junior Novel Perdita Finn Retail Price: $5.99 Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: HarperFestival – (2009-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061845698 / 9780061845697

Ages 4 to 8:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: Battle of the Bands Annie Auerbach Retail Price: $3.99 Paperback: 24 pages Publisher: HarperFestival – (2009-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061845655 / 9780061845659

Oops! As one of our midwest readers pointed out, I overlooked the Chicago Tribune‘s Fall Book Preview, which came out Sept. 5th. As someone who spent her “formative years” in Michigan and Indiana, I couldn’t let this stand, so here’s a look at the titles unique to their list.

You might expect the unique titles to have midwestern connections, but just a few of them do. Our Boys, by Joe Drape, a book about “a Kansas town’s obsession with its perfection-seeking high school football team.” Libraries throughout the country have ordered it.

The Art Students War by Brad Leithauser is set in Detroit. The author’s sixth novel offers, says the Tribune, “a vivid historical portrait of Detroit in its prime as he affectionately chronicles the life of a young female artist.” Reviewed by Kirkus in the 9/15 issue; it is not on the catalogs of the libraries we checked.

The Art Student’s War Brad Leithauser Retail Price: $27.95 Hardcover: 512 pages Publisher: Knopf – (2009-11-03) ISBN / EAN: 0307271110 / 9780307271112

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A memoir that was a librarian’s pick at BEA and is showing holds on modest ordering in large libraries, is written by a Michigan author. The Tribune says, “After a messy breakup and a scary car accident, the author returns to her close-knit Mennonite family for some offbeat, often hilarious, guidance.”

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home Rhoda Janzen Retail Price: $22.00 Hardcover: 256 pages Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. – (2009-10-13) ISBN / EAN: 080508925X / 9780805089257

Also in audio from HighBridge:

• CD: 9781598879070;  $29/95; 10/13

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On the other hand, the Tribune is the only fall preview one to pick a book that is set in New York City’s Upper West Side, published by an independent New York-based press, and by an author who lives in Washington, D.C.  This collection of linked short stories was just reviewed by Booklist (9/15); it is not listed by the libraries we checked.

Normal People Don’t Live Like This Dylan Landis Retail Price: $15.00 Paperback: 192 pages Publisher: Persea – (2009-09-22) ISBN / EAN: 0892553545 / 9780892553549

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Also unique to the Tribune list and not on library catalogs we checked, is a book that was just reviewed by Publishers Weekly (9/14). The Tribune calls it a “..comprehensive investigation of genocide and how the world community can work toward its prevention.”

Worse Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity Daniel Jonah Goldhagen Retail Price: $29.95 Hardcover: 672 pages Publisher: PublicAffairs – (2009-10-06) ISBN / EAN: 1586487698 / 9781586487690

Also in audio from Tantor:

• Trade 9781400114320 21 Audio CD $59.99
• Library 9781400144327 21 Audio CD $119.99
• MP3 9781400164325 2 MP3-CD $39.99

Forces of Fortune author, Vali Nasr, appears on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tomorrow night. He is also scheduled to appear on The Charlie Rose Show tonight.

Nasr, an advisor to the Obama administration on Iran-US relations, believes the best weapon in “The War on Terror” is expanding trade with the Middle East.

Most large libraries have ordered the book, in modest quantities.

Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean for Our World Vali Nasr Retail Price: $26.00 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Free Press – (2009-09-15) ISBN / EAN: 1416589686 / 9781416589686

Also in audio, from Tantor:

• Retail: 9781400113798  (9 discs, $34.99)
• Library: 9781400143795 (9 discs, $69.99)
• MP3: 9781400163793  (1 disc, $24.99)

David Remnick, the editor of the New Yorker, reviews Rod Blagojevich’s memoir, The Governor, in the current issue. He says it is “surely unsurpassed” for “…febrile self-defensiveness and look-over-there deflections and deceptions…”

The Governor Rod Blagojevich Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Phoenix – (2009-09-08) ISBN / EAN: 1597776467 / 9781597776462

Mackenzie Phillips appears on Oprah on Wednesday, the day her book, High On Arrival, is published.

Libraries are showing few holds (so far).

High On Arrival Mackenzie Phillips Retail Price: $25.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment – (2009-09-23) ISBN / EAN: 143915385X / 9781439153857

The first novel, Mathilda Savage, was a librarian favorite at BEA. Prepub reviews continued the enthusiasm, with starred reviews in all four publications.

It’s now getting some media coverage (no mean feat for a debut novel in this season of big names). Holds are few, so you may actually be able to put this one in readers’ hands.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed the author, and put an excerpt online.

The Christian Science Monitor reviewed it. Their reviewer was also taken with it,

Have you met Mathilda? If not, prepare to be – in equal measures – charmed and haunted. Because once you get this precocious teen’s sad, sharp voice in your head, it’s hard to get it out.

Mathilda Savitch: A Novel Victor Lodato Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux – (2009-09-15) ISBN / EAN: 0374204004 / 9780374204006

Also in audio from Tantor:

• Trade 9781400113309 7 AudioCD $29.99
• Library 9781400143306 7 Audio CD $59.99
• MP3 9781400163304 1 MP3-CD $19.99

A new trailer for New Moon is now available. The movie will arrive in theaters on Nov. 20th.

Watch more Moviefone videos on AOL Video

In addition to tie-in editions of the book, Little Brown YR is also publishing a movie companion:

New Moon: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion (Twilight Saga) Mark Cotta Vaz Retail Price: $18.99 Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers – (2009-10-06) ISBN / EAN: 0316075809 / 9780316075800

The Washington Post features a special section about the National Book Festival to be held on the Mall in Washington, D.C. this coming Saturday. The schedule of authors is filled with big names, from Jeff Kinney to Simon Schama.

The Festival is organized by the Library of Congress.

We didn’t see this one coming; featured in the NYT Magazine this week is a $150 book, which quickly rose to #4 on Amazon, just three spots away from The Lost Symbol.

The book is Carl Jung’s record of his own hallucinations during a mental breakdown, which he chronicled in words and drawings in a red notebook. Although Jung believed that The Red Book was the source of all his works, he never published it and left no instructions regarding whether to do so after he died. For years, The Red Book was kept in a bank vault and very few people were allowed access to it. The NYT Magazine‘s story details how the book came to be scanned, translated and is about to be published.

Libraries we checked do not show it on order.

(the above spread comes from W.W. Norton’s catalog)

The Red Book C. G. Jung Retail Price: $195.00 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. – (2009-10-07) ISBN / EAN: 0393065677 / 9780393065671

Also making a big leap on Amazon is another title mentioned in the article. It is now at #196

Memories, Dreams, Reflections C.G. Jung Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 448 pages Publisher: Vintage – (1989-04-23) ISBN / EAN: 0679723951 / 9780679723950

The Free Library of Philadelphia’s blog has this welcome headline:

Breaking News -
Legislation to keep libraries open passes!

The bill to keep the library open passed by a vote of 32 to 17 in the Pennsylvania State Assembly.

On the blog post, the library thanks the citizens and staff for all their efforts in this campaign, saying that more than 2,000 letters were sent to legislators, as well as “countless” calls and emails.