First-time novelist Lauren Oliver arrives on the 3/21 NYT Children’s Chapter Books best seller list at #8 with Before I Fall. The book is told by a girl who dies in a car accident, but gets to relive the last day of her life seven times.

The book was launched with a 100,000-copy first printing. PW featured the author’s unique “ARC tour;” she sent out 2 copies, asking readers to pass the book on and insert comments. One copy actually made it back to her, after traveling throughout Europe, loaded with comments and drawings.

It received stellar prepub reviews and is the #1 Indie Next Spring 2010 Children’s Pick.

The Guardian sees it as part of a trend of novels by dead or dying YA’s, which is led, of course, by The Lovely Bones and includes:

• Before I Die, Jenny Downham, (David Fickling Books/Random House, 2007)
• Thirteen Reasons Why, Jay Asher (Razorbill/Penguin, 2007)
• Elsewhere, Bavrielle Zevin (Square Fish/FSG, 2005)
• If I Stay, Gayle Forman (Dutton, 2009)

The author has a four-book contract; her second novel, Delirium, is planned for publication in winter 2011.

Before I Fall Lauren Oliver Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 480 pages Publisher: HarperCollins – (2010-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 006172680X / 9780061726804

ebook and audio available from OverDrive.

If you are in New York City on Thursday March 18th, please join us.

The Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street is being dragged kicking and screaming into the age of technology. For the first time in its 101 years of reviewing, selecting and annotating children’s books, the Best Books of the Year list will be available electronically.

The Children’s Book Committee
Bank Street College of Education

Cordially invites you to attend a breakfast celebrating the presentation of

The 2010 Children’s Book Awards to the authors and illustrators

Thursday, March 18, 2010
9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

Bank Street College of Education
The Evelyn Rome Tabas and Daniel Tabas Auditorium
610 West 112th Street
New York, NY 10025-1898

RSVP to bookcom@bankstreet.edu

The Josette Frank Award for fiction:

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate Jacqueline Kelly Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) – (2009-05-12) ISBN / EAN: 0805088415 / 9780805088410

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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Grace Lin Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2009-07-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316114278 / 9780316114271

The Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for nonfiction:

Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream Tanya Lee Stone Retail Price: $24.99 Hardcover: 144 pages Publisher: Candlewick – (2009-02-24) ISBN / EAN: 0763636118 / 9780763636111

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Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 (Richard Jackson Books (Atheneum Hardcover)) Brian Floca Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 48 pages Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books – (2009-04-07) ISBN / EAN: 141695046X / 9781416950462

The Claudia Lewis Award for poetry:

Red Sings from Treetops: A Year in Colors Joyce Sidman Retail Price: $16.00 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children – (2009-04-06) ISBN / EAN: 0547014945 / 9780547014944

For more information: 212.875.4540

The Children’s Book Committee is an affiliate of the Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature.

…is heeeere!

The movie opens June 30th. The official site is here.

The movie based on Neil Gaiman’s Coraline was nominated for an Academy Award, but did not win. CBS Sunday Morning must have expected a different outcome; they ran a piece about Gaiman the day of the awards.

The author’s characteristic charm is on full display.

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The L.A. Times notes today that adults are reading Y.A. books; Young adult lit comes of age.

One telling, but unsourced stat:

Where adult hardcover sales were down 17.8% for the first half of 2009 versus the same period in 2008, children’s/young adult hardcovers were up 30.7%

Actually, the latest figures from the AAP show Adult Hardcover sales up 6.9 percent, year-end ‘09 over the previous year and Children’s/YA Hardcover category down by 5.0 percent for the same period. However, that masks the fact that children’s and YA has been the bright spot in publishing for most of the decade.

Books and authors cited are:

• Stephenie Meyer, Twilight saga
• Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games trilogy
• Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians series
• Markus Zusak, The Book Thief and I Am the Messenger
• J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series
• Judy Blundell, What I Saw and How I Lied
• Maggie Stiefvater,  Shiver
• Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
• Anne Brashares, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series
• Adult authors who also write for YA — James Patterson, Carl Hiaasen, Francine Prose and Terry Pratchett
• Garth Nix, Sabriel
• Cecil Castellucci, Boy Proof and Beige

A couple of new vampire series have joined the many others on the NYT children’s lists. Cynthia Leitich Smith’s second YA dark fantasy, Eternal, debuts on the 3/14 NYT Children’s Paperback best seller list at #5.

The NYT annotation reads, “Vampires plus fallen angels equal romance.” Horn Book puts it this way,

Teen readers have lapped up the steady outpouring of vampire books, most of which feature a forbidden mortal/immortal romance. Here Smith creatively revamps the star-crossed pair as a “newly risen” eternal (read vampire), adolescent Miranda, and her fallen guardian angel, Zachary.

She also brings a refreshing touch of humor to the mix.

Eternal is a companion book to the author’s earlier title Tantilize (Candlewick, 2007). Coming next year is Blessed, in which the casts from the previous two books will cross over.

Eternal Cynthia Leitich Smith Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Candlewick – (2010-02-09) ISBN / EAN: 076364773X / 9780763647735

Audio from Listening Library; UNABR; 9780739385616
Audio and ebook available from OverDrive

Tantalize Cynthia Leitich Smith Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Candlewick – (2008-07-22) ISBN / EAN: 076364059X / 9780763640590

Audio from Listening Library; UNABR; 9780739363997
Audio and ebook available from OverDrive

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Heather Brewer’s Chronicles of Vladimir Tod entered the competitive Series Books list at #5 two weeks ago and is now at #7. The series began with Eighth Grade Bites (Dutton, 2007). The fourth book in the series, Eleventh Grade Burns came out in hardcover last month and the paperback of Tenth Grade Bleeds came out in January, with Twelfth Grade Kills scheduled for September.

Brilliance is releasing the series in audio this summer.

Eleventh Grade Burns #4: Chronicles of Vladimir Tod #4 Heather Brewer Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Dutton Juvenile – (2010-02-09) ISBN / EAN: 0525422439 / 9780525422433

ebook available from OverDrive.

Tenth Grade Bleeds #3: The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod Heather Brewer Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Speak – (2010-01-12) ISBN / EAN: 014241560X / 9780142415603

ebook available from OverDrive.

The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Twelfth Grade Kills Heather Brewer Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Dutton Juvenile – (2010-09-16) ISBN / EAN: 0525422242 / 9780525422242

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Stretching a bit to zombies, Carrie Ryan debuts on the Series Books list with The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The second book in the series, The Dead-Tossed Waves was just released. PW said the new book, “…functions as something of a retelling of [the previous] story, albeit with a different protagonist.”

The Dead-Tossed Waves (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 2) Carrie Ryan Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers – (2010-03-09) ISBN / EAN: 0385736843 / 9780385736848

The paperback of the first volume was released last month.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth Carrie Ryan Retail Price: $9.99 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers – (2010-02-09) ISBN / EAN: 0385736827 / 9780385736824

The next big kid’s movie is around the corner, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, opening March 19th.

Rather than a traditional tie-in, author Jeff Kinney is releasing a “diary” of the making of the movie, which includes storyboard sketches, costume designs (that t-shirt, shorts and back pack must have been a stretch), script pages and photos.

The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary Jeff Kinney Retail Price: $14.95 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Amulet Books – (2010-03-16) ISBN / EAN: 0810996162 / 9780810996168

For the past week, middle school boys have been haunting the doorway to my office, hoping for an advance copy of Havoc by Chris Wooding, the second in the Malice series.

My advice? Order now and go in big.

Havoc Chris Wooding Retail Price: Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Scholastic – (2010-05-03) ISBN / EAN: 1407105116 / 9781407105116

The title of the third and final volume in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games series is announced in the current issue of USA Today.

It’s not The Victors, but Mockingjay and it will be published on Aug. 24th. USA Today explains,

In the series, mockingjays are offspring of mockingbirds and jabberjays, a government-bred mutant designed to spy on rebels. Mockingjays become symbols of resistance.

Collins is at work on the screenplay for The Hunger Games (Lionsgate bought the rights last year; no cast or director announced yet).

On the Scholastic blog, Scholastic Executive Director David Levithan spills the beans on…what’s NOT in the book.

The Hunger Games: Book 3 Suzanne Collins Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 400 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2010-08-24) ISBN / EAN: 0439023513 / 9780439023511

I was going to do a round-up of great titles for Black History Month, but school librarian Judy Freeman over at James Patterson’s Read Kiddo Read has done it for me with 76 Unforgettable Books for Black History Month. Of course, there are tons of other lists out there, but this one is the most comprehensive.

My pick of the list is Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney new book Sit-In; lyrically written and historically accurate, with sweeping paintings evocative of the time.

The Pinkneys talk about the book and the story it explores in the following video:

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Sit-In: How Four Friends Stood Up by Sitting Down Andrea Pinkney, Brian Pinkney Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2010-02-03) ISBN / EAN: 0316070165 / 9780316070164

Printz-winner (Going Bovine) Libba Bray has signed to write a new YA series called The Diviners for a rumored $2 million, according to Publishers Weekly. Described as supernatural fantasy set in Manhattan during the 1920s, Bray said the series will offer  ”readers a wild new ride full of dames and dapper dons, jazz babies and Prohibition-defying parties, conspiracy and prophecy—and all manner of things that go bump in the neon-drenched night.”

The first title in the four-book series is planned for Fall 2012.

The books were won in a six-house auction by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Bray’s last four books were published by Delacorte.

The only H1N1 novel for the Wimpy Kid crowd. Writing and drawing in his English assignment journal, the snarky narrator observes the over-reaction of his family to the announced pandemic.

Finn Reeder, Flu Fighter: How I Survived a Worldwide Pandemic, the School Bully, and the Craziest Game of Dodge Ball Ever Eric Stevens Retail Price: $9.99 Hardcover: 80 pages Publisher: Stone Arch Books – (2010-01-15) ISBN / EAN: 1434225623 / 9781434225627

This Sunday, Jan. 24th, I’ll be conducting a live interview with the always engaging and hilarious John Scieszka (author of The Time Warp Trio series and the modern classic The Stinky Cheese Man) at Symphony Space in NYC. The event includes a discussion with the audience, a creative writing project, and a book signing. Click here for tickets.

Also coming up is my online course, Children’s Book Publishing 101, offered through the Bank Street School. It runs January 29th through February 12th. Deadline for registration is today.

Fox’s high school musical comedy Glee just won a Golden Globe for best TV musical or comedy series. I just learned that Little Brown Books for Young Readers will be publishing Glee books in the fall; original stories featuring our show favorites. Whoo, hooo!

Also coming is a Ghost Hunters series for middle grade readers, based on the Syfy series.

No bibliographic information yet; we’ll let you know when it’s available.

Libraries and booksellers will not have to scramble to find copies of the Newbery and Caldecott winners this year; both are on the bestseller lists and in stock at wholesalers.

For all the winners, including Honor books and other awards, see the official press release.

Caldecott

The Lion & the Mouse Jerry Pinkney Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2009-09-01) ISBN / EAN: 0316013560 / 9780316013567

EarlyWord Kid’s contributor, Lisa Von Drasek was an early proponent; see her review on The Barnes and Noble Review.

Newbery

When You Reach Me Rebecca Stead Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books – (2009-07-14) ISBN / EAN: 0385737424 / 9780385737425

Printz

Going Bovine Libba Bray Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers – (2009-09-22) ISBN / EAN: 0385733976 / 9780385733977

Coretta Scott King

John Steptoe Award for New Talent

The Rock and the River Kekla Magoon Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 304 pages Publisher: Aladdin – (2009-01-06) ISBN / EAN: 1416975829 / 9781416975823

Illustrator

Charles R. Smith for:

My People Langston Hughes Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Ginee Seo Books – (2009-01-06) ISBN / EAN: 1416935401 / 9781416935407

See Lisa Von Drasek’s essay about Langston Hughes’ books for children. It includes both the winner and the Honor book, The Negro Speaks of Rivers.

Author

Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U. S. Marshal (Exceptional Social Studies Titles for Intermediate Grades) Vaunda Micheaux Nelson Retail Price: $17.95 Library Binding: 40 pages Publisher: Carolrhoda Books – (2009-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0822567644 / 9780822567646