Good news — the deadline to apply to give out books on World Book Night, Monday, April 23rd, has been extended.

Organizer Carl Lennertz says they’ve received hundreds of applications, with every state, city and town covered, but “the more the merrier” and he’s heard there are still people out there who want to be part of this program. The applications have been inspiring, he says,

 …the places the book givers are suggesting for their giveaway are as varied as America itself, from schools to nursing homes, coffeeshops to a soup kitchen. My favorite so far?  At a Little League game. And while I always knew in my heart, being a small town kid myself, that World Book Night might skew from big city and towards smaller cities and towns, one of my favorite suggestions so far is for someone to give away their books on the Staten Island Ferry.

Click here for more information on the program. The librarian’s signup page is here.

Help spread the word via Twitter. Below is suggested 140 character text:

Hey book lovers, be a volunteer book giver on World Book Night, April 23, 2012. Sign up at www.worldbooknight.org by Feb. 7

OR

Want to participate in a million book giveaway to promote reading? Sign up at www.worldbooknight.org by Feb. 7

On April 23rd, a group of 50,000 “passionate readers” will be giving away a million books.

The program is “World Book Night,” an expanded version of a program that began in Britian, where it lead to an increase in book sales. Anna Quindlen has been named the honorary chair of the U.S. program.

Librarians are invited to apply to be “book givers.” Online applications are available today, at us.worldbooknight.org.

In addition to the giveaways, books will be shipped to prison libraries and military bases.

The thirty books in the program were chosen by a panel of independent booksellers, Barnes & Noble buyers, and librarians.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (Hachette/ LBYR)

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo (Candlewick)

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (HarperPerennial)

Blood Work by Michael Connelly (Hachette/Grand Central)

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (RH/Knopf Books for Young Readers)

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz (Penguin/Riverhead); a Spanish-language edition, La breve y maravillosa vida de Óscar Wao (RH/Vintage Espanol), will also be made available.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Macmillan/Tor)

Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger (Perseus/Da Capo)

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (S&S/Scribner)

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (Norton)

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson (Macmillan/Picador)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (RH/Ballantine)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (RH/Broadway)

Just Kids by Patti Smith (HarperCollins/Ecco)

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Beacon Press)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Penguin/Riverhead)

Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster)

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Hachette/Back Bay)

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult (S&S/Atria)

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (HMH/Mariner)

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (Grove Atlantic)

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial)

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (RH/Ballantine)

Q Is for Quarry by Sue Grafton (Penguin/Berkley)

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (Workman/Algonquin)

The Stand by Stephen King (RH/Anchor)

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien (HMH/Mariner)

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (Penguin/Viking Children’s)

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (RH/Vintage)

With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 pervading the news, librarians who work with children, are faced with special challenges in helping them understand the tragedy.

My school, the Bank Street College School for Children, has provided some guidelines for teachers that may be adapted for the rest of us who work with children, especially young children.

• We can focus on the good rather than the horrific; the bravery of individuals, the people who were heroic, the focus going forward on security and public safety.

• We can assure children that we are together in a safe place and a caring community, in which adults take good care of children

Language for our teachers and families has been adapted from the NYU Child Study Center. What we discuss with children may include:

• It was a terrible thing that happened on September 11, ten years ago

• Before you were born, a small group of people who did not like our country did a very bad thing. They hijacked four airplanes, which means that they forced the pilots to let them fly the planes. Instead of landing the planes, they made them crash into the Twin Towers in New York, a building called the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania. None of this usually happens when people travel on airplanes.

• Lots of people escaped the Twin Towers and the Pentagon and were helped by many rescuers. Sadly, some people did not escape and died that day.

• Adults and older children who were living when it happened might feel sad when they remember that day.

• It is okay to feel sad and to talk about and ask questions about what happened.

• Since then, many people in the United States and around the world have been working hard to keep everyone safe and to make airports, airplanes, and buildings safer.

• Many people have been working together to make the world better and to take care of other people. These are good things.

Tips for Parents and Caregivers

Please do not interpret these talking points to mean that everyone must sit down with a child and tell him/her about 9/11. Each family decides how and what to share with their child about this or any subject. Instead, here are some general thoughts in preparation for the anniversary:

• Be prepared to be present for your children more than usual. More than words, your presence is the most reassuring thing they can have.

• Tune in to coverage of the anniversary only when you know your child is asleep or not home. Even if it looks like they’re busy playing in another room, they hear everything! Keep newspapers and other sources of images out of view.

• Listen to your child. Answer the questions they ask, trying not to give them more information than they need.

• Turn their questions back to them. You can find out more about what they’re thinking. (It also buys you time to think!)

• Say you don’t know, if you don’t. You can think about it together.

• Say you’d like to talk about it with them, but you need time to think first. Set a time to talk—make sure you return to it. In between, seek out resources if you feel nervous or worried about what to say.

• Telling your own story as one way to address your child’s questions and curiosity: Where were you and what were you doing on Sept 11, 2001? How did you find out what happened? What did you think, feel, and do? How do you think and feel about the anniversary? Without graphic or inappropriate information, your personal story can be more meaningful than the overwhelming big ideas and horrific facts. Additionally, since it’s your story, it can be easier for you to answer questions your child might have.

• Avoid speaking over children’s heads to other adults assuming that the child won’t understand or isn’t listening to grownup conversations.

Other Resources

For Parents and Teachers

At the Bank Street Library website, you will find a useful link to Teaching through a Crisis: September 11 and Beyond. Published in 2003, this collection of essays was fueled by a desire to provide a vehicle through which educators could share their experiences of those events. Contributors wanted to know how teachers were addressing the questions raised by the tragedy: What kinds of conversations had been sparked among children, teachers and parents?

For Older children ages 8 and up

America Is Under Attack: September 11, 2001: The Day the Towers Fell (Actual Times) Don Brown Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 64 pages Publisher: Flash Point – (2011-08-16) ISBN / EAN: 1596436948 / 9781596436947

A dispassionate accounting of that day illustrated and age appropriate giving an easy to understand timeline of the events, includes an author’s note, sources and brief bibliography. America is Under Attack teachers’ guide written by Emily Linsay, a Bank Street School for Children teacher can be downloaded here.

14 Cows for America Carmen Agra Deedy Retail Price: $17.95 Hardcover: 36 pages Publisher: Peachtree Publishers – (2009-08-01)

Storyteller Deedy collaborated with Kenyan, Kimeli Naiyomah who tells of returning home to his Maasai village after 9/11 and related the events that he had witnessed to his community. The elders decided that to ease the sorrow of the citizens of New York, they would provide fourteen cows to comfort them in their loss. The herd exists to this day. Gonzalez’s vibrant paintings draw the audience into this picture book bringing the reader into a very different community than their own.

One copy of every Dummies book in print is a lot of books — over 1,800 as Gwinnett County Public Library [GA] recently found out. As the winners of Wiley’s For Dummies 2011 Library Contest, the library won the full set of the books by creating a Dummies Fan Page on Facebook and gathering the most “Likes” (5,002).

Gwinnett County P.L. mascot Dewey the Dinosaur was assisted in unloading the books by The Dummies Man last week (it must have been hot inside those costumes).

It seems nobody told him that processing books is not for dummies.

Wiley is currently running a Frommer’s Library Display Contest, with the chance to win a visit and travel talk from Arthur and Pauline Frommer, as well as 50 Frommer’s travel guides.

The major question on librarians’ minds at OverDrive’s Digipalooza, which concluded yesterday, was when Kindle users will be able to download from OverDrive. The debut is viewed with a mixture of excitement and anxiety. Librarians look forward to being able to serve Kindle users, but worry about being able to buy enough copies to meet the increased demand.

Throughout the conference, CEO Steve Potash, looking like a kid with a delicious secret, kept saying “soon” and, “I’m not allowed to announce a date yer.” During the final session, he delivered a broad hint,  by summarizing the main points of his “Crystal Ball Report” :

Streamlining (both downloading and ordering)
Explosion (we have gone from two reading devices to 85 and more are coming)
Premium (the library catalog as the most premium, value-added site on the Web)
Traffic (enormous growth coming by year’s end)

But Potash delivered a larger and more revolutionary vision in his report; the library website as the first place to go to find in-copyright ebooks with the WIN platform enhancements. For a title that the library does not own, users can recommend that the library buy it or buy it themselves from ebook retailers (including independent stores). As a result, Potash predicted, the value of owning a library card will grow exponentially and traffic will make last year’s increases look like “small fry.” To prepare, he has put his staff on “Maximum OverDrive” to ensure the system will be able to handle demand 100 times greater than last year.

Join us for GalleyChat this coming Tuesday, Aug. 2, from 4 to 5 p.m. (Eastern) when we will be discussing galleys of books coming out in Sept. and beyond.

Below are ten fall titles that rose to the top of participants’ TBR piles during last month’s chat:

The Art of Fielding, Chad Harbach, Little, Brown, 9/7
Hachette Large Print, 9780316204729
Comments — a “masterpiece” and “Baseball and Moby Dick–what a combination! ”

When She Woke, Hillary Jordan, Algonquin, 10/4
Audio, Highbridge, 9781611745702
Comments — “brilliant, disturbing, unexpected turn. Much more than 1984 meets The Scarlet Letter.” –” Made me think of Handmaid’s Tale ”

Forgotten Waltz, Anne Enright, Norton, 10/3
Thorndike, 9781410443243

Lots of interest, although nobody had read yet.

Lost Memory of Skin, Russell Banks, Ecco, 9/27
HarperLuxe, 9780062088857
This is one I’ve become an evangelist for  and I’m happy to report that those I’ve gotten to read it are glad they did. Some say it’s Banks’ best yet.

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern, Doubleday, 9/13
RH Audio, 9780307938909
Large Print, Center Point, 9781611732023

We hardly need to say more about this one. As we reported earlier, it  has already been compared to The Help and The Da Vinci Code, in terms of potential popularity (but not at all in terms of plot or style or setting!)

The Night Strangers, Christopher Bohjalian, Crown, 10/4
RH audio, 9780307940773
RH Large Print, 9780739378366

Not many in the group have read this yet, but one who did said she “Couldn’t put it down,” causing others to grab their copies

Rin Tin Tin, Susan Orlean, S&S, 10/4
S&S Audio, 9781442344969; Thorndike, 9781410443441
This one has all the elements of a hit; fascinating historical detail (for instance, the heavy reliance on animals during combat in WWI), show business, triumph over obstacles and, of course, Susan Orlean and the dogs that were Rin Tin Tin through the years.

The Stranger’s Child, Alan Hollinghurst, Knopf, 10/11
RH Audio, 9780307966582
Comment — “Reminded me of Downton Abbey and Kate Morton.” Just announced as one of the titles on the Booker longlist. If it wins, the timing couldn’t be better; the announcement will come the week after it is published here.

Those Across the River, Christopher Buehlman, Ace,  9/6
Blackstone Audio
One who picked it up via NetGalley said she “Had nightmares after only reading the 1st quarter of it.”

Triangles, Ellen Hopkins, Atria/S&S, 9781451626339, 10/18 [No cover art yet]
S&S Audio, 9781442345362
Hopkins’ first book for adults, using the free verse style that is familiar from her YA titles; Comment “it’s riveting… she packs punch!

Thanks to hundreds of wonderful teachers and librarians, nearly ten thousand first- and second-graders voted on four finalists for the Irma Black Award and they chose How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills (Schwartz & Wade).

That so many of you read the finalists aloud to your students, led them in discussions, and encouraged them to vote, attests to the importance of the picture book format in supporting the development of critical thinking skills. As one of my second grade students put it, “Rocket should be the Irma Black winner because it tells the truth. You can’t learn to read in a day. It takes time. A lot of time. You can tell from the pictures; it takes seasons.”

Not only that, Rocket is a joy to read aloud, again and again.

Let the celebrating begin! Please join us:

May 19, 2011
Bank Street College of Education
610 West 112th Street
New York City

8:30 AM Light Breakfast | 9:00 AM Award Ceremony | 10:00 AM Book Signing

To RSVP or to make a contribution to the Irma S. and James H. Black Fund at Bank Street College of Education, please email Alesia Yezerskaya, or phone 212-875-4608.

Keynote Speaker: Perri Klass is a pediatrician who writes both fiction and non-fiction. She writes about children and families, about medicine, about food and travel, and about knitting. Her newest book is a novel, The Mercy Rule, and the book before that was a work of non-fiction, Treatment Kind and Fair: Letters to a Young Doctor, written in the form of letters to her son as he starts medical school.

Perri lives in New York City, where she is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University. She is also Medical Director of Reach Out and Read, a national literacy organization which works through doctors and nurses to promote parents reading aloud to young children.

Please join us for another session of GalleyChat, tomorrow at 4 p.m. EST. We’ll be talking about Spring titles, your 2010 favorite books to recommend, and look ahead to what to nab at MidWinter.

Below is everything you need to know. GalleyChat is the first Tuesday of every month, 4 p.m. Eastern, so put it on your calendars:

To join the EarlyWord GalleyChat:

1. If you are not already on Twitter, set up an account.
2. Put Dec. 7 at 4:00 EST on your calendar.
3. Just before the discussion starts, log on to Twitter or whatever interface you prefer. (Tweetchat is good; it refreshes quickly and automatically loads your hashtag when you are in the discussion; be sure to sign in with Twitter at the upper right).
4. To follow the discussion, enter #ewgc (which stands for EarlyWord GalleyChat).
5. To post a comment to the discussion, make sure that you include hashtag#ewgc in each of your tweets (if you’re using Tweetchat, it will do that for you). It will also help if you write book title in all caps, to make them stand out. (like this — Anyone else reading THE PASSAGE? #ewgc). Since this is a galley chat, we ask that you only write about forthcoming books (December and beyond).

Looking forward to seeing you!

We had a fabulous day discussing children’s books at BookFest@Bank Street. It began with Leonard Marcus exploring the work of Margaret Wise Brown. Diane Muldrow, editor at Golden Books, focused her talk on the lyricism and preciseness of MWB’s word choices and the reasons re-illustrators are chosen for new editions of some of her titles. Wendell Minor showed his sketches and finished paintings along with the originals of Nibble Nibble. Stephen Savage took us through the journey of the manuscript of Fathers are Coming Home from its contract in 1943 to its finally being published in 2010. He showed slides of the evolution of the illustrations from simple sketches to the final linoleum block printed art.

The keynote from Laurie Halse Anderson was a thought-provoking sprint through American history focusing on the Revolution, the founding fathers and her research through secondary and primary sources, in order to anchor her book, Forge, the sequel to Chains. Below is video of her talk, shot by School Library Journal.

BookFest at Bank Street 2010: Laurie Halse Anderson from School Library Journal on Vimeo.

Lastly, the irrepressible Jon Scieszka partnered with his protege Mac Barnett and accompanied by a slyly deadpan David Yoo, implored the audience of librarians, teachers and writers to inspire boys to read by providing high interest materials. They specifically advocated humor, but they were supportive of weapons, hunting and perhaps graphic bloody imagery (mostly they were kidding, I think).

More videos from the day are available at School Library Journal‘s web site.

There’s two big commitments are on the agenda for tomorrow — voting and GalleyChat. For information on how to join the latter (begins at 4 pm., EST), link here.

During the last GalleyChat, Harper offered copies of Tom Franklin’s Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter. Over 150 people took advantage of that offer; we’d like to hear how you are enjoying it.

We’re also curious to know if you are taking advantage of Simon & Schuster’s eGalley program (the latest title being offered is the paranormal thriller, Cryer’s Cross by Lisa McMann, coming in February with a 200,000 copy printing).

Cryer’s Cross Lisa McMann Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Simon Pulse – (2011-02-08) ISBN / EAN: 1416994815 / 9781416994817

Below are some other titles on our radar. We look forward to hearing what’s on your TBR list.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption Laura Hillenbrand Retail Price: $27.00 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Random House – (2010-11-16) ISBN / EAN: 1400064163 / 9781400064168

RH Large Print; 9780375435010
RH Audio; 9780739319697

During our last galley chat, several wondered whether Laura Hillenbran’s new book will have as much appeal as the author’s earlier book Seabiscuit. I’ve read it and believe it will. In that book, Hillenbrand was able to get thousands fascinated by the story of a long-forgotten race horse. Imagine what the same author can do with a WWII hero who survived 47 days in the open ocean only to be captured by the Japanese. The book’s already received universally strong prepub reviews; we’re expecting heavy consumer coverage when it arrives in two weeks.

Looking ahead to the spring,

Left Neglected Lisa Genova Retail Price: $25.00 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Gallery – (2011-01-04) ISBN / EAN: 1439164630 / 9781439164631

Large Print; Thorndike; (ISBN 9781410433824; price $35.99; release date 1/5/2011

After Still Alice, a novel about  early-onset Alzheimer’s, this is the story about a woman afflicted with another brain disease; one that makes the sufferer unable to recognize part of themselves. Booklist has already called it “more accessible than her somber first book,” There is strong inhouse buzz that this will reach a wider audience than Still Alice.

………………..

ARE’s for The Fates Will Find Their Way, a literary debut with strong inhouse buzz were sent in the Oct B&T mailing. Lee Boudraux’s editorial letter asks people to “take a moment” to read it; it’s a refreshingly short book (Boudraux terms it ”economical”).

………………..

West of Here Jonathan Evison Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: Algonquin Books – (2011-02-15) ISBN / EAN: 1565129520 / 9781565129528

Highbridge Audio; 9781615731169

We’ve been hearing about this for months from Michael Rockliff, head of library marketing at Workman/Algonquin and we still have a few months to go before the public gets its hand on it. It’s picking up buzz at the regional bookseller shows, just received a star from LJ and it now has a Web site, complete with a timeline and newspaper clippings from the period the book covers.

………………..

The Weird Sisters Eleanor Brown Retail Price: $24.95 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam – (2011-02-17) ISBN / EAN: 0399157220 / 9780399157226

Penguin Audio; 9780142428948

The sisters’ motto: “There is no problem a library card can’t solve.” From the editor that brought us The Help and The Postmistress, Booklist says that debut novel The Weird Sisters exhibits “no false steps.”

The deadline is nearing to sign up for a special look at 2011 adult titles from a wide range of publishers (sponsored by the Trade Library Committee of the Assoc. of American Publishers; they’re the library marketing folks), being held on Oct. 20, beginning at noon at Random House in New York City. More details here.

RSVP by October 8, 2010 to Marlene Scheuermann at mscheuermann@publishers.org.

Please join us for GalleyChat tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Share with colleagues what you’re reading, what you’re loving and what’s not worth the hype.

At the last GalleyChat, I am happy to say that I got lots of support for my October favorite, Up From the Blue. Looking forward to its publication, so the word of mouth can finally take off. I even see 15 holds on 5 copies in one library system and another one ordered 44 copies; hurrah!

Up from the Blue: A Novel Susan Henderson Retail Price: $13.99 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Harper Paperbacks – (2010-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 0061984035 / 9780061984037

UPDATE: Just heard from Thorndike that they will be publishing this title in Large Type:
Thorndike, February: ISBN 9781410434364; $31.99

To join the EarlyWord GalleyChat:

1. If you are not already on Twitter, set up an account.
2. Put Sept. 28th at 4:00 EDT on your calendar.
3. Just before the discussion starts, log on to Twitter or whatever interface you prefer. (Tweetchat is good; it refreshes quickly and automatically loads your hashtag when you are in the discussion; be sure to sign in with Twitter at the upper right).
4. To follow the discussion, enter #ewgc (which stands for EarlyWord Galley Chat).
5. To post a comment to the discussion, make sure that you include hashtag #ewgcin each of your tweets (if you’re using Tweetchat, it will do that for you). It will also help if you write book title in all caps, to make them stand out. (like this — Anyone else reading THE PASSAGE? #ewgc). Since this is a galley chat, we ask that you only write about forthcoming books (Oct and beyond).

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Featuring: Laurie Halse Anderson, Jon Scieszka & Leonard Marcus
Link here for more information and to register

A few posts ago, I mentioned that S&S is doing a publisher preview for their adult imprints. Unfortunately, I got the date wrong — it’s Friday, September 24th  from 9 to 12:30 at the S&S offices in NYC (email Michelle Fadlalla to RSVP or for more information).

Such a deal; you get breakfast, a chance to hear S&S editors talk about the books they are passionate about, and to hear from National Book Award winner Carlos Eire about his new book, Learning to Die in Miami: Confessions of a Refugee Boy (Free Press, Nov. 2, 2010), not to mention the opportunity to mingle with area colleagues.

Also, save the date for the AAP Fall Buzz Event for Tri-State area on Wednesday, October 20^th (don’t worry; I double-checked that date!); more details later.

And, if you’re not in the tri-state area, remember that you can get the HarperCollins Buzz — Fall 2010 right on your desktop.

Registration is now open for this year’s BookFest, which I am proud to say is being hosted by Bank Street College of Education, where I am the Coordinator of School Services and Children’s Librarian.

The event, which is designed for adults, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 30 and features a keynote address by Laurie Halse Anderson, a panel of authors led by Jon Scieszka, on how to write for kids who choose not to read and a panel devoted to Margaret Wise Brown, who began writing children’s books while a student at Bank Street. This year marks her hundredth birthday celebration.

This is a great opportunity for children’s librarians to get together with colleagues. For more details and registration (required; closes 9/10), please go to BookFest@Bank Street.