EarlyWord is the home of GalleyChat, monthly online discussions where library staff share excitement about upcoming books. More information here.
Summaries of chats and announcements are posted to the right. Use them to add to your own TBR piles and for collection development.
Links on the far right of the site offer information useful to readers advisors.
Hope to see you during our next chat,
GalleyChatters
We thought Scholastic had mastered the art of the embargo, but the LA Times got their hands on a copy and have posted a review, “…a series conclusion that is nearly as shocking, and certainly every bit as original and thought provoking, as The Hunger Games.”
Meanwhile, on Twitter, so many people have claimed to be reading copies that one person complained, “I feel like I’m the only one who hasn’t read it.”
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In June, The Boston Globe revealed a shocking secret; their city has never had a One Book program.
So, the Globe held a contest that asked readers to vote on a book every Bostonian whould read.
The winner is Dark Tide by Stephen Puleo, a book that chronicles “…one of Boston’s darkest chapters…a gripping narrative about the great North End molasses flood [a molasses tank collapsed] of 1919” and published by local publisher, Beacon Press.
The author will appear later next month at the Boston Public Library.
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Stephen Colbert continues his streak of interviewing authors. The Daily Show, unusually, has no authors on the schedule this week.
A journalist’s ten-year investigation into UFO’s.
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Naomi Watts plays Valerie Plame Wilson in the movie based on her book, Fair Game, coming to theaters on November 5th. Sean Penn plays her husband, Joseph Wilson.
Official Web Site: Fairgame-movie
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Movie Tie-in; Trade Pbk; 9781451623871; Oct.; $15
A librarian’s Shout & Share pick at BEA, The Tenth Parallel was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday, on the cover of the NYT Book Review and was reviewed in the Washington Post.
It rose to #56 on Amazon sales rankings.
The author will be interviewed on NPR’s Fresh Air on Tuesday night.
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Blackstone Audio; UNABR
11 CDs; 1-4417-5360-1; $109
1 MP3CD; 1441753632; $29.95
10 Tapes; 1441753595; $79.95
The author of the Booker Award nominee, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, was interviewed on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday about how he “re-creates what it was like to be alive in 1799 Japan.”
The book is now the favorite in wagering in the UK; 5:1 at bookmaker Ladbrokes and 4:1 at William Hill. The short list will be announced two weeks from tomorrow (9/7) and the winner on 10/12.
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Recorded Books; UNABR; Read by Jonathan Aris, Paula Wilcox; Click on link for ordering information.
So many books get signed for movies, so few actually make it. Below are updates on several that are showing life.
Director Stephen Daldry and producer Scott Rudin have been working on a film version of Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for the last five years. As the movie news site, Deadline, nicely understates, the book is “not the easiest film adaptation.” Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks have been “circling the project,” Deadline 8/22.
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For the tabloid press, it was big news when Robert Pattinson stopped by a Montreal movie set to “snuggle” with his Twilight co-star, Kristen Stewart. For Kerouac fans, the big news is that the film is On The Road, which is finally moving ahead, 31 years after Francis Ford Coppola acquired the rights. The director is Walter Selles (Motorcycle Diaries), with Coppola as executive producer.
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Deadline announced that Jim Carrey has signed to star in the film version of the 1938 children’s classic, Mr. Popper’s Penguin, after “everyone from Jack Black to Owen Wilson to Ben Stiller…has circled the project.” The director is Mark Waters (Mean Girls, The Spiderwick Chronicles). Liberties are being taken with the script; Mr. Popper is described as a “high-powered businessman,” rather than a house painter (Deadline, 8/20/10). According to the Hollywood Reporter, the film is on the “fast track” and will begin production in NY in October.
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This one has moved at lightning speed. Optioned in 2007, Martin Scorsese’s first foray into 3-D (and into children’s films), Hugo Cabret, based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, is currently filming and is now scheduled for release next year, on Dec. 9, 2011. It stars Jude Law, Chloe Moretz, Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer and Michael Stuhlbarg.
We talk a lot about the importance of advocacy. Here’s a chance to do something; The New York Times, ALA and the Carnegie Corporation have made it possible through the “I Love My Librarian Award” to get our public… users, parents, teachers, kids, to take a moment, think deeply about why they love their libraries and their librarians and nominate them for an award. This is an opportunity for our constituency to make it known how librarians change lives.
Up to ten winners will be selected; each will receive $5,000 cash, a plaque and $500 travel stipend to attend an awards reception in New York hosted by The New York Times.
They have made it easy. The website provides a press release that can be adapted for your own community. The actual nomination is an easy-to-fill out on-line form, with separate ones tailored for public, school and college/university libraries.
Nominations are open through September 20.
Did you think that Sunday’s NYT BR might second Time magazine’s cover pick, Jonthan Franzen’s Freedom?
No, The Tenth Parallel gets that spot; “A fascinating journey along the latitude line in Africa and Asia where Christianity and Islam often meet and clash,” which was a librarians BEA Shout & Share Pick.
However, the online edition of the Book Review includes a “preview” of Freedom in the 8/29 edition, reviewed by Book Review editor, Sam Tanenhaus. He calls it a masterpiece; expect to see it on the cover next week.
Julie Meyerson (The Lost Child) nails the appeal of Gail Caldwell’s book about the death of her best friend, Let’s Take the Long Way Home, by saying her “…greatest achievement is to rise above all that [the death of her friend, followed by the death of her beloved dog] to describe both the very best that women can be together and the precious things they can, if they wish, give back to one another: power, humor, love and self-respect.” The book also lands at #19 on the Nonfiction expanded list.
And, hurrah!, a review of a grammar book that “endorses breaking rules that make no sense,” The Glamour of Grammar.
On the best seller lists, our favorite picture book for adults, (NOT because it uses the term “jackass;” but because adults are more likely to respond to the book’s concept), Lane Smiths’ It’s a Book! arrives at #7 on the Picture Book list. If you haven’t seen the trailer, (and even if you have), give yourself a Friday treat and watch it (but know that the book IS better than the trailer):
The Murder Room, which was featured twice on NPR in the past week, debuts at #11 on the Nonfiction list.
On the Hardcover Advice list, after Women Food and God, which has been on for 22 weeks, it’s business books. At #2 and #3 are the provocatively titled, It’s Not Just Who You Know and Bury My Heart at Conference Room B. Then, we return to what really matters with Jennifer Arnold’s dog-training-through-kindness book, featured on GMA this week, Through a Dog’s Eyes, on for the first week at #7.
Before I leap into my picks of kids books for September, I wanted to mention that, while at ALA, Jo Ann Jonas, the woman who inspired me to become a librarian, and I made a recording for StoryCorps. We both enjoyed talking about why we love about our jobs.
Part of what continues to inspire me is discovering new books that kids will love. Below are some of my favorites for next month.
A Bedtime for Bear by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton, Candlewick. Ages 4 and up.
The bear who likes things in his house to be “just so” and the mouse (small, and gray and bright-eyed of course) from A Visitor for Bear return to deal with going-to-bed rituals.
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Switching on the Moon: A Very First Book of Bedtime Poems by Jane Yolen, Andrew Fusek Peters, and illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Here is a Little Poem is an essential buy for every children’s room. It is one of my favorite collections for young children. The same team brings together poems, old and new for nighttime reading paired with Karas’s dreamy paintings.
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Max and Ruby’s Bedtime Book, by Rosemary Wells, Viking. Ages 3 and up
Very short stories of our favorite sister and brother bunnies are collected in a lavishly illustrated volume perfect for settling our own little ones during the night time read-aloud ritual.
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The Baby Goes Beep, by Rebecca O’Connell, illustrated by Ken Wilson-Max, Albert Whitman. Baby to toddler.
Baby goes beep, Baby goes splash, Baby goes shhhh. Hats off to Whitman for bringing back this rollicking repetitious toddler read aloud in a board book edition.
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I’m Big!, by Kate Mcmullam, illustrated by Jim Mcmullan, Balzar and Bray. Ages 4 and up
The latest from the creative duo of I Stink, I’m Bad, and I’m Mighty bring forth a not-so-little lost sauropod (check out the book trailer).
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Children Make Terrible Pets, Peter Brown, Little Brown.
A very feminine girl bear finds a little boy in the woods and brings him home for a pet. She names him Squeak for the noise he makes. Domesticating a human turns out to be more than she can handle because children DO make terrible pets. Brown makes the most of this ludicrous premise with his detailed cartoon drawings and deliberately tongue-in-cheek storytelling.
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A Pig Parade is a Terrible Idea, by Michael Ian Black, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, Simon and Schuster. Ages 5+
In a droll serious tone the narrator details why it would be imprudent to stage a parade with a hundred pigs. Hawkes double page spreads of realist paintings not-at-all picture-book-cute (bringing to mind more Jamie Wyeth than David McPhail) instill an understanding of the madness of expecting porcine mammals to dress up in majorette costumes, play band instruments and tether balloons to the earth. Did you know pigs lack of any appreciation for floats except for the root beer kind?
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Three Little Kittens, retold and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, Dial. Ages 2 and up.
Caldecott award winning illustrator, Pinkney, presents the sweetest little kittens who lost their mittens.
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Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier, Little Brown. Ages 8 and up.
Very little is known about Dave the Potter. He could read and write, skills not common during a time when slaves were forced to be illiterate. He created huge well-crafted pots that survive to this day. The author weaves Dave’s own words in lyrical text that supported by Collier’s multi-media collage illustrations In this well-researched picture book biography
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Dust Devil, by Anne Isaacs, illustrated by Paul Zelinsky. Random House
Remember Swamp Angel? The heroine of that tall tale of the greatest Tennesse woodswoman has moved to Montana where she and her trusty steed Dust Devil find themselves up against the meanest bad guy ever.
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Bink and Gollie, By Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee, illustrated by Tony Fucile, Candlewick.
Two authors who are friends team up to write an easy-to-read chapter book about two very different best friends. One is tall, one is small. One is deliberate, one is enthusiastic. The retro-modern, luminous art perfectly matches the authors’ dry absurd humor, imagination and other-worldliness. Can’t wait for number two.
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Babymouse #13: Cupcake Tycoon, Jennifer L. Holm, Random House. Ages 7 and up
This series are graphic novels in the best sense; compelling, emotionally satisfying with three dimensional characters that we have grown to love. As a series it is remarkable because the most recently published in the is just as engaging as the first. which is not always the case.
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Alvin Ho: Allergic to Birthday Parties, Science Projects, and Other Man-made Catastrophe , by Lenore Look and LeUyen Pham,Schwartz and Wade. Ages 7 and up
I suspect the Alvin Ho series has not been as popular as it could be, so here’s my pitch. A transitional reader (Henry and Mudge but before Fudge) with a reading level similar to Junie B Jones, Judy Moody but with a boy main character who just happens to be Chinese. Alvin is quirky and funny and kids can relate to his trials and tribulations with school, teachers, friends and parents. Did I mention laugh-aloud funny?
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This Isn’t What It Looks Like (Secret Series) by Pseudonymous Bosch. Little Brown. Ages 8 and up.
I don’t know if these have taken off at your library, but at Bank Street, our kids can’t wait to get their hands on the 4th fourth in the series (the first was The Name of This Book is Secret).
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Guys Read: Funny Business edited by Jon Scieszka, Harper ages 10 and up.
Jon Scieszka IS my hero. The former ambassador of children’s literature tirelessly campaigns for children’s right to read — anything they want. Especially boys’ right to read fun, high-interest, adventurous, and sometimes grossly humourous books that the stereotypical female teacher might raise her eyebrows at as “Not appropriate.” Study after study has shown that self-selection is the magic key to life-long reading. Sieszka has gathered his writer buddies and convinced them to contribute this short story collection. Teachers are often scouring my library for short story collections and this one fits the bill. Kids will recognizer their favorite authors, Jeff (Wimpy Kid) Kinney, Adam (True Meaning of Smek Day) Rex, Mac (Billy Twitters and His Blue Whale Problem) Barnett, Kate (Tale of Desperaux) Dicamillo, Eoin (Artemus Fowl) Colfer are among the contributors. Are some of the stories gross? Duh. Will some of the content make a grown-up squirm? You bet. Do the stories, engage, delight and provoke? Without a doubt. Just what the literacy specialist ordered. Thank you, Mr. Scieszka.
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The Search for WondLa, by Tony DiTerlizzi, Simon and Schuster. Ages 10 and up
This IS the big book. DiTerlizzi of Spiderwick fame opens this wide-ranging fantasy novel with a girl who lives underground and is raised by a robot named Mothr. My 4th and 5th graders couldn’t put it down and were begging for more.
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What Happened on Fox Street, by Tricia Springstubb, illustrated by Heather Ross, Balzar and Bray. Ages 9 and up
Mo loves her neighborhood and is looking forward to her best friend’s return for the summer. It would have been easy to overlook this sleeper, a seemingly quiet story of two long-time friends on a dead-end street, but Fox Street is much more than that. It is about change that happens even though we resist it. It’s about forces beyond our control. It’s about the pain of growing up as well as the everyday joys of friendship.
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Reckless, by Cornelia Funke, Little Brown. Ages 10 and up
Funke, the master of the richly imagined world populated with mystery and danger (Inkheart) presents a new series drawing on the dark side of traditional fairytales.
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Half Brother, by Kenneth Oppel, Scholastic. Ages 12 and up
What if your parents uproot your life and move you to a distant small town where you know no one? What if they bring a baby chimpanzee into the new house and try to raise him as your brother? What if they think they can teach him to speak in sign language , would that be okay with you?
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Last night, Stephen Colbert used his stunned-conservative persona to good effect to discuss the issues raised by John Krakauer in his book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.
The trade paperback is out now. A documentary, The Tillman Story (not based on Krakauer’s book) releases on 8/20.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Jon Krakauer | ||||
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Librarians have the opportunity to win some very cool book-related prizes:
1) Trip to London! — Deadline, 9/17 — to celebrate the paperback publication of Audrey Niffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry, literary agent Regal Literary is sponsoring a trip to London, which includes a tour of Highgate Cemetary lead by Audrey Niffenegger. A separate blogger’s prize is lunch with a Regal Literary agent and an editor from one of NYC’s top trade houses (what an opportunity for an aspiring writer). To win that one, you must write a review of 250 words or more (positive or negative).
2) $200 gift certificates each for 50 reading groups — Deadline, 8/31 — Celebrating their 10th anniversary, ReadingGroupGuides.com asks groups to share their Top 10 Favorite Discussion Books. 50 winners will receive a $200 gift card to a retailer of their choice — which, in keeping with the 10th anniversary theme, totals $10,000. Be sure to tell your book groups (they’ve created special printable flyers for libraries so you can hand them out to your groups).
3) 50 copies of Frommer’s Guides and a visit from Arthur Frommer — Deadline, 9/30 — for the library display that best answers the question, “How do you travel with Frommer’s?”
Will Ballantine’s major push for Anne Fortier‘s debut novel Juliet pay off? The tale of an American woman who travels to Italy and discovers her ties to the Giulietta who inspired Shakespeare was first touted on the BEA Editors’ Buzz panel and at ALA’s Shout and Share. Rights have been sold in 29 territories around the world.
Earlier this summer it was chosen as a summer reading pick by the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.
But now, Entertainment Weekly gives it a “B-“, finding that it falls short of its aim to be,
…a distaff version of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, with a dash of A.S. Byatt’s Possession tossed in. . . . Fortier’s writing is on firm ground in the book’s historical passages. The modern section, by contrast, feels contrived, and the author resorts to more telling than showing to keep her plot zipping along.
Still, holds are edging up at libraries we checked.
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Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic), the doorstopper final entry in the Hunger Games trilogy, is embargoed until 12:01 am next Tuesday, August 23, when bookstores will break into midnight party mode, says USA Today. It’s also been signed for a movie that’s drawn casting speculation from New York magazine’s Vulture blog.
Three Black Swans by Caroline B. Cooney (Delacorte Books for Young Readers) is the suspenseful tale of twins seemingly separated at birth – or are they more than twins? This was one of LisaVon Drasek’s Picks for August, for ages 12 and up.
Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner) is the 13th novel starring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Publishers Weekly says, “Reichs, who once again uses her own scientific knowledge to enhance a complex plot and continually developing characters, delivers a whopper of a final twist.”
The Town by Chuck Hogan is the mass market movie tie-in edition of the author’s third novel, Prince of Thieves (2004), about four friends and rivals who rob a bank in Charlestown. The movie, directed by Ben Afleck, opens in theaters on September 17.
The Sonderberg Case by Elie Wiesel, translated by Catherine Temerson (Knopf), is a novel about a New York theater critic whose parents are Holocaust survivors and whose children are Americans living in Israel. PW says, “Wiesel returns to the moral questions that characterize the post-WWII generation in this slim novel that is both overstuffed with plot and skimpy on motive. . . . The ambitious scope of the story, spanning generations, is compelling, but limited by the novel’s length.”
The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard (Morrow) follows the lives of two girls born on the same day in the same hospital in New Hampshire. Entertainment Weekly gives it a C,
The author, whose last novel, Labor Day, was more satisfying and sure-footed, seems to think she’s weaving a knotty tale of family secrets, told in the alternating voices of her likable main characters. And yet all her twists are clumsily telegraphed.
An ALA Shout and Share pick, The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by well-regarded natural history writer John Vaillant looks at how Siberian tigers are faring amid climate change and a porous border with China. Publishers Weekly interviewed him, and praised the book as,
…a mighty elegy that leads readers into the lair of the tiger and into the heart of the Kremlin to explain how the Amur went from being worshipped to being poached.
Holds are edging up at libraries we checked.
The book is also in development for film by Random House Films, with a projected release date some time in 2011.
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Random House Audio; 9780307715074; $40.00
The Twilight of the Bombs: Recent Challenges, New Dangers, and the Prospects for a World Without Nuclear Weapons by Richard Rhodes (Knopf) explores the role of nuclear weapons since the end of the Cold War and efforts to eradicate them. The LA Times reviews the final volume in the tetrology Rhodes calls The Making of the Nuclear Age, saying “some of this book’s most chilling passages . . . reflect the author’s acceptance of analysts’ opinions that nuclear terrorism may be much more technically feasible than generally admitted.”
