I know we are still reeling from the loss of Maurice Sendak, but now we have to report the sad news that another children’s book icon, Jean Craighead George has died (as reported on Twitter last night by her agent, via Publishers Lunch).

JeanGeorge was THE author for reluctant readers. She invented the adventure/survival genre for middle grade readers with My Side of the Mountain, (Penguin/Dutton). There would be no Gary Paulson if there hadn’t been Jean George.

I remember first meeting her at an ABA (now Book Expo America) years ago. I waited in line to talk to her and couldn’t believe she was real.

I told her, “I have a twin brother who only read one book through grade school and middle school, My Side of the Mountain. Every year the only book report he turned in was for that one book.”

“Did he run away? ” she asked with interest.

“Oh yes, he ran away to live off the land in Florida, he got caught and sent home two days later.”

“I get in a lot of trouble for that” she said.

The full list of her many books is here.

The CW network, well-known for its teen series, several of which are adapted from books (Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle) is adding a record five new teen series to their upcoming schedule, according to Deadline. Among them is a series based on The Carrie Diaries and Summer in the City (both HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray), Candace Bushnell’s YA prequels to Sex and the City. It stars AnnaSophia Robb as Carrie the Younger and Austin Butler as her love interest.

Deadline notes that, while it didn’t make the first cut, the network may still approve another adaptation, The Selection, from the recently published book of the same title by Kiera Cass (also HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray). Set 300 years in the future, it’s about a poor girl chosen by lottery to compete to win the heart of a prince and is being billed as The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor. The book appeared on the NYT Chapter Book Best Seller list last week, but dropped off the current one. UPDATE: 5/17, CW president tells the Hollywood Reporter that he is very high on the project and may redevelop it.

Perhaps the best of all the tributes flowing in for beloved author Maurice Sendak, who died at 83 on Tuesday, is the fact that his books instantly soared up Amazon’s best seller list, with Where the Wild Things Are moving up to #14.

Sendak’s irreverent wit was on full display in an appearance on the Stephen Colbert Report in late February. During the interview, Colbert threatened to “cash in” on the children’s book game, writing one of his own. In an amazing piece of timing, the resulting book, I Am A Pole (And So Can You!), arrived on shelves the very day Sendak died, bearing the blurb, “The Sad Thing is, I Like It, Maurice Sendak.”

Colbert, who clearly developed a rapport with Sendak, ran a previously unaired portion of the interview on Tuesday’s show (see the original interview here).

Beloved children’s author, Maurice Sendak, died today at 83.

In tribute, NPR’s web site is rerunning an interview from Fresh Air (audio to be available at 5 p.m. ET today).

His iconoclastic humor was on full display in a recent appearance on the Stephen Colbert Report:

Part One:

Part Two (in which Sendak calls Colbert an “idiot” — watch to the end to find out what he thinks of eBooks):

For young adults next week, there’s Andrew Fukuda’s would-be successor to the Hunger Games (with the added element of vampires). In children’s books, Patterson continues his middle school series and Stephen Colbert tries to rival Maurice Sendak.

YOUNG ADULT

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda (Macmillan/St. Martins/Griffin; Macmillan Audio) is the first in a new vampire series that is on many lists of what to read after The Hunger Games. PW says, “With an exciting premise fueled by an underlying paranoia, fear of discovery, and social claustrophobia, this thriller lives up to its potential while laying the groundwork for future books.”  To capitalize on the Hunger Games hook, The Hunt‘s website (where you can read an excerpt), cross-promotes a free download of an eBook called How to Survive The Hunger Games and uses the tagline “Now that the games are over…it’s time to start the hunt.”

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (S&S/Margaret K. McElderry; Simon & Schuster Audio) is the fifth installment in the bestselling Mortal Instruments series. The film of first book is moving forward, with release currently slated for August 23, 2013, starring Lily Collins and directed by Harald Zwart (The Karate Kid).

CHILDREN’S

Middle School: Get Me Out of Here! by James Patterson (Hachette/LBYR; Hachette Audio) the second in Patterson’s bid to appeal to the Wimpy Kid crowd.

I am A Pole (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert (Hachette/Grand Central; Hachette Audio) is a book that the author threatened to write when he interviewed Maurice Sendak on his TV show. Sendak called the concept “terribly ordinary,” adding: “The sad thing is I like it.” We’re listing it as a children’s title, because that’s what Colbert calls it; it’s being published as an adult title, however.

Author Kiera Cash gushes on her blog today (time-stamped 12:02 a.m. — did she have to sit on the news until it was official?),

You guys! I’m totally a New York Times bestselling author! The Selection made it to #9 on the children’s list [the 5/13 NYT Chapter Books list]. My whole world is upside down! Thank you all so much for going out and buying my book. I hope you’re having as much fun reading it as I had writing it. THANK YOU!

It also just makes it on to the USA Today list at #150.

The first in a trilogy, The Selection is a dystopian novel with a difference. As made clear by the cover, this one is heavy on romance with no bloodsport. Of the pre-pub reviews, only Publishers Weekly gave it a thumbs-up. Kirkus called it a “probably harmless, entirely forgettable series opener,” and VOYA said, “readers who enjoy commonplace romances will gravitate to this novel while dystopian lovers who revel in series such as Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games and Uglies will be disappointed.”

That doesn’t seem to matter to readers; most libraries are showing holds, heavy in some areas.

The Selection (Selection – Trilogy) Kiera Cass Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: HarperTeen – (2012-04-24) ISBN / EAN: 0062059939/9780062059932

It comes comes with a trailer:

When Stephen Colbert interviewed Maurice Sendak in late February, he threatened to write his own kids book, I Am a Pole (And So Can You!). After he outlined the idea, Sendak proclaimed, “The sad thing is, I like it!” Colbert immediately pounced on that quote for his blurb.

And, so it came to pass:

I Am A Pole (And So Can You!) Stephen Colbert Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: Hachette/Grand Central – (2012-05-08) ISBN / EAN: 1455523429 / 9781455523429

Amazingly, the book is also going to be available in audio (Hachette Audio).

Colbert’s description of the book begins at the 3:13 time mark in the video below (but how can you not watch the entire thing?).

True to Colbert’s prediction (and Sendak’s irritation) it will also be an eBook, but Hachette no longer sells their eBooks to libraries.

The book’s “popular illustrator with a horrible sense of design” is not named.

Last night, I was a “giver” for World Book Night. It was so much fun, from opening my Giver Boxes, with specially printed editions of Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn Dixie (thanks to Kate, who like all the authors, gave up royalties on these special editions, Candlewick and all the other publishers who donated books and the printers and binders who created the special editions)…

…to delighting kids with a free book (yes, the diner in the background on the left IS from Seinfeld).

…to the adults who wanted to get in on the act:

For a list of all the books in the program, click here. More stories and photos on the WBN Facebook page.

Missed out this year? Join the mailing list to be updated on next year’s program.

Not that there was any real concern after Gary Ross bowed out of directing Catching Fire, the sequel to his hugely successful Hunger Games, but the announcement that an offer has been made, brought some sighs of relief. Without a director, the release date, Nov. 23, 2013, is now looming.

After much speculation, the candidates have been narrowed down to Francis Lawrence, who directed I Am Legend and Water for Elephants. He hasn’t officially signed on yet, so there’s the outside possibility that could change. Fans are excited by the choice and Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson has signaled his approval.

Thousands of children have discussed, considered and voted and the 2012 winner of the Irma Black Award is  — What Animals Really Like, written and illustrated by Fiona Robinson

What Animals Really Like Fiona Robinson Retail Price: $15.95 Hardcover: 24 pages Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers – (2011-10-01) ISBN / EAN: 081098976X / 9780810989764

Each year, the Irma Simonton Black and James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature (Irma Black Award) is presented to an outstanding book for young children—a book in which text and illustrations are inseparable. The Irma Black Award is a children’s choice award in that children are the final judges of the winning book. This year, over 9,000 children internationally read or heard aloud all four finalists.

The winning book receives a gold seal. The other three finalists are honor books and receive a silver seal, both designed by Maurice Sendak.

The silver award winners are:

YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND! Peter Brown Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Hachette/LBYR  – (2011-09-05) ISBN / EAN: 0316070300 / 9780316070300

I Want My Hat Back Jon Klassen Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Candlewick Press – (2011-09-27) ISBN / EAN: 0763655988 / 9780763655983

All the Way to America: The Story of a Big Italian Family and a Little Shovel Dan Yaccarino Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 40 pages Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers – (2011-03-08) ISBN / EAN: 0375866426 / 9780375866425

The award will be presented on May 17^th at an 8:30 am in a ceremony at the Bank Street College of Education, New York, NY.  The keynote speaker this year is Paul O. Zelinsky, an Irma Black Honor winner for Dust Devil, the sequel to Swamp Angel.  Teachers and librarians are invited to attend. RSVP here.

Fiona Robinson’s hilarious picture book What Animals Really Like (Abrams, 2011), which delivers a subtle message about the dangers of stereotyping, is this year’s winner of the Irma S. Black & James H. Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature.

Lois Duncan has a powerful fan. Variety announced yesterday that Stephenie Meyer’s production company, Fickle Fish, has acquired the film rights to Duncan’s 1974 novel Down a Dark Hall (Hachette/Little, Brown).

Meyer confirms the story on her Web site, commenting, “I grew up reading and loving Lois Duncan novels, and I can’t believe my good luck that I get to be involved with this project. Down a Dark Hall was my favorite of her novels (though it’s a very close race with Summer of Fear and Stranger with My Face) and it gave me some serious nightmares when I was nine.”

She also notes that filming of her own novel, The Host, is almost finished. It’s scheduled for release on March 29.

The trailer for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the third movie in the series, has just been released. It lands in theaters on August 3.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Yes, lead actor Zachary Gordon has done a bit of growing. Earlier this month, he told USA Today, “I’ve grown 13 inches since the first movie and my voice is really deep now. People will be surprised. But then they’ll see it is Greg. He’s still the same kid.”

The tie-in is the an expanded edition of the earlier The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, with updates from the new movie. It arrives July 1.

Entertainment Weekly’s Shelf Life column offers an “exclusive;” the first two chapters of Maggie Stiefvater’s next YA title, The Raven Boys (it’s actually available to anyone via Scribed), coming from Scholastic on September 18. It’s the first in a planned series of 4 titles.

Based on the excerpt, EW says, “It seems to be an old-school young adult novel, full of mystery on an epic scale.”

Official Site: The Raven Boys

The Raven Boys Maggie Stiefvater Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2012-09-18) ISBN / EAN: 0545424925 / 9780545424929

Disney is beating the publicity drum for The Serpent’s Shadow, the final volume in Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles series, arriving May first.

USA Today reports on the two-million copy first printing and Riordan’s live webcast on publication day from the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum and Planetarium in San Jose (the series features Egyptian mythology). The webcast is co-sponsored by School Library Journal (sign up for it here).

The Serpent’s Shadow (The Kane Chronicles, Book Three) Rick Riordan Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 416 pages Publisher: Hyperion Book CH – (2012-05-01) ISBN / EAN: 1423140575 / 9781423140573

Thorndike Large Print; Brilliance Audio

Excerpt here

Author Web site: RickRiordan.com

If schedules hold, next year will be crowded with movies vying to follow in the footsteps of Harry Potter, Twilight or The Hunger Games. Release dates have been set for six new films (with a possible seventh, based on Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now) plus three sequels to established series, all based on books.

The early spring is particularly crowded, which may be the reason that Summit just moved Ender’s Game, based on the Orson Scott Card book, from March 15 to Nov. 1, 2013, putting it just a few weeks ahead of Catching Fire, the second in The Hunger Games franchise. As Entertainment Weekly comments, the studios apparently “think there’s room in the same month for two dystopian literary adaptations about a group of adolescent children rounded up by a totalitarian government to do battle with each other.”

After the jump, the schedule at this point (for a list of at all the upcoming movies based on books, click on Upcoming Movies Based on Books— with Tie-ins) :

(more…)