Hollywood is abuzz over news that Gary Ross, director of The Hunger Games, has bowed out of the sequel, Catching Fire, scheduled for release in November of 2013. In a statement, he says, “As a writer and a director, I simply don’t have the time I need to write and prep the movie I would have wanted to make because of the fixed and tight production schedule.”

The Hollywood Reporter speculated earlier that contract negotiations were not going well.

No replacement has been announced. Stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth will return for the sequel.

Filming for the second Percy Jackson movie, Sea of Monsters, based on Rick Riordan’s middle grade novel (Hyperion), will begin next week in Vancouver, Canada. It’s scheduled for release March 27, 2013.

Hunger Games actress, Leven Rambin, has just been tapped for the role of Clarisse, the daughter of Ares. Logan Lerman will return as Percy, Brandon Jackson as Grover,  and Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth. The director has changed, however. Thor Freudenthal (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Hotel for Dogs) is in that role this time, replacing Chris Columbus, who is one of the producers.

A graphic novel version is coming in January.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters, The: The Graphic Novel Rick Riordan, Robert Venditti Retail Price: $19.99 Hardcover: 128 pages Publisher: Hyperion Book CH – (2013-01-08) ISBN / EAN: 1423145291 / 9781423145295

CBS Sunday Morning celebrates the 50th anniversary of the classic children’s title, The Phantom Tollbooth, with a profile of the author and the illustrator.

The segment, which aired yesterday, sent various editions of the book up the Amazon’s sales rankings. The hardcover rose to #12.

A fiftieth anniversary edition was published recently, with essays of appreciation, including one by Suzanne Collins. It’s currently at #22 on Amazon.

The Phantom Tollbooth 50th Anniversary Edition Norton Juster Retail Price: $24.00 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers – (2011-10-25) ISBN / EAN: 0375869034 / 9780375869037

It’s been on-again, off-again for the movie of City of Bones, the first book in YA series, Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. A release date of Aug, 23, 2013 was just announced, signaling that the project is finally moving forward.

Lily Collins (daughter of singer Phil Collins and now starring in Mirror Mirror) has signed to play teenager Clary Fray, directed by Harald Zwart (The Karate Kid).

J.K. Rowling’s full Harry Potter Web site is scheduled to launch this month (it was delayed from the original October, 2011 date; the Pottermore Shop is open, however).

A sneak peek was released last week:

The Time magazine Web site offers a long excerpt (the first three chapters) of Under Wildwood (HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray) coming September 25, the follow-up to Wildwood which was on the NYT children’s best seller list for two weeks last fall. It was also on the IndieBound top five for 18 weeks, three of them at #2.

Time also interviews the author, who is the singer/songwriter  for Portland folk band, The Decemberists, and the illustrator, Carson Ellis.

William Joyce won an Oscar this year for his animated short, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Next up is a Dreamworks holiday feature, Rise of the Guardians, opening November 21. The trailer has just been released:

Official Movie Site: RiseOfTheGuardians.com

The project also involves an extensive book publishing program, including picture books and chapter books about the characters.

The second title in the chapter book series was published last month:

E. Aster Bunnymund and the Warrior Eggs at the Earth’s Core! (Guardians of Childhood Chapter Books) William Joyce Retail Price: $14.99 Hardcover: 272 pages Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers – (2012-02-21) ISBN / EAN: 1442430508 / 9781442430501

Featured n the movie’s Facebook page is this image of Santa’s tattooed forearms.

NPR’s Back Seat Book Club’s March pick, The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart and Carson Ellis (Hachette/LBYR) was featured on Monday’s  All Things Considered. The book, the first in a series, is described as “filled with twists and turns and constant conundrums. It’s not just mysterious. It’s also fantastic and heart thumping and just plain fun.”

The Club’s April title is appropriate for spring, Seedfolks, by Paul Fleischman

Seedfolks Paul Fleischman Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 70 pages Publisher: HarperTeen – (1997-04-11) ISBN / EAN: 0060274719/9780060274719;

As of today, Harry Potter ebooks are available for consumer purchase exclusively via the Pottermore.com shop.

As of tomorrow at 9 a.m., ET, the entire series will be available for checkout from OverDrive, according to an email sent by the company earlier today. Pre-orders, which had been temporarily halted, have now been restored (and the 10% discount extended through 4/30). The company also says that all holds place on earlier ordering will be honored.  The HP books are available in EPUB, Kindle and MP3 audio formats.

Now that it’s a bona fide hit, speculation is rife on what will be the “next Hunger Games.”

The Playlist examines fifteen properties that could fill the bill, with pros and cons for each. Three are scheduled for release next spring:

Beautiful Creatures (based on the first in a series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, published by Hachette/LBYR, 2009) — Feb. 1

The Seventh Son (based on the middle-grade title, Revenge of the Witch, the first in The Last Apprentice series, Joseph Delaney, published by HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 2005. In the UK, the book is titled The Spook’s Apprentice and the series is called The Wardstone Chronicles) — Feb 15

Ender’s Game (based on the sci fi novel by Orson Scott Card, Macmillan/Tor, 1991) — March 15

Hollywood enjoys playing with numbers.

Deadline reports that, as of Friday night, Hunger Games brought in $68.25 million at North American box offices.

That puts the film on track for a $140 million opening weekend. While many thought it would have the highest opening weekend ever, that number puts it behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3 and The Twilight Saga: New Moon. [UPDATE: The movie actually took in $155 million, putting it behind just the first two movies]

However, it is set to achieve several other milestones:

• Highest non-sequel opening weekend ever
• Highest debut single day for a non-sequel ever
• Highest March opening ever
• 5th highest opening day ever

Deadline also reports that, “Between the release of the first Hunger Games trailer in November 2011 and January 2012, the number of Collins’ books sold nearly doubled”

Jennifer Lawrence, once considered an imperfect fit for the role of Katniss (so much so that author Suzanne Collins felt the need to publicly defend the choice), is now being hailed for carrying the movie.

Lawrence is scheduled to appear in two more movies this year, including the horror movie, The House as the End of the Street, in September. She switches to an older role for a film based on The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick (Macmillan/FSG/SarahCrichton, 2008), playing a widow in her 30s’s, obsessed by the character played by Bradley Cooper. It is scheduled for release on Nov. 21 of this year.The book is a favorite of Nancy Pearl’s.

She has also signed to play the title role in the movie Serena, based on the acclaimed novel by Ron Rash (HarperCollins/Ecco; 2009). It is currently in pre-production.

With the launch of The Hunger Games movie this week, Hollywood is in full publicity mode to remind viewers that more dystopian sci-fi is coming their way. The production blog for the film adaptation of  Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game launched this week. It hits screens next year, on March 15, starring Hailee Steinfeld, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis and Abigail Breslin. The publicity is already giving a sales boost to the book, which moved up the Amazon’s rankings, from #351 to #199.

Also released this week, the teaser trailer for Stephenie Meyer’s adult sci-fi title, The Host (with Meyer in the production role); it will be shown before screenings of The Hunger Games this weekend. Audiences may be baffled by it. In terms of how little it gives away about the movie, it rivals the first John Carter trailers.

It’s scheduled to open two weeks after Ender’s Game, on March 29, 2013. Stills of the movie, starring Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) and Max Irons (Red Riding Hood), are featured in the new issue of People.

Hunger Games is already expected to be a huge success when it opens tomorrow.The Hollywood Reporter says it “has the potential to score one of the top debuts of all time at the domestic box office.”  Rotten Tomatoes shows a 90% approval rating from critics — holdouts include Time magazine and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

 Slate jumps ahead to the final book in the trilogy, Mockingjay, warning it will “force filmmakers to turn massacre and despair into blockbuster entertainment.”

That trouble could be double; the third book in the series may be split in to two films. No release dates have been announced, but the second in the series, Catching Fire, is scheduled for Nov. 23, 2013.

Jeff Kinney and Abrams’ Amulet Book announced at  the Bologna Children’s Book Fair yesterday that the next Diary of a Wimpy Kid is coming on Nov. 13. It’s listed simply as Book 7, with the tagline “Love is in the Air.”

Love may be in the air, but, based on the cover (click on it to see a larger version), it seems Rodrick isn’t having much luck with it.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Book 7 Jeff Kinney Retail Price: $13.95 Hardcover: 224 pages Publisher: Abrams/Amulet- (2012-11-13) ISBN / EAN: 1419705849 / 9781419705847

MTV’s “Inside Movies” blog tells Twilight fans to mark their calendars for the release of Bel Ami, a “sexy period piece” starring Twilight heart throb Robert Pattinson on June 8th (ahead of Breaking Dawn, the final movie of the series, which opens in Nov). Based on a novel by Guy de Maupassant, Pattison plays a young social climber who seduces, blackmails & charms his way to the top in 19th century Paris. The film also stars Uma Thurman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Christina Ricci.

The movie premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. Reviews have not been strong (Rotten Tomatoes gives it a rating of just 45%). The Times of London said,

A cornucopia of cleavages and lingering close-ups of Robert Pattinson’s trouser department. For some readers, that may be a strong recommendation. Others may find this version of Guy de Maupassant’s 19th-century novel unintentionally hilarious.

The Twilight stars are sticking with literary adaptations. Pattison stars in the forthcoming Cosmopolis, based on the book book by Don DeLillo. Kristen Stewart (Bella) appears next in Snow White and the Huntsman (June 1), and On the Road, based on the book by Jack Kerouac (no date set).

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Bel Ami (Vintage Classics) Guy De Maupassant Retail Price: $14.00 Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: RH/Vintage – (2010-10-05) ISBN / EAN: 0307740889 / 9780307740885