YA author John Green, currently in the midst of a 17-city book tour, was featured on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday, talking about his new book, The Fault in Our Stars (Dutton; Brilliance Audio), which debuted at #1 on the NYT children’s chapter books best seller list in its first week on sale.

If you’ve heard Green speak, or watched his frenetic vlog, you’ll wonder who suggested that he slow down for NPR.

During his tour, he appeared at ALA Midwinter and at the Dallas Public Library, as part of a fundraiser for the Freedom to Read Foundation, saying controversial things like  people should pay taxes, teachers should be allowed to teach and librarians to select books.

The book War Horse by Michael Morpurgo is now a best seller, thanks to the long-running play in London and on Broadway, and Steven Spielberg’s movie. Today’s NYT Arts Beat blog quotes the author saying that before the adaptations, “It simply was not a book that anyone really knew about or cared about,” selling just 25,000 copies in its first 25 years. The play brought sales of 950,000 copies and the movie put it at #1 on the NYT Children’s paperback list, where it has remained for the last seven weeks (it rose as high as #17 on the USA Today general list).

Now Morpurgo and his book are getting even more attention. ALA has announced that the author, who is the Children’s Laureate in the UK, will deliver the 2013 Arbuthnot Lecture. Applications for hosting the lecture will be available this spring on the ALSC Web  site.

War Horse: (Movie Cover) Michael Morpurgo Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 192 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0545403359 / 9780545403351

Elton John’s production company, Rocket Pictures, has purchased the best selling children’s fiction series, Nerds (Abrams/Amulet), reports Deadline. The books are about five nerdy kids who happen to be secret agents (or, as author Michael Buckley describes the characters, “James Bond with asthma”) .

The most recent title in the series, NERDS Book Three: The Cheerleaders of Doom came out in September. Elton John’s company has had experience with adaptations, having produced Gnomeo and Juliet.

Long in the works (it was first signed in 2009), a movie version of the YA series Sweet Valley High will be musical. Diablo Cody, who wrote the screenplay for Young Adult (now in theaters, starring Charlize Theron) and Juno, is at work on the adaptation. She recently told MTV that original music is being written for it and it “may be” a musical. Last week, she confirmed that it will be in an interview in The Guardian. No casting yet, but with so many adult fans in the media, speculation is rife.

The first Sweet Valley High book came out in 1983. The series ran for 20 years spawning over 150 titles plus multiple spin-offs as well as a TV series, and last year’s Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later (St. Martin’s; released in paperback this month) which takes the characters into adulthood.

Stephen Colbert bravely sat down with Maurice Sendak, who repaid him by calling him a “man of little imagination” (and Newt Gingrich an “idiot”).

Part One:

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

Following up on our previous story about the sales impact of the major ALA Youth Media Awards, we tracked Amazon sales rankings from the day of the award through today, using Publishers Marketplace‘s Book Tracker tool.

For each title, we’ve shown the lowest and highest rankings the day of the award announcements, followed by the highest rankings for each day since (Amazon updates its rankings daily); several titles have reached new highs.

This is our first tracking of the honor books; every one of those titles has also risen in the rankings.

Newbery Awards

NEWBERY MEDAL

Dead End in Norvelt, Jack Gantos (Macmillan/FSG, 9/13/11)

1/23/12
Lowest — #27,842
Highest — #18

1/24/12 — #11
1/25/12 — #10
1/26/12 — #13

NEWBERY HONOR BOOKS

Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai, (HarperCollins, 2/22/11) — also won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature

1/23/12
Lowest — #3,859
Highest — #108

1/24/12 — #55
1/25/12 — #92
1/26/12 — #131

Breaking Stalin’s Nose, Eugene Yelchin (Macmillan/Holt, 9/27/11)

1/23/12
Lowest — #294,522
Highest — #67

1/24/12 — #76
1/25/12 — #107
1/26/12 — #183
 

Caldecott Awards

CALDECOTT MEDAL

A Ball for Daisy, Chris Raschka (RH/ Schwartz & Wade, 5/10/11) — also a NYT Best Illus. Book

1/23/12
Lowest — #22,059
Highest — #16

1/24/12 — #9
1/25/12 — #9
1/26/12 — #17

Tracking for the Caldecott Honor Books, the Printz and  Coretta Scott King Awards after the jump:

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It’s well-known that ALA’s Youth Media Awards have an impact on sales. To track how much of an impact, we checked the Newbery, Caldecott and Printz winners on Amazon sales rankings before and two hours after they were announced (UPDATE: we checked again the day after; see updated figures below). As expected, each experienced a swift rise. The Newbery winner rose to the highest level, while the dark horse of the group, the Printz showed the most dramatic rise.

Newbery Medal

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos. The response to this win was a pleasant surprise. Gantos is no stranger to awards; he has won two Newbery Honors, a Printz Honor, and a Silbert Honor, but this is his first Medal. The book was on three major best books lists we tracked this year. By contrast, Brian Selznick’s Wonderstruck (Scholastic), also considered a contender, was on seven. Before the award, Dead End in Norvelt, was at #27,051 on Amazon sales rankings. Two hours later, it rose to #192. UPDATE: The day after the announcements, it rose to #11.

Four large library systems own a total of 96 copies (those same libraries own 536 copies of Wonderstruck).

Dead End in Norvelt Jack Gantos Retail Price: $15.99 Hardcover: 352 pages Publisher: Macmillan/FSG (BYR) – (2011-09-13) ISBN / EAN: 0374379939 / 9780374379933

Macmillan Audio, 9781427213563

The cover of the book bears some resemblance to another title that was considered a strong candidate for the award:

Okay for Now Gary D. Schmidt Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: Clarion Books – (2011-04-05) ISBN / EAN: 0547152604 / 9780547152608

Caldecott Medal

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka, appeared on two best books lists (SLJ and NYT Best Illustrated Books). It was at #22,059 on Amazon sales rankings before the award, rising to #304 two hours later. UPDATE: The day after the announcements, it rose to #9.

The four major libraries we checked own a total of 86 copies.

A Ball for Daisy Chris Raschka Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 32 pages Publisher: RH/Schwartz & Wade – (2011-05-10) ISBN / EAN: 037585861X / 9780375858611

Printz Medal

Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. The dark horse of the awards, this title appeared only on the PW Best Books list. At the time of the pick, it was at #97,910 on Amazon sales rankings and rose to #328 two hours later. UPDATE: Later in the day, it rose to #76, settling back down to #117 the day after the announcements.

The four libraries we checked own 43 copies.

Where Things Come Back John Corey Whaley Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: S&S/Atheneum BYR – (2011-05-03) ISBN 9781442413337

Trade Paperback, S&S/Atheneum, 9781442413344

The news that the studio behind the Hunger Games, Lions Gate  has bought Summit, the studio behind Twilight, has raised speculation that Meyer’s series will not go gentle into that good night after Breaking Dawn Part 2 hits theaters in November. An L.A. Times headline procliams “Twilight saga may continue after fifth film, Lions Gate CEO says.”

The actual comment is not so definitive. Asked whether Twilight will continue, Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer basically said,  “Boy I hope so.”

Meanwhile, Meyer is part of the production team working on the adaptation of her non-Twilight title, The Host. It begins shooting February 13 in Baton Rouge and stars Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) William Hurt and Max Irons (Red Riding Hood) and is scheduled to release on March 12, 2013.

The kids at the Bank Street College of Education School for Children have decided which book they think should win the upcoming Printz Award. Forty-Two twelve and thirteen-year olds read, reviewed, discussed and voted on titles from a shortlist of 17 titles and the winner is:

Blood Red Road Moira Young Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 466 pages Publisher: S&S/McElderry – (2011-06-07) ISBN 9781442429987

S&S Audio

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In addition, they chose three honor books:

Between Shades of Gray Ruta Sepetys Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 355 pages Publisher: Penguin/Philomel – (2011-03-22) ISBN 9780399254123

Penguin Audio; Large Print, Thorndike; OverDrive, ebook and audio

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Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 Sally M Walker Retail Price: $18.99 Hardcover: 160 pages Publisher: Macmillan/Holt (BYR) – (2011-11-22) ISBN / EAN: 0805089454 / 9780805089455

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My Big Mouth: 10 Songs I Wrote That Almost Got Me Killed Peter Hannan Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Scholastic Press – (2011-07-01) ISBN / EAN: 0545162106 / 9780545162104

Following the jump, the rest of the titles from the short list:

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Many of us are eagerly awaiting the announcement of the Newbery winner and honor books at the upcoming ALA Midwinter meeting. So, too are the kids at the Bank Street College of Education School for Children. They have already voiced their opinion in the annual Bank Street Mock Newbery Awards. Seventy-seven kids, ages ten to twelve, read, discussed and voted on a short list of titles.

And, the winner is:

Wonderstruck Brian Selznick Retail Price: $29.99 Hardcover: 608 pages Publisher: Scholastic – (2011-09-13) ISBN / EAN: 0545027896 / 9780545027892

Honor Books

Divergent Veronica Roth Retail Price: $13.99 Hardcover: 496 pages Publisher: HarperCollins/Tegen Books – (2011-05-03) ISBN :  9780062024022

Bird in a Box Andrea Pinkney Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 288 pages Publisher: Hachette/LBYR – (2011-04-12) ISBN / EAN: 0316074039 / 9780316074032 Audio: Listening Library Okay for Now Gary D. Schmidt Retail Price: $16.99 Hardcover: 368 pages Publisher: HMH/Clarion – (2011-04-05) ISBN / EAN: 0547152604 / 9780547152608 RH/Listening Library; OverDrive The rest of the titles on the short list, after the jump: (more…)

Yesterday, we reported on the next moves by various Harry Potter alums. In addition, Chris Columbus, director of the first two Harry Potter movies, is turning his eyes to creating source material. Entertainment Weekly interviewed him recently, after he signed a deal with HarperCollins to write House of Secrets, a middle-grade fantasy trilogy, with co-author Ned Vizzini (who wrote It’s Kind of a Funny Story, which became a movie starring Zach Galifianakis). No release date has been set.

Why buy the rights to someone else’s books when you can write your own?

Disney Publishing announced late yesterday that a 2-million-copy first printing of The Serpent’s Shadow, the final volume in Rick Riordan’s best-selling Kane Chronicles will be released on May 1. An excerpt of the first chapter is now available on TheKaneChronicles.com. It will also be released in audio by Brilliance.

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

Riordan appeard on Rock Center with Brian Williams last night. Towards the end of the interview, he announced the new title.

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As Katherine Paterson hands the baton over to the new Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Walter Dean Myers, she reflects on her own term in the Huffington Post.

A highlight? Hearing a veteran tell an audience of kids that reading Bridge to Terabithia (HarperCollins, 1977) allowed him to find beauty in the midst of the ugliness of the war in Afghanistan.

Tamora Pierce describes to “huge fan” Nancy Pearl how she created the fantasy world of Tortall in her most recent teen series, the Beka Cooper trilogy (Random House) and the folly of trying to impose categories on books.

The New York Times today profiles Walter Dean Myers, who will be named the new national ambassador for young people’s literature by the Center for the Book, a position described as “a sort of poet laureate of the children’s book world.”

The man who, as a child, hid the books he borrowed from the library so he wouldn’t be teased, will tour the country for the next two years, promoting reading a literacy.