EarlyWord

David Mitchell’s 2004 novel Cloud Atlas (RH/Doubelday) is so complex that many considered it unfilmable. Financing the film’s $100 million budget is also complex, as explored in by the New York Times on Monday. It’s described as an  “epic independent film too complicated, too expensive and perhaps too risky for any conventional studio to have backed.”

The film has three directors, two separate production crews and the actors play multiple roles. Halle Berry who plays both a Jewish woman in the 1930’s and an “old tribal woman,” admits it is confusing and adds, “It’s sort of like guerrilla filmmaking…Even though there seems like there’s a lot of money, it’s not opulent. All the money’s going into the screen.”

The ensemble cast also includes Tom Hanks, Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, Jim Sturgess and Hugo Weaving. IMDB lists the opening date as Oct. 26, 2012, but that is not confirmed elsewhere.

The surprise YA hit Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books, Jun, 2011) just took one step closer to the big screen. Deadline reports that X-Men screenwriter Jane Goldman will adapt the novel. Tim Burton is still in talks to direct.

Riggs used his personal collection of spooky Victorian photos as an inspiration for the novel. An as-yet-untitled sequel is scheduled for Spring 2013.

In April, HarperCollins will publish selections from Riggs’s collection of antique found photographs, annotated with evocative comments by their original owners.

Talking Pictures: Images and Messages Rescued from the Past Ransom Riggs Retail Price: $13.99 Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: It Books/HarperCollins(2012-04-10) ISBN / EAN: 9780062099495, 0062099493

The film of The Help is true to most of Kathryn Stockett’s novel, but its version of the story of maid Minny Jackson ends on a more upbeat note. Tate Taylor directed a scene based on the darker story element, which did not make it to the final cut. It is included as bonus material on the DVD and Blu-ray editions, released yesterday.

Entertainment Weekly features the clip on their “Inside Movies” blog, along with a fascinating interview with actress Octavia Spencer, who talks about how she prepared the young actors playing her children for the scene.

Below is a still, click here to watch the scene and read the interview.

In a statement yesterday, St. Martin’s Press defended The Raven’s Bride by Lenore Hart, which they published in February of this year, from accusations that it plagiarizes passages from Cothburn O’Neal’s 1956 novel, The Very Young Mrs. Poe. They said that any similarities are a result of the fact that both novels are about Edgar Allan Poe’s child bride, Virginia Clemm (via the Associated Press). WorldCat shows that nearly 500 libraries own The Raven’s Bride.

Questions about the two books were raised by British author Jeremy Duns on his blog last month.

Earlier in November, Duns pointed out similarites between Q.R. Markham’s Assassin of Secrets and several other titles, resulting in that book being pulled by Little, Brown a few days after publication. That action was taken before most libraries had received it, so it is available only a few. The New Yorker’s “Book Bench” blog points out that Assassin of Secrets lifts so many passages from other sources that the book is more of a “pastiche or collage, rather than a ‘novel,’ as we properly understand the word” and that Q.R. Markham (the pseudonym for Quentin Rowan), who is a poet and part owner of a bookstore in Williamsburg, a section of Brooklyn, may have consciously perpetrated an elaborate hoax. Markham, himself, blames his actions on his need “to conceal my own voice with the armour of someone else’s words.”

There may be one lesson in the earlier case; the attention caused the book’s sales to skyrocket prior to it being recalled.

Welcome to part three of my annual “Books to Give Kids You Don’t Know Very Well” list, created to help answer perennial questions like, “What should I give my eight-year-old niece in Kansas?” On Friday, I suggested titles for the youngest children and as well as kids who just don’t like books. On Monday, I listed my picks of new picture books. Below are chapter book and family read aloud suggestions. Coming tomorrow, middle grade sleepers.

Chapter Books for Elementary Kids

If you asked the 4th graders at my school for their recommendations, they would encourage you to give series books. Boxed sets are a thrill because children read through these titles like peanuts. The list prices may look daunting, but shop around. They are heavily discounted by many online retailers.

Ages 7 and Up

My Weird School 21-Book Box Set, by Dan Gutman, illustrations by Jim Paillot, HarperCollins, list price $80.

For the kids who are looking for silly fun, these are the books. They are one step up from Captain Underpants. If a kid has already read through these, suggest a move up to the Louis Sachar’s Sideways School series (Scholastic).

Ages 8 and Up

The Secret Series Complete Collection by Pseudonymous Bosch, Little Brown, $80.00.

The readers who have just graduated from Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events, have a real treat is in store with this series. You just can’t go wrong with a good mystery, mind-bending puzzles and a snarky narrator.

Ages 9 and Up

Kate McMullan’s Mythomania. Capstone/Stone Arch Books, $5.95 each.

Are the kids wild about Rick Riordan’s Lightning Thief? Give them this series of fractured Greek myth retellings, told from point of view of Hades. Now back in print after an almost ten year absence, they are therefore new to today’s kids. They’re not available as a boxed set, so suggest making their own, starting with Have a Hot Time In Hades!, Phone Home, Persephone!, Say Cheese, Medusa!, and Nice Shot, Cupid!

Family Read Alouds

Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists, Macmillan/First Second, $18.99.

The book’s editors have gathered traditional rhymes like Hickory Dickory Dock, Pat-a-Cake, and the Itsy Bitsy Spider, pairing them with famous graphic artists like Jules Feiffer, George O’Connor and Roz Chast.

Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver, HarperCollins, ages 7 and up, $16.99.

This is an old-fashioned tale of two orphans reminiscent of classics like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess and Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Liesl must escape the clutches of her evil stepmother and Po is a ghost who is trying to become human. A mystery and a ghost story carefully wrought with deliberate pacing perfect for family read aloud time.

The Flint Heart: a fairy story by John Barstow, retold by Katherine and James Paterson, Candlewick, $19.99.

Originally published in 1910, this humorous fairytale adventure  was almost forgotten because of its archaic language and references. The Patersons rescued it from obscurity with their updated adaptation. John Rocco’s sumptuous art makes this a volume sure to become a family treasure.

Toys Come Home: Being the Early Experiences of an Intelligent Stingray, a Brave Buffalo, and a Brand-New Someone Called Plastic, by Emily Jenkins, RH/Schwartz and Wade. Ages 5 and up, $16.99.

Our pals from Toys Go Out and Toy Dance Party are back in this prequel where we find out how they all came together with The Girl. As we all know, toys have very busy lives when we aren’t looking. This satisfying story stands alone but once readers have entered its magical world they won’t want to stop until they have read all three books.

With the wide range of books, as well as readers tastes out there, it’s a challenge to pick the top 10 or even the top 100 books of the year. An intrepid few have dared to name ONE book as the best of the year.

The book lovers’ social network site, Good Reads, polled their users for the Goodreads Choice Awards. The YA dystopian novel, Divergent by Veronica Roth, (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegan; Dreamscape audio), is the Favorite Book of 2011, with over 10,000 votes. That must be good news to Summit, the studio currently developing it for the big screen (a rundown of the many dystopian books to movies in the works is available at NextMovie.com). A sequel, Insurgent, is coming in May.

Esquire Magazine singles out The Submission, by Amy Waldman, (FSG; Audio, AudioGo; Large Type, Thorndike) as the Best Book of the Year  from their list of ten. It appears on the NYTs Top 100, but didn’t make the cut to their Top Ten.

We’ve set up links to the major best book lists on the right of the site. For and exhaustive (not to mention exhausting) list of links to hundreds of others, including British lists, check the Largehearted Boy.

This just may make me feel a bit better about some of my own typos:

As always when John Green mentions his upcoming book on his vlog to his brother Hank, it rose to #124 on Amazon’s sales rankings, from #367.

It seems it had no affect on the sales of The Pasta Bible, (JG Press).

The Fault in Our Stars John Green Retail Price: $17.99 Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Dutton Juvenile – (2012-01-10) ISBN / EAN: 0525478817 / 9780525478812

It seems the movie industry hasn’t gotten the memo that embargoes are meant to be broken. The movie news site, Thompson on Hollywood, reports that “Scott Rudin is pissed. And so is Sony,” because The New Yorker film critic David Denby reviews The Girl with the DragonTattoo, in the current issue, a week ahead of the Dec. 13 embargo.

He calls it a “a bleak but mesmerizing piece of filmmaking [that] offers a glancing, chilled view of a world in which brief moments of loyalty flicker between repeated acts of betrayal.” Just the thing for the holidays.

A new eight-minute trailer for the movie was released on Friday (see it below, or watch a high-res version free at the iTunes store). It opens on 12/21.

Released on the web late yesterday is the second trailer for the film based on Jonathan Safran Foer’s 9/11-themed novel, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (above, L to R, the movie poster, original and tie-in jackets).

The trailer includes some actual 9/11 footage. The LA Times, reports there are more such scenes in recent test screenings of the movie, as well as an image of Tom Hanks falling through the air. If they make it to the final film, it will be “one of the very few Hollywood productions to deal with the events of Sept. 11, 2001, let alone show scenes from that day.” The two that did — Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center and Paul Greengrass’ United 93, both from 2006 — were not commercial successes.

Starring Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks, with newcomer Thomas Horn as the 9-year-old lead,  Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is directed by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliott, The Hours and The Reader). It opens on Christmas Day, in an Oscar-qualifying limited run and will open more across the country on January 20th. Max Von Sydow, featured prominently in the trailer, is getting buzz for Best Supporting Actor.

Official Movie site: ExtremelyLoudandIncrediblyClose.WarnerBros.com

Tie-in:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: Movie Tie-in Jonathan Safran Foer Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 368 pages Publisher: Mariner Books – (2011-11-01) ISBN / EAN: 0547735022 / 9780547735023

UPDATE, 12/21

We’re happy to announce that our annual spreadsheets, rounding up all the titles in the national best books lists, with ISBN’s and information on additional formats — audio, large print, and eformats from OverDrive — are now available for downloading and checking against your collections.

• 2011 Adult Fiction
• 2011 Adult Nonfiction
• 2011 Childrens and Young Adult

Kirkus Reviews’ roll out of their Best Books list is almost complete. Out today are their picks of the Best Nonfiction (adult) and Best Indie titles, drawn from the Kirkus Indie program (publishers pay $425 or $575 per title, for “Standard service” or “Express service” reviews).

The indie list includes titles from self-publishers iUniverse and Amazon’s CreateSpace.

Ralph Fiennes’ debut as a director, for the adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, is currently in a one week Oscar-qualifying run in New York and Los Angeles, (the full run begins on Jan. 20).

It was just announced that Felicity Jones will play Charles Dickens’ alleged mistress in Fiennes’ second directorial effort, The Invisible Woman, based on Claire Tomalin’s The Invisible Woman: The Story of Nelly Ternan and Charles Dickens, (RH/Knopf, 1991). Shooting is planned for sometime in 2012, which happens to be the bicentenary of  Dickens’ birth.

Tomalin’s new book, a full-length biography of Dickens, incorporates material from the earlier one. Other scholars, such as Peter Ackroyd have concluded that Dickens’ relationship with Ternan, whom he met when she was 18 and he was in his mid-forties, was strictly a friendship. Tomalin argues that not only was she his mistress, but they had a child together.

Tomalin talks about Dickens (but not about Ternan) in the following video:

Charles Dickens: A Life Claire Tomalin Retail Price: $36.00 Hardcover: 576 pages Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The – (2011-10-27) ISBN / EAN: 1594203091 / 9781594203091

Last year, the New York Times infuriated many of us by claiming that parents were pushing their early elementary children into chapter books, causing new picture books to “languish on the shelves” and publishers to release fewer titles.

This year’s many exciting new picture books stand as proof that is not true. Below are my favorites, perfect for gift giving.

We still love chapter books; watch for my selection of the year’s best tomorrow, followed by middle grade and YA favorites.

Favorite Picture Books To Give Kids You Don’t Know Very Well

What Animals Really Like written and illustrated by Fiona Robinson, Abrams, 15.95. Ages 5+

Mr. Herbert Timberteeth, a beaver has composed a song about what he thinks animals enjoy — lions should like to prowl, wolves to howl and the pigeons to coo. His concert is disrupted when the animals insist on singing about what they really like. The cows like to dig, the warthogs like to blow big enormous bubbles and the kangaroos prefer ping-pong to hopping around. Absurdly humorous illustrations complete the package for a terrific read-aloud.

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, Candlewick $15.99, Ages 6 and up

Fans of Emily Gravett’s The Odd Egg and Wolves (both S&S) will welcome this deceptively simple story of a bear who has lost his pointy red hat. His very polite exchanges with the other forest animals that aren’t very helpful. The deadpan humor will tickle the most jaded funny bone while beginning readers will delight that the limited vocabulary speaks volumes.

Blackout by John Rocco, Disney/ Hyperion ages 5 an up

It is evening and the family is very busy, too busy to play a board game with a little sister. Mom is working at the computer, Dad is cooking dinner and the older sister is on the phone. The little girl is resigned to playing a video game all alone when suddenly the lights go out. Rocco’s cartoon graphic panels capture the fear and excitement of the totally dark city in the shadows of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Emma Dilemma: Big Sister Poems by Kristine O’Connell George, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. Clarion Books

Little sisters can be embarrassing. Little sisters can be annoying. Little sisters snoop and can’t keep secrets. This collection of narrative poems describe the relationship, the ups and downs, the good and the bad between Jessica, the narrator and her little sister Emma.

Me…Jane by Patrick McDonnell, Hachette/LBYR, 15.99 Ages 6 and up

In this picture book biography we see primatologist, environmentalist Jane Goodall as a little girl with her stuffed chimpanzee named Jubilee. Together they observe the natural world – birds making their nests, spiders spinning their webs and squirrels chasing one another up and down trees. McDonnell intersperses his signature sweet cartoons with Goodall’s own original sketches and notes.

You will Be My Friend! By Peter Brown, 16.99 Little Brown ages 5+

Lucy, the bear from Children Make Terrible Pets is aggressively looking for friend. She is very excited about turning cartwheels, having picnics, climbing trees, and going swimming with each new friend. Finding a compatible playmate isn’t that easy. The frogs are too wet and small. The skunk is too smelly and Lucy is a little too big to fit in with the rabbits. Will she ever find the “just right” friend?

A Zeal of Zebras written and illustrated by Woop Studio, Chronicle, 17.99

This arty trip through the alphabet pairs collective nouns with 26 colorful prints.

Did you know that a group of pandas is called an embarrassment? Did you know that a herd of Gnus is an implausibility?

The Information about the animals is accurate and will delight wordsmiths and artists alike.

The Queen of France by Tim Wadham, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton, Candlewick, 16.99 ages 5+

“When Rose woke up that morning she felt royal. She opened the box of jewelry. She put on the necklaces. She put on the bracelets. She went to the make-believe basket. She put on the crown.” Rose’s mom and dad play along as she pretends to be royalty and goes about her day. The perfect read aloud for all those little girls begging for a princess book.

Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake by Michael B. Kaplan illustrated by Stéphane Jorish, Dial, 16.99

Betty Bunny, the youngest of four children, tries chocolate cake for the first time. She loves it. She loves it so much that she says, “When I grow up I am going to marry chocolate cake!” When Betty discovers that she can’t have her favorite food for every meal, she turns into a “handful.” Realistic family relationships create a warm light tone as Betty learns how to manage her impulsive behavior.

The Family Storybook Treasury: Tales of Laughter, Curiosity and Fun, HMH, 18.99

This oversized compendium includes eight classic picture books like Martha Speaks by Susan Meddaugh, Nancy Shaw’s rhyming wonder Sheep in a Jeep and the rambunctious bedtime favorite Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. The volume also includes poems by eight renowned poets including Kristine O’Connell George, Nikki Grimes and Bob Raczka.

Stephen King fans have been busy unearthing Easter eggs in the unusual online promo for A&E’s two-night, four-hour mini series based on his novel Bag of Bones, starring Pierce Brosnan. The site, billed as a prequel to the series, features creepy black and white photos laden with King references.

A more traditional, but equally creepy, trailer is also online.

The tie-in is available in mass market and trade editions.

Bag of Bones – Movie Tie-In Stephen King Trade Pbk 9781451678628 / $16.00 Mass Mkt: 9781451678604 / $7.99 Publisher: Pocket Books – (2011-12-06)

So, there I was in the Bank Street College Bookstore, looking for my holiday gifts when I found myself helping other shoppers find the perfect book for their nieces, nephews, grandchildren and young cousins. I must have lost track of time and was startled when I heard my husband shout over from the stairs, “She doesn’t work here! Lisa, get back to your own shopping!”

My gift to readers for this holiday season is the 4th annual Books to Give Kids You Don’t Know Very Well. This is the time of year when we’re asked to recommend titles for that 4-year-old niece who is dying to learn to read (Mo Willems, Elephant and Piggie books, Disney/Hyperion), chapter books for that five-year-old emerging reader who lives in another state (Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo, Candlewick), the young adult cousin who can’t wait for the Hunger Games movie, (Divergent by Veronica Roth, HarperCollins/Katherine Tegan; Legend by Marie Lu, Penguin/Putnam; or Variant by Robinson Wells, HarperTeen).

I’ve organized the selections by age levels and interest; below are suggestions for younger children and for kids who just don’t like books (yet).

Here’s the links to the rest of the lists

Picture Books

Chapter Books

Middle Grade  and YA Sleepers

Nonfiction

Best New Holiday Books

Board Books for New Family Members

Baby Animals, a series that includes the titles Pets, In the Jungle  and In the  Forest, various authors, Macmillan/Kingfisher. $5.99 each

Heavy stock board covered with close-up glossy photos of adorable baby gorillas, parrots and deer (there’s a reason CuteOverload.com is so popular).

The More We Get Together and You Are My Sunshine illus. by Caroline Jayne Church, Scholastic, $6.99 each

Shiny metallic covers envelope two classic songs with quietly sweet illustrations that embody friendship and love.

Little Black Book and Little Pink Book by Renée Khatami, Random House. $8.99 each

From the soft fluffy “touch and feel” fur of the black bunny to the page “seek and find” of licorice shapes, these are delightfully interactive color concept books.

Preschoolers Ages 3 to 5

If You’re Hoppy by April Pulley Sayre, pictures by Jackie Urbanovic, HarperCollins/Greenwillow, 16.99

A joyously buoyant retelling of the song “If your happy and you know it” with hoppy bunnies, growly bears and flappy butterflies.

Ages 3 and Up

I Must Have Bobo! by Eileen Rosenthal, illustrated by Marc Rosenthal, S&S/Atheneum, 14.99

A little boy is missing his stuffed monkey. Willy reminisces about past events that Bobo helped him through like going down a steep slide and walking past a big dog. He has looked everywhere! There isn’t a family who hasn’t experienced the loss of a treasured comfort object.

Mine! by Shutta Crum, pictures by Patrice Barton, RH/Knopf, 16.99

A toddler explains to a baby that the toys – a stuffed giraffe, starfish, airplane and ball are “Mine…mine…mine” until the dog decides that they all need a good washing.

Bears! Bears! Bears! by Bob Barner, Chronicle, 14.95

Cut paper collage and rhyming words depict a variety of bears from “Polar bears dive for an icy seal” to “Sun bears lick up a sticky meal” in this fact-filled information book.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star written and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney, Hachette/Little Brown, $16.99

Beginning with the endpapers as the moon smiles benevolently down on the woodland creatures, we sing the familiar tune. As dusk descends, we follow a chipmunk on a fantasy journey into the evening sky and back again. Caldecott winner, Pinkney paints a dreamy bedtime tale.

A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka, RH/Schwartz and Wade, 16.99

A wordless tour de force, Raschka paints in loose lines rendering a dog who is enthralled with big red ball. He rolls with it, bounces with it and naps with it on the comfy green and blue striped couch. One day at the dog park, the ball is snatched by another dog and burst. We see that our little dog is bereft as the pictures display the stages of grief over his loss. Don’t worry, although it takes time, things do turn out all right.

Kids Who Just Don’t Like Books

A book?! (the child’s face falls in disappointment as the wrapping is torn off). If that is the anticipated reaction, let’s try to turn it around.

Aesop’s Fables: A Pop-up Book of Classic Tales, illustrated by Chris Beatrice and Bruce Whatley, Little Simon, 27.99, Ages 5 and up

Familiar tales like The Lion and the Mouse and The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg are rendered in 3-D, pop-up glory. The lion leaps off the page struggling in the hunter’s ropes, Tortoise and Rabbit inhabit a lush garden while Crow teases a Fox at the top of a tree that looms twice the book width high.

Bob Staake’s Look! A Book!: A Zany Seek-And-Find Adventure, Hachette/Little Brown 16.99, Ages 3 and up

For the fans of the Walter Wick, I Spy Books, this is a volume jam-packed with graphic silly, absurd and teeny tiny images to engage readers. This is the book for the holiday trip on trains, planes and automobiles.

How to Speak Wookie: A Manual for Intergalactic Communication by Wu Kee Smith, Illustrations by JAKe, Chronicle, 16.95

No really. Want give a Wookie directions in a starship? “AHH ARGH, ARRGHH!” That phrase translates to “Turn Right. Right!” or “Jump to hyperspace”? AARRR WWGGH WAANH” If we are still unsure of the correct pronunciation, the author has provided digital audio for ten commonly used Wookie phrases. I can’t stop playing with it.

The Worst-Case Scenario: Survive-0-pedia Junior Edition, Chronicle, 16.99

This one is an accidental pick. Faced with two boys that needed to be entertained for a couple of hours while waiting for the Thanksgiving turkey, I grabbed this from a stack of book. It worked. Want to know how to survive an avalanche? A shipwreck? Living on a deserted island? An active volcano? No problem. Start reading.