EarlyWord

According to WorldCat, very few public libraries have bought Modernist Cuisine, despite the heavy media attention (the NYT, The New Yorker, NPR, Time, even Popular Science) and a starred review from Booklist.

But why would they? It retails for $625, library budgets are strained, and the book features cooking tools and techniques only available to professionals.

One library did buy it and recently explained that decision to the local press. The San Francisco Public Library ordered two copies; one for reference, one to circulate from the main library, and are considering a third for the branches. Why? Public demand, Mark Hall, the library’s cookbook buyer, tells the San Francisco Weekly. He also points out that the price tag is not for a single book, but six volumes that will be circulated individually. Does he fear theft? Not really, says Mark, “Cookbook readers seem to be a pretty responsible group.”

One benefit; the library got good press for the decision. And, at a time when people are obsessed with digital books, they are giving the public access to a physical book that shows off the ultimate in modern printing technology (Booklist says, “Stunning, dramatic color photographs transform every page into a visual banquet”). Even though some of the cooking techniques may be beyond the home cook, as Time magazine says, “no serious student of food doubts that it will stand alongside Escoffier as one of the defining cookbooks in history.”

Modernist Cuisine has sold out its initial print run and is now going back to press. Because of the the intricate printing process, it will be a while before it is back in stock at wholesalers.

Thanks to hundreds of wonderful teachers and librarians, nearly ten thousand first- and second-graders voted on four finalists for the Irma Black Award and they chose How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills (Schwartz & Wade).

That so many of you read the finalists aloud to your students, led them in discussions, and encouraged them to vote, attests to the importance of the picture book format in supporting the development of critical thinking skills. As one of my second grade students put it, “Rocket should be the Irma Black winner because it tells the truth. You can’t learn to read in a day. It takes time. A lot of time. You can tell from the pictures; it takes seasons.”

Not only that, Rocket is a joy to read aloud, again and again.

Let the celebrating begin! Please join us:

May 19, 2011
Bank Street College of Education
610 West 112th Street
New York City

8:30 AM Light Breakfast | 9:00 AM Award Ceremony | 10:00 AM Book Signing

To RSVP or to make a contribution to the Irma S. and James H. Black Fund at Bank Street College of Education, please email Alesia Yezerskaya, or phone 212-875-4608.

Keynote Speaker: Perri Klass is a pediatrician who writes both fiction and non-fiction. She writes about children and families, about medicine, about food and travel, and about knitting. Her newest book is a novel, The Mercy Rule, and the book before that was a work of non-fiction, Treatment Kind and Fair: Letters to a Young Doctor, written in the form of letters to her son as he starts medical school.

Perri lives in New York City, where she is Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University. She is also Medical Director of Reach Out and Read, a national literacy organization which works through doctors and nurses to promote parents reading aloud to young children.

The trailer for the adaptation of One Day, has just appeared on the Web. The film, which opens July 8, is already the clear winner in the “Best Attempt at Making Anne Hathaway Look Nerdy” category.

The tie-in arrives 8/19

One Day (Movie Tie-in Edition) David Nicholls Retail Price: $14.95 Paperback: 320 pages Publisher: Vintage – (2011-08-19) ISBN / EAN: 0307946711 / 9780307946713

Before the Wimpy Kid endured his travails, a kid named Alexander had a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which may also make its way to the screen.

According to Variety, director Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right) is negotiating for rights to Judith Viorst’s 1972 picture book. The story notes that, since there are two other titles in the series, “the pic could blossom into a successful franchise along the lines of Fox’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.”

Based on yesterday’s GalleyChat, below are  the titles I’ll be moving to the top of my To-Be-Read pile:

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Ransom Riggs, Quirk Books, 6/7

I was intrigued to hear about this one, particularly when I learned it’s from Quirk Books, home of the literary mashup. A YA mystery didn’t seem like their kind of thing. Looking further, I discovered that it is actually the kind of quirky title you might expect from a house with that name. The author collects vintage photos and has combined them with text. John Green (Will Grayson, Will Grayson, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska) blurbs it; “A tense, moving, and wondrously strange first novel. The photographs and text work brilliantly together to create an unforgettable story.”

Yes, yes, I know, you need to be suspicious of blurbs, but I don’t think John Green wouldn’t lie to us, especially since he once wrote a heartfelt blog post about the perils of blurbing. Of course, that was five years ago and he may have become less principled since. He does have backup from PW which calls it “an enjoyable, eccentric read, distinguished by well-developed characters, a believable Welsh setting, and some very creepy monsters.”

The Lantern, Deborah Lawrenson, Harper, 8/9

This ARE comes in a beautiful package (Robin B. said she thought she was getting chocolates, but found what’s inside is even better). I’m hooked by the Prologue, which begins, “Some scents sparkle and then quickly disappear like the effervescence of citrus zest…” and ends with a hint of darkness to come, “How can I be frightened by a scent?” It’s described as a modern-day gothic, set in Provence, along the lines of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern, Doubleday, 9/13

Curiosity about this one has been growing on GalleyChat. Yesterday, one library said their entire staff is now behind it. Also an inhouse favorite with the Random House library marketing team, they warn that you “won’t be able to miss it” at both BEA and ALA. It’s available on NetGalley, so your whole staff can read it, too.

The Last Werewolf, Glen Duncan, Knopf, 7/12

We highlighted this title earlier this week because it moved up on the Edelweiss list of titles most-ordered by indie booksellers. It’s described as “pretty racy; not for your average Twilight reader” and we got the news that, fittingly, the pages of the finished book will have blood-red edges.

The American Heiress, Daisy Goodwin, St. Martin’s, 6/21

This one caught my eye and is a hit with many on GalleyCat, who describe it as “like a delicious piece of cake” and  “ritzy, scandalous fun”

Someone also pointed out that there’s a new source for forthcoming books chat; the Events Coordinator for the McNally Jackson bookstore has begun a Twitter hashtag for fall books, #fall11books, “to share most anticipated titles.”

Edelweiss recently released a list of the top 30 most-ordered summer fiction titles (earlier, we posted the top 30 nonfiction titles). Below are a few highlights (remember, however, that some publishers are not on the system, most notably, Simon and Schuster).

#1. State of Wonder by Patchett, Ann (HarperCollins/Harper) PubDate: Jun 7; this was also #1 on the previous list (which covered orders placed 60 days prior to 2/2/11).

#6.  The Last Werewolf by Duncan, Glen (Random House/Knopf) PubDate: Jul 12; this one is catching on with more booksellers (it was at #16 on the last list), RH is planning a 100,000 printing. LJ starred it; Booklist is also a fan, calling it a “violent, sexy thriller.”

#22. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Benjamin, Melanie (Random House/Delacorte Press) PubDate: Jul 26; the author’s second  fictionalized look at a legendary historical figure (following last year’s  Alice I have Been), this one focuses on the wife of “the world’s shortest man,” one of P.T. Barnum’s most well-known attractions.

#23.  Iron House by Hart, John (Macmillan/Thomas Dunne Books) PubDate: Jul 12; Hart’s career has taken off quickly; he was nominated for an Edgar for his first book, The King of Lies (2006), going on to win Best Novel for his next two books, Down River (2008) and The Last Child (2010).

Digital publishing has given new meaning to the term “instant books.” As the Wall Street Journal reports, some publishers are planning to release e-books about Osama Bin Laden.

Random House is publishing an e-book collection of essays by various authors next week,  Beyond Bin Laden: America and the Future of Terror.

The Free Press is releasing an e-book based on Peter Bergen’s The Longest War: The Enduring Conflict between America and Al-Qaeda, which came out in January. (The Free Press is an imprint of Simon & Schuster, which doesn’t make e-book editions available for library lending).

In print, St. Martin’s Press is in the fortunate position of already having a book in the pipeline, SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper by Howard E. Wasdin, a former member of the group credited with killing bin Laden. Originally scheduled for May 24, it is being rushed in to print and is now expected to arrive the middle of next week. Hollywood has also come knocking; according to the Hollywood Reporter, the book’s agent has been fielding calls from studios interested in film rights.

In the NYT “Arts Beat” blog, Michiko Kakutani provides a useful roundup of eight earlier titles, many of which overlap with a separate list on the Huffington Post.

Join us for GalleyChat tomorrow at 4 p.m. Eastern (details here).

As prep, check out GalleyChat regular Lesa Holstine’s previews of upcoming titles on her Web site:

June’s Treasures in My Closet

June’s Hot Titles

Lesa has us intrigued by Daisy Goodwin’s debut, The American Heiress and the author’s presentation, below, seals the deal. Happily, both PW and LJ say the book delivers. PW calls it  “a propulsive story of love, manners, culture clash, and store-bought class from a time long past that proves altogether fresh.” In a starred review, LJ recommends it for book clubs.

Note: the book is called My Last Duchess in the UK; both that title and the British cover are featured in the video.

Talk about sweet justice; Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad, having already won a Pulitzer and a National Book Ciritcs Circle prize, picked up yet another award this weekend. Significantly, it’s the L.A. Times Prize for Fiction.

In March, the L.A. Times itself raised hackles when it characterized Egan’s NBCC win as a loss for Jonathan Franzen’s Freedom. That brought such a storm of protest that the paper offered an explanation of sorts. Back in the fall, when Franzen coverage seemed unrelenting (cover of Time, Oprah pick, NYT BR cover), Jennifer Weiner and Jodi Picoult saw it as a reflection of the literary establishment’s sexism (Slate came up with an actual number; from 6/29/08 to 8/27/10, only 38% of books reviewed by the NYT were written by women). David Ulin, L.A. Times book critic acknowledged the validity of the issue, but was more concerned with defending Franzen.

Encouraging as it is to see a woman writer gather so many awards, and particularly this one from the L.A. Times, it doesn’t meant the discussion should be over. As the saying goes, it’s just the exception that proves the rule.

The Agatha Awards, given to books that best exemplify the Agatha Christie tradition, (i.e., no explicit sex, excessive gore or gratuitous violence) were announced this weekend. Canadian author Louise Penny picked up her fourth for Bury Your Dead, giving her Armand Gamache the most Agatha’s  ever for  books in a single series.

Winners in the book categories are:

Best Novel

Bury Your Dead, Louise Penny (Minotaur, 9780312377045; Large Type, Thorndike); the sixth in Penny’s series about Quebec Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. The audio already won an AudioFile award (Macmillan Audio and AudioGo). The seventh in the series, A Trick of the Light, (Minotaur, 9780312655457) arrives in August.

Best Children’s/Young Adult
The Other Side of Dark, Sarah Smith (Atheneum, 9781442402805) is the adult author’s debut novel for teens. Horn Book said of this story about a girl who communes with the dead, thus unearthing some painful truths about Boston and the slave trade, “well-researched historical detail weaves seamlessly into a contemporary mystery that’s also a head-on confrontation of the ongoing repercussions of racism and slavery.”

Best First Novel
The Long Quiche Goodbye, Avery Aames (Berkley, pbk original, 9780425235522); the first in a series set in a cheese shop. The second, Lost and Fondue (Berkley, pbk original, 9780425241585), releases tomorrow.

Best Non-fiction
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: 50 Years of Mysteries in the Making, John Curran (Harper, 9780061988363). Christie’s 73 notebooks are painstakingly pieced together here. PW warned that even fans might be overwhelmed at the amount of detail, but also said it offers a “rare glimpse … into the mind of a writer, especially one as imaginative as Christie, who, though not a prose stylist, was expert at devising intricate plots.”

Earlier this week, we highlighted what we thought was one of the funnier of the Royal Wedding books, Knit Your Own Royal Wedding (Andrews McMeel).

Turns out it’s been one of the biggest-selling titles in the UK and is currently out of stock in the US. The staff the Everett Public Library in Washington State actually took up the challenge and knitted the entire wedding party. The resulting display gained coverage from the local newspaper as well as CNN.

Compare the photos below — we think the Everett Public Library knitters’ results are even better than those in the book.

Photo Credit: Everett Library staff

Of course, it was tough to predict exactly what the family would wear, but the knitters got one thing right — Kate Middleton, confounding expectations, wore a tiara.

With Mother’s Day and Memorial Day approaching, new titles are dramatically on the increase – particularly fiction and celebrity memoirs. Here’s a look at what’s ahead for next week.

Watch List

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt (Ecco) is a picaresque novel about two hired guns, the fabled Sisters brothers, set against in the California Gold Rush. Librarians have been buzzing about it on Galley Chat and it’s a May Indie Next pick.

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon (Grand Central) is an unlikely love story about a young white woman with a developmental disability and an African-American deaf man, both locked away in an institution in Pennsylvania in 1968, who fall deeply in love and escape together, finding refuge with a retired schoolteacher. It’s the #1 Indie Next Pick for May. It’s also the author’s fiction debut (although she wrote a well-received memoir, Riding in the Bus with My Sister).

The Moment by Douglas Kennedy (Atria Books) is the tale of a travel writer’s loves and betrayals, set in Cold War Berlin, by an American-born author who’s better known abroad (his nine previous novels have sold over five million copies, and he was awarded France’s Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres). Kennedy spoke at a ALA MidWinter, at a panel hosted by LJ‘s Barbara Hoffert, who said “if other readers end up as engrossed as I was, then this is the year that Kennedy becomes a household name in America.” Early reviews are also positive, and it gets a 100,000-copy print run.

The Year We Left Home by Jean Thompson (S&S) chronicles the lives of the Erickson family as the children come of age in 1970s and ’80s America, as they grow out of their rural Iowan roots. It’s the #5 May Indie Next pick, and Entertainment Weekly gives it an A-: “even minor characters receive the full attention of the author’s prodigious talents; each one is drawn so vividly that they never feel less than utterly real.”

Returning RA Favorites

Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (Viking/Penguin) gets a 350,000 printing and is the #8 Indie Next pick for May.

Doc by Mary Doria Russell (Random House) is the #2 Indie Next Pick for May.

The Butterfly’s Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe (GalleryBooks) gets a 100,000-copy printing.

Usual Suspects

Sixkill by Robert B Parker (Putnam) is the last Spenser novel completed by Parker before his death in January 2010, and has a 300,000-copy print run. But this is not the last we’ll see of Parker – there are two revamped series coming. On September 13, Parker’s Jessie Stone series will continue with Robert B. Parker’s Killing the Blues, by a writer producer and screenwriter Michael Brandman, who co-wrote and co-produced the television movies featuring Tom Selleck as Jesse Stone. And in Spring 2012, the longrunning Spenser PI series will continue, written by Ace Atkins, whose last few novels have been published by Putnam. He begins a new series of his own with The Ranger, starting in June.

Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris (Ace Books) Sookie Stackhouse #11

The Devil’s Light by Richard North Patterson (Scribner)

10th Anniversary by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little Brown)

Celeb Memoirs

There are several celebrity memoirs coming out next week – in fact, May is such a big month for them that USA Today featured several in a round up (remember when we thought the genre was dead?).

If You Ask Me: And of Course You Won’t by Betty White (Putnam)

My Lucky Life in and Out of Show Business: A Memoir by Dick Van Dyke (Crown Archetype) is slated for a lot of media. USA Today has an early interview, and Van Dyke will appear on Entertainment Tonight on May 3, The View on May 4, NPR’s Morning Edition on May 4 or 5, and the Today Show on May 5.

Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir by Steven Tyler (Ecco) is on the cover of the May 2 issue of People. On May 4, Tyler will be on Good Morning America.

Good Stuff: A Reminiscence of My Father, Cary Grant by Jennifer Grant (Knopf) is a memoir by the dapper film star’s only child, from his brief marriage to Dyan Cannon. Kirkus is not a fan: “It sounds like a lovely life, but it makes for an irritating reading experience.” On May 1, Parade will run an excerpt and the author will appear on CBS Sunday Morning.

From This Moment On by Shania Twain (Atria) is the mega-selling country singer’s memoir of her hardscrabble Canadian childhood. She will be on Oprah on May 3 and the Today Show on May 4;  plus a show called “Why Not? With Shania Twain” will debut on OWN May 1.

More Nonfiction

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma (Grand Central) wowed the crowd at MidWinter ALA and at the AAP Author Buzz panel. Indies like it, too. It’s on the May Indie Next list and is one of the indies’ most-ordered titles for summer.

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mother by Janny Scott (Riverhead Books) is written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter.

Children’s

The Kane Chronicles: Book Two: Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan

(Hyperion Books)

Michigan author Steve Hamilton won his second Edgar last night for The Lock Artist (Minotaur/Thomas Dunne; Audio, Brilliance; Large Type, Center Point). Also an Alex Award winner, it features an unreliable narrator. He’s an 18-year-old boy rendered mute by a childhood trauma, who has a natural ability to crack safes. It’s the author’s first stand-alone, after 7 titles in the Alex McNight series.  Marilyn Stasio gave it a strong thumbs up in her NYT BR Crime column back in January. Hamilton won his first Edgar in the First Novel category in 1999 for A Cold in Paradise.

The Lock Artist has was recently released in trade paperback.

The Lock Artist: A Novel Steve Hamilton Retail Price: $14.99 Paperback: 336 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books – (2011-03-01) ISBN / EAN: 0312696957 / 9780312696955

Lisa Von Drasek called the winner in the Best Juvenile category yesterday in her story about The Buddy Files. It’s the only book in that category that is aimed at younger readers (ages 6 to 8).

The winners in the other book categories are:

Young Adult — The Interrogation of Gabriel James, Charlie Price (FSG Books for Young Readers, 9780374335458)

Best First Novel — Rogue Island, Bruce DeSilva, (Forge, 9780765327260; Audio, Tantor; Large Print, Thorndike)

Best Paperback Original — Long Time Coming, Robert Goddard (Bantam, 9780385343619)

Best Fact Crime — Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry (University of Nebraska, 9780803228108)

Best Critical/Biographical — Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective and His Rendezvous with American History, Yunte Huang, (W.W. Norton, 9780393069624)

Mary Higgins Clark Award (honoring books in the Clark tradition) — The Crossing Places, Elly Griffiths (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Click here to view the winners and nominees in all categories.

The librarian buzz on GalleyChat has made us a believer that S.J. Watson’s debut psychological thriller Before I Go To Sleep (Harper, 6/14) will be a hit.

As a result of the buzz, advance readers editions are now scarce, but the HarperCollins library marketing team has rounded up 25 copies for EarlyWord readers. Enter your name for a chance to win( Deadline: Wednesday, May 3, 11:59 p.m., Eastern; only open to librarians in the U.S.)

Watson, who lives in the UK, will make one of his few US appearances at the ALTAF Mystery and Horror program on Sunday, June 26, 10:30 to noon during ALA.

Before I Go to Sleep is also available as an ebook from NetGalley (one big advantage of eGalleys; everyone on your RA team can read the title at once — no passing around scarce print copies).

While you’re on NetGalley, Kayleigh George at HC Library Marketing suggests you also consider the following titles (quotes are from the publisher’s descriptions):

Long Gone, Alafair Burke, 9780061999185, July 1; Burke’s first stand-alone, “a dark and twisting psychological thriller with the intensity and depth of Harlan Coben’s Tell No One and Laura Lippman’s What the Dead Know.”

Domestic Violets, Matthew Norman, 9780062065117, Sept 1; “In the tradition of Jonathan Tropper and Tom Perrotta … a darkly comic family drama about love, loss, and ambition.” Pbk Original.”

Miss Timmins School for Girls, Nayana Currimbhoy, 9780061997747, June 21; “a  debut novel set in India during the monsoon of 1974…the story of a conventional young girl who leaves her cloistered small town home to teach at a remote boarding school run by British Missionaries.” Pbk Original

The Woodcutter, Reginald Hill, 9780062060747, Aug 1; by the author of the Dalziel & Pascoe series, “a stand-alone psychological thriller that combines the macabre suspense of Thomas Harris and the brilliant narrative of P.D. James, in a story about a mysterious ex-con looking for vengeance in his hometown.”

Waiting for Robert Capa, Susan Fortes, 9780062000385, July 7; an “English Patient-style novel about the real-life romance between the photojournalists Robert Capa and Gerda Taro during the Spanish Civil War.” Pbk Original

The Edgar Awards for best mysteries will be announced at the gala banquet here in New York tonight. Of the five finalists for Best Juvenile, the Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy, by Dori Hillestad Butler (Albert Whitman & Co.) is the only title for younger readers (the rest are for middle-graders).

What! You don’t know the The Buddy Files?

Full disclosure. Neither did I. I tossed my review copy aside as soon asI realized that it was written from the point of view of the dog — to me, a tired conceit. But I was so wrong. I picked it back up a few days ago and read through the whole series of five in almost one sitting. I COULD NOT PUT THEM DOWN! I fell in love with Buddy, his new family, the neighbors who include the Cat-With-No-Name, aloof and smart, and his best dog friend, Mouse, a really big black dog (I’m thinking a Newf).

The voice of Buddy the dog is charming, engaging and perfectly honed. He IS a dog, not a smug, erudite human construct of a dog. Buddy is a mystery solver of the class of Encyclopedia Brown, Cam Janson and Einstein Anderson. In book one, the first mystery is – why was he left at the P-O-U-N-D (dogs don’t say that bad word)? Buddy has the deductive reasoning of Sherlock Holmes but the easily distracted nature of dog. He follows his nose and we do too.

The breezy style of the writing, short chapters and quiet humor of these books make them the perfect transitional readers for kids who have outgrown Nate the Great, want a mystery but have “read everything.”

The Facts:

The Buddy Files by Dori Hillestad Butler, Albert Whitman

1. The Case of the Lost Boy, (3/1/2010)

Newly adopted from the pound, Buddy (formerly King) investigates the disappearance of his new boy.

2. The Case of the Mixed up Mutts, (3/1/2010)

Some people claim that all dogs look alike. Was the switching of these two pugs at the dog park an accident or something more suspicious?

3. The Case of the Missing Family, (3/1/2010)

Buddy has been trying to figure out for the last two books what happened to the family that put him in the animal shelter. He finally finds a clue.

4.The Case of the Fire Alarm, (3/1/2011)

Bullying rears its ugly head at the elementary school where Buddy works as a therapy dog. Can Buddy get to the bottom of the mystery of the pulled alarm?

5. The Case of the Library Monster, (3/1/2011)

Buddy discovers a blue tongued monster in the school library.