The Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based wholesaler BookStream, which got fully up and running a year and a half ago, is about to test the children’s book waters by launching its first marketing initiative for children’s booksellers, KidSplash.

BookStream children’s buyer Carol Chittenden, president of Eight Cousins Children’s Books in Falmouth, Mass., will lead the free day-long event, which will take place at the Hilton Embassy Boston Marlborough on October 17. KidSplash, she says, is designed to help frontline booksellers feel confident that they’re presenting customers with the most interesting, beautiful, age-appropriate new books.

In addition to dividing new books into four age groups—0 to 3, 4 to 8, 8 to 12 and 12 to 15—Chittenden will discuss holiday-themed titles and offer tips for on-the-spot handselling. Author Laurie Keller will speak about her fall release, Do Unto Otters: A Book of Manners (Holt, Sept.), and Chittenden promises lots of goodies, plus breakfast and lunch. Says BookStream president Jack Herr, “Look for more of this kind of programming in the future.”

New Jersey wholesaler Bookazine is also giving personalized assistance to booksellers concerned about selecting the best new children’s books for the fall. Children’s buyer Heather Doss will provide “rep” presentations at several of the regional trade shows—Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance, New England Independent Booksellers Association and New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association. Because of show overlaps, she will be unable to attend Great Lakes, but Doss promises to make handouts of her talk available at the Bookazine booth there and at SIBA, NEIBA and NAIBA.

Next spring, according to v-p of marketing and online development Kathleen Willoughby, Bookazine will hold its second annual Bookazine Kids Event, which will focus on spring and summer ’08 releases.—Judith Rosen

One store, three Harpers: (from l.) Adrienne, Marianne and Dana Harper

The closing of Brystone is a blow to children’s bookselling in Texas, leaving the state with only a handful of remaining specialty stores, including The Red Balloon in San Antonio and The Storybook Garden in Weslaco. While there are a number of stores that have exceptional children’s sections, including Austin’s BookPeople and Houston’s Blue Willow Bookstore and Brazos Bookstore—which added children’s books in the past year—there are an equal number that have shuttered in recent memory, including Toad Hall Bookstore in Austin, Jeremy’s in Houston and Treehouse Readers in Kingwood.

Marianne’s daughter Dana, who manages Brystone Books along with her sister Adrienne, says the store “could continue financially, but it would be like the Beatles without Paul McCartney.” The idea of closing was discussed some three years ago, but a firm decision was made six months ago.

“My mother is relatively young,” Dana says, “but I explain to people that bookseller age is different from real people’s age. My mother does a lot of lifting still and travels all over the city for events. I’ve tried to get her to slow down and lift boxes for her, but she won’t have it. Now she has to stop.”

Marianne, a former fourth-grade school teacher, built the store to cater primarily to teachers, who have made up 95% of the customer base. The closing date was specifically chosen so teachers could get a good deal on books—all now being sold at 40% off—prior to the start of the school year.

Dana started working at the store at age 16; she told PW her favorite memory is of the day that Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released and the three women—mother and two daughters—dyed their hair black and dressed as Harry, with lightning bolts on their foreheads. “It was before Harry Potter was as well known,” she said, “and some customers came into the store, took one look at us and turned right around. I’m sure we’ve never seen some of them again.”

Dana says she plans to get a “regular job—with vacation time and benefits,” perhaps in a library. “I know we’re leaving a huge hole in the market,” she says. “Somebody who really loves books, works hard and enjoys business can open a store here. I would really love that and promise I’d be their first customer.”

She adds, “I know I will miss it, but I don’t think I’ll miss it as much as my dog. She’s used to coming here seven days a week. I just know when we stop coming, she’ll sit by the door and cry.”—Edward Nawotka

J.K. Rowling, on the Today Show.

In Rowling's interview with Meredith Vieira, which aired on the Today Show (July 26 and 27) and Dateline (July 29), the author answered questions submitted by fans and illuminated many of the more complex plot points of HP7. To have a look at her responses, which obviously include spoilers, click here.

But that appeared to be just a warm-up for Rowling's post-Potter ruminations. Harry's creator fielded as many questions as possible from the 120,000 submitted by fans during her live 90-minute web chat sponsored by publisher Bloomsbury on Monday, July 30. Serving up lots of spoilers, Rowling even expanded upon what she included in Deathly Hallows, imagining what various favorite characters went on to do after book 7 ended. See the complete transcript here.

Unfortunately, Rowling could do interviews and web chats for the rest of her days and never cover all the nuances of Harry’s wizarding world. That’s perhaps a downside of her books achieving such massive popularity. When Vieira commented in the Today/Dateline interview “you left us hanging a little bit,” the author amusingly acknowledged that when it comes to pleasing persistent Potterphiles her work is never truly done. “It would have been humanly impossible to answer every single question that fans have,” Rowling replied. “Because I’m dealing with a level of obsession in some of my fans that will not rest until they know the middle names of Harry’s great-great-grandparents.”

Hmmm…wonder what those names were...

Scholastic announced today that it sold 11.5 million copies of Deathly Hallows in its first 10 days, and has gone back to press for an additional two million copies; the total in-print figure now stands at 14 million. —Shannon Maughan

David, the producer of the Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth and the HBO documentary Too Hot Not to Handle, brings her environmental message to young readers this fall. With her coauthor and friend Cambria Gordon, David has completed The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming (Scholastic/Orchard, Sept.). Through timely data and memorable metaphors, the Guide describes climate crisis and suggests real ways children can make a difference. The authors will promote their Guide on the Today Show on September 19.

“This book is graphically exciting, hip and young, and it gives kids a ton of information on every page without kids realizing they’re getting the information,” David says. “It’s a fun book to read on global warming,” she adds, admitting the dissonance of the phrase but emphasizing that she
and Gordon balance humor and seriousness. (Illustrator Stephen Schudlich created the cartoons, charts and graphs, and the Scholastic design team complemented his drawings with photographs.)