Don Weisberg.

David Shanks, Penguin CEO, said he had been talking to Whiteman about taking on some of Shanks's administrative load for about two years, "but we couldn't find a way to spring him from the children's group." Shanks said he approached Weisberg about the Young Readers job at the suggestion of Marcus, who has been serving as a consultant to Penguin and has known Weisberg for 25 years. According to Shanks, Marcus said that the Young Readers editorial team was very solid, but where the group could improve was in finding new outlets for its products. The needs of Penguin "dovetailed perfectly with what I was looking for," Weisberg said. "It's a firm that doesn't need fixing, and is something I can build on."

Children’s ambassador Jon Scieszka, CBC executive director Robin Adelson and NBC’s Al Roker welcomed guests at Tuesday night’s Children’s Choice Book Awards gala in New York City. Photo: Laurent Alfieri.

The first-ever Children’s Choice Book Awards were given out at the event, which was hosted by Jon Scieszka, the nation’s first ambassador for children’s literature. The Children’s Choice winners: Frankie Stein by Lola M. Schaefer, illustrated by Kevan Atteberry (Cavendish), in the kindergarten to second grade category; Big Cats by Elaine Landau (Enslow), in the third grade to fourth grade category; and Encylopedia Horrifica by Joshua Gee (Scholastic Paperbacks) in the fifth to sixth grade category. Ian Falconer was named Illustrator of the Year, and J.K. Rowling was named Author of the Year. And NBC host Al Roker received the Impact Award, for his work helping to promote reading on the Today show’s Al’s Book Club for Kids.

 “I like to think we are all getting a taste of what Children’s Book Week can and should be,” said CBC executive director Robin Adelson. “With events for both children and adults who love books, it’s a fitting celebration. The Children’s Choice Book Awards were a definite highlight. The event was welcomed warmly by the industry and, I hope, enjoyed by all. The fabulous host for the evening, the program, the venue and the food were all fun and fresh and celebratory—and this was just the first year!”

Walden Pond Press, to be overseen by Brenda Bowen, will focus on fiction for young readers, and Kovacs emphasizes that the small list means a lot of support and visibility for each title. Bowen and HarperCollins will handle the primary editorial responsibility, but the acquisition process is collaborative, and Kovacs says she will contribute editorially throughout the publishing process. Kovacs will also be able to tap into Walden's grassroots outreach, which includes teachers and libraries, to help market and sell the list.

Walden Pond Press will be the second list for which Bowen, who joined HarperCollins last year to start her own imprint, is responsible. Right now, her Bowen Press list is still growing, and Bowen is still adding staff. But whether the Walden list will remain the smaller of the two lists is up in the air. "We'll see what happens," says Bowen. "Walden may grow."   

"Certainly the Internet and chains have impacted our school business," says Christensen, whose sales have also suffered from No Child Left Behind and the Accelerated Reader (AR) software used to quiz children on what they've read. "The concept of pleasure reading has gone away," says Christensen, adding that children in her area are reading for AR quizzes rather than for fun. On top of that, area high schools have cut back on reading assignments. Students are no longer required to read entire novels; instead they are assigned to read a chapter or two. 

In addition, the tough economic climate has contributed to a downward slide that began before the Christensens purchased the store. Riverside has been particularly hard hit by the foreclosure crisis; a recent article in The Californian cited Riverside County as having one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. 

With Imagine That!'s lease up for renewal and continued price competition from nearby mass merchandisers and grocery stores like Costco and Ralphs, Christensen felt that she had no choice. The store has already begun a going out of business sale.                                                                —Judith Rosen 

Oblong's May window.

"That was the kernel," says Michelle Charles, manager of Oblong Jr., who not only wanted to do a window with them, but with other area children's book illustrators. "Lots of stores do window displays," she says. "But how often do artists do the windows?" 

Charles has signed up artists to do a window each month through the end of the year. Up now is a window featuring Valorie Fisher's When Ruby Tried to Grow Candy (Schwartz & Wade), and coming soon are windows for Leap into Space by Nancy Castaldo (Williamson Books) and The Block Mess Monster by Betsy Howie, illustrated by C.B. Decker (Holt). 

In addition to displaying the book in the window and in the store, Oblong guarantees each of the artists a store event and local media coverage.

According to senior editor Andrea Menotti, Chronicle had set its sights on Paul Frank for some time and had first approached the company several years back. “We knew it was a good fit,” she says. “The sensibility of their brand and their attention to art and design we felt were similar to our own attention to those things.”   

Begin Smart is the brainchild of Begin Smart Books' publisher Harriet Ziefert, author of more than 300 books for children and publisher of Blue Apple Books. She wrote all but two of the inaugural books, most of which are illustrated by Elliott Kreloff, Blue Apple's associate publisher, who is also responsible for the books' design and the series' color-coded branding. Each of the debut titles will have a 30,000-copy first printing.   

“There’s a pretty successful literary tradition of horse novels,” says Emily Brenner, v-p and publishing director of Harper’s Festival imprint. “We liked the way they’re drawing people to the Web site and this whole mythology they’ve built up. There’s also a values element you don’t get with other virtual worlds, a positive girl-power kind of thing, that is exciting.” Illustrated novels with what she calls “glittery, delicious covers” will drive the program, starting with six this fall. All told, 20 titles are planned, including puzzle and game books and an ultimate guide.

“It’s a very new property but it’s growing really quickly,” Brenner says. More than 40 million trading cards have sold worldwide since the 2007 launch, and the site has two million registered users in 240 countries.

There’s lots more licensing news this month: Grosset & Dunlap signs a license for a new literacy-based PBS series, Hawk’s Nest wins a Major League Baseball license, Brighter Minds acquires two new properties and Todd Parr creates an Olympic-themed book for Hilton Hotels.