Shelf Awareness for Thursday, April 9, 2009


William Morrow & Company: Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay

Del Rey Books: Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid

Peachtree Teen: Romantic YA Novels Coming Soon From Peachtree Teen!

Watkins Publishing: She Fights Back: Using Self-Defence Psychology to Reclaim Your Power by Joanna Ziobronowicz

Dial Press: Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood

Pantheon Books: The Volcano Daughters by Gina María Balibrera

Peachtree Publishers: Leo and the Pink Marker by Mariyka Foster

Wednesday Books: Castle of the Cursed by Romina Garber

News

Notes: Booksellers Win BEA Digs; Changes at Candlewick

A pair of booksellers each from Kepler's Books, Menlo Park, Calif., and Brown University Bookstore, Providence, R.I., will be spending the night at apartments on Manhattan's Upper West Side during BookExpo America, courtesy of Cambridge University Press.

The press said it "recognizes just how expensive it is for booksellers to attend BEA, particularly here in NYC. At a time when we should all be focused on saving money for books, we found a way to help frontline booksellers still come to BEA but on the cheap. After putting a call out to interested bookstores, we raffled off accommodations at our Cambridge apartments on the Upper West Side which are usually reserved for our U.K. colleagues."

The publisher added that the promotion was "a great way to thank some of our loyal customers and to make sure BEA is still about the relationships between publishers and booksellers."

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Each month, Three Percent, the international literature in translation website, showcases an independent bookshop with a direct link to that shop's online store. For April, Shaman Drum Bookshop, Ann Arbor, Mich., is the featured retailer.

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The Book Shoppe in Court House Village Shopping Center, Cape May Court House, N.J., will close sometime in early May. The County Herald reported that owner Steven Pyfrin said "the store's Shore Mall location would remain until the end of December, should customers desire to special order books."

"We are keeping this location open in hopes of selling out our inventory," he added.

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Are your books arranged "by topic and aesthetics?" If not, perhaps Kinsey Marable can help. The New York Times went shopping for bookcases with the former investment banker who "gave up securities trading to deal in a more exotic commodity: rare and out-of-print books. Since then he has found a niche as a curator of private libraries."

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The Jamaica Observer profiled the Fuller family, who have made Kingston Bookshop the island's "top book retailer" and who were recently nominated for the Family in Business Award.

The company has "current gross annual revenue of over $1 billion [US$11.4 million]--a sales performance that makes this company the leader in Jamaica's book retail industry. The market leader provides full-time employment for 181 Jamaicans, and adds another 200 to its payroll each summer when there is a seasonal spike in the demand for textbooks ahead of the new school term in September."

"The big part of our success is to make the staff feel that they belong to a large family, that they have a friendly place to work," said Sonia Fuller, who is in charge a work experience program that is open mainly to students of non-traditional high schools. "When you see them grow and succeed, that is the greatest satisfaction for me."

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VietNamNet Bridge explored "the road of book addicts," noting that "amidst a bustling and noisy HCM City, there is still a place like Tran Nhan Ton, which is quiet, witnesses no bargaining--just books, books and book lovers."

VietNamNet Bridge also reported on the Phuong Nam Corporation's book discount fair, noting: "Besides the books  by local writers on sale at the fair, there are also some Vietnamese translation books from the worldwide bestsellers books, like The Art of Power by Thich Nhat Hanh, Crazy in Love by Lani Diane Rich and Barack Obama: The Audacity of Hope by the U.S President Barack Obama."

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Candlewick Press has made the following changes:

  • John Mendelson will join the company on May 18 as senior v-p, sales and digital initiatives. He is currently direct of trade sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he has worked for more than a decade in a variety of sales positions, including director of national accounts, director of field sales, national account manager and New England sales representative.
  • Susan Batcheller has been promoted to v-p, marketing services and sales operations. She joined the company in 2001 and most recently was executive director of marketing services and sales operations.
  • Sharon Hancock is being promoted to executive director, school and library marketing. She joined the company 2004 and has been director of marketing strategy for school and library since 2005.

 

 


Now Streaming on Paramount+ with SHOWTIME: A Gentleman in Moscow


Media and Movies

Media Heat: Hello, Cupcake!

Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Nancy O'Dell, author of Full of Life: Mom-to-Mom Tips I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Pregnant (Simon Spotlight, $16.99, 9781439110256/1439110255).

Also on Today: Karen Tack, author of Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make (Houghton Mifflin, $15.95, 9780618829255/0618829253).

 


GLOW: Greystone Books: brother. do. you. love. me. by Manni Coe, illustrated by Reuben Coe


This Weekend on Book TV: The Woman Behind the New Deal

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, April 11

8 a.m. Kirstin Downey, author of The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience (Nan A. Talese, $35, 9780385513654/0385513658), chronicles the life of the first female Cabinet secretary. (Re-airs Saturday at 11 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m.)
     
12 p.m. Book TV features six hours of coverage from the 2009 Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, Va. (Re-airs Sunday at 12 a.m.)       

6 p.m. Encore Booknotes. In a segment that first aired in 1996, David Denby, author of Great Books: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World (S&S, $16, 9780684835334/0684835339), talked about returning to Columbia University to retake a Western Canon course.

7 p.m. Book TV visits the Worcester, Mass., home of journalist and author Nicholas Basbanes to learn about his vast personal library and the writing methods he employed to produce seven books about book culture, book places and book people. (Re-airs Sunday at 9 a.m. and 11 p.m.)
     
8 p.m. Benson Bobrick, author of Master of War: The Life of General George H. Thomas (S&S, $28, 9780743290258/0743290259), recounts the military career of the Union general known as the "the Rock of Chickamauga." (Re-airs Sunday at 6 a.m.)

10 p.m. After Words. Former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman interviews Neal Bascomb, author of Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors and a Young Spy Agency Chased Down the World's Most Notorious Nazi (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $26, 9780618858675/0618858679), who recounts the 15-year search for Adolf Eichmann. (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m., Monday at 12 a.m., Sunday, April 19, at 12 p.m.)

Sunday, April 12
      
1 p.m. More Book TV coverage of the 2009 Virginia Festival of the Book, featuring interviews and panels. (Re-airs Monday at 1 a.m.)
     
8 p.m. Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, author of Life Equity: Realize Your True Value and Pursue Your Passions at Any Stage in Life (Thomas Nelson, $24.99, 9781595551597/159555159X), advises women to take advantage of the opportunities available in the U.S. (Re-airs Monday at 7 a.m.)

 


BINC: Apply Now to The Susan Kamil Scholarship for Emerging Writers!


Books & Authors

Awards: Eisner Awards Nominees

Nominees have been named for the 2009 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, honoring the legendary comics creator. Now in their 21st year, the Eisner awards highlight the best publications and creators in comics and graphic novels. See the complete list at Comic-Con's website.

The 2009 judging panel includes Amanda Emmert, owner of Muse Comics & Games, Missoula, Mont., Mike Pawuk, teen services public librarian for the Cuyahoga, Ohio, County Public Library, John Shableski, Diamond Book Distributors sales manager; Ben Towle. graphic novelist and comics arts educator and Andrew Wheeler, comics and manga reviewer at ComixMix.com. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony Friday, July 24, at Comic-Con International.

 


Midwest Connections: Spring Children's Picks

From the Midwest Booksellers Association, here are several Midwest Connections spring children's picks. Under this marketing program, the association and member stores promote booksellers' handselling favorites that have a strong Midwest regional appeal:

The Dragonfly Door by John Adams, illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson (Feather Rock Books, $17, 959781934066126/1934066125)

The Dragonfly Secret
by Clea and John Adams, illustrated by Barbara L. Gibson (Feather Rock Books, $16.95, 9781930466133/1930466133)

Clare Vanderpool of Watermark Books & Café in Wichita, Kan., said, "The Dragonfly Door and its companion book, The Dragonfly Secret, are colorful, nature-inspired picture books that can provide assistance and comfort to children and adults on their journey with grief.

"The Dragonfly Door tells the story of Nym, a young water nymph who loses her best friend, Lea. After a period of sadness and searching, Nym discovers that Lea is no longer a water nymph but has become a beautiful dragonfly. Lea will no longer live in the marshy pond with Nym, but promises that someday they will be together again when Nym will also leave her water nymph body behind and live out of the water as a dragonfly.

"In The Dragonfly Secret, Lea, a dragonfly, befriends a young boy she meets in the garden. They play hide and seek among the trees and flowers. Finally, Lea says, 'How come you haven't told me your name or where you live?' The boy tells her he has a secret. But first he needs her help. Through a special journey of clues and surprises, Lea meets people who are sad and hurting. Then she discovers who the people are and how she has brought them hope and comfort in a way that only she could.

"Both books tell stories of loss and change and are rendered in colorful illustrations with sensitive characters that young readers can relate to. These somewhat sad but hopeful stories can be helpful in providing support for a child who has experienced loss and grief."

Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta (Knopf, $16.99, 9780375855795/0375855793)

Carla Ketner of Chapters Books & Gifts in Seward, Neb., said, "Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta is a baseball story with a twist--or two--that make it stand out from other sports stories. Set in a small town said to be cursed by Ptan Tanka, a baseball-loving Native American, it's peopled with characters with their own personalities. Among them are the main character, a baseball fanatic in a town where no one has played baseball in his lifetime because it's been raining for 22 straight years; his father, an entrepreneur who makes a living selling Rain Redirection Systems and cooks fish stick casserole for dinner; Roy's new foster brother Sturgis, who has a prosthetic ear and is the son of a pro baseball player now in prison; and even some attractive baseball-playing girls. It's the perfect book for those hard-to-reach middle school boys who have just discovered girls and would rather be playing baseball than reading."

Ketner's son, Joel, added: "As a 7th grade boy who likes baseball, I could identify with Roy, the main character in Mudville. It's a good story where unexpected things happen. If you like baseball books, you should read it. Watch out for the ending!"

 


Children's Book Review: The Curious Garden

The Curious Garden by Peter Brown (Little, Brown, $16.99, 9780316015479/0316015474, 40 pp., ages 3-7, April)

The title of Brown's (Chowder) uplifting picture book plants a clue to the double entendre waiting within these pages. The green-thumbed, redheaded narrator stumbles upon a hidden (albeit modest) garden high above the city (how curious) on abandoned railroad ties, and the (modest) garden itself grows curious and begins to spread out, "explor[ing] every corner of the railway." The author-artist begins with a palette of clay, moss and eggshell, underscoring what a "very dreary place" the city is. Liam, the boy, "may not have been a gardener, but he knew that he could help." In a trio of vignettes, he waters the struggling plants, prunes a rather sad-looking excuse for a tree (about waist-high on Liam) and serenades the small patch of greenery. Soon colors cascade across the elevated garden, and blue returns to the skies. Liam becomes engulfed by daisies, like Dorothy in Oz's field of poppies. All too soon, fall and winter come. But as soon as signs of spring arrive, the boy is back with his watering can, pruning shears and songbook. A rooftop view shows that Liam's green thumb is contagious--small gardens in high places erupt across the city's skyline (children will especially enjoy hedges sculpted like zoo animals and a pair of treehouses four stories off the ground). A closing full-spread view depicts a city transformed into a skytop nursery with a scattering of windmills, a dog run and a hammock, alongside a blue-hued harbor with a sailboat where once there ran ink-black waters and a tugboat spewing fumes. Liam's enthusiasm will likely leak through the pages and inspire young readers to find their own corner of the yard or block to brighten up.--Jennifer M. Brown

 



The Bestsellers

Top Titles in Chicagoland Last Week

The following were the bestselling titles at independent bookstores in the Chicago area during the week ended Sunday, April 5:

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer
2. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
3. The Believers by Zoe Heller
4. Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton
5. The Help by Katherine Stockett
 
Hardcover Nonfiction
 
1. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey
2. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
3. Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox
4. Bold Endeavors by Felix Rohatyn
 
Paperback Fiction
 
1. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
2. The Shack by William Young
3. The Commoner by John Burnham Schwartz
4. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
 
Paperback Nonfiction
 
1. Bonk by Mary Roach
2. People Are Unappealing: Even Me by Sara Barron
3. Dreams from my Father by Barack Obama
4. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
 
Children's
 
1. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
2. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
3. The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by Dubose Heyward
4. Punk Farm on Tour by Jarrett Krosoczka

Note: In some categories, there were multiple ties for the No. 5 spot.

Reporting stores: Anderson's, Naperville and Downer's Grove; Read Between the Lynes, Woodstock; Book Table, Oak Park; the Book Cellar, Lincoln Square; Lake Forest Books, Lake Forest; the Bookstall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka; and 57th St. Books; Seminary Co-op; Women and Children First, Chicago.

[Many thanks to the stores and Carl Lennertz!]

 


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