That's the motto of the newly minted Algonquin Young Readers imprint, set to launch this fall with five titles. It's a riff on "Books for a Well-Read Life," Algonquin's 30-year-old mantra.
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| Elise Howard and Elisabeth Scharlatt | |
As Elise Howard, editor and publisher of Algonquin Young Readers, and Elisabeth Scharlatt, publisher and 24-year veteran of Algonquin Books, spoke to Shelf Awareness by phone, they described a literal hole in the wall between their offices. "We can pass notes," Howard added with a laugh. "I find that I tune in when things get interesting in Elisabeth's office." The two are clearly in synch on many levels. Scharlatt said she'd fantasized about starting an imprint for young readers for "years and years." The adult list includes roughly 20 books annually: half fiction, half nonfiction. Scharlatt wanted the Algonquin list to grow, but did not want to mess with a formula that works. Then Elise Howard, longtime associate publisher at HarperCollins (who arrived via a Harper merger with Morrow and Avon), entered her radar. Scharlatt said, "This seemed the perfect time to realize the dream; we're growing readers for Algonquin adult books."
The Algonquin Young Readers list will launch with three middle-grade novels and two young adult novels. The list came together surprisingly quickly. "Book publishing is like a small town," said Scharlatt. When word seeped out, the manuscripts poured in. Hollis Seamon came through agent Gail Hochman, Amy Herrick through Edite Kroll, and Anton and Cecil through Molly Friedrich. Howard called Kate Klise (Three-Ring Rascals), whom she'd edited at Avon, and author Chris Lynch introduced Howard to Sara Farizan. Several of them are young reader debuts, which Scharlatt points out carries on an Algonquin tradition. "We published a lot of first novels, especially coming-of-age novels, in the early years," she said. Several of those, such as Ellen Foster and How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents, won ALEX Awards (given annually by ALA to 10 books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults).
On future lists, Howard plans to publish "narrative nonfiction" and cap the total at no more than 15 books for young people annually. She says she wants to "feel smitten by every book," and cited as an example a 128-page full-color memoir from Jim McMullan about growing up in China, scheduled for spring 2014. "It's not just young readers, and not just adult, and not just an art book," Scharlatt added. "The beauty of what we're able to do at Algonquin is we don't have to identify everything in a category."