Reporting: Harper Collins Fall 2007 Library Preview (Part Two)
(CONTINUED FROM PART ONE)
Quickly before the bell rang, Table #2 told us about K. Applegate’s upcoming early chapter series Roscoe Riley Rules which is being sold as a kind of "Junie B. Jones for boys". We were told that it was difficult to find books of this sort for boys that didn’t include superpowers. I suppose that there’s Marvin Redpost and all, but there will still be a market for this kind of thing. Applegate is the creator of the vastly profitable Animorphs series, as well as the more recent book Home of the Brave. Finally, the table managed to convince me that I should pick up a galley of Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor. Realistic fiction type stuff, it seems. I’m a naturally reluctant kind of gal, but they really propped the author up as the Next Big Thing. We shall see.
Table #3 and the editors were now settling into their roles. At this table were the books of Joanne Colter, Karen Nagel, Laura Geringer, and Jill Santopolo. The official sequel of this table is the newest Echo Falls mystery Into the Dark by Peter Abrahams. Fans of the series will want to know that this particular book is working on a kind of Hansel and Gretal theme. Hmm hm! I don’t pay much attention to YA normally, but it’s hard to ignore a book with a naked Francesca Lia Block on the cover. Yes, it’s Blood Roses and it has a helluva bookflap quote on it. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to pick up a cover and now it’s too late. You’ll just have to seek out that one on your own. The book contains short stories about different kinds of changelings, which is a mighty good idea.
Fans of Kate and Jim McMullan (of the I’m Dirty and I’m Mighty vein) will be pleased to hear that they’ve just made a dinosaur title by the name of I’m Bad. We saw the whole thing and it’s pretty cute. You can just see the marketing possibilities, of course. McMullans + dinosaurs = $$. There’s also a new Jerry Spinelli book coming called Smiles to Go. It sounds a lot like Donuthead, though, so we’ll see if it lives up to the description, "A proton dies and a boy’s life goes haywire." Absolute Brightness is by James Lecesne is by the director of the short film Trevor which won an Academy Award some years ago. Armistead Maupin apparently says that the main character is, "The Scout Finch of the new millennium". Back to the picture books, I did not actually mean to pick up a copy of Bugtown Boogie by Warren Hanson since the idea of bugs dancing to jazz is so old that there are Disney shorts about it. Still, a quick flip through and I found myself really liking the rhyme schemes. We’ll see if it plays in Peoria.
Two Longstocking books were present at this table, I am happy to report. The first is Daphne Grab’s debut novel Alive and Well in Prague, New York. The other is Lisa Graff’s second book The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower.
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The final two books mentioned were particularly odd. Up All Night is a collection of short stories from authors like Libba Bray, David Levithan, Peter Abrahams, Patricia McCormick, Sarah Weeks, and (wait for it . . . .) Gene Luen Yang. Woo-hoo, Mr. Yang (and yes, it is a graphic novel)! The marketing is interesting on this one too. Teens will be asked to write a short story of their own using the idea "Up All Night". Then the winner’s story will end up in the paperback edition of the same book (which sort of guarantees that there even will be a paperback edition, I suppose). I forgot to ask about whether or not the kid would get paid as well. Interesting. Finally, there wasn’t a copy present but Jill Santopolo gave her all when she talked up 13: A Novel. This may be the first YA book in history to come out in tandem with its own Broadway musical. Broadway is, I venture to guess, less reliable than the world of publishing though so we’ll see if this idea pans out well in the end.
(CONTINUED IN PART THREE)
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About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Kirkus, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on BlueSky at: @fuse8.bsky.social
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