Drawing on their experience distributing books from all children’s publishers through their school book clubs and book fairs, Scholastic’s editors created a list of ten trends from the year in children’s books. President of Scholastic Book Clubs Judy Newman remarks in the release, “We’ve seen some exciting innovation in children’s publishing in 2010, including new formats and platforms for storytelling that are helping more and more kids become book lovers. At the same time, we’re seeing a rejuvenation of some classic genres, which I think is evidence of the timeless power that stories and characters have on the lives of […]
Children's
More Best of 2010 Lists
New York Magazine’s Sam Anderson picks his ten favorite books of the year (with four votes for the some of the top contenders for our Best of the Best of 2010 list): 1. Freedom, Jonathan Franzen 2. Nox, Anne Carson 3. The Anthology of Rap, ed. Adam Bradley and Andrew DuBois 4. The Professor and Other Writings, Terry Castle 5. Parrot and Olivier in America, Peter Carey 6. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot 7. The Pregnant Widow, Martin Amis 8. Madame Bovary, Gustave Flaubert, trans. Lydia Davis 9. The Possessed, Elif Batuman 10. And the Pursuit of […]
Rosetta Adds Children’s eBooks, In Another Amazon Exclusive
eBook publisher Rosetta Books is expanding into children’s books, having released digital versions of the entire line of 73 Rainbow Magic books for the US market. As with some of their previous releases, they are sold exclusively through the Kindle store for the next year, in exchange for what Rosetta founder Arthur Klebanoff calls “prominent site promotion.” Rosetta licensed the ebooks from HIT Entertainment, which controls the property, and obtained ebook rights to future titles as well. Klebanoff says that will comprise “at least two new series of seven books each annually.” Scholastic has been–and remains–the print publisher of the […]
Kids Color eReader Announced, with Houghton As Partner
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a partnership with a local start-up Isabella Products, which is launching a tabletish color ereader targeted at children in mid-2011. Called the Fable, the seven-inch touchscreen device will use the Android operating system and is expected to sell for between $149 and $179 (plus cellular connection fees). “Several” HMH books will be pre-loaded on the device, and Isabella ceo Matthew Growley says they “have right now four other publishers signed up,” though he would not name them. (That implies, but does not state, that the company is thinking of a proprietary store and/or format. The device […]
Scholastic Confirms Kids Like Devices–Maybe More than Reading
Scholastic hired Harrison Group to conduct their 2010 survey this spring on reading habits of kids ages 6 through 17. As you would expect, the older kids get, the more they spend leisure time online and with their cell phones rather than reading books for pleasure. Kids love gadgets, and thus 57 percent “are interested in reading an ebook.” (But when queried about which type of device, typically only a third answered in the affirmative, so that 57 percent overall interest could be high.) A third “say they would read more books for fun if they had access to ebooks […]
New Penguin Initiative Provides Free Online Kids' Books and Donates Printed Books to Worthy Causes
Penguin Group and the Pearson Foundation have launched an online reading initiative, We Give Books, that simultaneously promotes reading with your kids and provides free physical books to non-profit literacy organizations. Every time you read a digital Penguin children’s book online at the site, the company will donate a physical to the charity that you select from a list of participating organizations. They note on the site, “one of the aims of We Give Books is to encourage the conversations with your child that will better ensure he or she becomes a life-long giver. As you consider the non-profit organizations […]