In its first week on sale Jeff Kinney’s DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: THE LAST STRAW recorded sales of approximately 240,000 copies in outlets tracked by Nielsen Bookscan, as publisher Abrams says that first day sale alone “exceeded 100,000 copies” and “first-week sales totaled more than 300,000 copies.” Two reprints comprising 500,000 copies will bring the copies in print up to 1.5 million units. Abrams ceo Michael Jacobs says, “Booksellers of all sizes are thrilled with the popularity of this series, and it’s clear that the huge response…has far exceeded expectations. In this difficult economic climate, with reports of bad […]
Children's
Brisingr Opening Day Sales
Random House Children’s announced first-day sales of 550,000 copies for Christopher Paolini’s BRISINGR, the biggest one-day sale ever for a book from the division. The publisher says that number is four times the opening day sale of Paolini’s previous title, ELDEST, in 2005. (That book was estimated to have sold 425,000 copies in the first week on sale.) President of RH Children’s Chip Gibson says in the announcement, “We are thrilled with the first day’s sale of BRISINGR: the numbers have far surpassed our projections. We are grateful to booksellers everywhere for this incredible success and look forward with them […]
Ambassador Scieszka on Kids' Reading
National ambassador for young people’s literature Jon Scieszka speaks at length to the LAT about getting kids, and boys in particular, to read. “My first tip is to include not just fiction in your idea of reading. Include graphic novels, include Calvin and Hobbes. Third- and fourth-grade boys devour those — and they’re really sophisticated, but parents will say, ‘Oh, that’s not really reading.’ ” He recalls that “I first saw fairy tales in ‘The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,’ and they sounded kind of familiar. Then I read the fairy tales. Then I wrote my own books [in which he […]
Boys Books? Gross
Boys are increasingly left out of reading. As the WSJ puts it, “Scholastic and other publishers are heeding the research of such academics as Jeffrey Wilhelm, an education professor at Boise State University. Prof. Wilhelm tracked boys’ reading habits for five years ending in 2005 and found that schools failed to meet their ‘motivational needs.’ Teachers assigned novels about relationships, such as marriage, that appealed to girls but bored boys. His survey of academic research found boys more likely to read nonfiction, especially about sports and other activities they enjoy, as well as funny, edgy fiction.” The paper uses the […]