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 […]
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Scholastic Announces Direct-to-Home Continuities Sale
Scholastic announced that it has “entered into a definitive agreement” with private-owned Sandvik of Norway to purchase their US direct-to-home continuities business. Sandvik’s primary business is “operating consumer-direct, age-appropriate children‘s book clubs, using email and the Internet to reach their target audience of parents with children up to age seven.” The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2009.Release
More from Author of Cancelled Novel
We’ve heard from Sherry Jones, author of THE JEWEL OF MEDINA, the novel cancelled by Ballantine covered in yesterday’s Lunch. Jones tells us that “because of my termination agreement with Random House, I am prohibited from commenting on the circumstances surrounding that termination.” But from her perspective, “Despite Random House’s statement, I’m not aware of any warnings of possible terrorist attack from any other source than Denise Spellberg. I know that Shahed Amanullah’s email had nothing to do with any of this, because I was the one who discovered it, and the resulting discussion, on the Husaini Youths website. “Although […]
The Novel About Muhammed Cancelled by Ballantine
A WSJ opinion column by Asra Nomani recounts the events that produced Ballantine’s cancellation in May of Sherry Jones’s debut novel THE JEWEL OF MEDINA, “a tale of lust, love and intrigue in the prophet Muhammed’s harem.” Nomani says “the series of events that torpedoed this novel are a window into how quickly fear stunts intelligent discourse about the Muslim world.” Random House Group deputy publisher Tom Perry says that the company received “from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that […]
More Readings
Crain’s NY reports that director of the film version of The Secret Drew Heriot has added Simon & Schuster to his long-running legal battle over copyright ownership and proceeds from the bestselling book. He alleges that the publisher’s license “violates [his] rights as a joint-owner,” and “is seeking undisclosed monetary damages, as well as a court order that Manhattan-based Simon & Schuster reveal how much money its made in sales from the title, a figure his lawyers put at $300 million.”Crain’s Journalists hate it when book publishers try to manipulate and control the news with embargoed books since it cuts […]
Children's Publisher Playmore Files for Bankruptcy
Facing sharply declining revenue, publisher of value-priced children’s mass market titles Playmore filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey recently. The company, which had sales of $22.8 million in 2006, registered just $3.2 million in sales this year. The NJ Record notes that “the bankruptcy comes 15 months after Playmore sued its partner, Waldman Publishing Corp. of New York, seeking $55 million in damages and compensation. The suit, which has been settled pending certain conditions, claimed that the companies jointly owned the copyright to the books they produced, and accused Waldman of trying to put Playmore out of business. “News story