Scholastic unveiled the new cover for Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets at BookExpo America.

This jacket depicts Harry Potter and three Weasley brothers riding in the infamous flying car–what do you think?

Both Kazu Kibuishi, the artist behind the new designs, and Arthur A. Levine, the editor of the American edition of the Harry Potter series, appeared at the unveiling.

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During last night’s Movie Awards show, MTV revealed the first teaser trailer for Catching Fire, the second installment of The Hunger Games film franchise.

We’ve embedded the video above–what do you think? The trailer has already drawn more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.

The trailer offers the fans glimpses of several major events in the story and a first look at Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman as Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee. This adaptation of Suzanne Collins‘ young-adult novel won’t be released until November 22, 2013.

Deb Futter has been named publisher of Grand Central Publishing’s Twelve imprint. Futter will continue to serve as EIC of Grand Central Publishing. Current publisher Cary Goldstein will depart.

Other publishers made changes as well this week. Maha Kahlil jumps from Hyperion, where she served as director of sales, to her new role as marketing director for the Crown Publishing Group’s Clarkson Potter, Potter Style, Potter Craft, Watson-Guptill, and Amphoto imprints.

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Scholastic has unveiled the first of seven new covers for a set of U.S. trade paperback editions of J.K. Rowling‘s Harry Potter series. The new editions will come out in September.

Amulet graphic novel artist Kazu Kibuishi created the covers. What do you think? Kibuishi explained his process in the release:

When I was asked to submit samples, I initially hesitated because I didn’t want to see them reinterpreted!  However, I felt that if I were to handle the project, I could bring something to it that many other designers and illustrators probably couldn’t, and that was that I was also a writer of my own series of middle grade fiction. As an author myself, I tried to answer the question, ‘If I were the author of the books – and they were like my own children – how would I want them to be seen years from now?’

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Bestselling novelist and 39 Clues contributing writer David Baldacci will guide a virtual field trip at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

Some of the items that will be featured on this tour include the Lewis and Clark compass, Abraham Lincoln’s pocket watch and the Star-Spangled Banner. This free webcast will air on March 5th, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. ET / 10:00 a.m. PT.

On the same day, Scholastic will release book six of The 39 Clues: Cahills vs Vespers series which is written by Baldacci.

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He makes his living scaring children and has been called the Stephen King of children’s books.

“Goosebumps” author, R.L. Stine sat down with mediabistroTV to talk about how finding a typewriter at the age of nine started him on his journey to becoming one of the most successful children’s book authors in history.

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

Scholastic’s new seven-book fantasy series, Spirit Animals, will launch alongside an interactive gaming website. This multi-author series is scheduled for an international launch on September 10th.

The first installment will be titled Wild Born. Fablehaven series author Brandon Mull will write that book. The not-yet-titled second installment will be written by The Raven Boys author Maggie Stiefvater.

This book will be released in January 2014 and marks Stiefvater’s first time writing middle-grade fiction.

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As predicted in November, Scholastic reported that their revenue in the second fiscal quarter for 2013 has dropped by 10% compared to last year.

This also means that the company’s net profit has fallen down by 24%. These results came in part from lower-than-expected sales of The Hunger Games trilogy, reduced book club sales and decreased orders for educational technology and services.

Here’s more from the release: “Revenue for the second quarter was $616.2 million, compared to $685.3 million a year ago. Earnings per diluted share from continuing operations were $1.89, compared to $2.62 in the prior year period, which included one-time expenses of $0.21 per diluted share related to cost reduction actions.”

Scholastic Book Clubs editorial director David Allender recently shared ten trends that he thinks will dominate children’s books in 2013. Watch the video embedded above for more details, but here are the ten trends, from the release:

1. Bullying is THE Timely Topic in Kids’ Books

2. ’13 Will be a Lucky Number for Science Fiction Fans

3. Intriguing Nonfiction

4. Novels-in-Cartoons

5. Kid Lit on the Screen

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Scholastic will publish an autobiographical picture book by Suzanne Collins called Year of the Jungle. The book will hit stores in September.

The book is about how her family coped with her father’s year serving in Vietnam. Like her previous two series, The Underland Chronicles and The Hunger Games, the book focuses on themes of war. Artist James Proimos, who also worked with Collins in children’s television, will illustrate. We’ve embedded the cover image below.

Collins (pictured, via) had this statement in the release: “For several years I had this little wicker basket next to my writing chair with the postcards my dad had sent me from Viet Nam and photos of that year. But I could never quite find a way into the story. It has elements that can be scary for the audience and it would be easy for the art to reinforce those.  It could be really beautiful art but still be off-putting to a kid, which would defeat the point of doing the book. Then one day I was having lunch with Jim and telling him about the idea and he said, ‘That sounds fantastic.’  I looked at him and I had this flash of the story through his eyes, with his art.  It was like being handed a key to a locked door. So, I just blurted out, ‘Do you want to do it?’  Fortunately he said yes. That afternoon, on the train ride home, the book started unfolding in my head.”

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