Archives: September 2010

Lauren Myracle (pictured at an ALA advocacy rally) has been singled out as the chart-topper on 2009′s top 10 most frequently challenged books. Her Internet Girls series have spawned a writer in many “un-fans” as she calls them. Myracle receives at least 10 “un-fanmail” pieces per day. She’s been accused of satanism, pedophilia, and youth corruption.

in a Guardian article, Myracle took issue when one media figure described these “un-fans” as “prudish, small-minded, and self-righteous, and they need to get over it.” She doesn’t want to install an “us versus them dichotomy.” The author explained that she respects everybody’s individual moral compass, and if that includes an inclination to disliking her books, then okay.

Myracle wrote: “Grown-ups who care about what kids read aren’t the enemy. Name-calling isn’t going to get us anywhere. My goal, lofty as it is, is to be a bridge, not a fence. So when angry adults approach me about the ‘wrongness’ of my books, I try not to bristle, and I try not to make fun of them. I’m pretty good at the first; I’m still working on the second. I try instead to initiate a conversation about books and age-appropriateness and selection processes. About the importance of intellectual freedom.”

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As literary types speculate about this year’s nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature before the official announcement, UK gamblers are hard at work trying to predict a winner of the prestigious prize.

According to the betting site Ladbrokes, Swedish author Tomas Transtromer has the best chance with 5/1 odds. Japan’s Haruki Murakami and Autstralia’s Les Murray both have 11/1 odds of winning the prize.

Take these odds with a grain of salt. Last year, Herta Müller beat some tough odds to win the 2009 prize–Ladbrokes had Israeli author Amos Oz as the 4 to 1 favorite. (Via Michael Orthofer)

Banned Books Week has brought many literary events. Here is today’s Booked feature.

The Housing Works Bookstore Cafe will host a Banned Books Week Party featuring Mike Edison, Harold Price Fahringer, Richard Nash, and live music today, September 29th starting at 7pm. (New York, NY)

Books by the Bank, Cincinnati’s premiere book festival will take place on Saturday, October 2nd. (Cincinnati, OH)

Poetry Magazine presents a performance of Hanoch Levin’s Lives of the Dead going on from September 30th to October 10th. Admission is free. (Chicago, IL)

To get your events posted, visit our Facebook Your Next Literary Event page for more information.

Really Big Coloring Books has published the most political children’s book of the year–The Tea Party Coloring Book for Kids!. Sample photos are included above.

The 32-page book retails for $3.59, introducing children to the growing political movement championed by bestselling authors like Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. It includes puzzles, mazes, connect the dots, word search, and many other pages to color.

Here’s more about the book: “A wonderful book of The Tea Party for Kids! Teaches children (and parents) about the origins of the Tea Party and what it involves. A very pleasant song, coloring and activity book on Liberty, Faith, Freedom and so much more! Get involved, participate, self reliance, freedom of choice, work, government-of-for-by the people, Leadership, Ingenuity, Jobs and responsibilty!” (Via Jezebel)

Today ABC approved a new show based on Celia Thomson‘s series, The Nine Lives of Chloe King. The YA book series already has a dedicated online following, including the fan-made video embedded above.

According to TV Guide, the show goes into production this fall. It will be produced by Dan Berendsen, who also worked on Sabrina the Teenage Witch.

Here’s more about the books: “She did her homework and got good grades, but she wasn’t afraid to ditch class sometimes to hang out with her best friends. She slept at home, but otherwise avoided all human contact with her mom. The usual stuff. Then she fell from San Francisco’s highest tower, and her life changed. For starters, she died. And then, she woke up. Now Chloe’s life is anything but normal: Suddenly guys are prowling around her, she’s growing claws, and someone’s trying to kill her. Luckily for Chloe, she still has eight lives to go.” (Via io9)

Former president Jimmy Carter was recently hospitalized for an upset stomach, but will resume his book tour for White House Diary today. Carter’s hospitalization interrupted four planned stops, including one at Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian museum.

The AP reported that 500 people waited for Carter at a Cleveland bookstore this week when he was admitted to a hospital as a precautionary move. President Barack Obama called Carter on Tuesday night to confirm his good health.

Carter’s grandson, Senator Jason Carter, told the AP: “He’s definitely resting comfortably and expected to continue his book tour this week. I haven’t talked to him, but nobody in the family is concerned.”

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One of the stars of Bravo’s reality TV show, The Real Housewives of New Jersey, gave fans a peek at her creative in the tweet embedded above. Housewives star Teresa Giudice tweeted to her 118,215 Twitter followers yesterday: “Hi Tweets! Just back from a meeting with my publisher. SOOOO excited for new book. How should I wear my hair on the cover this time?”

Giudice wrote the Skinny Italian cookbook, and recently scored a second book deal for Fabulicious!: The Italian Family–a book of “easy, budget-friendly recipes that will please the whole family.” Running House will publish the book in spring of 2011.

The August season finale of the reality show counted 3.4 million viewers, making it the most watched episode of the season and Bravo’s highest rated Monday telecast ever. (Via Jezebel)

Scholastic unveiled the cover for Maggie Stiefvater‘s final book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, Forever. Stylistically, it follows the first two books, Shiver and Linger. All three covers feature bold color palettes, a natural woodsy frame, a wolf, and the title in a white center. Forever was done in shades of crimson red.

Scholastic associate art director Chris Stengel was the mastermind behind all three Wolves of Mercy Falls‘ covers. In an interview with Publisher’s Weekly, he revealed: “I definitely knew that I wanted to make the third book red. It seemed logical to me to follow the progression of the seasons. At first, I wasn’t sure how close to Shiver the sequels should be, but once the artwork came together, it felt right to create a variation on the theme. The reversal of positions for the girl, boy, and the wolves relates to the plots of the books.”

Stiefvater became a published novelist at age 26 with her Books of Faerie novels. A year later, she published two more novels including the second fairy novel and a paranormal romance featuring a werewolf and a human girl. The first book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, Shiver went on to sell more than 130,000 copies in 2009. Linger came out in July 2010. Forever will be released in July 2011.

For her entry in a t-shirt contest, reader Kristin Walko created an entire t-shirt out of pages from Moby Dick. The final product is pictured above.

Walko entered the Novel-T Photo Contest, a chance to win ten shirts and eight books. All you have to do is post a picture of someone wearing a Novel-T literary t-shirt on the company’s Facebook page. The deadline is October 3rd, and the winner will be the picture with the most ‘likes’ from readers.

Here’s more about the entry: “Here’s my entry for the totally awesome contest! I may ogle your site each week but I’ve yet to be so lucky as to own a Novel-T, so this is my go at making my own Ahab shirt! I’ve fashioned it from pages of the novel itself (which I printed out–no book sacrificing here!). Thanks so much for doing what you folks do!”

Theo Coster‘s book, By The Classmates of Anne Frank, will be shopped around at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. Seven of Anne Frank’s former classmates contributed to the manuscript. The book has already been published in Dutch and made into a documentary.

Now Patrick Walsh of the Conville & Walsh agency will take the book to Frankfurt. The documentary’s trailer is embedded above.

Bookseller reports: “Coster was a friend and classmate of Frank’s in the Jewish Lyceum in Amsterdam. After the war he moved to Tel Aviv and created a games company. He contacted six other surviving classmates of Frank’s and filmed a documentary in which they recounted their survival stories.”

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