Bookmarks - NorthPark

For those of you who subscribe to School Library Journal, this is nothing new but even though this children's library was featured in the July issue, I thought it deserved another mention.

Dallas Public Library - BookMarks

I love the design and bold colors within the library and would love to visit the NorthPark shopping center - if nothing else but to see the library.

Pop Goes the Library!

Librarian turned Kidlit Blogger turned Author!

Together with co-author Sophie Brookover, Liz Burns of A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy wrote Pop Goes the Library! Written to help librarians connect with patrons and to energize their staff, Pop Goes the Library! defines what pop culture is (and isn’t). Liz & Sophie share insights, tips, techniques, and success stories from all types of libraries.

Based on the blog, Pop Goes the Library! the book now has its own: PopBook!

Congratulations Liz and Sophie for putting together a creative, useful and exciting adventure into pop culture from a librarian's point of view. Congratulations again for introducing a new publishing model: from online to print.

What's On Your Nightstand?

I realize that this will be considered cheating, but I'm asking those who truly are interested in what I'm reading to head on over to GoodReads for details.

For those who want to participate by adding your blog to the list (or comment below the post), Jennifer over at 5 Minutes for Books is asking readers - the 4th Tuesday of every month - to share.

Minneapolis Meetup

How to Turn Your Business Trip into a Social Media Experience inspired me to let readers know that I am taking a trip to Minneapolis in just a few weeks.

Not that I typically like to turn my personal vacations into business trips, but since I'm heading home (birthplace: St. Paul, MN) to visit friends and family (without my son), I'm looking to keep busy during the day since most of these people will be at work.

Anyone close enough to the Twin Cities who is interested in meeting up for lunch? Please let me know. I'm going to be arriving on Monday, August 18th and heading back to San Diego on the 23rd.

Reading, Writing & Blaming

The future of publishing is uncertain. Technology keeps changing and the way readers read continues to evolve. More books are being printed every day - in higher quantities - but there are still only 24 hours in a day.

As readers, consumers and booksellers, how do you sort through everything to truly find the gems?

Two interesting articles I discovered yesterday pointed out some very interesting challenges facing publishers, authors & booksellers:

• RU Really Reading? (from the New York Times)
• The Blame Game (from GalleyCat)

Literary Tattoos

Those who know me, or have met me in person, know that I am a fan of tattoos, both temporary and otherwise!

Contrariwise is a blog dedicated to photos of literary tattoos, both from lyrics of literature, poetry and music to images found inside children's books.

Betsy Bird from SLJ's A Fuse #8 Production created temporary tattoos for the Newbery/Caldecott awards dinner at ALA last month.

For me, I think I'd prefer a quote - my favorite lines from Dougal the Garbage Dump Bear and written with the same scratchy font found inside the book.

"...sometimes bad things happen so that good things can happen. You just have to make the best of it."

If you were to sport a literary tattoo - even for one night - what would you choose?

National Independent Retailers Week

Which bookstore would you vote for as your favorite local independent retailer? Even though I reside in San Diego, I purchase books from Indie bookstores around the country. These are the stores that I have recently bought books from:

Book People
The Book Works
Bookshop Santa Cruz
The Bookworm, Inc.
Powell's
The Red Balloon Bookshop
Tattered Cover Book Store
Warwick's
Wild Rumpus

Whether you're looking for a local independent bookstore, or want to find out where to shop on your next vacation, Indie Bound can send you in the right direction. I receive bookstore newsletters from many of the above mentioned stores.

Booksellers - What percentage of your sales are from online purchases?

Outstanding Literary Translations

The Outstanding Literary Translations of adult books from the last 50 years was recently provided by the Times Online.

What are your favorite adult translated books that are not included in this list?

Judging a Person by the Books they Covet

Reports on books and literature can be found in the most unlikely of places. Today, for example, the introduction to BookRabbit, a UK based site claiming to have books less expensive than some of the larger online bookstores, was mentioned on Daily Bedpost:

From the Daily Bedpost:

"You may not be able to judge a book by its cover, but you can certainly judge a person by the books they covet."

Warning: Daily Bedpost is a site which covers articles, information and book reviews that deal with sex.

Speaking of sex, Alison Morris over at PW's ShelfTalker discusses sexy bedtime stories...

National Rabbit Week

This week is National Rabbit Week! Celebrate with one of the Kane/Miller books featuring a rabbit as the main character:

Happy Birthday I'm 1

Nina Bonita

No! That's Wrong!

While We Were Out

Obama on Writing

MotherReader (aka Pam Coughlan) attended an event where Barack Obama was asked about what advice he would give to young writers.

His answer is one that should be passed along to parents, educators, employers and pretty much anyone interested in the future of our young people.

International Publishing Professionals

Kane/Miller represents nearly 24 countries in our list of award-winning children's books from around the world.

I have come here to the Stanford Professional Publishing Course to meet new people, take home new skills, explore others' ideas and, hopefully, incorporate most of what I learned into the business and marketing plan for the future of our company.

While there are representatives here from both the book and magazine side of the industry, there are also publishing professionals here from - ironically - about 24 countries.

Over the last few days, I've sat down with professionals from South Africa, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Spain, Taiwan, Japan, Mexico, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Of course there's still dozens of other people who I have yet to talk to.

My horoscope this morning (I read it every day) states:

A foreign person will have a very positive influence in your life today, especially if they are a person from your past...

I may not know anyone here from my past but perhaps Kane/Miller's history will play a role.

Stanford University Bookstore

I arrived in San Jose yesterday morning. I went directly to the campus after driving down University Avenue in downtown Palo Alto. I rented a bike as soon as I checked into my room and got settled in.

I met a wonderful group of people yesterday afternoon during the opening session as well as during the cocktail reception and dinner. The evening closed with an inspiring speech from Dorothy Kalins, former executive editor of Newsweek, and the first woman to be named Adweek's Editor of the Year.

Today, there were five separate sessions with many wonderful speakers, including Robert Miller (Harper Studio), Paul Saffo, Bill Tancer, and Kevin McKean (Consumer Reports).

Tonight, I will attend the 8pm session on the Art of the Interview presented by Dick Stolley (Time, Inc.), Greg Curtis and Mark Miller (Newsweek).

Until then, I enjoy the ambiance at the University Cafe. There was a bit of a problem with the internet connection on campus but I hopped on my bike after the last session this afternoon and found this hip, comfortable & computer friendly cafe which I plan on returning to later this week.

Also a place where I've returned to after my first discovery was the Stanford University Bookstore. That place is so overwhelming with its 5 floors of books, art & office supplies, clothing and computer products to explore.

Their kids section was amazing, and very busy. I definitely plan on stopping in this week and introduce myself to the buyer - if I can time it so that we're both there at the same time.

Stay tuned for more updates from Palo Alto.

Stanford Professional Publishing Course

Tomorrow morning, I leave to attend the 8-day Professional Publishing Course at Stanford University.

Although I've been told to "leave work behind," and not check in with the office or check email (yeah, 8 days' worth of email when I get back - that's a good idea!) - I will attempt to update the Kane/Miller Kidlit blog with highlights from the course sessions.

For those who are also addicted to social networking sites, you'll understand why I'm so excited to be in the same room as Guy Kawasaki. I'm very eager to hear what he, and the other speakers, will be sharing with us.

Photos from ALA

I received the photo from Betsy from my dinner with her and Jen:

I also discovered a lovely photo of the Kane/Miller booth from the bloggers over at Bees Knees Reads who have just recently made it home after two weeks on the West Coast!

By the way, this week's newsletter was sent out late due to a technical error (me, forgetting to hit SEND).

New Shoes for Antonella

Fans of Antonella and her Santa Claus know that the one thing Antonella really wants for Christmas is a pair of red roller skates.

While browsing some of my favorite blogs the other night, I came across a mention of the name Antonela (one letter off from the name of our German protagonist) and was compelled to click through to see who else shared this unusual name.

Antonella and her Santa Claus

I was surprised - and delighted - to come across a pair of shoes (even better than roller skates) which were described as "a great platform pump that can be worn with tights or bare legs." If only Antonella could see them for herself...

...she just might ask for these instead!

Starring Sally & Dave

Sally and Dave, the slimy and silly slugs from Australia are now featured in their very own cartoon blog - Starring Sally and Dave - courtesy of author / illustrator Felice Arena.

Be one of the first to sign up for the RSS feed. I guarantee that these two will make your day complete. Don't believe me? Check out the 4th of July post which seriously made me LOL.

Trudy White Welcomes Baby

We received a lovely note from Trudy White, author and illustrator of Could You? Would You? along with an update and details of her new baby, Frazey. He was born on Friday, June 27th in Australia, weighing 8.9 pounds, measuring 54 centimeters and, in Trudy's words, is "pink and healthy and a good kicker."

Congratulations to Trudy and Simon. We can't wait to learn more about Frazey as he grows.

Happy Birthday Eun-hee!

Today, July 5th, is Eun-hee Choung's birthday. She is the author and illustrator of Minji's Salon, an adorable story about the power of imaginative play.

Minji's mother heads to the hair salon for an update to her current hairstyle. Meanwhile, back at home, Minji and her black and bouncy canine companion make a mess, have fun and create memories with a hair salon setup all their own.

Told with bright and bold illustrations, Minji's Salon (also available in Spanish) is a lot of fun and guaranteed to be a favorite on the shelves of little girls everywhere.

Eun-hee Choung graduated from the College of Art, Chungang University and studied at the Hankuk Illustration School. In 2005 she was awarded the grand prize in the Korean Published Arts Contest. She lives in South Korea.

Best Gifts for New Babies

Do you love giving Kane/Miller books to parents of new babies? New siblings? Tell Oprah. Since she doesn't have kiddos of her own, she's relying on her viewers and parents to suggest the most unique gifts. Let her know why you think international children's literature should be included.

Illustration from
New Clothes for New Year's Day
by Hyun Ju Bae

Recovering from ALA

ALA was a big show for us this year. We expanded the size of our booth space which allowed for us to display each and every one of our titles and it was a major success! Making a bold statement with this larger presence proved to be a great benefit for us. We received several compliments on our colorful displays which held our books as well as positive feedback about our fall titles, in particularly The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness, by Colin Thompson and Singing to the Sun by Vivian French and Jackie Morris.

Illustration from The Big Little Book of Happy Sadness by Colin Thompson

The chocolate globes that were given away were also a big hit and the snakes and lizards that we had on display to promote Snake and Lizard were gone after day one! Overall, ALA was a fabulous show and we look forward to seeing everyone again next year in Chicago. For those brave souls who will head to Denver in the middle of winter, we'll see you there, as well.