The Lerner Blog

The School Library Journal recently reviewed Detective Frankenstein by Alaya Johnson and Yuko Ota, book 17 in the Twisted Journeys series. In addition to their review, they offered some history on the interactive genre known as gamebooks. this piqued my interest, so I went searching for more information. Did you know there are three types […]Read more "Gamebooks and Twisted Journeys"

There is room on the web for all kinds of obsession, and this is one of the things I love about it. I have an RSS reader full of lovingly collected and cultivated obsessions, and not a day goes by when I don’t happily flip through them. And not a week goes by when I […]Read more "You want what for $9.99?"

My neighbor’s social studies teacher worked with some of his eighth-grade boy students to pull together a variety show about the evolution of dance. The students put it on for their school, and it was a huge hit, as you’ll hear when you watch the video below. I think you’ll agree that any teacher who […]Read more "The Evolution of Dance: T(w)een Style"

Big news, blog readers! For the past several months, my colleagues and I have been hard at work on a new brand of books for the Lerner imprint. It’s called Searchlight BooksTM, and the titles will be rolling out just in time for the fall ’11 school year. I couldn’t be more excited to give […]Read more "Sneak Peek"

I’m not at BEA this year (don’t cry for me, I’m going to ALA in a few weeks), so I’ve been living it vicariously through Twitter, and I wasn’t missing Javitz or the crowds or the stupid name badges, but then Steve Brezenoff posted this:   OK, now I’m jealous. True, he didn’t just eat […]Read more "BEA, schmEA"

Graphic Universe spent about 24 hours in Maine, which was enough time to breathe in the salt air, eat several wonderful meals, and spread the love of comics around, Johnny Appleseed style. We were in town for the the Maine Comics Arts Festival, a small but vibrant convention held on Portland’s scenic Casco Bay. MeCAF […]Read more "To MeCAF and Back"

Karen Gunnison Ballen (photo below) is a children’s science writer and an Institute of Children’s Literature (ICL) graduate. She has authored Seven Wonders of Medicine (cover at left), which TFCB published last year. I asked Dr. Karen to write a few words about some exciting recognition she just received. So, from Karen: Writing for kids […]Read more "Blending Science and Story"

On Friday Anna blogged about print and digital books—and the significant weight difference between the two. Digital books and digital products derived from books have been on my mind as well, though I’ve been thinking more about the differences between how we as bookmakers need to think about digital vs. print. I was recently talking […]Read more "Just Add a Page"

Last weekend I began the daunting task of packing up my apartment to move to a new place at the end of the month. I’ll be less than a mile from my current home, but I’m still faced with four years of Stuff to sort through and pack up. Since the closets were too intimidating […]Read more "Stop, Ponder, Lift"