Pew Research Center recently released eye-opening, if not unexpected, statistics on ownership of tablet computers and eBook reader devices. Following a busy holiday season, 29 percent of American adults own a digital-reader device. Ownership of tablets increased from 9 percent to 19 percent, in large part due to the emergence of the lower-priced Kindle Fire […]Read more "Digital-Readers for Beginners, Part One"

In book publishing, when we talk about dummies, we’re not bad-mouthing our colleagues. No, we’re just talking about a mock-up of a book. The particular dummy I want to feature today is one that designer Danielle Carnito made for the book Not a Buzz to Be Found: Insects in Winter. For many books, we review […]Read more "Dummies Are Useful"

Congratulations to Miss Millie, Bigfoot, and @bmlikdsteens! They are the winners of The Freak Observer, and Catch & Release by Blythe Woolston! With the presidential election right around the corner it’s hard to miss all of the political debates and ads. For many kids this can lead to the question, “How does government work?” Well, […]Read more "Free Book Friday!"

[Brie Cohen shares her experience at a pizza farm. Who knew?] This recent cold, snowy weather in Minneapolis has me wishing for summer and a visit to the pizza farm. The pizza farm is an outdoor pizza restaurant on a farm in Stockholm, Wisconsin. And it is beautiful. The farmers there grow every element of […]Read more "From Farm to Pizza"

A recent radio interview on PRI’s The World (Interview) about an important Haitian comic book project focusing on the aftermath of the catastrophic 2010 Haiti earthquake will resonate for anybody involved in comic books and an interest in real world events. Even though cartoons are largely associated with fun and entertainment–and this subject is anything […]Read more "The Haiti Disaster Through Comics"

Congratulations to Steve Brezenoff and Ashley Hope Pérez. Steve’s Brooklyn, Burning showed up Best Fiction for Young Adults and the Rainbow List Top Ten at ALA Midwinter. Ashley’s What Can’t Wait also earned a spot on Best Fiction for Young Adults. Carolrhoda Lab is a very proud imprint today.Read more "The Lists"

Just a quick update this week before I head to my most anticipated DBW panel of the week: What publishing can learn from the romance genre. Ooh la la! Apple’s iBook Author announcement from last week is either old news or inconsequential among industry leaders; it has not been mentioned. NBC’s launch of an interactive […]Read more "Checking-In from Digital Book World"

<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-wjBmQxbosjo/TxhXgh5-hWI/AAAAAAAAAmM/FE0G3hJcGh0/videoac6a50e24dff%25255B24%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('b56c83df-ff46-4c30-b3bf-aa704323177d'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = " http://www.youtube.com/v/SKVcQnyEIT8?hl=en&hd=1“;” alt=””> This delightful animated video (above) has been making the rounds among book people lately. It struck me as an intriguing counter to the article from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop (logo top, link to article below) about a […]Read more "Where Do You Sit in the Digital Age?"

Congratulations to Ben Anderson! He is the winner of our brand new My Favorite Horses series from Lerner Publications! With the big ALA and YALSA award announcements coming on Monday, we wanted to honor last year’s William C. Morris YA Debut Award-winning author Blythe Woolston! If you loved The Freak Observer, wait until you get […]Read more "Free Book Friday!"