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Charlaine Harris, the bestselling Ace author of eight Southern Vampire novels that are the basis for HBO’s new television series “True Blood,” dominates the October 5th New York Times mass market fiction list with an incredible seven titles appearing simultaneously:

Dead Until Dark (Ace Books, 2008) is #3; Living Dead in Dallas (Ace Books, 2002) is #11; Club Dead (Ace Books, 2003) is #14; Dead as a Doornail (Ace Books, 2006) is #16; Dead to the World (Ace Books, 2005) is #17; All Together Dead (Ace Books, 2008) is #18; and Definitely Dead (Ace Books, 2007) is #19.

This unprecedented showing comes on the heels of the September 7th premiere of “True Blood” on HBO. Created by Alan Ball, who also wrote the movie American Beauty and created another HBO series “Six Feet Under,” “True Blood,” with series episodes premiering on HBO Sunday nights at 9pm, is based on a series of books by Harris that follows telepathic cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse. The show has already been renewed by HBO for a second season.

Ginjer Buchanan, Editor-in-Chief of Ace Books said, “As Charlaine’s editor, it’s exciting — and gratifying — to see that the readers who bought Dead Until Dark after watching the first episodes of Alan Ball’s most excellent “True Blood” were so captivated by her writing that they went back to their bookstores and picked up the rest of the Sookie Stackhouse novels!”

Watch a QuickTime trailer for the HBO original series “True Blood”, based on Charlaine Harris’ Dead Until Dark.

2008 National Book Festival Features Penguin Group (USA) Authors

The 2008 National Book Festival, an annual event organized and sponsored by the Library of Congress and hosted by First Lady Laura Bush, will be held this Saturday, September 27th on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Free and open to the public, the festival features more than 70 award-winning authors, illustrators and poets appearing in "Fiction & Fantasy," "Mysteries & Thrillers," "History & Biography," "Children," "Teens & Children," "Poetry," and "Home & Family" pavilions. In addition, fun activities that promote reading will be set up for children in the popular "Let's Read America" pavilion.

Eight authors from Penguin Group (USA) will be participating in the Festival this year: Geraldine Brooks (Viking/Penguin); James McBride (Riverhead); Bob Schieffer (Putnam); Daniel Schorr (Penguin); and Gordon Wood (The Penguin Press), as well as Penguin Young Readers Group authors Jan Brett, who illustrated all of the artwork for this year’s official National Book Festival literature and promotional pieces including the poster shown here; Jon Scieszka; and Joseph Bruchac. Each author will give a 30-minute presentation in one of the pavilions, and also sit for an hour-long booksigning. In addition, the authors also have the opportunity to attend the black-tie National Book Festival Gala, held on Friday night, September 26th, and a kick-off breakfast at the White House, held on Saturday morning. Both of these events will be hosted by First Lady Laura Bush.

Mrs. Bush, who has been referred to as the nation’s “reader in chief,” commented to the Associated Press this week: “I love the whole idea of the National Mall being turned over to literature for a Saturday a year. It still has that feeling of a lot of book lovers together, people who love to read and who love books and who are very happy” even in a standing room-only crowd to hear their favorite author.

Penguin Group (USA) will also sponsor a booth with the Pearson Foundation in the Let’s Read America Pavilion, where kids will have the opportunity to get their photo taken with the Penguin character as well as Corduroy the Bear, visit activity tables to create their own custom-made bookmarks and other fun crafts.

For more details about this year’s National Book Festival, visit the website.

Check out our feature pages for Geraldine Brooks and Jan Brett.

Jumpstart’s Read for the Record is Ready to Roll on October 2nd

Jumpstart, the Pearson Foundation and Penguin are counting down to Jumpstart’s Read for the Record. Next Thursday, October 2nd, readers of all ages expect to break the world record for the number of children reading the same book, on the same day with an adult. This year's Read for the Record campaign book is a custom edition of the beloved children’s classic, Corduroy by Don Freeman, published by Penguin Young Readers Group. The day kicks-off with an early morning reading event on NBC’s “Today Show,” with host Matt Lauer and celebrity guest stars including Jumpstart spokesperson, LL Cool J, and actress Mary-Louise Parker.

Thousands of events are being planned through grass roots efforts and official Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Campaign events will take place in major cities across the U.S., including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. A specially designed Read for Record/Corduroy children’s bookmobile has been visiting libraries and schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.

Employees from Penguin Group (USA)’s Hudson Street offices in New York City will read to children at an official Jumpstart kickoff event at the Harlem Children's Zone. The Pearson Foundation is donating dinner, books and materials, and in addition to reading Corduroy children can take part in the "My ABC Book" activity.

PGI employee volunteers from the Pittson Township, Pennsylvania office will read at the CEO (Commission on Economic Opportunity) Kidz Café, a non-profit after school program for children grades K- 6. The Pearson Foundation donated 200 books for this event.

Forty PGI employee volunteers from the Binghamton, New York office will read to children at an event right out of the pages of Corduroy. Their reading will be at Boscov's department store, in the bedding/furniture department - just up the escalators - just like in the book! Children from local day care centers, the Boys & Girls Clubs, and the Discovery Center pre-school, among others, will be invited to enter the store, where a reader from the local theater company, dressed in a night watchman's uniform, will read the book.

Twenty PGI employees from the East Rutherford, New Jersey office will volunteer their time at several events in the greater East Rutherford area. Penguin employees will also take part in Read for the Record events in other New Jersey communities, including Jersey City, Guttenberg, Carlsdadt, North Bergen and North Arlington

For more details, go to Jumpstart’s Read for the Record website and the Pearson Foundation site.

Viking/Penguin Author Keith Gessen Chosen as One of the National Book Foundation’s “5 Under 35”

Keith Gessen, author of All the Sad Young Literary Men (Viking/Penguin), has been chosen as one of the “5 Under 35” by the National Book Foundation. He was selected by author Jonathan Franzen, a 2001 National Book Award winner.

In just three short years, the “5 Under 35” celebration, which honors bright new literary voices, has become the highly-anticipated kick-off event for National Book Awards week. That evening, the writers will be introduced by the writer who selected them and the they will read an excerpt from their most recent book to an audience of their peers: young writers, editors, publishers, agents, journalists and bloggers.

The “5 Under 35” celebration will take place at Tribeca Cinemas on Monday, November 17th, three days before the 2008 National Book Awards dinner in New York.

Listen to a podcast interview with Keith Gessen and read on All the Sad Young Literary Men.

The Penguin Press Acquires Book on Current Financial Crisis by Bestselling Author Roger Lowenstein

Ann Godoff, President and Publisher of The Penguin Press, yesterday announced the acquisition of a book by acclaimed author Roger Lowenstein on the current financial crisis. In Six Days That Shook the World, Lowenstein will take a probing look at last week on Wall Street and in Washington, illuminating the origins of the crisis with his incomparable ability to make sense of the most complex financial issues. Lowenstein, whom the New York Times Book Review has called “one of the best financial journalists there is,” will deliver a highly charged narrative that provides the groundwork for real time analysis, and ultimately trenchant criticism.

Lowenstein, bestselling author of Buffett: The Making of an American Capitalist, When Genius Failed, Origins of the Crash, and While America Aged, reported for the Wall Street Journal for over a decade. He is now a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine, SmartMoney, and Portfolio, among other publications. He has appeared on “Charlie Rose,” CNN, CNBC, and NPR, and he frequently lectures around the country.

James McBride’s Miracle at St. Anna Opens on the Big Screen This Weekend

James McBride’s novel, Miracle at St. Anna, hits the big screen tomorrow when Touchstone Pictures opens a film based on his book in theatres across the U.S. McBride wrote the screenplay, which was directed by Spike Lee. Riverhead originally published Miracle at St. Anna in 2002, with a movie tie-in edition released by Riverhead Trade Paperbacks earlier this month. The book and the film are powerful testaments to McBride’s talents as a novelist and a storyteller — something McBride confirmed with his second novel, Song Yet Sung, published by Riverhead earlier this year.

Set in Italy during World War II, and inspired by real events and real people, Miracle at St. Anna follows an African-American soldier in the 92nd all-black, segregated Buffalo Division who befriends a six-year-old Italian boy. When the soldier and three members of his squad become separated from the rest of their company, the boy leads them into the Serchio Valley and to the site of a little-known massacre. It is there, through the boy and the Italian villagers, that the battle-weary veterans—after months of savage fighting—regain their humanity, and the ability to believe in miracles.

Watch a QuickTime trailer for the movie.

Two Viking Studio Authors Named International Photographers of the Year

Viking Studio is proud to announce that two of its authors are International Photographers of the Year. Michael Crouser, author of Dog Run (on-sale October 2nd), won First Place is the Pets Category. The cover shot of Dog Run is also up for Best in Show. Nick Veasy, author of X-Ray (on-sale October 16th), was awarded Professional Photographer of the Year (Other Category) and is up for Overall Photographer of the Year. Photographer of the Year will be announced at the LUCIE Awards Ceremony on October 21st (the Oscars of Photography). Starting October 16th, Nick Veasey’s work will be exhibited in the Time Warner Center, 2nd Floor.

Nathaniel Philbrick Receives “Focus on New England Award”

New England Barnes & Noble will be presenting Viking/Penguin bestselling author, Nathaniel Philbrick with their “Focus on New England Award” this year. For the past two years, the prize was awarded to local presses for their contributions to the New England literary landscape. This is the first year the prize is being given to a single author whose work underscores the significance of New England people and places.

Nathaniel will be given the award October 24th at 7:00pm at the Barnes & Noble in Hyannis. The presentation will be followed by a book signing.

Listen to a podcast interview with Nathaniel Philbrick and read an excerpt from the multi-award winning author’s book Mayflower.

Penguin Books/Creativity Magazine Design Competition Winner Featured on the Cover of the Upcoming Sam Taylor Novel, The Island at the End of the World

Penguin Books partnered with Creativity magazine for a talent contest, asking artists and designers of all types to submit art ideas for a prospective cover for an upcoming 2009 Penguin original title, The Island at the End of the World by Sam Taylor. Approximately 300 artists contributed entries, with the 25 finalists’ submissions published in the September edition of Creativity. Paul Buckley, Viking/Penguin’s Vice President, Executive Creative Director, and Penguin Editor Alexis Washam, were among the judges. The winning cover design, by Matthew Taylor (no relation to the author), was announced at Creativity’s Hearts & Minds event this evening. Of his cover design (pictured), Matthew Taylor said, “The tigers, crows and butterflies in the design were suggested by a few lines from the novel that seemed quite innocuous, but kept tugging at my attention and lent themselves to artistic interpretation.”

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher Comes Out in Enhanced Hardcover Format From Razorbill on October 2nd

How often do booksellers demand to promote a young adult title as brand new a whole year after publication? How often do publishers create an enhanced hardcover edition of a young adult novel because sales are so strong? How often do they delay the debut of a paperback because the hardcover sales are so strong? How often does a first-time author fundamentally connect with the teen audience? How often does a YA novel hit the New York Times bestseller list? How often does this happen solely due to independent teen fervor? Thirteen Reasons Why is a rare book and it has become a phenomenon. On October 2nd, Razorbill will publish an enhanced hardcover edition and it is being treated like a new book by all major booksellers a year after it first went on-sale.

In Thirteen Reasons Why, Clay Jensen doesn’t want anything to do with the tapes Hannah Baker made. Hannah is dead, he reasons. Her secrets should be buried with her. Then Hannah’s voice tells Clay that his name is on her tapes—and that he is, in some way, responsible for her death. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a first-hand witness to Hannah’s pain, and learns the truth about himself—a truth he never wanted to face.

Great Praise for Viking's Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba

Veteran NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten and his new book, Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba (Viking), continue to receive praise from media all over the country. In addition to spectacular interviews on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “The Diane Rehm Show,” the book has received rave reviews from The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press, and more. And this week, The New York Times has run two glowing reviews! On September 21st, the Sunday Business section called the book “…a fair, balanced, and yet extremely evocative portrait of the rum dynasty and its love-hate affairs with the Spanish Crown, Fidel Castro and the United States government….Mr. Gjelten masterfully illuminates the biography of a cause personified by a proud family that pioneered a major business and shaped the recent past of Cuba….” Wednesday’s Arts section ran an absolutely fantastic review, saying “Bacardi and the Long Fight for Cuba…is as smooth and refreshing as a well-made daiquiri….Mr. Gjelten has had the brilliant idea of telling Cuba’s story through a family and a business that have been at the center of that country for as long as there has been a country, indeed even longer…What makes Mr. Gjelten's book such a standout is its quality of subjectivity.” With all of the great buzz surrounding this book, greater things are sure to come.

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar… Authors Wrap Up a Successful Tour

Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar…Understanding Philosophy Through Jokes by Thomas Cathcart and Daniel Klein (Penguin Books) was a New York Times-bestselling book in hardcover. Lively, original, and powerfully informative, Plato and a Platypus Walk Into A Bar…is a not-so-reverent crash course through the great philosophical thinkers and traditions, from Metaphysics to Logic. Don’t really understand the concept of teleology? Wait until you hear the one about the Jewish grandmother walking down the street with her two grandsons. (“The doctor is five. The lawyer is seven,” she explains). And you don’t need to read Sartre to understand Existentialism: Lenny, caught in bed with his best friend’s wife and asked, “What are you doing here?” suavely replies, “Everybody’s gotta be somewhere.” Cathcart and Klein are wrapping up a successful three-week tour, but you can check out their gig on the Penguin website.

Book Clubs Get Creative with Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book

A reader contacted the Penguin publicity department for a little advice on how to spice up their book club with a creative activity as they discussed their current selection, People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Viking/Penguin). Louise Braverman, Associate Director of Publicity, was happy to help, and suggested she "divide people up on teams and provide clues that make up a take-out meal that could resemble what people would eat at a Seder, which is when the Haggadah is used. Or she could do it to get the items found in the Haggadah in People of the book (eg, wine, a cat hair....)." The idea made one book club leader very happy, who subsequently sent the response email “You Rock!!! Thank You!!!”

Check out the Penguin feature page for People of the Book where you can find a reader’s guide of discussion topics perfect for a book club.

Perigee Book Giveaway: How To Be An Explorer of the World

Keri Smith, a popular illustrator and author of Wreck This Journal, believes that at any given moment there are hundreds of things around that are interesting and worth documenting. In her captivating new book, How To Be An Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum, she offers a series of inspired activities that will tempt even the busiest among us to slow down, get creative, and really interact with the oft-ignored elements of everyday life. Creative exercises include: making accidental art, creating a case of curiosities, sound-mapping, and color-collecting. Independent booksellers love this quirky read; it’s been selected as an Indie Next List Notable Book for November.

Gotham’s “I Can Has” Caption Contest?! (Free book giveaway, but u needs to be a clever kitteh)

Fresh from teh Internets, LOLcats are set to take over the world (srsly). I Can Has Cheezburger?: A LOLcat Colleckshun (Gotham, on sale 10/7) brings readers the best of the best from the hugely popular website. Thinks u can top their hilarious captions? Well, I has a challenge for u! Submit a picture of a cat (urs, ur grandma’s, one u founds off Google) and come up with a unique LOLcats caption. You can find inspiration and a LOLcat builder on icanhascheezburger.com. The 10 most clever peoples will receive a free copy of the new book! The 3 bestest will be featured in an upcoming Spotlight!!1! U canz do it!

The New York Times Bestseller Highlights for the Week of October 5th

As mentioned in the lead item of this edition of Spotlight, Ace author Charlaine Harris manages to hold an amazing seven slots on the The New York Times mass market fiction list for the week of October 5th: Dead Until Dark is #3 in its second week; Living Dead in Dallas is #11 in its second week; Club Dead debuts at #14; Dead as a Doornail at #16; Dead to the World at #17; All Together Dead at #18; and Definitely Dead at #19. In addition, on the hardcover nonfiction list, Angler by Barton Gellman (The Penguin Press) debuts at #4, while Acedia and Me by Kathleen Norris (Riverhead) hits at #15.

Here are more bestseller highlights for the week of October 5th:

Dark Curse by Christine Feehan (Berkley) is at #13 on the hardcover fiction list in its second week.

On the trade paperback fiction list, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Riverhead) is #2 in its third week; The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead) is #11 in its 185th week; Second Chance by Jane Green (Plume) is #12 in its seventeenth week; The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs (Berkley) is #15 in its 38th week; and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin) is #16 in its 116th week.

On the mass market paperback list, Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley) holds at #1 in its third week; and Critical by Robin Cook (Berkley) is #16, also in its third week.

On the paperback nonfiction list, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Penguin) is #1 in its 86th week; while Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) is in the #2 slot in its 87th week.

A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Plume) holds at #1 on the paperback advice, how-to and miscellaneous list in its 34th week.

In the young readers sector, Gingerbread Friends written and illustrated by Jan Brett is at #7 in its second week on the children’s picture books list, while Goodnight Goon written and illustrated by Michael Rex (Putnam) is at #9 in its fourth week on that same list. Kiss My Math by Danica McKellar (Hudson Street Press) is #10 in its seventh week on the children’s chapter books list, while Math Doesn’t Suck by Danica McKellar (Plume) is #5 in its seventh week on the children’s paperback list. And Barack Obama by Roberta Edwards, illustrated by Ken Call (Grosset & Dunlap) returns to the children’s paperback list, at #6 in its seventh week.

New This Week

Heat Lightning by John Sandford (G. P. Putnam's Sons, on-sale now)

New York Times-bestselling novelist John Sandford consistently impresses critics and fans alike with his brilliantly rendered characters and inventive tales. Sandford (a pseudonym for John Camp) is a former Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist with a gift for crisp dialogue and taut plotting, which can be seen in his latest novel Heat Lightning.

The unconventional Virgil Flowers - introduced in Invisible Prey as a member of Davenport’s unique team of detectives from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) - is back. Flowers took center stage in Dark of the Moon, a fast-paced thriller that hit bestseller lists when it was published in Fall 2008. Critics and fans applauded the fully-realized and magnetic character and will be glad to see Virgil again in Heat Lightning, a non-stop action-fest featuring Sandford’s trademark wit and perfect pacing.

Heat Lightning has already been included in fall round-ups in USA Today, Richmond Times-Dispatch, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and a review is forthcoming from The New York Times Book Review. Additionally, John will be appearing at key bookstores this week in Minneapolis, where he always draws huge crowds.

The China Lover by Ian Buruma (The Penguin Press, on-sale now)

The China Lover is only the second novel from acclaimed writer Ian Buruma. Known most widely for his revelatory non-fiction, Buruma is one of our most cosmopolitan and critical thinkers. As a scholar of Japanese film, and an expert on modern Asia, it is no surprise that he takes inspiration now from the historical record, using the real life of the screen star Yoshiko Yamaguchi as a lens through which to understand the lure of fantasy in the conquest of nations.

The novel is told in three parts, with three different male narrators, all of whom, in their disparate ways, are enraptured by the beautiful and mesmerizing Yoshiko. It is through their eyes we learn the story of her life. Born of Japanese parents in Manchuria in 1920, Yoshiko takes the Chinese name Ri Koran, and debuts as an actress and singer at the height of Imperial Japan’s experiment in nation building in China. She is the perfect expression of the spirit of pan-Asian solidarity: Japanese and Chinese in one, lovingly falling in love (on film at least) with brave Japanese empire-builders.

Buruma skillfully and seamlessly blends real life into his tale, as the lives of Yoshiko and her narrators intersect with some of the great artistic figures of the 20th century: Charlie Chaplin, Frank Capra, Truman Capote, and Akira Kurosawa are among his supporting cast, but at the book’s center is always the transfixing Yoshiko, a woman torn between worldly ambition, a love of her parent’s homeland, and a sympathy for the Chinese, and whose life reflects almost perfectly the twists and turns in the history of modern Japan.

Look for wide review coverage, with already a rave from the Los Angeles Times (9/23). The New York Times Book Review will have a review in the October 5th issue, and the author will be interviewed live by Leonard Lopate on WNYC on October 6th.

Hitler's Empire by Mark Mazower (The Penguin Press, on-sale now)

Upending half a century of conventional wisdom on the Nazis’ campaign to take over Europe, Mark Mazower, in his fascinating new book Hitler’s Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe, shows how Hitler’s forces achieved, in just a few years, the astounding takeover of a landmass and population larger than that of the U.S. – and how that very achievement unwittingly led to their downfall.

Hitler’s Empire illuminates how Germany undermined its own foreign policy aims by being unprepared for the economic or psychological intricacies of running a far-flung dominion. Hitler’s brutal methods mirrored one German stereotype, but the Reich’s epic mismanagement belied another. Even when warned by their top men in the field that policies like forced labor, mass execution, and plunder were wreaking social and organizational havoc, Nazi brass persisted in such methods. Ultimately, the Third Reich would be beaten as much by its own hand as by enemy hands.

Perhaps most startling are Mazower’s chilling glimpses into a world that might have been if the Nazi empire succeeded: Russians, Poles and other ethnic groups would have been slaughtered or enslaved en masse. Germans would be settled in now empty lands as far east as the Black Sea – the new “Greater Germany.” Europe’s treasures and treasuries would have been systematically sacked, its great cities impoverished and recast as dormitories for forced laborers. As dire as what might have been, it is no more engrossing than what actually happened in Europe under Nazi rule, as recounted in this authoritative, absorbing account, which The New York Times Book Review has already deemed “the best available survey of the Nazi empire’s precipitous rise and violent demise.”

New Next Week

The Knack by Norm Brodsky and Bo Burlingham (Portfolio, 10/2)

Having “the knack” has made all the difference to the eight successful start-ups of Norm Brodsky’s career. He explores this mind-set every month in Inc. magazine, in the hugely popular “Street Smarts” column he cowrites with Bo Burlingham. Both in their column and now their book, The Knack: How Street-Smart Entrepreneurs Learn to Handle Whatever Comes Up, Norm and Bo show small-business people how to deal with all kinds of tricky situations with street-smart advice.

Using engaging examples from Norm’s thirty years of experience, and from the advice he’s given many entrepreneurs over the years, Norm and Bo prove that business acumen can be within any entrepreneur’s reach.

Casserole Crazy by Emily Farris (Home Trade Paperback Original, 10/7)

With the economy in a slump, it’s no wonder everyone is going casserole crazy! Long the butt of foodies’ jokes, the time has come to reclaim the mighty casserole in all its frugal, cheese-topped glory. Emily Farris, author of Casserole Crazy: Hot Stuff for your Oven has collected 125 variations, offering a whole new take on the casserole, with recipes from cooking pros like Bobby Flay’s Throwdown Eggplant Parmesan, Paula Deen’s Crab and Spinach, and Donatella Arpaia’s Fusilli al Forno. There’s Tater Tot Turkey Casserole, Brooklyn Label’s Basil Mac, French Toast Casserole and Bubby’s Lamb Cobbler. Emily doesn’t skimp on the classics, either, from Beefy Mac to Tuna Noodle. National radio shows are going crazy over casserole with Emily set for interviews on such shows as “Martha Stewart Living” on Sirius and the national CRN Digital Network show “What’s Cookin’?” In addition, Emily and Casserole Crazy will be featured in the People magazine “Country Music Special” on stands November 8th. Bust magazine is reviewing Casserole Crazy, and Woman’s Day is doing a feature on their blog - both in October. On November 10th, Emily hosts her annual casserole party and competition at Brooklyn Label in Greenpoint, where Philadelphia WHYY-FM’s “A Chef’s Table” will tape a segment, and of course, submit a casserole.

Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka (Viking Childrens’ Books, 10/2)

Jon Scieszka is the first National Ambassador for Children’s Literature, a position created jointly by the Library of Congress and the Children’s Book Council to raise the national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature. Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up is an autobiography that is as funny as the man who wrote it.

Scieszka will embark on a national tour to promote the book from October 5th – 19th. Media coverage is expected in many national outlets including: TIME, Parenting, BookPage, Scholastic Parent and Child, Los Angeles Times, NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and much more.

Drummer Boy by Loren Long (Philomel, 10/2)

Loren Long, a New York Times bestselling illustrator, brings this story of an unforgettable little drummer boy to vivid life with his timeless and magical art. Long will do a national tour to promote the book from October 6th-12th.

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