July 2009 Archives

NBC's Today show announced this morning that Ingrid Law's Newbery Honor winner and New York Times bestseller SAVVY will be Al Roker's next Book Club Pick. The TV host and young fans will have a chance to interview the author in the studio during a live show later this summer. SAVVY was published under the joint venture between Dial Books for Young Readers, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, and Walden Media and will soon be a major motion picture from Walden Media.

Al's Book Club for Kids has become synonymous with outstanding children's literature. The club began in 2007 as a way to get kids to keep reading and not experience the "summer slide". Roker chooses books for kids between the ages of 9-11 and then gives them the opportunity to discuss what they are reading. Past selections have included The Golden Compass, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and The Tale of Despereaux, in addition to other acclaimed titles.

Ingrid Law is thrilled to be part of this growing institution and said, "It's wonderful to have the opportunity to share SAVVY with Al's Book Club. After all, the only 'summer slide' we should aim for in children's reading is the one kids can find in the playgrounds of their imagination."

Lauri Hornik, President and Publisher of Dial Books for Young Readers commented, "Al Roker has such perfect taste! All of our hopes for the fabulous SAVVY have now come true with this exciting news, and we couldn't be happier."

Francis X Flaherty, EVP Publisher of Walden Media is equally enthused and said, "Walden Media has always worked to bring classic stories to a wide audience through our films and publishing division. We are so glad that through Mr. Roker's book club SAVVY can continue in that tradition."

SAVVY (Dial Books for Young Readers/Walden Media; May 2008; ages 8-12) is the story of the Beaumonts, an eclectic family who can move mountains, stir up hurricanes and spark electricity. Each of them possess a "savvy"-- a special power that erupts when they turn thirteen -- and young Mibs Beaumont is celebrating her big birthday in two days. Mibs is eager to blow out her thirteen candles, but more importantly, she can't wait to discover her savvy. When her day arrives, she finds herself on an odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up -- and of others, who also might have a few secrets hidden just beneath their skin.

Ingrid Law is a big fan of words and stories, small towns and big ideas. Born in New York, Ingrid's family moved to Colorado when she was six years old. Now the mother of a teenage daughter, Ingrid still lives in Colorado, where she is hard at work on a sequel to SAVVY. Scumble is scheduled for publication in fall 2010.

Awards for SAVVY include:

    2009 Newbery Honor Book
    An ALA Notable Book for Children 2009
    New York Times Bestseller
    Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Award
    A Kirkus Best Children's Book of 2008 (Starred review)
    A Publisher's Weekly Best Book of 2008 (Starred review)
    Booklist "Top Ten First Novels for Youth 2008" (Starred review)
    Booklinks "Lasting Connection 2008"
    #1 Children's Booksense Pick
    Publisher's Weekly Flying Start
    Borders Original Voices Selection
    Association of Booksellers for Children New Voices Pick
    2009-2010 Texas Bluebonnet Master List Choice
    Oprah's Reading List Pick
    New York Public Library "100 Best Books for Reading and Sharing"
    A San Francisco Chronicle Best Fiction Book for Young Readers 2008
    A Kansas City Star Noteworthy Children's Book 2008
    A Chicago Tribune "Book Not to Miss" 2008
    2008 Cuffie Award: "Book We Couldn't Stop Talking About"
    2008 Cuffie Award:  "Favorite Jacket"
    2009 Cybil Award nominee
    2009 Andre Norton Nebula Award Nominee
    2009 Indie Choice Nominee: Best Young Adult Buzz Book
    2009-2010 Virginia Readers' Choice Award Master List
    2010 New York State Reading Assoc. Charlotte Award Suggested Reading List,
         Primary
    2009-2010 Keystone State Reading Assoc. Young Adult Book Award Master List
         (PA)
    2009 Kansas State Reading Circle Recommended Reading List, Kansas Title
    2009-2010 Maine Student Book Award List
    2009-2010 Black Eyed Susan Book Award Master List (Maryland)
    2009-2010 Rhode Island Children's Book Award Master List
    2009-2010 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Master List (Vermont)

SOURCE Walden Media

Published to coincide with the fortieth anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, Adams Media has released WOODSTOCK REVISITED: 50 Stories From Those Who Were There, edited by Susan Reynolds. This is the first and only book to focus on the kids on the ground, chronicling the audience experience at Woodstock 1969 in an up close and personal way. It has been lauded as a landmark collection of stories chronicling an important event.

By providing a mesmerizing portrait of America in 1969 -- as a tumultuous decade came to a dramatic close -- this nostalgic, historical, and fascinating book offers cross-generational appeal. The intimate views of those three historic days do more than evoke colorful memories -- they offer a personal and rare glimpse into a time that will never be recreated and may answer the question: Where have all the hippies gone?

Despite her conservative exterior, Susan Reynolds happily, and unwittingly, joined the throngs of young people congregating at Woodstock -- an event that shaped her life and her generation. She went on to become a professional writer and editor, authoring five nonfiction books and editing five others. Her deja vu Woodstock moment came 34 years later at a massive Anti-Iraq demonstration in Paris. Ms. Reynolds, who loves discussing the legacy of Woodstock, lives in Boston, MA, and is available for interviews. Contributors located throughout America are also available for interviews.

WOODSTOCK REVISITED has topped numerous "Best Woodstock Books" lists, including Good Morning America's "Top 8 Woodstock Books."

SOURCE Adams Media

Human emotion is complex and delicate; most are afraid to share their innermost feelings. Professor and author, Nooshan Shekarabi, has put her fear aside and collected her most personal and vulnerable thoughts into a collection of poems in the new Editor's Choice winner, "Seasons -- Twenty-two Poems from My Heart".

"Seasons" shares twenty-two poems that capture the beautiful simplicities and the most profound complexities of Shekarabi's experiences in the past decade. Her poems offer a variety of subjects including love, family, political turmoil, betrayal, depression, injustice, dreams and more. She credits her paternal grandmother for her love of poetry and language and refers to her sister as her inspiration. Following is a verse from her poem titled "Seasons":

    These are the days when the sun is angry
    She won't warm my olive skin, and the dark clouds are victorious
    These are the days when my cheekbones are moist with tears
    They drench my face and rock me to sleep
    These are the days when I miss you in an incomprehensible way
    The void of your being makes my heart ache
    These are the nights when I mourn the love you never felt for me
    The love you had preserved for another time with another
    These are the nights when you are warm and content in her bed
    A bed filled with memories and comfort of knowing
    These are the nights when I drive to the beach looking for my swimmer
    The swimmer I watch as he drifts away from my sight, unresponsive to my pleas

 

About the Author

Nooshan Shekarabi was born in Tehran, Iran and has a great love and admiration for both her own Persian culture and that of the American culture. Shekarabi is a political science professor at Santiago Canyon College and currently resides in Irvine, California. She is an accomplished and published author in the academic setting and refers to her poetry as, "my secret love and diversion from teaching politics.

SOURCE iUniverse

Life is unfair, the economy is out of control and disaster can strike at any time. However true these statements might be, your ability to bounce back from your circumstances depends on your own control over yourself. In his refreshing new self-help book, "Controlling Your Future: Six Steps To A Better Life" (published by AuthorHouse), Richard Norgaard shows readers how to achieve total fitness -- mind, body and finances -- through self-discipline and self-control.

"Controlling Your Future: Six Steps To A Better Life" doesn't dance around the facts: the only one who can change your life is you. Norgaard offers six simple steps on how to uncover what is missing in your life and how to turn your lives around.

"The current consensus is that the coming generations won't live longer or better or healthier, because we have failed to recognize that life is not easy or comfortable," writes Norgaard. "It remains difficult, as it has been for eons. The problem lies in our brains, not so much our bodies. Our existence today requires ever more discipline, even as we are showing less and less discipline. The trouble is that discipline is not inherited, it is learned. The undisciplined mind does not respond well to the need for discipline."

"Controlling Your Future: Six Steps To A Better Life" presents the roadmap to disciplining the mind. There are six steps to Norgaard's plan:

    -- Get control over your body by beginning to exercise
    -- Get the proper amounts of nutrients to fuel your body
    -- Improve your brain's performance through continuous learning
    -- Learn to make the best of the challenges in your professional life
    -- Develop financial responsibility
    -- Learn how to control distractions

Using a uniquely historical approach to current issues of obesity, health and consumer culture, "Controlling Your Future: Six Steps To A Better Life" presents a plan for how to work towards a brighter future. Norgaard asks readers not to heed the siren call of their life's distractions, and focus instead on disciplining the mind by organizing time wisely in order to regain control of their lives.

Richard Norgaard has climbed mountains, completed four marathons, finished seven 100-mile bike rides, swam countless miles and trekked through much of the world. He served in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War and has been active in civic life. His interests include history, science, philosophy, economics and physical fitness. He is a Professor Emeritus with a Ph.D. in financial economics. He is the author of 70 articles and four books. He and his wife have lived for the last 37 years in Mansfield, Conn.

Source: AuthorHouse

The 2009 London Book Festival has issued a call for entries to its annual competition honoring the best of international publishing.

The 2009 London Book Festival will consider entries in general non-fiction; fiction; biography/autobiography; children's books; cookbooks; compilations/anthologies; e-books; genre-based; how-to; photography/art; spiritual; music; teenage/young adult; unpublished stories and the wild card (anything goes!) categories published on or before Jan. 1, 2005.

All entries must be in English and can be published, self-published or issued by an independent publishing house.

Our grand prize for the 2009 London Book Festival is $1500 cash and a flight to London for our gala awards ceremony.

Submitted works will be judged by a panel of publishing industry experts using the following criteria:

1. General excellence and the author's passion for telling a good story.
2. The potential of the work to gain a wider audience in the worldwide market.

ENTRIES: Please classify your book and enter it in the following categories. Multiple entries must be accompanied by a separate fee for each book.

    1)  General Non-fiction
    2)  General Fiction
    3)  Children's books
    4)  How-to
    5)  E-books (word or .pdf file acceptable)
    6)  Photography/Art
    7)  Poetry
    8)  Audio/Spoken Word
    9)  Teenage/Young Adult
    10) Biography/Autobiography
    11) Best Unpublished Short Story (all manuscripts welcome)
    12) Cookbooks
    13) Compilations/Anthologies
    14) Spiritual
    15) Wild Card
    16) Music

In addition to honoring the top selections in the above categories, The London Book Festival will award the following chosen from submissions:

1. London Book Festival Author of the Year - Honors the outstanding book of the competition.
2. London Book Festival Book Design of the Year - Honors outstanding and innovative design.
3. London Book Festival Publisher of the Year - Honors the top publisher based on materials displaying excellence in marketing and promotional materials, as determined by our judges.

FESTIVAL RULES: London Book Festival submissions cannot be returned. Each entry must contain the official entry form, including your e-mail address and contact telephone number. All shipping and handling costs must be borne by entrants.

NOTIFICATION AND DEADLINES: We will notify each entry of the receipt of their package via e-mail and will announce the winning entries on our web site (www.diyconvention.com). Because of the anticipated high volume of entries, we can only respond to e-mail inquiries.

Deadline submissions in each category must be postmarked by the close of business on Nov. 25, 2009. Winners in each category will be notified by e-mail shortly after the final entry deadline and the results will be posted at www.Londonbookfestival.com. Please note that judges read and consider submissions on an ongoing basis, comparing early entries with later submissions at our meetings.

TO ENTER: Entry forms are available online at www.Londonbookfestival.com or www.diyconvention.com or may be faxed/e-mailed to you. Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable entry fee via check, money order or PayPal online payment of $50 in U.S. dollars for each submission. Multiple submissions are permitted but each entry must be accompanied by a separate form and entry fee.

Entry fee checks should be made payable to JM Northern Media LLC. We're sorry, but entries must be mailed and cannot be delivered in person or by messenger services to the JM Northern Media offices.

Entry packages should include one copy of the book; any relevant marketing material; your official entry form or a copy; and the entry fee or receipt. Entries should be mailed to:

    JM Northern Media LLC
    attn: London Book Festival
    7095 Hollywood Boulevard
    Suite 864
    Hollywood, CA 90028-0893
    Phone: 323-665-8080

AWARDS: Winners of the London Book Festival will be honored at a gala ceremony held in London this Fall You do not need to be present to accept your award or accompanying prizes.

The 2009 London Book Festival is part of the JM Northern Media family of festivals, which includes the DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books, New York Book Festival and Hollywood Book Festival. The 2009 London Book Festival is sponsored by eDivvy, the Larimar St. Croix Writers Colony, Shopanista; Westside Websites and the DIY Reporter.com.

SOURCE London Book Festival