Turning The Page

New Stories For Newtown

This past weekend, I attended the Turning the Page: New Stories for Newtown event in Connecticut. The tragedy that befell the people of Newtown at Sandy Hook Elementary School this past December left so many of us wishing we could reach out and help the community recover. This literary festival, cosponsored by the Children’s Book Council (CBC), the C.H. Booth Library’s Books Heal Hearts fund, and many children’s book publishers, including ABRAMS, had an important impact on the community.

CBC AUTHOR OF THE YEAR: JEFF KINNEY!

This is Kinney’s second consecutive win!

Jeff Kinney was named Author of the Year for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Third Wheel by the Children’s Book Council at the annual Gala, held last night in New York City. This is Kinney’s second consecutive win!

ART2-D2′S GUIDE TO FOLDING AND DOODLING

The Newest Book In The ORIGAMI YODA Series Releases Today!

Today, we are thrilled to celebrate the official release of ART2-D2’S GUIDE TO FOLDING AND DOODLING! The companion activity book to our New York Times bestselling ORIGAMI YODA series by Tom Angleberger. Tom will show you how to fold your own Art2-D2 in a really cool instructional video after the break!

9 Questions With Sarah Skilton, Author Of Bruised

An Amulet Books Author Interview

Today we are celebrating the release of Bruised by debut author Sarah Skilton! When Imogen, a sixteen-year-old black belt in Tae Kwon Do, freezes during a holdup at a local diner, the gunman is shot and killed by the police, and she blames herself for his death. Before the shooting, she believed that her black belt made her stronger than everyone else—more responsible, more capable. But now that her sense of self has been challenged, she must rebuild her life, a process that includes redefining her relationship with her family and navigating first love with the boy who was at the diner with her during the shoot-out.

Nell Beram on Yoko’s Eightieth Birthday

Coauthor of Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies

Hold on to your hat: Yoko Ono, who was born in Tokyo on February 18, 1933, turns eighty today. I remember reading a quote from a few years back—damned if I can find it now—in which Yoko said that she didn’t think she had accomplished much in her then seventy-something years of life. It’s because my collaborator, Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky, and I so feverishly disagree with her on this point that we took it upon ourselves to tell her story by way of Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies.

Carolyn Boriss-Krimsky on Yoko’s Eightieth Birthday

Coauthor of Yoko Ono: Collector of Skies

Can you believe? Yoko Ono turns eighty on February 18. But by all accounts, she’s not aging. How is that possible? Wait. Maybe that’s the point. Aging is supposed to be the last frontier. So it makes sense that Yoko would blow away any preconceptions about it.

Nine Questions with GENIE WISHES Author Elisabeth Dahl

Author Interview

GENIE WISHES is a charming middle-grade novel about a one-of-a-kind fifth grader’s wishes, hopes, and dreams. Written by Elisabeth Dahl, a debut author, the book will be published by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS, in April 2013. GENIE WISHES is a story about fifth grade—highs, lows, and hamster erasers—as seen through the eyes of the class blogger, Genie. Learn more about GENIE WISHES and more about Elisabeth after the break!

Ten Questions With Splintered Author A. G. Howard

Author Interview

SPLINTERED is a stunning debut that captures the fantastical madness of a mystical under-land as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner, the fictional great-great-great-granddaughter of the real Alice Liddell, the woman who inspired Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, finds that the real Wonderland is full of strange beings and dark agendas. She must right the wrongs of Alice to break a maddening family curse. This month we celebrate the release of Splintered by debut author A. G. Howard. Learn more about the author after the break!

The Cover Evolution of NERDS

Behind The Scenes With Creative Director Chad Beckerman

The following shows the process Ethen and I went through while working on the cover for Michael Buckley’s latest series, NERDS. I wish I could have better descriptions but I don’t want to give away all my secrets. See how the cover evolved after the break.

Spotted: Wimpy Kid Reader

The Joy Of Seeing Our Books Out In The World

If you don’t have a son or daughter under the age of 15 (or so) and you work in an office (as I do) you may not have the chance to actually visualize the success of the Wimpy Kid books first hand. My boys are grown-ups (18, 22, 27) and will read a Wimpy book if there’s one lying around the house, but they aren’t Mr. Kinney’s audience.