School Library Journal» Publishing

Scholastic Launches New Multi-Platform Fantasy Series

SLJ — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 18:40:44 +0000

Scholastic has announced it will release Spirit Animals, a new multi-platform, multi-author fantasy adventure series for readers ages 8–12, worldwide on September 10, 2013. The story arc of the seven-book series and online game will be established by New York Times bestselling author Brandon Mull, who will pen Wild Born, the first book in the series. The second title, slated for a January 2014 release, will be written by New York Times bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater.

Spirit Animals is set in the fantasy world of Erdas, where children who come of age go through a ritual to determine if they have a “spirit animal,” a rare bond between human and beast that bestows great powers to both. The series focuses on four kids from different cultures who undergo an annual ritual and discover that they have been chosen for a greater destiny. Each book in the series will unlock expanded gameplay on the immersive Spirit Animals online game site, where kids can customize unique heroes, choose spirit animals, and go on quests to help save Erdas.

“Readers are transported into a whole new fantasy realm with Spirit Animals,” says Ellie Berger, president of Scholastic Trade. “This is 21st century storytelling at its best. We cannot be more excited about introducing this epic series to kids everywhere.”

Brandon Mull is the bestselling author of the Beyonders and Fablehaven series. Award-winning Maggie Stiefvater is bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Scorpio Races, and The Raven Boys.

Spirit Animals joins Scholastic’s first forays into the multi-platform space, The 39 Clues, a mystery series of books, collectible cards, and an online game that debuted in September 2008, and Infinity Ring, a travel adventure series for readers ages 8–12 that debuted in August 2012. The 39 Clues: Unstoppable, a spin-off cycle from the original series, launches in October.

Penguin, Random House Merger Is On

Meredith Schwartz — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 15:11:30 +0000

Just days after word broke that a Penguin/Random House merger was a possibly, it’s nearly a done deal. The companies announced they’re creating a joint venture, pending regulatory approval. (To the disappointment of the Twitterverse, it will be named Penguin Random House, not Random Penguin.) Bertelsmann will own 53 percent, and Pearson, 47 percent of the new company. Markus Dohle, CEO of Random House, will be CEO; John Makinson, chairman and CEO of Penguin, will be chairman. Bertelsmann will nominate five directors to the board and Pearson, four. Penguin Random House will include all the publishing divisions and imprints of Random House and Penguin in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa, as well as Penguin’s publishing company in China, and Random House’s Spanish-language publishing operations in Spain and Latin America. The joint venture excludes Bertelsmann’s trade publishing business in Germany, and Pearson keeps the rights to use the Penguin brand in education markets. Neither company can sell their interest for three years. From five years after the deal completes (expected to be the second half of 2013), either party can demand an IPO. And if Bertelsmann declines a Pearson offer to sell its entire holding, Pearson may require a recapitalization and dividend distribution. “The combination is subject to customary regulatory and other approvals, including merger control clearances,” Pearson said in a statement. Getting those approvals may not be a slam dunk: According to Shelf Awareness, Penguin Random House “is estimated to represent about 25 percent of trade publishing in the U.S. and U.K. and may have some antitrust difficulties.” However, SA added, “Manager Magazin in Germany said that the companies were already having detailed discussions with regulatory bodies in the U.S. and European Union.” And Makinson told the Guardian, “I don’t think our combined market share will trigger the need for disposals” because it is under 30 percent. Pearson and Bertelsmann say the joint venture’s “organic investment in authors and new product models will exceed the total investment” of the companies separately. And in a letter to literary agents published by Digital Book World, Random House says its imprints will still have “tremendous autonomy and financial resources to decide which books to publish, and how to publish them.” The deal forestalls a rival offer from NewsCorp to buy Penguin outright for about $1.6 billion, according to the U.K.’s Sunday Times, which is also owned by NewsCorp. The deal would have instead combined Penguin with HarperCollins. There’s no chance of Penguin changing its mind and taking the money, however. There is no breakup fee included in the Penguin-Random House agreement, according to Business Insider, which quoted Christian Steinhof, a Bertelsmann spokesman, as saying, “After five months of detailed discussions both sides are firmly committed to this transaction and saw no need for one.” Makinson sounded the same note in The Guardian, saying, “There isn’t any sort of break clause [with Bertelsmann],” he said. “It is a signed transaction.” As the Guardian noted, the plan doesn’t require approval by Pearson shareholders, so NewsCorp can’t outbid Bertelsmann that way. Though a small footnote to most, given the scale of the transaction, the merger creates uncertainty for libraries about which model the venture will follow when it comes to library ebooks, which is one of the areas in which what Marjorie Scardino, outgoing CEO of Pearson, called “an almost perfect match” of corporate cultures falls down. Random House, of course, currently sells what it calls ownership of ebooks to libraries, albeit at increased prices, while Penguin is only tentatively testing a return to the library market with a 3M pilot after breaking with OverDrive earlier this year. For financials, quotes, and ongoing updates on this evolving story, see infodocket.com.

News Bites: Celebrate Teen Read Week with an Art Contest for Teens!

Phyllis Levy Mandell — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:00:30 +0000

Teen Art Contest

Create art based on literature: It Came from a Book!, a Teen Read Week art contest, is being launched by The Library as Incubator Project in partnership with Teen Librarian’s Toolbox, The Real Fauxtographer, and EgmontUSA. Teens are encouraged to read any book and create an original piece of art in any medium—painting, drawing, photo, sculpture, manga, etc.—inspired by the story. Then, they must take a digital photo of the artwork and submit the photo (or file if it is digital) to trwartcontest2012@gmail.com by September 30. Make sure to read the instructions carefully. Librarians are urged to encourage their teen patrons to enter the contest and can download a poster that contains all the relevant information. Teens can submit their own artwork or librarians can do it for them.

During Teen Read Week—October 14-20, 2012—The Library as Incubator Project will host a digital art gallery of all the entries. Online voting at The Library as Incubator Project is open to the public and will determine the winner. One grand prize winner, to be announced on October 20th, will receive a $50 Amazon gift card, The Library as Incubator Project t-shirt, photograph prints from The Real Fauxtographer, signed copies of books (Crewel by Gennifer Albin, Masque of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, and Divergent by Veronica Roth), and a package from EgmontUSA, including their Teens Top 10 nominated titles.

Teen Read Week is a literacy initiative of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association. The annual event is intended to encourage teens to read books just for fun on a regular basis so that reading becomes a habit.

Reading Club

Harry Potter: Scholastic has announced the launch of the Harry Potter Reading Club for educators, librarians, and after-school program coordinators “who want to organize a book club with access to all the tools they need to host a Harry Potter Reading Club and celebrate the joy of reading.” A welcome kit that includes bookmarks, stickers, and nametags will be given to the first 10,000 registrants for the online club. The site will include a discussion guide for each of the seven Harry Potter novels. Scholastic plans to add new content on the site every month. To celebrate the club’s launch, educators can register their classes for a live virtual webchat with J. K. Rowling, author of the series, on October 11th at 12 pm (ET) where she will answer questions from children.

Industry News

New imprints: Soho Press is launching a new imprint for young adults called Soho Teen. What We Saw at Night by Jacquelyn Mitchard is the debut title scheduled for publication in January 2013. Mitchard has previously written four books for children and six young adult novels, including The Midnight Twins (Razorbill, 2008) and All We Know of Heaven (HarperTeen, 2008). Soho Teen’s first list will also include five other titles. “Every story must have a mystery at its heart,” according to Daniel Ehrenhaft, Soho Press’s editorial director.

Triangle Square Editions is a new children’s book imprint that will be launched by Seven Stories Press this fall. The first list, for middle school and young adult readers, will include both fiction and nonfiction titles. Among the first releases are A Different Mirror for Young People by Ronald Takaki, Do You Dream in Color? Insights from a Girl without Sight by Laurie Rubin, James Lecesne’s Trevor, and The Story of the Blue Planet by Andri Snaer Magnason.

Granted

Achieve, a nonprofit education reform organization, has been awarded a three-year, $7 million grant from the GE Foundation. The grant will assist Achieve in giving states support needed to implement the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS). “We look forward to working with Achieve’s leaders as they further engage governors and the business community in getting ready for the changes required by the Common core,” noted Robert Corcoran, Vice President, Corporate Citizenship and President and Chairman of the GE Foundation.