Welcome to the inaugural issue of ABC's new monthly newsletter, The Toolbox.

We have worked very hard on it, and we hope you like it. Our idea for The Toolbox was to create something fun and useful especially for frontline children's booksellers.We know that you are busier than ever, and we wanted to make it just a little easier to keep track of everything that's going on, and just a little more fun too!

Every month you'll get a creative infusion of Ideas That Work, learn about something new and notable in a New Voices Profile, find something to chew on in the Food for Thought essay, catch up on a handy summary of interesting news in the Industry News Round-Up and Nuts and Bolts features, as well as browse for an amazing selection of great offers, giveaways, promotions, and tools from ABC publishers in The Toolbox Marketplace. Tons of resources all in one handy package.

This is really your newsletter. We want to make it as relevant as possible, so we welcome your feedback, ideas, and thoughts. Please feel free to e-mail me, and let me know what you think.

All the Best,

 Kristen

We all know that April in National Poetry Month, but this year, in addition to the usual poetry display, why not add a little zing to your children's section with these fun and easy ideas:

Make Haiku Scrolls

Borrow this great idea from Family Fun magazine, and run a poetry activity in your children's section

Homemade Post-It Poetry

Make your own giant poetry kit by printing out words on large extra-sticky post-its, and then set up a poetry station on a free section of wall for your youngest customers to exercise their creativity.

Set up a Typewriter Poetry Station

Grown-ups forget that most kids have never seen a typewriter, and I guarantee you it will be a hit in your children's section. Set up a small desk with a (functioning) typewriter, a box with blank paper, and a few example poems hanging nearby. Encourage kids to type out their own poems, and display them in the store. If you have an activity table, kids can add some illustrations too.

Other Creative  Ideas for April

Still have some space? April has lots to offer to spark your inner creative merchandiser, courtesy of Chases' Calendar:

• Celebrate Diversity Month
• Daffynitions Month, Intl
• Humor Month, Natl
• Jazz Appreciation Month
• Kite Month, Natl
• Straw Hat Month
• Youth Sports Safety Month, Natl

The Rainforest Grew All Around

by Susan K. Mitchell, illustrated by Connie McLennan

Sylvan Dell; April 2007; 32 pp; Ages 3-7

$15.95 HC - 978-0-9768823-4-3

$8.95 PA - 978-0-9777423-8-7

Check out this clever Amazon adaptation of the children's favorite "The Green Grass Grew All Around" by new author and preschool teacher Susan K. Mitchell. Young readers can travel from the floor to the canopy and back again, and look for the many creatures hiding in Connie McLennan's lush, detailed illustrations. In addition to the main storyline, readers can learn more with well-designed sidebars filled with fun facts about the rainforest's creatures and resources. The book also includes a "For Creative Minds" section at the back which will make it great for home and classroom use. This is a solid addition to your children's science and nature section.

Susan K. Mitchell wears many hats. She is an author, mom, wife, pre-school teacher and Spanish teacher. Susan also writes regularly for a variety of children's print and online magazines: Hopscotch Magazine for Girls, Boys' Quest, Wee Ones Magazine and Guideposts for Kids Online (GP4K). She lives in Houston, TX.

Gotta-Have-It Download of the Month:
"What is a Graphic Novel?" including a fantastic  booklist for building a kids' section

You've seen the articles in PW, you know about the recent accolades and the first Printz win ever for a graphic novel, and you've heard the buzz. The graphic novel category is growing by leaps and bounds, and now they're coming to a children's bookstore near you. Or rather they're coming to your store, right?

Right?

Well there's one small problem with this scenario. Although the graphic category for children is definitely growing with notable successes like Gene Luen Yang's  American Born Chinese, and Jeff Smith's Bone series, what I am hearing from both booksellers and publishers is that as a group, we children's booksellers haven't quite figured this category out yet. Questions like, "Where do we shelve them?", "What are key backlist titles?", "How do we know what's new and truly good?", and "Why should I invest my precious dollars in this category, anyway?" keep coming up over and over.

Structurally, there are some challenges. Graphic novels for kids are not yet reviewed as widely in the traditional places we booksellers get our information like peer reviews and the mainstream literary press. Graphic novels are very labor-intensive to produce, and so despite all the hype, publishers are hesitant to invest heavily in the children's genre right now. Even sales successes like Bone can't compare to some of the kids mega best-sellers of recent years. (Think the dreaded HP.) Also, some of the best kids' graphic novels are coming from comic publishers and importers who are unused to packaging and marketing for traditional kids' bookstores.

"Unfortunately, because few of them have staff who are familiar with the children's book market, they have a rather steep learning curve ahead of them." says Janna Morishima, the Director of Diamond Distributor's Kids Group. "They are not used to crafting stories for specific reading levels. They do not necessarily have designers who are familiar with the conventions of children's book publishing. Their marketing departments may not know the important review journals for the children's book community. Their sales reps may not have any relationships with children's buyers. As a result, some of comics publishers' best early efforts to reach children have not penetrated the children's book market as well as might be hoped. But comics publishers *are* beginning to learn, and I expect the next few years to bring a renaissance in children's comics/graphic novel publishing."

And then there's a challenge in the way we buy our books at the store. After all, a graphic novel is much harder to assess in a sit-down with a rep than a simple picture book. In a one hour meeting, are we really going to spend all that time trying to figure out the graphic novels? They really need to be reviewed as galleys. And what about content? Is there something inappropriate lurking in those pages? It's hard to tell without actually reading every page. Has your rep. read it? If you're not drawn to graphic work yourself, do you really have the energy to make the effort when there are so many other books clamoring for your attention and dollars? So much work for one little section.

In the words of one of my favorite SNL skits: "What's in it for me, Al Franken?"

Plenty, according to 01: First Second, Roaring Brook's critically acclaimed new graphic novel imprint, directed by Mark Siegal. "Graphic novels are astoundingly popular with kids and young adults. Not only are they great for increasing the reading comprehension and vocabulary of reluctant readers--and everyone else--but they also provide an approach to reading that reflects the multimedia nature of today's technology-centric culture. They're a whole new way to read."

And let's not forget the numbers--in 2005 there were $295 million dollars in graphic novels sold in North America, and in 2006, the sales hit $330 million, a 12% increase. Clearly, there's a growing market here, and it's incumbent upon us to figure out how to serve these customers and our bottom line.

So how do we do that?                                                                                                                     

Read the rest of the article

Books for Young Baseball Fans
A great list just in time for Spring Training (Seacoast Online, 3/16)

HarperCollins Announces Success of HarperTeen FanLit Contest
Collaborative writing contest drew more than 200,000 visitors and generated more than 6 million pageviews (PR newswire, 3/15)

Gender Bias Still Exists in Modern Children's Literature
(CollegeNews.org, 3/8)

Teens buying books at fastest rate in decades
New 'golden age of young adult literature' declared (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3/7)

Top Trends in Teen Literature
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 3/7)

Microsoft Takes Google to Task over Copyright
 (PW Daily, 3/7)

America's Endangered Book reviews
Scarcity of Ads Endangers Newspapers' Book Sections (Wall Street Journal, 3/6)

Literary Classics, Now In New, Fun-Size Snack Form!
Two leading publishers have hit on the idea of boiling down classic novels for modern audiences who are too busy/stupid to read the real thing. (UK Guardian, 2/28)

Fourth Grade Slump
In the pressure-cooker world of the nations's elementary schools, it's hard to be 9 years old (Newsweek 2/19)

No e-book for Potter Fans
(AP/Toronto Star, 2/5)

Study Shows One-Fifth of Readers Visit Publisher/Author Sites
 (PW Daily, 12/11)

First Children's Whitebox a Success
February brought the arrival of the first Children's Whitebox to ABA/ABC store members, and the response from booksellers was enthusiastic. This new addition to the Booksense program will go out to children's booksellers on a quarterly basis, and will be synched up with the release of the seasonal Book Sense Children's Picks lists. The next 2007 box will arrive in stores in May.

In order to be eligible for the CWB, the recipient must be an ABA member, have signed a Book Sense letter of agreement, have a storefront with regular hours and have an inventory of substantially frontlist books. This is a great time to become a Booksense store if you aren't already, and for those of you who have not been ABA members for more than two years, ABA will pay your 2007 ABC dues if you join ABA now. For questions about the Whitebox program e-mail: mark@booksense.com. To take advantage of the great membership offer e-mail: meg@booksense.com

Children's Book Week to Move in 2008
This month the Children's Book Council (CBC) announced that starting in 2008, Children's Book Week will be held in the first half of May rather than November. The 2008 dates are to be May 12-18, 2008.This first year of the move will be the 89th celebration of Children's Book Week, and the 5th year of ABC's E.B. White Read Aloud Award. ABC and the CBC will be working together to co-promote Children's Book Week and the E.B. White Awards. This is an exciting development in the ongoing partnership between ABC and CBC. More details to come!

March is Small Press Month
Celebrate the vitality of small presses with a display of books, or try one of the other 10 Things to Do for Small Press Month at smallpress.org

Celebrate Reading During TV-Turnoff Week 2007 --April 23rd - 29th
Promote reading and fun activities by setting up a display for National TV Turn-Off Week. Activity Books, puzzles, sports, games, anti-coloring books, you name it! You can download tons of good information from The Center for Screen-Time Awareness' website, including information on this year's poster contest, and an eye-opening Family Fact Sheet.

Specials, giveaways, and fun stuff for your business

HOT PROMOTIONS

Candlewick: In celebration of their 15th Birthday, Candlewick is pleased to offer the following retail promotions to booksellers to thank them for their staunch support over the years.

• Buy 2, Get a 3rd Free -Maisy 8 x 8 Promotion
• Buy 2, Get a 3rd Free - Judy Moody and Stink Promotion
• $150 Additional Newsletter Co-op on 15 Candlewick picture book titles
• Free DVD Offer on purchases of Guess How Much I Love You - free DVD received by your customers at time of purchase!
• Free Birthday plush--Giant-Size Three-Foot-High Big Bear Plush - retail value of $75.00!

GS Sales is offering mint quality children's book remainders to the independent children's market. Contact Eric Schwartz at eric@garysteiner.com for more information or a list of available titles.

Tor: The new $2.99 special edition of David Lubar's Hidden Talents (0-7653-5766-6) features a coupon for $3.00 off the new hardcover True Talents (0-7653-0977-7) Jennifer.Kaufler@tor.com

Are you an ABA member? Then make sure you regularly check out the ABA Book Buyer's Handbook Online, a comprehensive and powerful tool for researching publisher policies, terms and promotions. Not an ABA member? Contact meg@booksense.com for more information, and make sure you tell her ABC sent you!

HOT GALLEYS                                   

Blackbeard and the Sandstone Pillar: When Lightning Strikes by Audrey Penn  
6/07; 8-12
A great mix of comic adventure, pirate lore, historical mysteries, and the supernatural.
Stephanie@tanglewoodpress.com 

 
Daemon Hall by Andrew Nance          
06/07; 10-15   
Is winning a writing contest worth risking your life?
Sean.harrigan@hholt.com

 
Foreign Exposure: The Social Climber Abroad by Lauren Mechling and Laura Moser   
4/07; 12+        
Mimi Shulman and her jolly good, dreadfully frightening summer of social climbing in London.
Caroline_kraft@hmco.com

 
Girl Wonders by Karen Salmansohn    
6/07; 9-12       
An entertaining, on-target read for preteen girls interested in friends, family, crushes, and cliques.           
laura@tenspeed.com

 
Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham    
5/07; 12 and up           
A teenager struggles through physical loss to the start of acceptance in an absorbing, artful novel
Brittany.duncan@candlewick.com

 
Tasting the Sky by Ibtisam Barakat
2/07; 12+       
A poetic, illuminating memoir about growing up in Palestine
Jennifer.Doerr@fsgbooks.com

 
Way Down Deep by Ruth White          
3/07; 10+        
Newbery Honor recipient Ruth White explores just what it is that makes a place truly home.
Jennifer.Doerr@fsgbooks.com

 
Wiggle and Waggle by Caroline Arnold
7/07; 5-8         
Wiggle and Waggle are worms. They're best friends. They dig and the garden and sing.
kcourchesne@charlesbridge.com

 
NEW CONTESTS

Charlesbridge: I Must Go Down to the Beach Poetry Writing Contest. For students in the 4th - 6th grades.

Houghton Mifflin and Chris Van Allsburg are sponsoring a story writing program for children in grades 2-8 focusing on THE MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK. Ten grand prize winners will receive a set of all Van Allsburg's books for themselves and their library!  For more information, contact: Children's_Books@hmco.com

Sylvan Dell is pleased to announce our first Picture Book Writing Contest for Homeschooled Students! Students must be working on a high school level, and the winner will receive a $200 prize. Find out more here.


GIVEAWAYS AND EVENT KITS

Candlewick: Authors Out Loud DVD, featuring six outstanding middle-grade authors (including Kate DiCamillo and Megan McDonald) reading an excerpt of his or her fiction, then answering questions. - Brittany.duncan@candlewick.com (while supplies last)

Candlewick: Dual-side Poster, featuring Penguin by Polly Dunbar and Here's a Little Poem, collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar. - Brittany.ducan@candlewick.com (while supplies last)

Henry Holt: Fabian Escapes post-it notes.  The award-winning cat and dog duo returns for another set of adventures. This time, Hondo stays home while Fabian goes outside. Seen from a cat-and-dog's-eye-view, an ordinary day is elevated to an exciting new level. Sean.Harrigan@hholt.com

Henry Holt: Old Penn Station teaching guide.  Old Penn Station follows a very specific piece of New York City history. The author's research carefully addresses the whole history of the building, from construction to destruction. Sean.Harrigan@hholt.com

Houghton Mifflin: Zodiac Girls--Recipe for Rebellion ARC by best-selling author Cathy Hopkins. Giveaway limited to the first 25 replies. Email marit_vagstad@hmco.com, subject line: "Zodiac giveaway"

Sylvan Dell Publishing:  Complimentary copy of the newest 2007 titles, In Arctic Waters and ABC Safari RobCarli@SylvanDellPublishing.com, or by phone, (877) 958-2600.

 
DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS

Candlewick: Reproducible maze activity sheet featuring Sticky Burr by John Lechner.

Candlewick: Recycling activity guide featuring The Dumpster Diver by Janet Wong, illustrated by David Roberts.

Charlesbridge: Rickshaw Girl discussion and activity guide - includes instructions on how to make traditional alpana. Perfect for an in store event. 

Farrar, Straus & Giroux: Poetry Activity Guide  for Animal Poems by Valerie Worth, and Collected Poems for Children by Ted Hughes

Tor: an audio interview with David Lubar, author of Hidden Talents, and the forthcoming True Talents.

 
NEW PUBLISHER WEBSITE FEATURES

Henry Holt introduces the In-Group, a select group of teens ages 13 to 19 who give  feedback on their new Young Adult books. Check it out at www.ingroupbooks.com

Henry Holt also announces the re-launch of www.henryholtchildrensbooks.com with new content and resources.

Houghton Mifflin Children's Books, Kingfisher, and Clarion Books introduces a monthly newsletter for educators, parents, and all those interested in books for children. Get the latest on reviews, awards, author tours, giveaways, and more.

Tanglewood introduces a totally updated website with activities and downloads for almost all books www.tanglewoodbooks.com

Tor Books has just launched an updated and redesigned website! Visit www.tor-forge.com, and while you're there please sign up for our monthly newsletter.

ANNIVERSARIES

Farrar, Straus & Giroux celebrates the 25th anniversary of the landmark book Annie on my Mind, by Nancy Garden (978-0-374-40011-8)

In 2007, Henry Holt will be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? with a special Anniversary edition of the book, a new board book gift set, as well as the newest member of the family, Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?

AWARDS

The SCBWI 2007 Golden Kite Awards:

The Golden Kite Award is the only award presented to children's book authors and artists by their peers.

Fiction:                                         FIREGIRL                                          

                                                            by Tony Abbott

                                                            Little, Brown & Company Books for Young Readers   

Nonfiction:                                THE ADVENTURES OF MARCO POLO

                                                            by Russell Freedman

                                                            Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.

Picture Book Text:               JAZZ

                                                            by Walter Dean Myers, illustrated by Christopher Myers

                                                            Holiday House

Picture Book Illus:               NOT AFRAID OF DOGS

                                                            Illustrated by Larry Day, written by Susanna Pitzer

                                                            Walker & Company

Golden Kite Honor Recipients:

Fiction:                                         WINGS                                  

                                                            by William Loizeaux

                                                            Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Nonfiction:                                 TEAM MOON

                                                            by Catherine Thimmesh

                                                            Houghton Mifflin Company

Picture Book Text:                DEAR MR. ROSENWALD

                                                            by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by R. Gregory Christie

                                                            Scholastic Press

Picture Book Illus:               HIPPO! NO, RHINO!

                                                            Illustrated and written by Jeff Newman

                                                            Little, Brown & Company Books for Young Readers

For more information go to  Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators