Apr 5 2010

Poetry Speaks Who I Am, edited by Elise Paschen

Poetry Speaks Who I Am is the latest anthology to come from Sourcebooks' Poetry Speaks line, and the first—perhaps only?—poetry collection aimed specifically at middle-school-age readers. This ...

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Apr 5 2010

Iron Man 2 cometh

Click here if you're interested in seeing a 2-minute-long clip from the upcoming Iron Man 2 movie. (Personally, I find it funnier if you picture Bill Gates standing in for the Tony Stark characte...

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Apr 2 2010

Randomness

Huh. Apparently, there's an award given out each year for the oddest book title, and this year's winner is...Who knew? But now I kind of want to read it.

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Apr 1 2010

Get well soon, Ms. Jones

We are very sorry to hear that Wordcandy favorite (and Howl's Moving Castle author) Diana Wynne Jones is suffering from cancer, and is currently undergoing both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Fan...

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Apr 1 2010

Little grotesques

Whoa. Speaking of questionable cover art, how did I miss this? It came out in 2007!Normally I'm a huge fan of Penguin's Graphic Classics editions, but I don't know about this sucker. It's certa...

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Mar 31 2010

Reduce, re-use, etc.

Um. I'm all for recycling, but doesn't this C.S. Lewis cover (released in 2009) strike anyone else as kinda weird?Of course, HarperCollins was also responsible for these monstrosities, so maybe t...

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Mar 30 2010

Tell Me Lies and Crazy For You, by Jennifer Crusie

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Even on her warmest, fuzziest day, Jennifer Crusie doesn't go for the hearts-and-flowers approach to romance writing. Her books are funny and sharp-tongued and sexy, and even her sweetest titles—...

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Mar 30 2010

Smell like a superhero

The fine people at BellaSugar inform me that Diesel is planning to launch a limited-edition, Ironman-inspired version of its "Only the Brave" fragrance. The scent will remain the same--a blend of...

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Mar 29 2010

Azumanga Daioh: Omnibus, by Kiyohiko Azuma

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I have mixed feelings about the recent omnibus edition of Yotsuba&!'s Kiyohiko Azuma's Azumanga Daioh. I'm all for anything that exposes this wonderful series to a wider audience, but Yen Press's...

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Mar 29 2010

Sorry, Canada!

I ran across an interesting article about the difference between American and Canadian book prices. Canadians pay approximately 30% more per book, despite the fact that the Canadian and American ...

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Mar 26 2010

But why?

Whoa, there, Guardian.co.uk. Now, before I get all judge-y, is your "Ten of the Best" list of heroes in children's literature meant to be a guide to ten awesome characters, or is it meant to be a...

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Mar 25 2010

Hollywood validation

I tried reading the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels, but couldn't get into 'em--they seemed so impressed by their own quirky hipness that I was totally turned off. I thought at the time it was like ...

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Mar 25 2010

London to Pemberley in 20 stages

Tired of those "Keep Calm and Carry On" posters but still want to adorn your walls with something quintessentially British? How about one of these subway-poster-inspired nods to Pride and Prejudi...

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Mar 24 2010

Ramona and Beezus go to Hollywood

Click here if you'd like to watch the movie trailer for the upcoming Ramona and Beezus movie. It seems almost aggressively twinkly and adorable, but whatever. Could be worse, right?

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Mar 23 2010

Mister Monday, by Garth Nix

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As I went through the Wordcandy mail a few weeks ago, I was pleased to run across a package from Scholastic containing not only the final book in Garth Nix's Keys to the Kingdom series, but also t...

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Mar 23 2010

Studio Ghibli fans take note:

I'm a little confused--apparently, some Finnish film studio has already made one Moomin movie (based on the fantastic series by Finnish novelist and artist Tove Jansson) and is working on a second...

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Mar 22 2010

Smooth Talking Stranger, by Lisa Kleypas

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Smooth Talking Stranger is the third book in Lisa Kleypas's best-selling series about the wealthy, powerful, Houston-based Travis family. Kleypas's current heroine is Ella Varner, author of the p...

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Mar 22 2010

Well, *I* would watch it.

This reminds me of all those [classic novel] v. the monster books, only way more fun. Because unlike Jane Austen Beats Down the Werewolves (or whatever they're publishing next), Twilight would ac...

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Mar 20 2010

Michelle Cooper

Australian author Michelle Cooper is a speech and language pathologist who specializes in learning disabilities and reluctant readers. Her novel A Brief History of Montmaray is one of our Feature...

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Mar 20 2010

A Brief History of Montmaray, by Michelle Cooper

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I have never learned to love Dodie Smith's novel I Capture the Castle. I don't care how classic it is: if I spend 99% of a novel thinking wistfully of giving all of the characters a swift ki...

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Mar 19 2010

Tim Burton goes goth-lite... again.

Tim Burton has apparently made plans to direct a 3-D stop-motion film based on the original Addams Family cartoons by Charles Addams. I'd probably feel better about this if I hadn't been so under...

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Mar 18 2010

Vintage Veronica, by Erica S. Perl

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15-year-old Veronica Walsh, star of Erica S. Perl's debut novel Vintage Veronica, has big plans for her summer. She's going to work in the consignment section of Clothing Bonanza, drink mocha smo...

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Mar 18 2010

Wow. Just... wow.

Oh, man, you guys... anyone not reading Rumiko Takahashi's Rin-ne online is seriously missing out. Not only is it funny and weird and totally free, I'm pretty sure the the demon introduced in the...

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Mar 17 2010

Awesome and awesomer...

When I saw the cover art for the upcoming 50th anniversary edition of Peg Bracken's classic I Hate to Cook Book, my only thought was How adorable. But now I've seen the original version, featurin...

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Mar 17 2010

Hot-button topic

The most recent Horn Book newsletter has a great interview up with Joanna Cole, one of the co-creators (with illustrator Bruce Degen) of the Magic School Bus series. Cole and Degen's most recent ...

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Mar 16 2010

Booooring.

The website Popcandy (no relation) is currently featuring a sneak peek of the upcoming graphic novel adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, due out May 4th. It all looks very "Barbie vs. ...

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Mar 16 2010

Wild Ride, by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

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Wild Ride is the most successful of the Jennifer Crusie/Bob Mayer collaborations to date: fast, fun, and deliciously weird. Admittedly, we still prefer Crusie's solo work, but how could anyone ha...

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Mar 15 2010

The Tempest 2.0

I have a new movie to look forward to: an adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest directed by Across the Universe's Julie Taymor and starring Helen Mirren. Mirren will be playing "Prospera" (rath...

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Mar 11 2010

Drawing to a close

Two of Yen Press's titles are coming to an end this spring, so those of you who only buy manga once the entire series has been published should add these titles to your to-be-investigated list, sa...

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Mar 11 2010

Less fun than a barrel of monkeys, but not bad at all.

Mindful of that March 9th deadline for catching the recent television adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma online, I finally sat down and watched it*. And while I spent most of the time bemoaning the...

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