The Next Stephanie Meyer?

That a publisher is championing the notion it’s landed the next Stephenie Meyer isn’t very surprising, but Dutton Children’s Books certainly seems to be speaking in more than hyperbole when it compares its newest author to the bestselling scribe from Arizona. Last week the Penguin Young Readers Group imprint laid down a seven-figure advance for three books from Ally Condie, in a heated auction featuring seven other houses. Condie, a Brigham Young University alum and stay-at-home mom of three boys (like Meyer), grew up in Utah and is repped by Jodi Reamer at Writers House (also like Meyer). Her first book, Matched, is a dystopian novel that Dutton likens to Brave New World and The Handmaid’s Tale.
In the novel, a 17-year-old girl, who has waited her entire life to be told by a group known as “the Society” who her soul mate is, has her world upended when she discovers she’s in love with someone other than the group’s pick. Don Weisberg, president of Penguin Young Readers Group, along with Lauri Hornik, president and publisher of Dutton Children’s Books, and Julie Strauss-Gabel, associate publisher of Dutton Children’s, all worked on the deal, which is for North American rights. Gabel, who will edit the book, said that it “will make readers crave the passion of uncertainty and cherish the power of the written word.” And Reamer, expectedly perhaps, drew the Meyer parallel, saying reading Matched reminded her of the first time she read Twilight.

Teen Advisory Board Reminder

If you are interested, don't forget to call or email Emily and get an application for this years' teen advisory board. In addition to helping the library and gaining those very important volunteer hours, you'll get to engage in great discussion, fun activities, and you may even make some new friends! Call the library at 534-3988 or email Emily Scherrer escherrer@waterford.lib.wi.us to get more information. The next teen advisory board is in January and we'd love to see you there!

Check-Out a New Author!

YALSA names 2010 William C. Morris Award shortlist

CHICAGO – The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) selected five books as finalists for the 2010 William C. Morris Award, which honors a book written for young adults by a previously unpublished author. YALSA will name the 2010 winner at the Youth Media Awards on Jan. 18, during the American Library Association’s Midwinter Meeting in Boston.
The 2010 finalists are:

“Ash” by Malinda Lo, by published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
“Beautiful Creatures” by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
“The Everafter” by Amy Huntley, published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins

Publishers
“Flash Burnout” by L.K. Madigan, published by Houghton Mifflin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
“hold still” by Nina LaCour, published by Dutton Children’s Books, a Division of Penguin Young Readers Group
“The five finalists represent a terrific field of new YA talent with writing styles ranging from first person narratives to gothic horror, lyrical retelling of fairy tales to stark contemporary issues,” said Judy Nelson, 2010 Morris committee chair. “The committee wrestled with the selections but chose writers and stories that were fresh, compelling, unusual and believable.”
More information on the finalists and the award can be found at www.ala.org/morris. YALSA sells finalist seals to librarians and publishers to place on books at http://www.alastore.ala.org/. YALSA will host a reception honoring the shortlist authors and the winner, as well as YALSA’s Excellence in Nonfiction Award winners, at a free reception from 8-10 p.m. on Jan. 18 at the Westin Copley Place Essex Center South.
The award is named for William C. Morris, an influential innovator in the publishing world and an advocate for marketing books for children and young adults. William “Bill” Morris left an impressive mark on the field of children’s and young adult literature. He was beloved in the publishing field and the library profession for his generosity and marvelous enthusiasm for promoting literature for children and teens.
Members of the 2010 William C. Morris Award are: Chair Judy Nelson, Pierce County Library System, Tacoma, Wash.; Jeana Actkinson, Bridgeport (Texas) High School; Dr. Joni Richards Bodart, School of Library and Information Science-San Jose (Calif.) State University; Susan Fichtelberg, Public Library of Woodbridge, N.J.; Angela Frederick, Nashville (Tenn.) Public Library; Clio Hathaway, Martin Memorial Library, York, Pa.; Melanie Koss, Northern Illinois University DeKalb, Ill.; Anne Leon, Alvin Sherman Library-Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Gail Zachariah, Keene (N.H.) Public Library; David Durante, administrative assistant, Pierce County Library System, Graham, Wash.; and Booklist Consultant, Ilene Cooper, Chicago.
For more than 50 years, YALSA has been the world leader in selecting books, videos, and audio books for teens. For more information about YALSA or for lists of recommended reading, viewing and listening, go to www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists.

Hunger Games 3 Relase Date Set....

Hunger Games fans have just eight more months to wait: the as yet untitled third and final book in Suzanne Collins’s dystopian fantasy trilogy will be released in English worldwide on August 24, 2010. An audio version from Scholastic Audio will be released simultaneously.
In other news, the trade paperback edition of the first book in the trilogy, The Hunger Games, will be released on July 6, 2010.
The Hunger Games, released in September 2008, has 800,000 copies in print; book two, Catching Fire, came out this past September and has more than 750,000 copies in print. Foreign rights for the books have been sold into 37 territories to date, and Lionsgate has optioned movie rights.
The title for book three will be announced early next year.

Celebrate 25 years of the Polar Express!!

Celebrate 25 years of the Polar Express by visiting http://www.polarexpress.com/. The website has games, recipes, worksheets, and more fun things to do!

Here's a recipe you can try at home so you have something unique to share with your family and friends this Christmas:

Polar Chocolate Nougat Caramel Squares
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup butter or margarine (room temperature)
5 candy bars—chocolate with nougat and caramel (hint: the initials are MW)
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
2 tbls. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 can (3 1/2 oz.) blanched sliced almonds
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.
2. Combine 1 cup flour with the brown sugar in a medium-sized bowl.
Mix in the butter until crumbly dough forms. Press dough into greased pan.
3. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
4. Melt candy bars with milk in small saucepan
over medium-low heat.
5. Cool the mixture slightly, then slowly add the
eggs. (Beat constantly to keep from curdling.)
6. Add the vanilla, 2 tablespoons of flour, and
the baking powder to the candy mixture, then
pour every thing over the crust (which has been
cooling on the rack). Sprinkle almonds on top.
7. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until the top
is firm. Let cool.

MMmmmm! Delicious!

Attention Stephanie Meyer Fans!!

Judge Rules in Favor of Meyer in Plagiarism Case

Dismisses Jordan Scott's claim of copyright infringement
By Lynn Andriani -- Publishers Weekly, 12/3/2009

A judge has ruled in favor in Stephenie Meyer and Hachette Book Group, dismissing Jordan Scott’s claim of copyright infringement. Scott had accused Meyer of plagiarism.
The Honorable Otis D. Wright II of the U.S. District Court said in his ruling that Breaking Dawn and Scott’s 2006 vampire novel The Nocturne (Yorkshire Publishing Group, 2009) have little in common and that the “characters in the two works are vastly different.” The decision scolded Scott for “the deceptive presentation of the alleged similarities” and noted that she “has twice manipulated aspects of the subject works in order to create the appearance of similarity.”
Scott filed the suit in federal court in California in August of this year. At the time, Hachette called the suit a “publicity stunt to further Ms. Scott’s career,” and said it expected the court would dismiss it, according to Reuters. Following Wright’s ruling, a Hachette spokesperson said today, “While an attempt to ride on someone else’s success may not be surprising, it is encouraging that the courts and the public are not so easily misled.”

Holiday Basket Contest

HOLIDAY BASKET OF CHEER CONTEST
Celebrate the season with Teenreads.com's Fourth Annual Holiday Basket of Cheer feature and contest! From November 13th through December 10th, you can enter to win a "Basket of Holiday Reading and Fun."Five winners each will receive a festive basket that includes 10 of the holiday's hottest books --- THE AMANDA PROJECT: BOOK 1: INVISIBLE I by Melissa Kantor, DEADLY LITTLE LIES by Laurie Faria Stolarz, HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT by Natalie Standiford, IT’S ALL GOOD: A So For Real Novel by Nikki Carter, A MAP OF THE KNOWN WORLD by Lisa Ann Sandell, NEED by Carrie Jones, SECRET SOCIETY by Tom Dolby, SPLENDOR: A Luxe Novel by Anna Godbersen, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: THE AWAKENING by L.J. Smith, and VIOLA IN REEL LIFE by Adriana Trigiani.Along with the books, winners will find their basket stocked with tons of seasonal goodies --- a kit to make a mini gingerbread village, Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate mix, peppermint bark candy, a snowflake patterned fleece blanket, red woolen gloves, a snowman ceramic coffee mug, plush warm socks, snowflake tissues, and gourmet hand-cut vanilla marshmallows. For Contest rules click here