As expected, yesterday Amazon.com introduced a larger-screen Kindle. Called the Kindle DX, the e-reader will retail for $489 and make its e-debut this summer. Its screen is about a third larger than the Kindle 2's.

Also as expected, the new Kindle is designed to appeal to newspaper and text publishers, although some observers are questioning--considering its price tag--whether it can be a big screen on campus.

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"Our view increasingly is that in certain discretionary categories the total market has shifted down--depending on the category, by between 15 and 25 percent," Borders CEO Ron Marshall told the World Retail Congress, as reported by Reuters. "It may be many, many years before we regain the spending levels we enjoyed just last year."

He added that Borders has "worked very, very hard to reduce our permanent cost structure and improve our financial structure so that we could be profitable at that lower level (of consumer activity)."

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On her bookstore blog, Harriett Logan, owner of Loganberry Books, Shaker Heights, Ohio, responded to yesterday's report on Borders company-wide handselling efforts (Shelf Awareness, May 6, 2009): "In theory, this is just a human counterpart to a national sales campaign (Are you sure there isn't a publisher deal involved here?). And they didn't mention the quotas. I know a longtime manager for Borders who was recently fired for not meeting these quotas--not exactly a kumbaya family approach to business. Why bother hiring intelligent people if you don't let them think? Why bother selling tools for intellectual growth if there is only one approved choice?"

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Morningside Books, New York, N.Y., will close in June. According to the Columbia Spectator, owner Peter Soter indicated that "though the University has been 'very supportive, and very helpful,' he is simply not making enough money to stay open."

"It may be too simple to say, but you need money to make money," Soter said. "I have always been a bit behind financially. I spend 5 years--taking maybe four days off and always working weekends--dedicating myself and committing to the store. To think about what to do next, it is weird. It is really hard to think about.”

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Expectations are high for The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet, a debut novel by Reif Larsen "for which he was reportedly advanced $900,000 after a fierce auction among nine publishers last June," the Boston Globe reported in a front page article Tuesday, the book's release date.

The Globe noted that Larsen describes his novel as "'exploded hyper-text' with arrows directing readers to the marginalia that are crucial to his storytelling. It is a novel with graphics, not a graphic novel."

Although he launches his U.S. tour today at the Brookline Booksmith, Larsen "held a preview for 16 local booksellers over wine and cheese kabobs at his parents' home in Cambridge," according to the Globe.

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ReadHowYouWant has partnered with the Perseus Books Group and its digital service, Constellation, to create books for visually impaired readers. In a statement, ReadHowYouWant noted that its "conversion technology will
repurpose the books into high-quality alternative formats, including 16-to-24 point EasyRead large print, Braille, e-books, synthesized audio MP3, and DAISY--a talking book format that produces audio along with the written text."

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Sad news. Johanna Justin-Jinich, a Wesleyan University junior working at the Red and Black Cafe at Broad Street Books, the university bookstore, in Middletown, Conn., was shot and killed by a gunman wearing a wig yesterday, according to the AP. Some reports indicated that the man being sought may be an ex-boyfriend. 

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Effective immediately, Random House Publisher Services is handling special sales for Candlewick Press, including sales into the specialty retail, specialty wholesale, premium and gift trade areas. Random House will continue to be responsible for Candlewick's back-office distribution services--warehousing, shipping, invoicing and collecting in the U.S., as well as full-service sales and distribution in Canada. Candlewick will continue to provide in-house sales coverage for the non-profit and literacy and display marketer channels. 

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Changes in Simon & Schuster's children's publishing division:

• Justin Chanda, v-p and publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, will now also head the Atheneum and McElderry imprints.
• Emma Dryden, v-p and publisher of the Atheneum and Margaret K. McElderry imprints, will take on an "advisory role" and will continue to edit authors such as Ellen Hopkins, Karma Wilson and Alan Katz.
• Mara Anastas, v-p and deputy publisher of Aladdin and Simon Pulse, will now also take charge of the Little Simon and Simon Spotlight imprints.
• Frank Totaro, v-p and deputy publisher for Little Simon and Simon Spotlight, is leaving the company, effective May 12.
• Kevin Lewis, editorial director of S&S Books for Young Readers, is also leaving the company.

The children's book community mourns the untimely death of Craig Virden, 56, former head of Random House Books for Young Readers Group. He died yesterday morning of a pulmonary embolism, according to Publishers Weekly. Our thoughts are with his wife, Nancy, of Nancy Gallt Literary Agency, his daughter, Emily, and his son, Sam. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, May 27, at 4:30 p.m. in St. Peter’s Church at 619 Lexington Ave. in New York City.

The inaugural Sedona Book Festival will be held Friday and Saturday, October 2-3, in Sedona, Ariz. The Festival is being organized by Joe Neri, owner of the Well Red Coyote Bookstore in West Sedona.

The Festival will "spotlight Southwest authors and celebrate the pleasures of reading, writing and books for all ages." Neri added, "The one festival that was missing from the Sedona calendar was a book festival."

Activities include a fundraising Southwest BBQ on Friday evening, with keynote speakers Barbara Peters and Robert Rosenwald, founders of the Poisoned Pen Bookstore and the Poisoned Pen Press, Scottsdale, who will discuss trends in publishing.

Honored guests include two local authors who have "contributed greatly to the literary culture of Sedona": James Bishop, Jr., and Kris Neri. Bishop is a freelance writer, editor and creative writing instructor and author of the first biography of Cactus Ed Abbey. Neri is author of the Tracy Eaton mystery series and is an instructor for the Writers Program of the UCLA Extension School.

Including author booths, author presentations and readings, storytimes for children and music, the Festival will be open all day Saturday in the bookstore's "huge" parking lot. For more information, go to sedonabookfestival.com.

At an event at the New York Horticultural Society Library celebrating Earth Day, Karen Gray Ruelle (l.) discussed how she researched and wrote her new picture book, The Tree (Holiday House), which creates "a time line of a majestic elm in Madison Square Park, from the eighteenth century to the present." To the right: Katherine Powis, the Society's librarian.

In a newsletter to customers, Nonesuch Books, which has two stores, in South Portland and Saco, Me., explained the value of local businesses in one of the most strikingly thorough ways we've ever seen:

Dear Customers,

The change in our economy has made the conversation about shopping locally more important than in was the past. The reason is because locally owned stores like Nonesuch Books employ many other local businesses to help with their operations, and purchase many of the products they sell through local trade sales representatives. Essentially, many other people in our area (our neighbors) make a living doing business with Nonesuch Books. This helps our whole local economy, instead of just helping a national conglomerate from another state.

I'll give you some examples of where some of the Maine small businesses are located and the services they provide to our company:

Forms printing/supply: Scarborough
Legal: Biddeford
Accounting: Portland
Printing: South Portland
Cleaning: Saco
Electrical: Cape Elizabeth
Electrical Supply: Portland, Saco
Computer Service: Saco
HVAC: Portland
Computer printer supplies: Scarborough
Phone Service: Bangor
Health Insurance: Portland
Business Insurance: Portland
 
We purchase many of our books, giftware and greeting cards from industry/trade sales representatives who live all around us here in Maine. None of these local sales reps can do business with Borders because Borders does all of its buying in Michigan. Some of our sales reps live in these towns:

Portland, South Portland, Standish, Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough, Gorham, Kittery, Falmouth, Saco, Cumberland, Sebago, Harpswell, Brunswick, Buxton, Elliott, Yarmouth, Freeport, Bangor.
 
Local sales representatives make all of their salaries selling to independent stores like Nonesuch. Without us, they would not be employed and Maine would further suffer the effects of the recession. Our Maine economy is one of mutual support, and by shopping with us and other locals, you keep almost twice as much money in our state than when you shop at a chain store or online. That money adds up in our local economy and in our state coffers.

Nonesuch raises about $10,000 in cash and books each year for our local hospitals and supports local schools and literacy programs. Most other local businesses support community non-profits and schools. Amazon does absolutely nothing to support local organizations and has no local employees or service providers.
 
I hope you will consider these issues as you make your shopping choices in the future. Nonesuch Books and other local stores are here for you and your community.   

This morning on Good Morning America: Maria Shriver will discuss HBO's four-part miniseries that begins airing this Sunday, May 10, based on the book The Alzheimer's Project: Momentum in Science by John Hoffman, Susan Froemke and Susan K. Golant (PublicAffairs, $25.95, 9781586487560/1586487566). She also appears today on CNN's American Morning, Larry King Live and Satellite Radio's Gayle King Radio Show. Tomorrow she appears on All Things Considered and CNN's Wolf Blitzer show.

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Today on the Writer's Roundtable on SignOn Radio: Lisa Scottoline discusses finding the story, creating characters readers love, the writing process, her new book, Look Again (St. Martin's, $26.95, 9780312380724/0312380720), and more.

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Tomorrow morning on the Today Show: Ayelet Waldman, author of Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace (Doubleday, $24.95, 9780385527934/0385527934).

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Tomorrow morning on the Early Show: Maria Helm Sinskey, author of Williams-Sonoma Family Meals: Creating Traditions in the Kitchen (Oxmoor House, $32.50, 9780848732639/0848732634).

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Tomorrow morning on Fox & Friends: Leeza Gibbons, co-author of Take Your Oxygen First: Protecting Your Health and Happiness While Caring for a Loved One with Memory Loss (LaChance Publishing, $14.95, 9781934184202/1934184209).

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Tomorrow on Oprah: Adam Perry, author of Serious Barbecue: Smoke, Char, Baste, and Brush Your Way to Great Outdoor Cooking (Hyperion, $35, 9781401323066/1401323065).

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Tomorrow on the Diane Rehm Show: Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World (Norton, $15.95, 9780393334807/0393334805).

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Tomorrow on the View: Alyse Myers, author of Who Do You Think You Are?: A Memoir (Touchstone, $15, 9781416543060/1416543066).

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Tomorrow night on Larry King Live: Sherri Shepherd, author of Permission Slips: Every Woman's Guide to Giving Herself a Break (Grand Central, $24.99, 9780446547420/0446547425).

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Tomorrow night on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher:

• Reza Aslan, author of How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror (Random House, $26, 9781400066728/1400066727).
• James Carville, author of 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation (Simon & Schuster, $24, 9781416569893/1416569898).
• Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism (Picador, $16, 9780312427993/0312427999).
  

   

Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. The following are highlights for this coming weekend. For more information, go to Book TV's website.

Saturday, May 9

8 a.m. Alan Huffman, author of Sultana: Surviving the Civil War, Prison, and the Worst Maritime Disaster in American History (Collins, $26.99, 9780061470547/0061470546), recounts the worst maritime disaster in U.S. history. (Re-airs Saturday at 5 p.m. and Sunday at 12 a.m.)

12 p.m. Susan Jacoby, author of Alger Hiss and the Battle for History (Yale University Press, $24, 9780300121339/0300121334), analyzes how conservatives and liberals have used the Hiss case to debate the balance between national security and constitutional liberties. (Re-airs Saturday at 8:30 p.m. and Monday at 4 a.m.)
     
3 p.m. Robert Shogan, author of No Sense of Decency: The Army-McCarthy Hearings--A Demagogue Falls and Television Takes Charge of American Politics (Ivan R. Dee, $27.50, 9781566637701/1566637708), recounts the 36 days of televised coverage of the McCarthy hearings in the spring of 1954. (Re-airs Sunday at 6 a.m. and 8 p.m.)

7:30 p.m. John Lukacs, author of Last Rites (Yale University Press, $25, 9780300114386/0300114389), considers the practice of being a historian. (Re-airs Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Monday at 1 a.m.)

10 p.m. After Words. Peter Earnest, executive director of the International Spy Museum, interviews Frederick Hitz, former inspector general of the CIA and author of Why Spy?: Espionage in an Age of Uncertainty (St. Martin's Griffin, $13.95, 9780312561734/0312561733), which will be published next month. (Re-airs Sunday at 9 p.m., Monday at 12 a.m. and 3 a.m., and Sunday, May 17, at 11 a.m.)

11 p.m. Paul McGeough, author of Kill Khalid: The Failed Mossad Assassination of Khalid Mishal and the Rise of Hamas (New Press, $26.95, 9781595583253/1595583254), talks about the Israeli assassination attempt on Mishal and his subsequent rise to the top of Hamas. (Re-airs Sunday at 5 a.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m.)
     
Sunday, May 10

4 a.m. Cadillac Man, author of Land of the Lost Souls: My Life on the Streets (Bloomsbury USA , $25, 9781596914063/1596914068), retraces his life from middle class American to homelessness. (Re-airs Sunday at 7 p.m.)    

11 a.m. On a live call-in show, Nobel Prize in Medicine winner Harold Varmus, author of The Art and Politics of Science (Norton, $24.95, 9780393061284/0393061280), discusses the significant medical research of recent decades. Viewers can e-mail questions to booktv@c-span.org. (Re-airs Sunday at 10 p.m.)

The ElseWhere Chronicles #1: The Shadow Door by Nykko, illustrated by Bannister, colored by Jaffré, translated from the French by Carol Klio Burrell (Graphic Universe/Lerner, $6.95 paper, 9780761339632/0761339639, 48 pp., ages 9-up, April 2009)

The Shadow Door kicks off the first in a trio of ElseWhere Chronicles (originally published as Les Enfants d'ailleurs by Depuis in Belgium), goosepimply graphic novels that star three bored boys who wind up on an adventure with a girl they meet at the graveyard. Rebecca is attending the funeral of her grandfather, none other than Old Man Gabe, whose house was purportedly haunted. Noah, Theo and Max seize the opportunity to accompany Rebecca to the man's home. Collaborators Nykko, Bannister and Jaffré exploit the childhood fantasy of investigating the neighborhood haunted house to full effect. A stray ferocious dog, feral cat, menacing-looking tree and flashing blinding light are among the unexpected frights. The creators work on an eight-panel framework: they elongate some panels, inviting readers to linger over certain scenes, while truncating other panels in order to zoom in on a detail (such as a dead mouse) or ramp up the pace. One expanded scene depicts Old Man Gabe's hybrid library/laboratory in the heart of the house. Readers will pore over the details--an odd beanstalk-like sculpture, tools laid out on a blanket, spears up against a bureau, piles of books everywhere. In the center of the room sits a "strange machine" that acts as a kind of movie projector, and its projected light opens a hole into another world (the ElseWhere of the title). After Rebecca gets stuck on "the other side," Max becomes determined to save her and figures out how to follow her. In this other world, the Master of Shadows is stealing the spirits of the dead. At times the scenes seem almost too black; it's difficult to discern the action. But kids will think that only adds to the creepiness of the spine-tingling horrors hiding in the darkness. This book ends on a cliffhanger, as does the second installment, The Shadow Spies (also $6.95, 9780761339649/0761339647), in which Noah and Theo join Max and Rebecca in ElseWhere. In the third book, The Master of Shadows ($6.95, 9780761347446/0761347445), readers learn why Max has such a strong desire to stay in the land of ElseWhere, and while it comes to closure, the ending also leaves room for further exploration. None of these stand alone, but taken together, they provide comics fans with a great escape.--Jennifer M. Brown

Ambassador Jon Scieszka is now midway through his two-year term as the inaugural National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Since we last spoke with him a year ago (Shelf Awareness, April 30, 2008), he's written his memoirs (Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing up Scieszka) and traveled the country to stimulate reading. On the occasion of Children's Book Week, which runs May 11-17, we asked the Ambassador about his hopes, his dreams, and his stimulus package.
 
Since we last spoke, you've served as special envoy to the White House during the Bush Administration. How did that go? Do you think you made an impact on George and Laura Bush?

I think I made an incredible impact, mostly because I went to this black-tie dinner with the Bushes and a few cabinet members, and I read them excerpts from Knucklehead--the Library of Congress was a little queasy 'cause I read "Crossing Swords," the one about my brothers and I going to the bathroom all at once. Anyone who has a brother knows what that's like. [Scieszka has five.] I think I made a huge impact there; George and Laura were both laughing.
 
[At the time,] Jenna was teaching in Baltimore, and she'd already told the President about Stinky Cheese Man and [The True Story of the] Three Little Pigs. So when we met, he said, "You're the funny guy!" And he's got brothers. I'd already inscribed the book before the event, "To Laura and George, my two favorite knuckleheads," and I gave it to them after the dinner and ran away.
 
But apparently you didn't make a big enough impression to have snagged that helicopter with your seal on the side. Any progress with the Obama Administration on that front?

I'm still waiting for the delivery. I want to talk to Barry directly. Maybe I'll straighten that out when I get with Dave Shannon, my nominal Vice-Ambassador.

You did get President Obama reading, though. Were you his advisor on the campaign trail, encouraging him to carry those books around?

I would have him carrying Knucklehead but maybe that's why they didn't want me to be his advisor.
 
Let's talk a bit about your stimulus package for a moment. You've stated that your mission is to stimulate children's love of reading, in your words, "inspiring kids to read by connecting them with books they want to read." How's that going?

I think people have heard that message and are relieved that the Official Ambassador is saying we can go back to reading for enjoyment. Teachers and librarians have been completely responsive. We got so sucked into the testing world that we took the joy out of reading. I make trouble by saying that I love to watch TV and telling the kids you can play video games and play on your computer.
 
We're in a different generation now and all kinds of information come from screens. And we need to embrace that. The teachers have Twitter accounts; in the libraries they have video games, and the kids come in to play them, and then they see books laying around, books on low riders or wrestlers, and they make the connection that libraries are places where you can get information and entertainment. That's where our world's going and that's not all bad.
 
According to Knucklehead, as the second of six brothers, you pulled some pretty impressive pranks, including blowing up things in your basement. Do you want kids to try this at home?

[Laughter.]
 
On a positive note, your book suggests that kids can have a very active prank-filled youth and still be readers and even writers.

That's the thing I love modeling for kids. I've had kids [who've read Knucklehead] say, "I can write a book like that!" And I say, "Of course you can!" It doesn't have to be the biography of George Washington or Sacajawea. It makes both reading and writing real in their lives. Plus the added feature that some of the teachers are horrified. I try not to read all of the peeing stories. I had one kid call out, "Read that one about peeing on the heater!" I had [a peeing story] about writing in the snow but I didn't include that; I did show some restraint. Just for Booklist I took that out. That's one of the great reasons to learn cursive.

In your five-point plan, you take a very open-minded view towards reading--that all kinds of reading is good for kids (comic strips, humor, magazines, manga, etc.)--and that TV and video are not "the bad guy." Why is that?

I think it's more about acceptance of the reality of what the world is now. There's a book out called On the Horizon by Marc Prensky with a chapter called "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants." We're the digital immigrants. These kids who've grown up with it are the digital natives. My daughter was telling me about a two-year-old she babysat who knows how to access the Dora the Explorer episodes her parents had TIVO'd. In the past, we did what we thought was a good thing and recommended abstinence like "Turn Off TV Week." My son is a hockey fan and ["Turn Off TV Week"] was during the playoffs. I went in to talk to the teachers, and said, "That's how he learns how to play [hockey]." We set up TV and video games as our exact competition, that all TV is bad and all books are good, [but] we read trash sometimes, and on TV there are sophisticated shows, and [kids] can learn a lot. I think it's much better to say, "I'll embrace the whole spectrum and learn how to do those things."
 
You also believe audiobooks are good for kids. What does audio offer children that's different from traditional book reading?

It's a spectacular entryway for kids who are struggling with reading, or reluctant readers, where they can be listening to a story they love, and hearing how reading works. We're such experts, we teachers and librarians and book people, that we forget reading is a difficult skill to master.

On Guys Read, we're relaunching some ideas really soon and re-promoting things boys like, and the audio piece is part of that. The technology is getting better, too, so you can walk around with 20 audiobooks on your iPhone.
 
I'm working on some new projects where we use everything to be telling the story--some of it's online, some of its text, some of its audio. That's what we have to teach kids now, how to be media-literate, and how to get information from all these places. It kind of goes back to Three Little Pigs, to question who's telling the story and who can be trusted to tell you the story.
 
Have you considered putting together a recommended list of audiobooks, as you have for traditional books on your website Guys Read?

Yes, I'm working on a piece of it called "Guys Listen" with Random House and Audible. The new one should be launched this month or June. We're doing it so we can get a lot more recommendations for teachers and children. When I started [Guys Read], the focus was "people are having trouble reading, what should we do?" Now people get it; now it's "give us titles."
 
As your appointment draws to a close at the end of this year, do you get to help choose your successor?

Yes, I am part of that, which is exciting. There will be new committee members and Roger Sutton at the Horn Book and I'm not sure who else offhand. I haven't met with them yet, but I think that will be valuable to tell them what to expect. We had no idea what to expect. We thought, "Yeah you need to talk to Martha Stewart." Her idea was we could have kids read by captioning all television shows. That's a terrible idea!
 
In your own role as Ambassador, you've visited with all of your constituents--librarians, teachers and booksellers. What has been your best experience as Ambassador thus far?

It's the moments. I love the reaction from kids, ranging from the little guys who are just kind of stunned. Like the kindergartners who were there when I [first] got the [Ambassador] sash and the fanfare [with the Library of Congress], and they had no idea what an ambassador was.
 
And then the recent Multnomah County Library event, where they packed 800 kids in a giant church--they gave out 10,000 Three Little Pigs books, bilingual in Spanish and English, to low-income families, where a kid never had a book all [his] own. There was one child who said, "This is my book and I have my name in it!" That's why we're in this business; 95% of the people in this business are people we love to hang out with, because we love that moment when we've done something good. The ambassador thing has been what my hopes were for it, and that's a huge credit to the CBC people who said let's make this really giant and really fun.--Jennifer M. Brown

The following were the bestselling titles at independent bookstores in and around Chicago during the week ended Sunday, May 3:

Hardcover Fiction

1. Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg
2. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
3. Laura Rider's Masterpiece by Jane Hamilton
4. The Women by T.C. Boyle
5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Hardcover Nonfiction

1. Perfectly Imperfect by Lee Woodruff
2. Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin
3. Always Looking Up by Michael J. Fox
4. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey

Paperback Fiction

1. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
2. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith
4. The Shack by William P. Young
5. White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

Paperback Nonfiction

1. For the Thrill of It by Simon Baatz
2. Billionaire's Vinegar by Benjamin Wallace
3. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
4. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Children's

1. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
3. Now Hiring: White House Dog by Renanah Lehner
4. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer
5. Emmaline and the Bunny by Katherine Hannigan

Reporting bookstores: Anderson's, Naperville and Downers Grove; Read Between the Lynes, Woodstock; Book Table, Oak Park; the Book Cellar, Lincoln Square; Lake Forest Books, Lake Forest; the Bookstall at Chestnut Court, Winnetka; and 57th St. Books; Seminary Co-op; Women and Children First, Chicago

[Many thanks to the reporting booksellers and Carl Lennertz!]