The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Hunger Games is not Scholastic's only book-turned-movie. Another Scholastic book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret written and illustrated by Brian Selznick, inspired Martin Scorsese to direct a 3D film by the same name.

Hugo opened in theaters nationwide Wednesday and so far it's getting great reviews!

Scholastic sent Kid Reporter Grace McManus (a member of Scholastic News' Kids Press Corps) to the New York red-carpet premiere on Monday where she interviewed several of the film's stars (including main characters Asa Butterfield and Chloe Grace Moretz), as well as the screenwriter and the author, Selznick.

Check out her interview below...

Pretty cool, huh?

In non-movie-related news, The Invention of Hugo Cabret has a pretty cool website, too. One of my favorite features is the About Hugo Cabret section, which lets readers see the process Selznick went though as he wrote the book. Did you know that when Selznick is creating a character, he makes it up in his head and then finds someone in real life who looks like his imaginary version? He found the boy behind Hugo while performing a puppet show at the Museum of Natural History in New York City and he found the girl who posed as Isabelle at a pizza shop in Brooklyn. He asked them (and their parents) if they would come to his house, get into costume, and then pose for the drawings Selznick would do for the book!

via Hugo models

32 New Kid Reporters Appointed

Thirty-two new kid reporters were appointed to the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps yesterday, bringing the number of reporters available to cover Election 2012 up to a total of 59.

The 32 students were chosen from a pool of more than 200 applications.

Congratulations everyone!

The full list of Kid Reporters, along with their bios, can be viewed here.

Here's a small example of what the new recruits will be doing their tenure in the corps.

For more information on the Kids Press Corps, check out this earlier post I wrote about them, or visit their website.

You can also check out videos of their interviews, here.

The First Thanksgiving: A Virtual Field Trip

Scholastic is taking classrooms across the country on a virtual field trip to Plymouth Plantation in Plymouth, MA today.

During "The First Thanksgiving" webcast (which starts at 1 p.m. EST) students will meet Colonial and Wampanoag interpreters and learn about life in colonial times. They will also get to take a virtual tour through the homes of Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Tribe.

Just like with the Dear America webcast in October, teachers will have free access to the webcast, along with classroom discussion guides, activities, and book lists. The virtual tours and other activities about the first Thanksgiving, the Mayflower journey, and the pilgrims will still be available on the Scholastic website following the webcast.

Scholastic's Chief Academic Officer Francie Alexander said in a press release that "using webcasts as part of a classroom lesson plan is a great way for teacher to make the learning experience more engaging for students — especially considering how many schools are facing steep cuts to their field trip budgets."

Hunger Games Movie Trailer

Judging from the screaming crowds at yesterday's first full-length trailer release on Good Morning America, The Hunger Games is seems to be gearing up for a Harry Potter/Twilight level of fandom. I'd say that spells good news (and an awful lot more merchandising opportunities) for Scholastic.

CNN Entertainment's Marquee Blog did a round up of reactions from various media outlets and all the reviews were very positive.

But don't take their word for it, check it out below!

The Hunger Games doesn't come out until March, so I'm sure that the Scholastic bigwigs are crossing their collective fingers for a successful media and merchandising blitz akin to the Harry Potter phenomenon. And with two more books (and probably three more movies) the Hunger Games Trilogy has a chance to make a big difference in the Scholastic bottom line.

Scholastic Spring 2012 Preview!

Scholastic posted this video on their OOM blog and Teacher website yesterday. It features editors, publishers, and authors talking about a bunch of the books Scholastic is publishing between January and June 2012. It's designed to give teachers and librarians a sneak preview of the books that are coming out soon, and the site includes links to the catalog and order form.

Fun Fact of the Week

Over half of kids age 9–17 say they are interested in reading an eBook and one-third of kids in the same age bracket say they would read more books for fun, if they could read them on an e-reader.

Statistic brought to you by the 2010 Kids and Family Reading Report

2011 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominees

Five Scholastic books were just announced as nominees for the 2011 Goodreads Choice Awards!

And the nominees are...

• Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (Favorite Book of 2011) 
• Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (Young Adult Fiction) 
• The 39 Clues Book 11: Vespers Rising (Middle Grade) 
• Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick (Middle Grade) 
• Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage (Picture Book)

Anyone who is a member of the social networking/reading site can vote for their favorite books in 22 different categories through November 30.

Scholastic also took advantage of the social reading mention by reminding readers to check out their own version of Goodreads, You Are What You Read.

Books for Boys

On yesterday's OOM blog, Lauren addressed the common problem of a disinterest in reading among middle-grade boys.

Her solution?

Books with lots of action and adventure to get those boys excited about reading again!

Here's what she suggests:

1. Gordon Korman's Titanic trilogy: Titanic #1 Unsinkable, Titanic #2 Collusion Course, and Titanic #3 S.O.S.
2. Matthew J. Kirby's Icefall
3. Patrick Carman's Floors
4. Andrew Peter's Ravenwood
5. Chris Raschka's Seriously Norman!

To see descriptions of these books, as well as suggestions from OOM readers, visit the post.

Hottest Children's Books of the Holiday Season

Scholastic just released their predictions for the hottest books of the 2011 Holiday Season.

In a press release, Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer at Scholastic said:

"Parents, grandparents and educators all know the value of giving the gift of reading to kids, but we know they also struggle to compete with the hot new toy, electronic device or video on the market. This list was curated by the experts at Scholastic Book Clubs and Book Fairs to help shoppers identify the books that will be sure to delight a child as much as any other favorite gift."

Notice that they've released a list of books that kids will like — all books, not just Scholastic books — it's a list that features books for all ages from a variety of authors and publishers.

I also loved that in the press release they ended the list with this little plug:

"These books are available through Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic Book Fairs in schools and online at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. When you purchase these or any other books through Book Clubs and Book Fairs you are helping out your child's school. Teachers are awarded bonus points through Scholastic Book Clubs to purchase books and materials for their classrooms, and schools raise money through their Book Fairs to support the school community. If a title from Scholastic's holiday gift list is not available through your child's Scholastic Book Club or Scholastic Book Fair, check with your child's teacher or visit a book retailer or library." 

So, I guess they will profit a bit from people buying these books, even if they aren't published through Scholastic, but only if the books are purchased through a Scholastic Book Club or Book Fair.


Here are a few of their predictions:

Picture Books

• 10 Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr., illustrated by Lois Ehlert (Simon & Schuster)
• Can You See What I See? Toyland Express written and illustrated by Walter Wick (Scholastic)
• If You Give a Dog a Donut by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond (HarperCollins)
• The Man in the Moon written and illustrated by William Joyce (Simon & Schuster)
• Pinkalicious: The Princess of Pink Treasury written and illustrated by Victoria Kann (HarperCollins)

Transitional Readers and Chapter Books

• Clementine and The Family Meeting by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee (Disney Hyperion Books)
• Fly Guy: Fly Guy vs. The Flyswatter! by Tedd Arnold (Scholastic)
• Magic Tree House: Dogs in the Dead of Night by Mary Pope Osborne, illustrated by Salvatore Murdocca (Random House)
• Rainbow Magic: Magical Holiday Boxed Set by Daisy Meadows (Scholastic)
• Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers by Dav Pilkey, George Beard, and Harold Hutchins (Scholastic)

Middle Grade Fiction

• Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney (Abrams)
• The Heroes of Olympus, Book Two: The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (Disney Hyperion Books)
• The 39 Clues: Cahills vs. Vespers Book 2: A King's Ransom by Jude Watson (Scholastic)
• War Horse by Michael Morpurgo (Scholastic)
• Wonderstruck written and illustrated by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)

Young Adult Fiction

• Crossed by Ally Condie (Penguin)
• Inheritance by Christopher Paolini (Random House)
• Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion Books)
• The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxed Set by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic)

Nonfiction

• How Cool Is This: An Up-close, Inside Look at How Things Work (DK Publishing)
• The Hugo Movie Companion: A Behind the Scenes Look at How a Beloved Book Became a Major Motion Picture by Brian Selznick (Scholastic)
• Lego Harry Potter: Building The Magical World (DK Publishing)
• Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia (DK Publishing)
• Ripley's Believe It or Not!: Special Edition 2012 (Scholastic)

To see the complete list, as well as descriptions of each book, visit the OOM post.

Hunger Games Movie Tie-In Books

It's pretty standard for publishers to try to capitalize as much as possible by selling products based off movies based on their books.

Well, the wildly popular Hunger Games series (and its movie counterpart) is no exception. In addition to the standard copies of the three books in the series (The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay), Scholastic released The Hunger Games Collector's Edition, a special version of the first book, complete with a foil slipcase, all-new Mockingjay artwork, a cloth cover, foil stamping, and deckled edges. The special edition retails at $30 ($18.30 on B&N.com and $17.43 on Amazon) and it's being billed as the "perfect holiday gift this year for teens and adults."

One interesting thing that I noticed while looking at the trilogy on Amazon and B&N, was that while the second and third books were released in September 2009 and August 2010 respectively, neither has been re-released as a paperback. And, since they are both hardcover, that means they retail at $17.99, but sell online at $9.99 (ebook price is $7 and change). But, despite this fact, there are more than eight million copies of the two books in print in the U.S. to date.

But, back to the movie tie-in books...

Scholastic is releasing The Hunger Games: Move Tie-In Edition, The Hunger Games: Official Illustrated Movie Companion, and The Hunger Games Tribute Guide on February 7, 2012. Then, on March 23, The World of The Hunger Games, will be released to coincide with the opening of The Hunger Games film.

That's a lot of Hunger Games.