Tuesday, April 3, 2012

In Case You Missed It!

Horn Book Dishes Up Some Literary Humor to Celebrate April 1st

Looking for a literary laugh? Be sure to check out Roger Sutton's April 1st blog posting, "Well this bites," in which he shares the new marketing strategy of publisher Hexwood Books, whose goal is to get more kids to read Newbery Medal winning books by incorporating blood-thirsty characters into their plots. Sutton shares the following snippet from Hexwood's "publicity release:"

As demonstrated by the popularity of Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series, kids today want to read stories about sexy vampires…stories about fangs poised above the neck of a young innocent…stories about blood slowly seeping into the bodice of a white ruffled nightgown. Our new series, “Vamped-up Newberys” will satisfy both young people and their teachers – featuring the plots and characters of your favorite award-winning novels, slightly altered to include today’s most popular subject matter among young people: vampires!

The first five volumes in the series are based on the 2012 winner DEAD END IN NORVELT, last year’s winner MOON OVER MANIFEST, 2007’s THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY, JACOB HAVE I LOVED (1981) and that classic from 1945, JOHNNY TREMAIN.

Titles in Hexwood's new satiric series include: Deadened in Norvelt, Full Moon Over Manifest, and Jacob Have I Bitten.

Click here to read the entire blog post.