Gary Namie, author of The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job (ISBN: 9781402224263), was interviewed by the Associated Press on Monday, June 29th. It has already been picked up by two outlets, including The Contra Costa Times (368,034 visitors per month), the Dayton Daily News (465,420 visitors per month), and HeraldNet (1,076,885 visitors per month).

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Posted in The Bully at Work, Gary Namie, Associated Press

(June 29, 2009)-In celebration of National Poetry Month this past April, Sourcebooks teamed up with independent booksellers around the country to hold poetry contests with kids ages 7 to 10.  

As a publisher, Sourcebooks is determined to change the face of poetry, and they're doing just that, by creating unique and innovative books like Poetry Speaks to Children and Hip Hop Speaks to Children, and the forthcoming The Tree That Time Built, with children's poet laureate Mary Ann Hoberman and Linda Winston. "We are committed to making poetry more available, more accessible, and more popular for readers of all ages," says Dominique Raccah, CEO and publisher of Sourcebooks.

Each participant was to write a poem using one of four suggested categories (silly, rhyming, hip-hop, or non-rhyming), and were given examples of a hip-hop poem by Nikki Giovanni (from the New York Times bestselling book, Hip Hop Speaks to Children) and a silly animal poem by renowned children's poet Kenn Nesbitt (from My Hippo Has the Hiccups).

CONGRATULATIONS to winners Lucy Zimmerman (age 10), who submitted her silly poem, "Pink Giraffe," through Anderson's Bookstore (Naperville, IL), and Frances Aldana (age 9), whose hip-hop poem about her best friend was submitted by Books & Books (Coral Gables, FL).

The winning poets and participating bookstores and will receive in-person visits by Nikki Giovanni or Kenn Nesbitt, who will present the winner with a personal signed copy of their book and perform a reading.

"We are absolutely over-the-moon excited that Frances' poem won," says Debra Linn, events and marketing coordinator at Books & Books.  "We had so much fun with our in-store and in-school poetry workshops for this contest, that winning seems like too much good fortune. And the fact that we get a visit from our dear Nikki Giovanni-well, that's just an embarrassment of riches."

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Posted in Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, Politics & Prose, poetry, Nikki Giovanni, National Poetry Month, Naperville, My Hippo Has the Hiccups, Kenn Nesbitt, Illinois, Hip Hop Speaks to Children, Florida, Dominique Raccah, Debra Linn, Coral Gables, Books & Books

The following reviews of The Dancing Plague (ISBN 978-1-40221-943-6) and Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Ex* (ISBN 978-1-4022-2923-7) will appear in the July 1^st issue of Library Journal:

"Enthusiastically recommended for students and general readers."

Waller, John. The Dancing Plague: The Strange True Story of an Extraordinary Illness. Sourcebooks. Sept. 2009. c.272p. illus. ISBN 978-1-40221-943-6. $24.99. HIST

In the blistering hot summer sun of July 1518, a Strasbourg housewife stepped out of her house and began to dance. She danced until she collapsed in her tracks. When she awoke, she started again. She danced until her feet were bloody and still she danced, begging her neighbors to make her stop. Others joined in: over the next two months, 200 to 400 people succumbed to the dancing malady; 15 died of it. Then the dancing epidemic ended, never to occur again. (There were earlier instances of choreomania, but none after.) Waller (history of medicine, Michigan State Univ.: Einstein's Luck), ably explicates this odd phenomenon and its end. He writes a vigorous and engaging prose and tells an absolutely fascinating story; he is scrupulous in his use of sources and generous in recognizing scholarly work in the field. One earlier explanation of the "dancing plague" invoked ergotism, an alkaloid poisoning caused by a fungus that infects wheat, and causes loss of body control and delusions. Waller argues that a more appropriate diagnosis is trance behavior, triggered by common psychic distress.

VERDICT In the absence of detailed evidence, the author must rely on the occasional "perhaps," "maybe," and "could be," but this is thoroughly responsible historical writing and Waller has made sense of one of the more exotic incidents in the history of medicine. Enthusiastically recommended for students and general readers.

--David Keymer, Modesto, CA

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Posted in The Dancing Plague, review, Michelle Fiordaliso, Library Journal, John Waller, Heather Belle, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ex

Friday, June 26th, Dr. Hal Urschel was on America's Newsroom--Fox's Morning News Broadcast--discussing addiction in relation to Michael Jackson's death.  He also discusses successful treatment options, and that his book, Healing the Addicted Brain, provides a useful tool for conquering addiction. Check it out! 

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Posted in Urschel, pain killers, overdose, Michael Jackson, Harold Urschel, Fox, Addiction, Addicted

Betsy Bird-an SLJ blogger and children's librarian at the New York Public Library's Children Center-has written a stellar review of Horrid Henry in her blog Fuse #8.  The SLJ website gets over 38,000 hits per month from teachers, librarians and industry professionals!

 

"The first time he throws someone else's jacket in the mud your kids will be his, heart and soul... He's funny, he's nasty, and he's a hard one to duplicate, that's for certain... Horrid Henry will definitely appeal to those kids who have graduated from Captain Underpants and need a slight step up in reading levels, without going a step down in terms of trouble making. An enjoyable early chapter book and reluctant reader pick."

--Fuse #8, an SLJ blog

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Posted in SLJ, School Library Journal, Horrid Henry, Francesca Simon, Betsy Bird

Gary Namie, the author of The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job (ISBN: 9781402224263), will discuss workplace bullying on the TODAY SHOW on Monday, June 29th during the 8am hour.

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Posted in TV interview, Today Show, The Bully at Work, Gary Namie

Dr. Susan's Fit and Fun Family Action Plan (ISBN 9781402229497) will be in the December issue of PARENTGUIDE News in their health column. The regional parenting and family magazine has a circulation of 210,000 (795,000 readers) and is one of the oldest and largest local parenting publications reaching New York City, Queens, Long Island, Westchester County, Rockland County and New Jersey. Their online edition (http://www.parentguidenews.com/) also has millions of dedicated viewers. 

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Posted in regional publications, Parenting, Parent Guide News, health, fitness, family, Dr. Susan\'s Fit and Fun Family Action Plan, Dr. Susan Bartell

I spend my days steeped in rights, royalties and the contracts that govern them, and this much is clear: publishers must plan new approaches to rights or risk future viability. Regardless of how the courts or the Justice Department treat the Google Book Settlement, the Book Rights Registry (BRR) will exist in some form; the industry needs it for the widest possible dissemination of content. A registry combined with clear and streamlined rights agreements would help publishers keep pace with content delivery innovations.

Following a BEA panel on the settlement that my company, MetaComet, hosted, my colleagues and I surveyed some industry leaders on the subject. "We've got to make it easy for people to find who is the appropriate rights holder.... Right now, that is a complexity that is unnecessary in our business," said Dominique Raccah, publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks Inc.

"We want to ensure that authors reach readers in the broadest possible way," via iPhone apps, music video, "or something we can't envision now." A registry and simplicity in rights agreements would help accomplish that.

One option to facilitate this: have authors give a publisher all rights to a work, but for a limited time, such as three years. "Because everything moves so fast, it ought to be quite clear in three years if a publisher exploited each right," Richard Nash, formerly publisher of Soft Skull Press and now a consultant, told me over coffee earlier this month. Nash hopes to implement this idea in a new publishing venture he is working on. He thinks this structure would facilitate business partnerships between authors and publishers, and would provide authors with one partner who orchestrates the entire campaign. It could also benefit agents, because they could spend less time shopping around smaller "chunks" of content.

Will authors and agents stand for such innovation and out-of-the-box thinking? Conversations with the Authors Guild made it clear the challenging environment has made authors more open to new ideas of partnerships. Giving up rights for a shorter duration is "interesting.... I wouldn't rule it out, but the devil is always in the details," Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild, said to my COO recently.

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Posted in Sourcebooks, PW, publishing, Dominique Raccah, book rights

Capitalizing on the success of The Traitor's Wife (2009), Higginbotham chronicles the adventures of a succeeding generation of the ill-fated Despenser family. Forced into marrying a man more than twice her age, young Bess de Montacute is appalled to learn that he is also the son and the grandson of traitors. For his part, Hugh le Despenser, determined to redeem his family name and remain in the good graces of Edward III, dutifully accepts his arranged marriage to the daughter of the Earl of Salisbury, one of Edward's close friends. The natural question is, can love blossom under such circumstances? The answer is a resounding yes, as Bess and Hugh grow to passionately love one another despite the uncertainties of war and the ravages of the plague. The author delivers another satisfying historical romance set amidst the political intrigue and social turmoil that characterized fourteenth-century England.

- Margaret Flanagan

BOOKLIST
Issue: July 1, 2009
Hugh and Bess. Higginbotham, Susan (Author)
Aug 2009. 304 p. Sourcebooks, paperback, $14.99. (9781402215278).

 

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Posted in Susan Higginbotham, review, Hugh and Bess, BookList

Gary Namie, the author of The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job (ISBN: 9781402224263), will appear on the TODAY SHOW to discuss workplace bullying.  The show is tentatively scheduled to air next Monday, June 29^th - they will mention the book and potentially show the book cover.

The TODAY SHOW has an estimated 5.5 million viewers daily. More details to come!

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Posted in Today Show, The Bully at Work, Gary Namie