Library Love Fest

What's New for Spring & Summer 2010? Find Out Today!

The HarperCollins Library Marketing Team
cordially invites you to attend our

Spring /Summer 2010 Title Presentation
at
The American Library Association's Midwinter Conference

Saturday, January 16, 2010
10:00 AM – 11:15 AM
Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel
(Connected to the Boston Convention Center)
425 Summer Street
Burroughs Room
Boston, Massachusetts

The HarperCollins Children’s Books Library Marketing Team will present their titles from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Get the inside track on your favorite authors and discover a few new ones along the way!

Seating is limited, so RSVP your attendance to:
Bobby.Brinson@harpercollins.com

Light refreshments will be served.  We hope to see you in Boston!

-Bobby

He'll Go Down in History: The Re-Examined Story Of Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer

If you attended ALTAFF's The Laugh's on Us program at ALA in Chicago, you might remember the hilarious comedienne Elizabeth Beckwith, author of Raising the Perfect Child Through Guilt and Manipulation, which we've blogged about here.  She had the entire room in stitches--I remember actually gasping for breath because I was laughing so hard.  So of course, I was super-excited to see her holiday-themed post for The Huffington Post.  It's worth a read, just for the following quote alone:

"'Christmas Town is very political, you have to kiss a lot of ass, and it's very unforgiving toward misfits. It's the dirty little secret that nobody talks about,' Blitzen remarked before sullenly finishing his drink."

 Happy Friday! 

-Kayleigh

Happy Friday!

When I was on vacation recently, I had the opportunity to read a fascinating and eye-opening book.  Wench, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (on sale in January 2010) is the story of three female slave mistresses and the friendship they built despite living in a period of oppression.  Every summer, slaveholders would take their slave mistresses to a place called “Tawawa House”, a resort in Ohio that had a main building and several cottages where the slave master and slave mistress would co-exist as a couple.  It was very well known, yet a very well kept secret.

Wench focuses on three women, Lizzie, Reenie and Sweet, who each year along with their slave masters would reside in Tawawa House.  These women built a lasting bond and always looked forward to seeing each other.  They were content and enjoyed their time at Tawawa House…they were in short, “happy”…or so they thought.   Along comes a fourth slave mistress named Mawu, who rocks their standard way of living and thinking.  She also plants the idea of something very forbidden…escape to freedom.  When a tragedy strikes the resort, the lives of Lizzie, Reenie and Sweet are never quite the same.

What I appreciated about Wench is the way in which the author really captured the lives and thoughts of these women.  Dolen Perkins-Valdez removes their masks and taps into their very soul.  It made you see that (in their minds) they confused little liberties with being truly happy and free.  While they may have had the ability to read (a skill that slaves were not allowed to have) or didn’t have to do as many chores as the other slaves on the plantation, they were still dehumanized and degraded.  In addition, this book really made you feel like you were there in that period of our country’s history, experiencing the highs and many lows in their lives.  I could not put this book down. 

I am SO excited about this book that I would love to hear your comments.  I will send free copies of Wench to the 12 lucky people who send us a comment or an email at librarylovefest at harpercollins dot com.  If you would be so kind as to send a brief review of the book, I would greatly appreciate it!  I hope you find Wench as revealing and heartbreaking as I have.

Enjoy!

-Bobby

Lit (in more ways than one!)

You might have heard a little something in print, or cyberspace, about the New York Times' list of the 10 Best Books of 2009.  Here at Harper, it was a major thrill to see that Mary Karr's white-hot memoir, Lit, made the list. The New York Times writes:

This sequel to “The Liars’ Club” and “Cherry” is also a master class on the art of the memoir. Mordantly funny, free of both self-pity and sentimentality, Karr describes her attempts to untether herself from her troubled family in rural Texas, her development as a poet and writer, and her struggles to navigate marriage and young motherhood even as she descends into alcoholism. 

Browse inside the book and click here for the full Top 10.

-Kayleigh

Reader Review: The Body in the Sleigh

We've been getting in some great reviews of Katherine Hall Page's The Body in the Sleigh.  Here's the latest, from Melissa Stream (Madison, WI):

"I received a copy of this book a few weeks ago and loved it. I haven't read any other books in this series by Katherine Hall Page; I'm excited to find a new author with lots of books she's written already for me to catch up on. The story was just suspenseful enough, but I was appreciative of the author to leave out excessive gore and violence. The story was rich around Faith's family and I fell in love with Mary and her goats. To be presented with such a gift out of the blue, she handled it with grace and almost gratitude, and not to mention she was a natural! I looked forward to breaks at work and quiet time at home when I could get wrapped up in this cozy novel!

Thanks so much for the book!"

For more reader reviews, and the original book/review swap post, click here. 

The Body in the Sleigh

We are loving Katherine Hall Page's latest, The Body in the Sleigh, and so are librarians! Check out this fantastic review from our book review/book swap:

"What's more delicious than a good, old-school mystery? How about a divine "whodunit" filled with delectable descriptions of scrumptious meals with recipes for some of the best included? Katherine Hall Page's 18th Faith Fairchild mystery The Body in the Sleigh incorporates her tried and true ingredients to produce yet another page turner worth sinking your teeth into. Naturally there is "the body in the sleigh" but there's also a feast of suspects to keep you guessing, a few families that you'll wish you could spend holiday dinner with, a wintery setting that will make you want to cozy up by the fire with a hot drink, and a baby that appears mysteriously in a manger on Christmas Eve. All in all, this was a mouthwatering read that will leave you hungry for more!"

Lisa Kent
Library Secretary
Lakes Community High School

That Bird Has My Wings

Earlier in the year, I blogged about a book entitled, That Bird Has My Wings: the Autobiography of an Innocent Man on Death Row, by Jarvis Jay Masters.  That Bird Has My Wings is a compelling memoir about a man who endured an extremely hard life and is now on death row.  Check out my article.

We received a great review from Zandra Blake, Teen and Public Services Librarian for the Capital Area District Library.  Here is the link.

Many thanks to Zandra and everyone at the Capital Area District Library for featuring That Bird Has My Wings on your blog!  I hope you add That Bird Has My Wings to your reading list.

Enjoy!

-Bobby

Get Lit!

Tune-in to Author Barbara Graham on Good Morning America! (New date and time)

Yesterday, I posted about author Barbara Graham and her book, Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Bring a Grandmother. 

Barbara Graham's segment on ABC's Good Morning America, has been re-scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, 2009. This is definitely something you don't want to miss!

Enjoy!

-Bobby

Author Barbara Graham to be Featured on Good Morning America!

Earlier this year, Virginia wrote a post and added a video from HarperCollins author Barbara Graham, talking about her book Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother.  Check out Virginia’s post and the author video here.

Make sure you tune in tomorrow morning (November 13) to ABC’s Good Morning America as Barbara Graham will be interviewed by Annie Pleshette Murphy, the parenting expert on the show.  Barbara will be talking about difficult relationships between grandmothers on the parental side and their daughter-in-laws as well as her book Eye of My Heart.  Don’t miss it!

Enjoy!

-Bobby