Now that it’s out there, we’ll have more to talk about in the next little while. I’m sure you’ll have questions, and you’re welcome to ask them here. (Right now, though, I’m starving and must go find myself some lunch.)

Here’s what it says:

LEE & LOW BOOKS, the respected independent children’s book publisher specializing in diversity, has acquired Tu Publishing, an independent press focusing on multicultural fantasy and science fiction for middle grade and young adult readers.

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 9, 2010 — LEE & LOW BOOKS, the respected independent children’s book publisher specializing in diversity, has acquired Tu Publishing, an independent press focusing on multicultural fantasy and science fiction for middle grade and young adult readers.

“This is a natural fit for us,” says LEE & LOW publisher Jason Low. “Our customers have been asking us for years to publish stories for older readers. Tu represents an excellent way for us to bring diversity to a whole new audience.”

Recent controversies over whitewashing have brought widespread attention to the dearth of people of color in fantasy and science fiction stories, although avid fans of these genres have long acknowledged the problem.

Tu Publishing founder Stacy Whitman began the press in 2009 to address the need for more books featuring diverse characters and inspired by non-Western cultures, a need that she had seen as both a reader and an editor of fantasy and science fiction.

Supporters met Whitman’s project with great enthusiasm and donated funds via the online organization Kickstarter to help launch the company. Through many small donations, Tu Publishing surpassed its $10,000 goal, catching the attention of LEE & LOW.

“The fact that Tu was able to raise so much money indicates that there is a real need for this,” says Low. Since Tu will now become an imprint of LEE & LOW, all money will be refunded to donors.

“The outpouring of support on the Kickstarter project and from children’s book professionals validates my mission, and the opportunity to join forces with LEE & LOW, with its vast experience publishing diverse children’s books, will allow me to accomplish my goals even beyond what I could have expected,” Whitman explains.

Whitman will join LEE & LOW as editorial director of the new imprint, which will undergo a slight name change to Tu Books. Several manuscripts are already under consideration for possible acquisition, with hopes of releasing the first books under the new imprint in 2011.

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We’re letting you know that you can now register for The 2010 Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference!

This year’s conference will be held June 14-June 18, 2010, and promises to be an exciting week. Our new venue in Sandy, UT, is large and full of light. And we’re working with the wonderful bookstore
The King’s English! As usual, we have an amazing, award-winning faculty, too.

Our faculty includes:
Rick Walton and Cheri Earl–who will team-teach the Beginning Class        www.rickwalton.com
Bonny Becker–who will teach a Picture Book class          www.bonnybecker.com
Kristyn Crow–who will teach a Picture Book class            www.kristyncrow.com
Mike Knudson–who will teach a Chapter Book class        www.mikeknudson.com
Kevin Hawkes–who will teach the Illustration Class          www.kevinhawkes.com
Emily Wing Smith–who will teach the Beginning Novel Class         www.emilywingsmith.com
Ann Dee Ellis–who will teach the Contemporary Novel Class          www.anndeeellis.com
Alane Ferguson–who will teach an Intermediate/Advanced Novel Class         www.alaneferguson.com
Sara Zarr–who will teach an Intermediate/Advanced Novel Class             www.sarazarr.com
Brandon Mull–who will teach a Fantasy Class            www.brandonmull.com
Dave Wolverton (Dave Farland)–who will teach a Fantasy Class       www.davidfarland.net

Editors and Agent:
Jennifer Hunt  from Little, Brown
Kate Angelella from Simon and Schuster
Mary Kole from Andrea Brown Agency

Thursday Afternoon Presenter:
Mary E Pearson (The Miles Between, The Admiration of Jenna Fox, A Room on Lorelei Street, Scribbler of Dreams, David v. God)
www.marypearson.com

If you can’t spend the whole day with us, look into attending the afternoon sessions.
Additional speakers will include Will Terry, Guy Francis, Ally Condie, Jennifer Grillone, Kirk Shaw, Matthew Kirby, Sydney Salter

For more information, and to register, please go to www.foryoungreaders.com

Please forward this information on to your writing and illustrating friends. Thank you!!!

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Thursday

1:00 PM

- Defining Children’s Literature: What are a children’s book, a middle grade reader, a YA novel and an adult novel? (Stacy Whitman, Lisa Mangum, Mette Ivie Harrison, Dan Willis, Pat Castelli)

4:00 PM

- No More Dead Dogs (or moms): Why do mothers and dogs always die in children’s literature? How do we pull at the heartstrings and give child characters independence without killing off dogs and moms? (Paul Genesse, Stacy Whitman, Clint Johnson, Julie Wright)

FRIDAY, 12 February, 2010

9:00 AM

- Paths to publishing: When is traditional best and when should you try an alternative (Stacy Whitman, John Brown, Dan Willis, Eric Swedin, Sandra Tayler)

10:00 AM

- Cover art for Children’s and YA books (Amanda Sorensen, Nathan Hale, Brian Beus, Stacy Whitman)

SATURDAY, 13 February, 2010

10:00 AM

- What Exactly Does an Editor Do, Anyway? (L. E. Modesitt, Jr.,  Stacy Whitman, Suzanne Vincent, Lisa Mangum, Tristi Pinkston)

2:00 PM

- Regional Publishers

(Lisa Mangum, Stacy Whitman, Linda Brummett, Garry P. Mitchell, Tristi Pinkston, Dave Doering (M))

5:00 PM

- Edgy YA vs. not-so-edgy (Stacy Whitman, Laura Bingham, Mette Harrison, Julie Wright)

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They suggested that I fill out a suggestion form for anime series that are must-haves. I have several ideas from my last couple of posts about anime, but I thought I’d throw it out here, as well. What 5-10 anime series would you say were series that every library should have?

My criteria: can’t be from the 80s or early 90s. Anime has moved on since then. No Robo-whatever it was called that so many remember and love from their childhood. I’m talking *current* anime touchstones. Something from the last 10 years or so.

Suggestions?

ETA: I forgot to mention that I specifically told the librarian not to suggest Miyazaki films because I’d seen them all. I believe the library has most, if not all, of Studio Ghibli’s work.

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Brandon Sanderson, bestselling author of Mistborn and a bunch of other books, is a guest of honor this year, as is James C. Christenson (Thursday only). The program is filled with a bunch of great Utah-local writers and artists who are well-known nationally, most of whom don’t have their names on the main page of the symposium website (they never put me on there, either, weirdly—this is the way it’s been for years). Let’s see: Mette Ivie Harrison, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., James Dashner, Brandon Mull, Howard Tayler, Jake Black, Clint Johnson (who writes as R.D. Henham), Dan Wells, Nathan Hale, Eric James Stone, and on and on. Weirdly, also, they have Jessica Day George on the website, but I don’t see her in the schedule, so it makes me wonder if they just copy and paste last year’s list in (it never seems to change).

Despite having a slightly out-of-date website, though, the symposium itself is a good experience, and writers get a LOT of good free advice, and get to meet a lot of their favorite published writers and working artists. So make sure you save the date—Feb. 11-13, 2010 in the Wilkinson Center at BYU (upstairs on the 3rd floor; there are usually signs).

Here’s my tentative schedule, and the people who are on the panels with me:

Thursday, Feb 11

(This first one’s a trick question:)

1 pm—Defining Children’s Literature: What are a children’s book, a middle grade reader, a YA novel and an adult novel? (Stacy Whitman, Lisa Mangum, Mette Ivie Harrison, Dan Willis)

4 pm—No More Dead Dogs (or moms): Why do mothers and dogs always die in children’s literature? How do we pull at the heartstrings and give child characters independence without killing off dogs and moms? (Paul Genesse, Stacy Whitman, Clint Johnson, Julie Wright)

Friday, Feb. 12

Apparently I don’t have anything on Friday. I’m confused on that. But I’ll probably be around, working, chatting, etc.

Saturday, Feb. 13

10 am—What Exactly Does an Editor Do, Anyway? (L. E. Modesitt, Jr.,  Stacy Whitman, Susan Vincent, Lisa Mangum, Tristi Pinkston)

2 pm—Regional Publishers (Lisa Magnum, Stacy Whitman, Linda Brummett, Garry P. Mitchell, Tristi Pinkston, Dave Doering)

5 pm—-Edgy YA vs. not-so-edgy (Stacy Whitman, Laura Bingham, Mette Harrison, Julie Wright)

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SPOILER WARNING: I’m linking to the Wikipedia articles about these anime and the manga or light novels they’re based on. Sometimes there can be spoilers on these pages with no warnings, so proceed with caution. There are no huge spoilers in my descriptions—everything I mention is mentioned in the descriptions of the anime on the Netflix or Hulu page—but those of you with low spoiler thresholds have been warned.

DN Angel (more, including content/age range info & no spoilers, at Anime News Network)—I’m just starting this one through Netflix and it’s been making me giggle. Daisuke Niwa is a pretty normal 14-year-old kid who turns into a notorious thief when he sees the girl he loves, and he can only turn back when he’s won her love in his thief form. His mom and grandpa as accomplices are hilarious.

Darker than Black (more at ANN)—also just started this one (have only watched the 1st disc so far) and it’s okay. Definitely at least PG-13 for gore in some places–don’t recommend it for kids. The stars have gone out and are replaced by the “stars” of what they call “contractors,” people who have a superpower that is constrained by a habit they hate. So, someone who can manipulate water, for example, might be required to smoke, that kind of thing. I’m still trying to figure out the thread of the plot on this one.

Tactics (more info at Anime News Network)—LOVE this one so far. Also only past the first disc, but it’s really great so far. I would LOVE to see a YA novel focusing on this kind of folklore—Shonen Onmiyouji (ANN), another anime, also features the same kind of concept, a boy/man who can see spirits and banishes them using traditional Japanese methods (which I believe, but I’m not sure, are based on real Shinto practices—someone correct me if I’m wrong). (Nevermind, I will correct myself—if Wikipedia can be believed, Onmyodo was a spiritual practice in and of itself, but influenced by Shintoism as well as other religions.)

Point being: We’ve had plenty of YA books in which teens can see spirits or demons or fairies. But I’d love to see one set in Japan or using these kinds of Japanese folkloric influences. I think it makes a familiar story into something completely different, something fresh and new to a U.S. audience. (As always when I hope for stories like this, do your research and know the culture!)

Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok—halfway through this one. Pretty great so far. Anime News Network’s plot summary: “Loki, the Norse god of mischief, has been exiled to the human world for what was apparently was a bad joke. Along with being exiled, he’s forced to take the form of a child. He’s told the only way he can get back to the world of the gods is if he can collect auras of evil that take over human hearts, and so to do this he runs a detective agency. Loki is soon joined by a human girl named Mayura who is a maniac for mysteries, and she soon helps out in her own way. However, soon other Norse gods begin to appear, and most have the intent to assassinate Loki for reasons unclear.”

Kyo Kara Mao! (ANN’s take on it here)—yet another one I’m not far into but love so far. Another giggle-worthy one. Main character Yuri Shibuya is flushed down a toilet into a parallel world where he is proclaimed the Demon King and accidentally proposes marriage to another guy by slapping him on the face for insulting his mother. Hilarious to watch him try to navigate a culture so different from his own (which is what parallel-world fantasy is all about, though it’s not always supposed to be funny). The more serious plot arcs are great, too—Yuri has no idea what he’s doing as a king, and he tries to avoid war between demon and human kingdoms, which baffles a lot of people.

R.O.D. the TV (ANN link)—Actually, I covered this one in my original post.

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (ANN link)—somehow this one got left off my last list. Watch this one! It’s hilarious. Only 12 episodes, I think, so a relatively quick watch.

M0onPhase (ANN link)—A hilariously different take on a vampire story. I love the relationship between Kouhei and Hazuki. And the opening sequence is hilarious. I’m only about halfway through this one on Hulu—I discovered it over the holiday break and haven’t had time to go back to it. (Reading subs makes it harder to do other things while watching. I love listening to the Japanese inflections, but listening to dubs (even bad ones) makes it easier for me to accomplish other things at the same time.)

I also re-watched Fruits Basket recently (it’s on Hulu!) and again recommend it to anyone. It’s a classic YA fantasy story.

I really wish there were a second season of Ghost Hunt available (this one’s on Hulu, as well). From what I can tell, it was written by the same woman who wrote Twelve Kingdoms, which might be why I like it so much.

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I did a little investigating, and it looks like it’s actually a contest for film students to create storyboards, and RH provides $4000 to the finalists to make book trailers based on three books coming out from Delacorte, which are then judged. This is, of course, a cool and legitimate use of a contest—and the resulting book trailers are always cool*—but what I want to know is: why are Kirkus and B&N involved in it? It seems like an in-house contest at RH, and putting Kirkus’s name on it makes it seem as if it’s a wider competition for books published by a more diverse set of publishers.

What I’d really like to see is an award for book trailers that allows anyone to enter a trailer for consideration. Like the Academy Awards of book trailers. I think book trailers are really coming into their own. I really love seeing the results of this Kirkus/RH contest* and this year they’ve even started using the spots as commercials on TV—The Maze Runner’s trailer was a commercial on the SyFy network during a Twilight Zone marathon, which I think is the perfect use of a book trailer. (And it’s so much more interesting than the old book commercials with just a picture of the book and a voiceover. We can do so much better than that as an industry, can’t we?) So where is the wider application of this idea, or perhaps a tweaking of it (because this one is really more a competition for film students)?

So, anyone know if there’s an award out there already that focuses more on the book trailers themselves rather than being a publicity vehicle for one publisher (and it’s a good publicity vehicle, don’t get me wrong—I just wonder if there’s something that’s a true award for publishers/authors to enter)? One that focuses on the book trailers themselves, about books from any publisher?

If not, shouldn’t there be one? I think it would be a good thing to think about.

*Here’s one of this year’s winners, The Maze Runner by James Dashner, to give you an idea of the quality work that comes from the RH competition:

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Today I break radio silence to build a book list. My sister reports that my five-year-old nephew is going through a dragon phase. He already has A Practical Guide to Dragons (how could he not? I think I gave a copy to every relative who wanted one, and then some), along with the one I edited, A Practical Guide to Monsters. My sister called while in the bookstore, looking for books to go with a Christmas present, and I could only think of the Dragon Codex books I edited. I didn’t even think of the Dragonology books off the top of my head, which would be perfect for him—some reading, but a lot of tactical exploring, as well. So now I’m putting together a list of books for her to look up at the library.

He’s only five, so picture books are welcome for the list. I’m just not as well-versed in them, so I don’t have a great lot of suggestions in that category. I’d love early readers and chapter books, because he can work on those on his own (though he might need help for some of the more advanced ones). They also read aloud a lot together, so suggestions for middle grade novels are definitely welcome.

Dragon Codex books by R.D. Henham (Red, Bronze, Black, Brass, Green, Silver, and Gold)—full disclosure: I edited these. They’re GOOD. And so of course they go at the top of the list.
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
How to Speak Dragonese by Cressida Cowell
Dragonology (& all related books)
Kenny & the Dragon, Tony DiTerlizzi
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
Puff the Magic Dragon (picture book—we loved the song as kids)
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (I *knew* she had a dragon book!)
Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull—fun of all sorts, dragon doesn’t come in until most recent book
St. George & the Dragon by Margaret Hodges & Trina Schart Hyman
Magic Treehouse #37: Dragon of the Red Dawn (they love Magic Treehouse in their house–my nephew’s older brother devoured practically the whole series)

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Wow.

So, a big thank you to everyone who made this happen: All the people who tweeted, blogged, and shared on Facebook about it; all the people who participated in the auction; and especially all the people who pledged. We’ll officially be open for submissions from writers come Jan. 1 because WE MET THE GOAL!

For you writers: keep an eye on the Tu Publishing blog, where we’ll be posting official submission guidelines in the next few days!

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A big thanks to Alana Joli Abbott, who arranged the online auction to benefit our Kickstarter campaign, and to everyone who donated something or who bid on the items in the auction.

Now that the auction is over, we’re still heading toward the home stretch in our Kickstarter campaign. As of writing this, we are at $6502 with 58 hours to go! That means we are $3498 short of our $10,000 goal. Can we make it in 58 hours? Well, we jumped about 25% up in the last several days, so it’s very possible!

Several people have been asking why we’re doing this Kickstarter campaign. Mary Robinette Kowal said it best over on her blog:

Once upon a time, someone starting a new publishing house would either have a personal fortune or would seek large private investors. Crowdsourced fundraising allows the masses to chip in for projects they believe in.

When we start out, we’ll have a lot of friends who we know helped us out, who will be rooting for us to succeed. It’s because of all of you that we’ll be able to do this. So, thanks for your support so far, and thanks for the help you’ll give us to be able to reach the goal.

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