Posts tagged with JAMES PATTERSON

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What About the Reluctant Reader?

This week the Book Review introduces a Back to School issue, with nine pages dedicated to the latest books being published for children, many of them eagerly anticipated by parents and children. But what about those children who aren’t so eager to start reading?

In recent years the phrase “reluctant readers” has gained currency among teachers and educators. Whether it’s due to the allure of the iPod, the call of the Wii or any number of other distractions, many children choose to spend their leisure time doing things other than reading.

A disproportionate share of these nonreaders are boys. How to get them into the library and bookstore? It’s a question that has publishers, teachers, librarians and parents at a loss.

This week three prominent authors of books for children tackle the subject. In a video interview, James Patterson, the mega-selling author of novels for adults and children, including the Maximum Ride series, and Rick Riordan, a former teacher and the author of the beloved Percy Jackson series, sat down with me before speaking to a sold-out audience at Lincoln Center this spring. The subject: how to get children to love reading.

This topic is also the subject of a back-page essay in this week’s Book Review by Robert Lipsyte, the author, most recently, of a memoir, “An Accidental Sportswriter,” and an award-winning author of young adult novels.

If these three authors are able to pique the interest of at least a few boys, those readers will find plenty of suggestions among the books reviewed in our Back to School issue.

Graphic Book Best Sellers: Supermen of Letters

The UnwrittenDC Comics/Vertigo The cover of “The Unwritten, Vol. 2: Inside Man.”

Things are looking very literary this week. At No. 3 on the hardcover list is “The Dark Tower: The Battle of Jericho Hill,” which explores the world and characters created by Stephen King in his series of “Dark Tower” novels. Previous installments of this series landed on the list back in February.

The second volume of “The Unwritten” by Mike Carey and Peter Gross enters the softcover list at No. 2. The central figure of the series is Tom Taylor, whose father created a famous boy-wizard character modeled after him, and now he’s overwhelmed by being linked to such a beloved icon. Making things worse: the fictional world keeps creeping into reality. Is there more to Tommy than previously thought? Mr. Carey discussed his inspirations for “The Unwritten” when its first collected edition hit the list in January.

At No. 1 on the manga list is the third volume of “Maximum Ride,” based on the young adult novels by James Patterson about a group of children who are part human and part bird. In this latest installment, an F.B.I. agent tries to assist them, but an evil threat reemerges and forces the flock to flee again. The first installment of “Maximum Ride” landed on the manga list in December.

The complete lists can be found here, along with an explanation of how they were assembled. See you next week!

No Cliffhanger: James Patterson and Stephenie Meyer Are Top-Earning Authors

James Patterson
Stephenie Meyer

The publishing industry may be in the doldrums, but it appears that James Patterson ($70 million), Stephenie Meyer ($40 million) and Stephen King ($34 million) are not. They topped the list of the 10 highest-paid authors, according to Forbes magazine, which tracked earnings collected over the last year, ending June 1.

Other authors on the list included the romance novelist Danielle Steel ($32 million), Ken Follett ($20 million), Dean Koontz ($18 million), Janet Evanovich ($16 million), John Grisham ($15 million) and Nicholas Sparks ($14 million). Number 10 was J.K. Rowling ($10 million), even though she did not publish a new book that year.

Graphic Books Best-Sellers List

The first volume of “Maximum Ride,” by James Patterson and NaRae Lee, enters our manga list at No. 6 this week. The manga, published by Yen Press, is based on Mr. Patterson’s series of young adult novels about a group of kids who are part human and part bird. Mr. Patterson is also the author of the best-selling “Women’s Murder Club” and Alex Cross series of novels. The second volume of the series has been on our list for seven weeks and is currently in the No. 4 spot. Volume 3 of the manga version of “Maximum Ride” is due in August. In June, the prose version of “Maximum Ride” was No. 10 on the New York Times children’s series best-seller list.

Yen Press may soon have another hit on its hands. In January, the company will publish a monthly, serialized manga version of “Gossip Girl,” based on the novels by Cecily von Ziegesar, which also inspired the CW television series. The manga is described as an “original re-imagination” of Blair and Vanessa’s senior year in an elite New York City high school. The story, written and illustrated by HyeKyung Baek, will appear in the “Yen Plus” manga anthology beginning in January.

Here are the complete lists, along with an explanation of how they were assembled. See you next week!

A New Thriller for Patterson and Marklund

Updated | 1:03 p.m. James Patterson, one of the world’s most prolific authors and a frequent collaborator with (sometimes unnamed) co-writers, is working on a new thriller with a best-selling Swedish writer, Liza Marklund.

During an interview at a party thrown on Monday night in his honor to celebrate 20 years of publishing books with Little, Brown & Co., a division of Hachette Group, Mr. Patterson said he wanted a new challenge and had liked the work of Ms. Marklund, which he had read in translation.

The book the pair will write together is one of 17 books that Mr. Patterson recently agreed to produce for Little, Brown in a new deal signed earlier this month. Mr. Patterson said on Monday that those 17 books represented about two years of publishing, and that he had already started or finished 14 of them.
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Not a Typo: James Patterson Signs 17-Book Deal

James PattersonSue Solie Patterson/Little, Brown James Patterson, seen here in a rare moment of rest.

If over the next few months you see smoke coming from the direction of James Patterson‘s house, it might be the result of the author burning off his fingertips as he types: On Tuesday, the Hachette Book Group announced that it had signed a deal with Mr. Patterson that would cover 17 books. In a news release, Hachette said that 11 of the books would be for adult readers and released by Little, Brown and Company (in hardcover) and Grand Central Publishing (in paperback); the remaining six would be handled by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. The books will be divided among Mr. Patterson’s various best-selling series, and feature his detective characters Alex Cross and Michael Bennett as well as the Women’s Murder Club. The young adult titles will include books in the “Maximum Ride” and “Daniel X” franchises as well as a new “Witch & Wizard” series whose first book will be released in December. Terms of the deal, which was negotiated by Robert Barnett and Deneen Howell of Williams & Connolly LLP, were not disclosed, but Hachette said the contract would cover books through 2012. That’s just under six books a year, so getting cracking, Mr. Patterson.
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