New Hats in the Ring
A look at eight children's imprints making their debuts this year
by Sally Lodge -- Publishers Weekly, 4/12/2004
A hefty handful of publishers large and small will introduce either this season or next imprints that span the rich spectrum
of children's books from lavishly illustrated picture books to action-filled YA fiction. Here is a roundup of some of the new
lines that will appear on booksellers' shelves in the forthcoming months.
Fiction from a Barn
Based in Weston, Conn., Brown Barn Books will roll out its inaugural list of original trade paperbacks this fall. A division of Pictures of Record, a publisher of archaeological visuals and teaching materials for
universities, museums and schools, Brown Barn is named for the 1840 structure that is home to the company—as well
as to its owner and editor-in-chief, Nancy Hammerslough.
The editor, who founded Pictures of Record 25 years ago, explained that the Brown Barn list will focus on fiction for young
adults, the plots of which, she said, "take readers outside of their own lives. I believe that kids' lives are bounded by the
people they know and the lives they see. Perhaps because of my work in anthropology and archeology, I would love to
widen kids' lives through books."
A common thread running through the list's offerings will be the novels' crossover potential. "Most of our books are aimed
at readers 14 and up who are just as comfortable with adult books as young adult books," Hammerslough noted. "And
although they feature protagonists who are older teens, most of our books will be happily read by adults, since the novels
have good stories and characters."
Brown Barn Books will be sold through Baker and Taylor, and Hammerslough hopes that B&T will cross-market the
books, so that the books will be shelved in both young-adult and adult sections of stores.
The line, which Hammerslough anticipates will publish approximately 10 titles annually, launches with five novels, among
them Running Horsemen by Dolph LeMoult, in which a boy from Texas goes to New York City in 1952 in search of his
father; and Colin Neenan's Idiot!, centering on a boy who inadvertently becomes a nationally known hero after he falls in
love with his high school's would-be gossip columnist.
