Longtime children's book editor and publisher Joanna Cotler is stepping down from her position at HarperCollins Children's Books. Cotler, who has spent the last 13 years as publisher of her eponymous imprint, Joanna Cotler Books, will become editor-at-large at the publisher as of May 13.

Cotler, whose current title is senior v-p and publisher, is leaving to focus on her sideline passion, painting. She will continue to edit select titles after her departure; moving forward these will be the only titles published under the Joanna Cotler Books banner. The imprint currently issues 15 titles a year; it has not yet been determined how many books Cotler will do once she transitions to editor-at-large.

*****

Over the years Cotler has worked with a distinguished list of authors, including William Steig, Art Spiegelman, Sharon Creech, Francesca Lia Block and Jamie Lee Curtis. In thanking her colleagues at HarperCollins, Cotler added that she was "most deeply honored by the authors and artists who chose to work with me. I love them all and have been so privileged to publish their books."

The first instalment of the series finale will open on November 19, 2010, with the second released the following summer. Earlier reports indicated that Part II would premiere in May 2011. The studio announced the decision to split J.K. Rowling's final book in the popular wizard series into two films last month.

David Yates will return to direct the Deathly Hallows films, making him the series's most prolific helmer, steering four of the eight Potter movies. The sixth Potter film, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, opens in cinemas this November.

Google, the Internet's leader in search and advertising, says the process it developed and is using for scanning the majority of the books in Book Search is proprietary. Employees will not discuss it except to say it is much faster than what Mitchel is doing and it's not destructive. "It took us quite a while to develop it so we do keep that confidential," said a library manager for Book Search, Ben Bunnell, who declined even to say where Google does the scanning.

Many libraries began digitizing books a decade ago to preserve them. Funding from Google allows the 28 libraries it's working with to cut their digitizing costs because they don't have to pay for scanning the books Google wants to include in Book Search.

Through Book Search, users can track down a book on any topic they're interested in and read a small portion. If the book's not protected by copyright, users can download the whole thing. If it is, or if they just want to read an original, they can use Book Search to find copies to buy or borrow. More than 1 million rare or fragile books have been digitized through the Google-Michigan partnership since it began in 2004, with an estimated 6 million to go.

Reps for JKR have now confirmed to TLC that there will indeed be an extract of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows contained in this new book, along with two new illustrations of the story from author and artist Quentin Blake. Along with the contribution from Jo, others such as Philip Pullman and Jacqueline Wilson are contributing to the birthday book for The Prince of Wales, with new material due from Philip Ardagh and Anthony Horowitz. In addition to the new illustrations from Quentin Blake, other artists contributing are Axel Scheffler, Posy Simmonds and Emily Gravett. The Birthday Book will be published on November 6, with all proceeds to benefit The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts, a charity which”provides schoolchildren with opportunities to visit theatres, orchestras, museums and galleries."

Vander Ark wiped away tears when he was asked to reflect on what the case has done to his relationship with the community of Harry Potter fans. The former middle school librarian, who fell in love with the books in the late 90s and has devoted years to studying them and indexing their content online, could barely speak. "It's been ... it's been," he stammered, choking on his words. "It's been difficult because there has been a lot of criticism, obviously, and that was never the intention. ... This has been an important part of my life for the last nine years or so."

*****

During his testimony Tuesday, Vander Ark acknowledged that he, too, had substantial concerns all along about whether publishing an encyclopedia based on Rowling's Potter universe would constitute copyright infringement. He said he was talked into doing it by the publishing company.

Q: Did having writers in your family lead you to write?

A: "Growing up surrounded by people who wrote for a living made it seen like a viable reality. Had I grown up with parents or grandparents in classic nine-to-five jobs, it would have felt further away. It was always something I wanted to do."

Q: Do you mind people comparing you work to your grandfather's — or even your mother, Tessa Dahl, who is a writer?

A: "It is such an easy route to take, comparing me with my grandfather, but I couldn't take that sort of comparison or criticism on board. It is really irrelevant as you are talking about totally different mediums. He was a genius, beloved pretty universally, a great children's writer and adult fiction writer. I am just at the beginning of my career."

Q: Did you get on with him? (Roald Dahl died in 1990)

A: "I adored him. I grew up spending a lot of time with him, with all my grandparents. He was a great story-teller. He was sparky and wonderful and curious and never patronized children, which comes across in his writing."

Reporting its 2007 results, its pre-tax profit more than tripled to £17.86m - from £5.2m in 2006, a year when there was no book about the young wizard. As well as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it said Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner had sold well.

The firm said 2008 had started well with "a strong pipeline of new titles". The global success of the Harry Potter books has historically generated bumper profits for Bloomsbury, but the company is now entering a new phase. Chief executive Nigel Newton said: "We are now well positioned for the post Harry Potter era. "We have reduced overhead costs, are successfully developing new business areas in specialist publishing, and have a strong pipeline of titles."

*****

However, not all experts believe the Harry Potter-effect has quite ended. A note from Numis Media Analysts said: "While the final Harry Potter book was released in 2007, we believe the group will be able profitably to mine the franchise for several years, including a paperback edition of Harry Potter 7 [The Deathly Hallows] possibly this year. "Beyond this, we expect the group to diversify either through organic growth or acquisitions."

For those who remember, he was the young boy who gets the girl in the film Love Actually. For those who don't, Thomas Sangster may yet become a household name. The sixth-former from south London, the Guardian can reveal, has been chosen by Steven Spielberg to be his Tintin for a three-movie adaptation of the boy reporter's adventures. The trilogy is likely to give the 17-year-old the same profile as Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter, or Elijah Wood, who shot to international stardom as Frodo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings series.

Spielberg has been working with Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings and King Kong, on how to bring Tintin to life. Now the production has taken another significant step with the casting of Sangster, alongside Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the adaptation of Tolkien's books, as Captain Haddock. Both actors spent a week in Los Angeles before Easter running through scenes for Spielberg and Jackson; work begins in earnest in September, with a view to releasing the first film in 2010.

Sangster admitted to the Guardian that he had not read Tintin until a few days ago. "But I've always loved the cartoons. I never saw the books because I was never that big on reading. When I was really young I watched some episodes and loved it.

"You can really escape into this fantasy world ... I love cars and aeroplanes and stuff, any car or any aeroplane or any gun that was ever used in Tintin would always be real, an exact copy of it so if it was a car it would be a Citroen and if it was a gun it would be a Luger."

"Tintin is like a super boy scout. He knows how to fly these things. He knows how to drive these things. It's just like common sense: he jumps in and goes, he doesn't need to think about any safety, he just goes where he pleases. For such a small kid he's very good at beating people up and, being a cartoon, nowadays you know, there's all that 'we can't be violent'".

A rare 1937 first issue of the first edition of the childrens' classic was sold at Bonhams earlier today, going for twice its pre-sale estimate. The copy, inscribed by the author with a message of thanks to his friend Elaine Griffiths, who helped the author see the work into print, went to an anonymous telephone bidder. The £60,000 price tag sets a new world record for signed copies of the book, which remains Tolkien's bestselling work, having sold over 100m copies since its first publication.

Also included in the sale was the first foreign language edition of The Hobbit, also inscribed to Elaine Griffiths. The Swedish version, dating from 1947, went for £1,560, almost four times its estimated sale price.

The last known photograph of Tolkien, taken by his grandson Michael on August 9 1973, was also included in the auction. The photograph shows the author in the Botanical Gardens of Oxford, where Tolkien taught Anglo-Saxon language and literature, leaning against his favourite tree, the Black Pine he named Laocoon after the mythical Trojan prophet. The photograph was a gift to Elaine Griffiths from Tolkien's daughter Priscilla, who wrote on the back "For Elaine with love from Priscilla".

The aviation pioneer's Lockheed Lightning P-38 disappeared July 31, 1944. In a forthcoming book, former Luftwaffe pilot Horst Rippert says he believes that he shot down the plane - although he is not completely sure. Le Figaro magazine published extracts of the book, "Saint-Exupery, the ultimate secret," this weekend. "I shot down Exupery," the magazine quoted Rippert as saying.

But the former Messerschmitt pilot also added: "I didn't see the pilot, and it would have been impossible for me to know that it was Exupery. I hoped, and I still hope, that it wasn't him." Saint-Exupery was 44. A scuba diver since found the wreckage of his plane on the Mediterranean seabed, offshore between Marseille and Cassis.

He has become one of France's most admired figures, in part because of "The Little Prince," a tender fable about a prince from an asteroid who explores the planets and then falls to earth. Saint-Exupery's other works, which largely deal with his aviation experiences, include "Wind, Sand and Stars" and "Flight to Arras," about a doomed reconnaissance mission.

The German pilot, Rippert, says in the book that he was a fan of the author's works. "In our youth, at school, we had all read him. We loved his books," he said. "If I had known, I would not have opened fire. Not on him!"

The Cat in the Cat, Horton Hears a Who!, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop and other Dr. Seuss classics are going digital, thanks to a partnership between Dr. Seuss Enterprises and kidthing, a new content distribution platform. Digital versions of the books—with extras such as voiceovers, sound effects and music—will roll out on kidthing.com starting in March, along with digital games based on the characters.

"We're honored to be able to work with Dr. Seuss Enterprises," says Larry Hitchcock, kidthing's CEO. "We all have our favorite Dr. Seuss properties or books that we read as a child and are reading to our own kids now."

Content is downloaded on an a la carte basis, with fees ranging from $.99 to $10.00; content owners determine the prices. It is then played offline on kidthing's free digital media player. Hitchcock says the service was designed to provide a safe environment where children can use digital content at home and in school, and to provide publishers and other content owners with a secure way to distribute and monetize their content.

In March, the National Education Association will partner with kidthing to distribute a free digital read-along version of Horton Hears a Who! to classrooms in conjunction with the Read Across America initiative. That will be followed by a classroom version of The Lorax in celebration of Earth Day in April. Both titles will be available for purchase online as well.

The studio purchased all rights to the five novels, composed of handwriting and animation, chronicling the daily indignities faced by middle school student Greg Heffley. Former Buena Vista president Nina Jacobson will produce the first feature, with more to possibly follow. Carla Hacken is overseeing the film's development for the studio.

Author/illustrator Kinney's first two books, last spring's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and February's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules," both hit No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list, with the first book staying there for 45 weeks. The author launched his underdog hero's story on Funbrain.com in 2004, attracting more than 50 million visits from fans.

Fox 2000 young adult book scout Riley Ellis met with Kinney a year ago and brought in the project, helping make the rights deal with agent Sylvie Rabineau and attorney Keith Fleer. The studio is currently seeking a director and screenwriter for the project.

Tea For Ruby is about a little girl with a marvelous imagination, who, though well intentioned, is not always as well-mannered and proper as she might be. When she suddenly receives a mysterious invitation to Tea, she enthusiastically shares her excitement with everyone from her mom and dad to the postman! Along the way she learns valuable lessons in manners from everyone in preparation for the big day. Will she be ready? Tea For Ruby teaches proper etiquette in a fanciful way that will appeal to the everyday princess: for the high spirited little girl who also knows when it is time to be a poised young lady. Ruby's endearing character will return for more animated adventures in future books by the Duchess of York and Robin Preiss Glasser.

"I do think that they really captured the spirit," Black said in an interview. "They really got the family dynamics. They really got the character dynamics. When Jared comes on screen, and he hits the front of the car with a stick, it just gave me chills. I was like, 'That's Jared. That's my boy.'"

Black wrote the text of the books, while DiTerlizzi drew the illustrations. They share authorial credit because of their close collaboration on the story, which follows the Grace family as they move into a new home and discover that there are mythical creatures living all around them. DiTerlizzi and Black also received executive-producer credits on the film and were consulted every step of the way.

"I think we made it clear that we [made] the books; we [weren't] going to tell [the producers] how to make a movie," DiTerlizzi said in the same interview. "That mindset--and it probably stems from us having such a collaborative give-and-take relationship--I think that allowed us to be able to swim amongst a highly collaborative project." Black added: "We actually did get to see all the scripts and give our feedback and give our thoughts, and they listened to us. And when they agreed with us, hopefully we were in some ways useful."

Both DiTerlizzi and Black were especially pleased with the film's production designer, James Bissell, whose previous work includes 300 and Good Night, and Good Luck. They said that his designs incorporated the important themes of the book in creative and subtle ways. "James Bissel is amazing," DiTerlizzi said. "I gave him everything that I looked at and used as reference, both for the sets and for the creatures. And then he was seeing stuff that you almost don't even think about it. [In] Spiderwick, one of the thematic elements is kind of man rubbing up against nature, if you take the stance that the fairies are kind of spirits of ... nature or what have you. So Jim was like, 'Oh, I've got oak-leaf motifs in the house.' The newel posts on the staircases all have acorns and stuff. So he was able to integrate it in ways that you just can't [illustrate]."

A story based on the Three Little Pigs fairy tale has been turned down by a government agency's awards panel as the subject matter could offend Muslims. The digital book, re-telling the classic story, was rejected by judges who warned that "the use of pigs raises cultural issues". Becta, the government's educational technology agency, is a leading partner in the annual Bett Award for schools.

The judges also attacked Three Little Cowboy Builders for offending builders. The book's creative director, Anne Curtis, said the idea that including pigs in a story could be interpreted as racism was "like a slap in the face".

The CD-Rom digital version of the traditional story of the three little pigs, called Three Little Cowboy Builders, is aimed at primary school children. But judges at this year's Bett Award said that they had "concerns about the Asian community and the use of pigs raises cultural issues".

The Three Little Cowboy Builders has already been a prize winner at the recent Education Resource Award -- but its Newcastle-based publishers, Shoo-fly, were turned down by the Bett Award panel. The feedback from the judges explaining why they had rejected the CD-Rom highlighted that they "could not recommend this product to the Muslim community". They also warned that the story might "alienate parts of the workforce (building trade)".

Mr. Scieszka, 53, who has written more than 25 books in the last two decades, is to be named to this new position by James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress. Mr. Billington said that unlike the role of the poet laureate, which does not come with specific responsibilities, this one calls for Mr. Scieszka (pronounced SHEH-ska) to be a spokesman who will travel and speak to groups of children, parents and teachers "to evangelize the need for reading." He will also speak at Children’s Book Week in New York in May and the National Book Festival in Washington in September.

With the new position Mr. Scieszka said he hoped to reach out to children who are considered reluctant readers. "There's a huge population of kids who would be or can be readers, but just choose not to," said Mr. Scieszka, who runs a Web-based literacy program aimed at boys called Guys Read. "Kids see it just as a school activity or something that just can't compete with a Nintendo Wii or just hanging out and text messaging your friends. Parents and booksellers and teachers are dying for some help."

The idea for the ambassadorship had been raised a number of times in previous years but finally came to fruition last fall when Robin Adelson, executive director of the Children’s Book Council, a trade association for children’s book publishers, contacted John Cole, director of the Center for the Book, an arm of the Library of Congress that promotes books, libraries and literacy and has established centers in every state and Washington, D.C.

Ms. Adelson, Mr. Cole and the board of the council and its affiliated foundation appointed a committee, which came up with a short list of candidates. Mr. Scieszka topped the list, and Mr. Billington approved his selection. The appointment is for two years, and the Cheerios division of General Mills is providing $50,000 to the program. Mr. Scieszka will receive a $25,000-a-year stipend.

Of the 53 percent of U.S. adults who said they visited a library in 2007, the biggest users were young adults aged 18 to 30 in the tech-loving group known as Generation Y, the survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project said. "These findings turn our thinking about libraries upside down," said Leigh Estabrook, a professor emerita at the University of Illinois and co-author of a report on the survey results. "Internet use seems to create an information hunger and it is information-savvy young people who are most likely to visit libraries," she said.

Internet users were more than twice as likely to patronize libraries as non-Internet users, according to the survey. More than two-thirds of library visitors in all age groups said they used computers while at the library. Sixty-five percent of them looked up information on the Internet while 62 percent used computers to check into the library's resources. Public libraries now offer virtual homework help, special gaming software programs, and some librarians even have created characters in the Second Life virtual world, Estabrook said. Libraries also remain a community hub or gathering place in many neighborhoods, she said.

The survey showed 62 percent of Generation Y respondents said they visited a public library in the past year, with a steady decline in usage according to age. Some 57 percent of adults aged 43 to 52 said they visited a library in 2007, followed by 46 percent of adults aged 53 to 61; 42 percent of adults aged 62 to 71; and just 32 percent of adults over 72.

"We were surprised by these findings, particularly in relation to Generation Y," said Lee Rainie, co-author of the study and director of the Pew project. In 1996 a survey by the Benton Foundation found young adults saw libraries becoming less relevant in the future.

As a boy, author/illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi was told he "had a weird imagination." At a recent preview of the movie based on The Spiderwick Chronicles, the best-selling series DiTerlizzi wrote with Holly Black, he said, "This exceeds my boyhood imagination by miles." The five-book series about a family's battle with trolls, ogres and goblins has sold 4 million copies.

The movie, which stars Freddie Highmore and opens Feb. 15, may be scarier than the books. "When you read about an ogre, somehow it seems less scary than seeing it up on the big screen," DiTerlizzi says. But Black says, "You never know what's going to scare kids." One 6-year-old reader "thought the scariest thing was the part about the parents' divorce."

Amazon spokesman Craig Berman said Amazon wants to take the book on tour to libraries and schools, though the company doesn't yet have detailed plans. Amazon representatives did not disclose where the book is being stored. One of the book's five original stories, "The Tale of the Three Brothers" is told in the final "Harry Potter" novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

" 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' is really a distillation of the themes found in the 'Harry Potter' books, and writing it has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I have loved and lived in for 17 years," Rowling said in a prepared statement. Rowling said the six other copies of the "Beedle" books have been given to people who were closely connected to the "Harry Potter" collection.

"Purchasing this book with the proceeds going to charity does, in a real tangible way, say thank you to J.K. Rowling for what she's done for readers around the world," Berman said. Rowling said she'd donate the proceeds to The Children's Voice campaign, a charity she co-founded to help improve the lives of institutionalized children across Europe.

Jack Hanna, the famous zookeeper and wildlife enthusiast, has signed a nine-book deal with Thomas Nelson Publishers, including eight children's books and one trade book. Jungle Jack, the director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, served as director of the zoo and has appeared on national television as an animal expert.

The first book from the deal, Romp, Stomp, Waddle Home!, will be released in May. An interactive book, it is a hardcover title that comes with animal magnets so children can work with Jungle Jack to help mixed-up animals find their way home."

Harry Potter, James Patterson and Oprah Winfrey's book club aside, Americans - particularly young Americans - appear to be reading less for fun, and as that happens, their reading test scores are declining. At the same time, performance in other academic disciplines like math and science is dipping for students whose access to books is limited, and employers are rating workers deficient in basic writing skills.

That is the message of a new report being released today by the National Endowment for the Arts, based on an analysis of data from about two dozen studies from the federal Education and Labor Departments and the Census Bureau as well as other academic, foundation and business surveys. After its 2004 report, "Reading at Risk," which found that fewer than half of Americans over 18 read novels, short stories, plays or poetry, the endowment sought to collect more comprehensive data to build a picture of the role of all reading, including nonfiction. In his preface to the new 99-page report Dana Gioia, chairman of the endowment, described the data as "simple, consistent and alarming."

Among the findings is that although reading scores among elementary school students have been improving, scores are flat among middle school students and slightly declining among high school seniors. These trends are concurrent with a falloff in daily pleasure reading among young people as they progress from elementary to high school, a drop that appears to continue once they enter college. The data also showed that students who read for fun nearly every day performed better on reading tests than those who reported reading never or hardly at all. The study also examined results from reading tests administered to adults and found a similar trend: The percentage of adults who are proficient in reading prose has fallen at the same time that the proportion of people who read regularly for pleasure has declined.

Three years ago "Reading at Risk," which was based on a study by the Census Bureau in 2002, provoked a debate among academics, publishers and others, some of whom argued that the report defined reading too narrowly by focusing on fiction, poetry and drama. Others argued that there had not been as much of a decline in reading as the report suggested. This time the endowment did not limit its analysis to so-called literary reading. It selected studies that asked questions about "reading for fun" or "time spent reading for pleasure," saying that this could refer to a range of reading materials.

Almost 2 out of 3 Americans, or 63%, said they were more inclined to side with writers in their dispute with major studios, according to a survey by Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business Management that is scheduled to be released today. Writers went on strike last week amid disputes over pay when their work is distributed on the Internet and via cellphones and other new-media devices.

*****

Smith said the public support could wane if the strike disrupted consumers' TV viewing habits. Though several shows have stopped shooting, viewers won't notice much change until early next year, when reruns, sports and reality shows replace scripted programs. When asked about the prospect of reruns replacing new shows, 42% of the respondents said they would read more, and 35% said they would spend more time on the Internet.

Rumors of an eighth Harry Potter book have plagued the fandom for years, even after vehement denials by JK Rowling and her representatives. Well, we can put another to rest. A few news articles detailing a professionally crafted web site called Elder's Crossing have popped up recently that seem to hint at a new story named James Potter and the Hall of Elder's Crossing. HPANA can now confirm that it is not connected in any official way to the series.

"Jo has not written an eighth book in the series and is not doing so," Rowling's agent Neil Blair has told HPANA. "So no James Potter book I'm afraid."

UPDATE: Warner Bros. also assures us the site is not connected to them.

There will be just seven volumes of The Tales of Beedle the Bard and they will not be published. One copy will be auctioned to raise money for her charity, The Children's Voice, and the author will give away the rest of them. She said the books were a "wonderful way" to say goodbye to Potter. "People kept saying to me 'you'll be glad to have a break from writing', when of course I wasn't taking a break at all," added the writer.

"I was literally writing out - as these are handwritten books - these new stories which has been a wonderful way to say goodbye. It's like coming up from a deep dive." The fairytales, which were illustrated by Rowling herself, are the first works she has written since the Potter novel was published in July. The Tales of Beedle the Bard was left to Potter character Hermione by Hogwarts school headmaster Dumbledore.

"I'm not sure why I did this. I don't know why an alphabet book popped into my head," Martin says of "The Alphabet From A to Y, With Bonus Letter Z," a collaboration with New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. "My idea was to write these rhyming couplets with the craziest images I could possibly think up, and then have Roz illustrate them."

*****

"From A to Y" is a nonsense ride across time and rhyme, with highlights including "H" ("Henrietta the hare wore a habit in heaven/Her hairdo hid hunchbacks: one hundred and seven") and "N" ("Needle-nosed Nigel won nine kinds of knockwurst/By winning a contest to see who could knock wurst"). Martin is a bookish man, but he wasn't thinking of any authors when writing "From A to Y." Not Thurber, White or Edward Lear. Not Dr. Seuss, whom he didn't read until his 20s. Maybe Ogden Nash. "I did grow up on Ogden Nash," he says in a recent telephone interview, "but I'm not sure if that fits here." Martin began working on "From A to Y" a couple of years ago. Like a good boy eating his vegetables first, he took on the hard letters, like "X" (if "Ambidextrous Alex was actually axed" counts as "X"), before digging in to such treats as "A" and "E."

Asked to name his favourite letter (an improvement over being asked his favourite colour), Martin pauses. "Gee." "Gee," as in "giraffe"? No, "Gee," as in "Gee, whiz." "I always liked 'Q.' ... It has that funny little do-dad at the bottom," he says, before remembering, a theme developing here, that his play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile" includes a soliloquy by Albert Einstein on the alphabet, as it relates to pie. "Einstein compared the letter "O" to a pie, and said that the letter "Q" was like an "O" with a comma and that comma-shaped pie looks like a croissant," Martin explains.

The fifth film based on J.K. Rowling's novels is in the running for three prizes: best film, video game and the Bafta Kids' Vote, the only award chosen by the public. In the film category, the boy wizard is up against the animated rodents of "Flushed Away"; "Happy Feet," about a tap-dancing penguin called Mumble and "Bridge to Terabithia," a fantasy adventure featuring a baddie called the Dark Master.

The BBC's long-running series "Byker Grove" was nominated for best drama prize at the British Academy Children's Awards. The show, set in a Newcastle youth club, ran between 1989 and 2006 and helped launched the careers of Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly. The best children's TV channel nominees are CBeebies, Nickelodeon UK, Nick Jr UK and Scamp. The winners will be announced at a central London ceremony hosted by Keith Chegwin on November 25.

After reading briefly from the final book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," she took questions from audience members. She was asked by one young fan whether Dumbledore finds "true love." "Dumbledore is gay," the author responded to gasps and applause. She then explained that Dumbledore was smitten with rival Gellert Grindelwald, whom he defeated long ago in a battle between good and bad wizards. "Falling in love can blind us to an extent," Rowling said of Dumbledore's feelings, adding that Dumbledore was "horribly, terribly let down."

Dumbledore's love, she observed, was his "great tragedy." "Oh, my god," Rowling concluded with a laugh, "the fan fiction." Potter readers on fan sites and elsewhere on the Internet have speculated on the sexuality of Dumbledore, noting that he has no close relationship with women and a mysterious, troubled past. And explicit scenes with Dumbledore already have appeared in fan fiction. Rowling told the audience that while working on the planned sixth Potter film, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," she spotted a reference in the script to a girl who once was of interest to Dumbledore. A note was duly passed to director David Yates, revealing the truth about her character.

*****

Not everyone likes her work, Rowling said, likely referring to Christian groups that have alleged the books promote witchcraft. Her news about Dumbledore, she said, will give them one more reason.

The Happy Ending Foundation is planning a series of Bad Book Bonfires for later this month, when parents will be encouraged to burn novels with negative endings. The foundation has also written to school librarians across the country to coincide with Children's Book Week, which began on Monday, urging them to take ' controversial' books off shelves. Last night critics of the group said children needed a healthy balance in their reading. Others said the book burnings were a sinister reminder of similar events in Nazi Germany.

Among the stories on the foundation's blacklist are best-sellers such as A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket and Marcus Pfister's Milo and the Magical Stones. Works that make the approved list include Raymond Brigg's The Snowman and Enid Blyton's Famous Five series. The Snowman appears to have a sad ending because he melts, leaving the boy he has befriended alone. But the foundation claims it ends positively because the boy is contented, having the snowman's scarf to remember him by. Adrienne Small founded the organisation when her ten-year-old daughter became depressed and withdrawn after reading the first book in the Lemony Snicket series.

She said: "I talked to other mothers and friends and we decided to do something positive with books that were more upbeat. "I'm not trying to say the world should be viewed with rose-tinted glasses but you have got to do your best to protect your children." Mrs Small, 47, who is married with two teenage children, founded the organisation in 2000 and there are now 11 groups across the country, including London, Bristol, Manchester and Glasgow.

Disclaimer: Most characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living, dead, or half dead, is purely coincidental. None of the non-fictitious people, places or things named in this website were harmed during the creation of the site. We're not sure if the Loch Ness monster is fictitious or non-fictitious, you decide. We would like to state that some of the books recommended on this site are very good reads, particularly Winnie-the-Pooh. However, we would NOT recommend monster hunting at Loch Ness as a happy day out because a) it rains a lot in north Scotland and b) as previously stated, we don't know if there is actually a monster to hunt. However, if you like logs then Loch Ness is a fine place to go log hunting.

Paddington has journeyed from Darkest Peru, wearing a duffle coat, hat and Wellington boots, carrying a suitcase containing an empty jar of marmalade and wearing a label around his neck that reads "Please look after this bear, thank you." His arrival in the household of the Brown family leads to comic mishaps and misadventures for the well-meaning but accident-prone young bear.

Heyman, who is producing through his London-based shingle Heyday Films, commented, "Paddington Bear is a universally loved character, and I have wanted to bring him to screen for some years. Michael Bond's 'Paddington' books have such wit, wonder and charm. Essentially, Paddington's story is that of an immigrant arriving in London and trying to find a home and a family. Above all, I love Paddington's unique style of comedy."

*****

The Warner film will not be adapted from any specific book but will draw inspiration from the whole series. It's likely to be live action with a CGI bear in the manner of "Stuart Little."

"It's very well-written and the love story appeals to a lot of people -- young adults and adults as well," said Sarah Harkins, district marketing manager for Borders, Inc. Much like Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling's rags-to-riches story, Meyer's life took a fairy tale turn. Four years ago, she was a stay-at-home mother of three with no writing experience. Then one night, she had a fateful dream about a vampire's confession of love to a girl.

"It was a sweet, kind of tender moment," said Meyer, recounting the dream. "But there was this dark side to it because he was also admitting how much he had wanted to kill her from the first day he met her." That dream would eventually become chapter 13 in her first bestseller, "Twilight." A sequel, "New Moon," would follow. Meyer's themes are admittedly dark, but she says her books are about life, not death -- love, not lust.

In fact, this devout Mormon is a self-described "chicken," too squeamish to sit through gory vampire movies or even read Bram Stoker's "Dracula." "My books are all completely coward-proof. If you're frightened, you can still read them," she said. Meyer has sold more than a million-and-a-half copies of her three books and is writing at least two more novels. But she downplays the obvious Harry Potter comparisons.

Best-selling youth author R.L. Stine told SCI FI Wire that he will write a dozen more titles in his popular Goosebumps series, which last appeared in 2000 with the 87th book, "Ghost in the Mirror." In the novellas, which blend humor, horror and sometimes SF, teenage heroes and heroines battle and ultimately triumph over a wide array of creepy creatures.

"I took a break from scaring kids, but now I'm getting back into that," Stine said in an interview while promoting the Sept. 4 release of the direct-to-DVD title R.L. Stine's Haunting Hour: Don't Think About It. "I've just signed a contract to write 12 new Goosebumps books for Scholastic."

The new series, revealed the author, will be called Goosebumps: HorrorLand. "It's a theme park," Stine said. "I'm thrilled. I love doing Goosebumps. It's been a long time. It's my favorite series. So I'm really looking forward to it." The first Goosebumps: HorrorLand title, "Revenge of the Living Dummy," will be released in April 2008.

First lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna Bush are writing a children's book about a boy who doesn't like to read. It is based on their experiences as teachers. HarperCollins plans to announce today that it will publish the as-yet-untitled picture book next spring. It will be illustrated by Denise Brunkus, who's best known for her drawings in the popular Junie B. Jones series.

"It's a book that I've always wanted to write," Laura Bush said Wednesday in an interview. "And it's fun to be able to do it with your daughter." She says the book is set in a school - somewhat like the Miss Nelson series by Harry Allard and James Marshall - and is about a funny, mischievous second-grader "who professes not to like books. He says he likes real things. Of course, what everyone who loves books knows is that even a fantastical character can become very real to a reader." And that, she says, is something the boy learns with the help of his teacher. "It's loosely based on students we both had in our classrooms."

*****

HarperCollins says the Bushes will donate their net proceeds from the book to two national teacher programs: Teach for America and The New Teacher Project. The publisher says it is donating an unspecified share of its profits and will give away $1 million worth of children's books to schools and libraries to coincide with the publication of the book. Reminded that children's book editors often say every parent thinks he or she can write a children's book, Laura Bush chuckled.

"I know how difficult it can be. In a picture book, there are so few words, so each word has to be perfect. Jenna and I know that, and we know that each page should have something to make you want to turn the page. That's the challenge." And does she have plans to write a memoir, as most recent first ladies have done? "Not now; maybe after we go back home. But I think this book will be much more fun."

• Autographed copy of The Silver Moon Elm by MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi (Berkley Jam), the exciting new adventure in the New York Times bestselling Jennifer Scales urban fantasy adventure series. Jennifer is a normal teen with abnormal problems: she's half-weredragon, half-beaststalker.
  
  
• Inspired Creative Writing: Pokes and Prods for Scribblers of All Stripes by Alexander Gordon Smith (Perigee), the offbeat and accessible guide to help aspiring authors get their imaginations flowing.
  
  
• Unaccompanied Women: Late-Life Adventures in Love, Sex and Real Estate by Jane Juska (Villard), the funny, sexy and frank story of a woman who refuses to give up dating, fun and adventures just because she's passed the big 60.
  
  
• Dead Ex by Harley Jane Kozak (Doubleday), the fabulously fun mystery set in the fascinating world of soap operas.
  
  

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" broke sales records in the U.S and in Britain during it first 24 hours on the market. According to the publisher, Scholastic Corporation, the seventh and final book of the series written by J.K. Rowling sold 8.3 million copies in the U.S. on Saturday (July 21st) and 2.65 million copies in Britain.

*****

The Harry Potter series has sold more than 325 million books worldwide since 1997, making it the biggest children's book series ever, according to Bloomberg, a financial information network. The new book topped last year's "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" as the fastest-selling book in history.

Children throughout the country will be going to bed early tonight after sacrificing a whole night’s sleep to discover whether Harry Potter lives or dies.

Thunder and lightning failed to deter people from standing in line outside book shops yesterday for the biggest event in publishing history. Readers who were allowed to get their first glimpse of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowswere presented with a dilemma familiar from their last midnight vigil: whether to plough through the book from the beginning or skip straight to the epilogue.

J. K. Rowling was expected personally to give 1,700 people their first taste of the book as she read extracts of the final Harry Potter book at a moonlight signing at the Natural History Museum. Queues stretched for hundreds of metres outside Waterstones in Piccadilly, Central London, as fans awaited the witching hour - one minute past midnight - when they would be able to take their first look at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

*****

A study by the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, showed that the number of children aged 7-15 attending casualty wards fell from an average of 67 to 37 when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published on July 16, 2005

The ChildLine charity estimates that call volumes will triple over the weekend as hundreds ring in grief for characters killed in the book

Cinema managers predict that attendances at family orientated films will drop by 20 per cent as children stay at home with Potter

Photos of what appeared to be every page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the breathlessly awaited seventh and final installment in the wildly popular series by J.K. Rowling, were circulating around the Web today, potentially upsetting the most elaborate marketing machine ever mobilized for a book.

Various file-sharing Web sites were carrying what looked like amateur photographs of each pair of facing pages of the book, which officially goes on sale at 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning. The pictures show the book laid out on a green and red-flecked looped carpet with somebody's fingers holding it open. Some of the photos make the text difficult to read, but the ending is definitely legible.

Kyle Good, a spokeswoman for Scholastic, the book's United States publisher, said that she was aware of at least three different versions of the file "that look very convincing" with what she described as "conflicting content." In a court filing on Monday, Scholastic sought "materials hosted on Photobucket.com's system" that it said might violate the book's copyright, Bloomberg News reported today. Photobucket is a unit of the News Corporation.

In addition, Bloomberg said, Scholastic sent a subpoena to Gaia Interactive in San Jose asking the identity of someone who had posted a copy of the book on Gaia's social networking Web site, gaiaonline.com. A spokesman for Gaia told Bloomberg that it had complied with the subpoena, turned the name over to Scholastic, removed the material and banned the user from the site.

Written by U.K. author Angie Sage, the se