A 2013 Scarletta Press Favorite Book Recap!

“A cat’s New Year dream is mostly a bird! Don’t be like a cat; in New Year, dream something that you have never dreamed! Target for new things!” 
― Mehmet Murat ildan

It's been a great year everybody but 2013 had to end sometime, so before it does let us gush a little bit about the books that made 2013 a great year in reading for us!

Monster Needs a Trophy Case

Every mom will fall in love with this monster, or so the shiny new gold stickers from Mom's Choice said when they arrived in the mail! The Monster & Me™ publishing team couldn't be more excited for this very deserving book. We're betting the many Monster & Me™ books created by dynamic picture book duo Paul Czajak and Wendy Grieb will be grabbing tons of attention, and tons of awards at that. We'll get started on that DIY trophy case after the holidays! ;)

The lovely librarians and educators that attend ALA Midwinter in January will be able to see the adorable cover of Monster Needs a Costume proudly displayed with an award seal in the Publisher's Group West booth. You're a librarian and can't wait until then? No worries! Contact us at info@scarlettapress.com, tell us you're a librarian and want to get the book with an award seal on it, and we'll give you a special librarian discount.



So how can you help us celebrate? 

• Think about purchasing a copy direct from our website. We’ll even throw in a discount of $2 off the book! Just type in coupon code mcgold13 at checkout. Offer good through January 31. 
• Order before December 31st and you can use the 20% off holiday promotion code too! Check out all our books to give as fun gifts this holiday season!
• Display and sell the book in your store! (Trust us, it's a fantastic book for children, parents, teachers, librarians, and any picture book lover.) 
• Spread the word and show some love to our author & illustrator on Twitter: @PCzajak & @Boodlewink got a #MomsChoice!
• Read the book and love it? Tell us about it by writing a customer review on either Goodreads, Amazon, or BN.com! 
• Leave a congratulatory comment on Monster & Me™'s Facebook fan page, and like it too! 
• By liking, you'll be able to stay on top of when new books in the series come out, how to take part in awesomely monstrous contests, and of course where to go for upcoming events or book sales!

Check out our other Mom's Choice Gold winners: Lost in Lexicon, The Ice Castle, and Betsy's Day at the Game.

Picture Perfect: Announcing the 2014 Spring Season!

We just couldn't wait until the new year to talk about our spring 2014 title list! Okay, maybe that's just me, but I am ridiculously excited about the great children's lineup we have for all you readers, and I'm betting everyone else in the Scarletta office feels the same way.

The year of 2013 saw some amazing children's and adult books rolled out from our imprints, and the birth of our new brand image at Scarletta. It was a fantastic start to what is sure to be an incredible publishing journey, especially with the titles we'll be buzzing about in 2014! So without further ado...

Start by digging in (pun intended, folks!) on March 20, 2014, with Garden to Table: The Kid's Guide to Planting, Growing, and Preparing Food by Katherine Hengel. Kids will fill their plates with fresh, self-sustained produce that comes straight from the garden. Step-by-step planting, care, and harvesting tips, along with step-by-step photos for over 30 delicious recipes made with basil, carrots, green beans, leaf lettuce, potatoes, and tomatoes. Incorporating unique flavors and easy-to-grow veggies, these simple recipes will have you asking for seconds!

You met Monster in fall 2013, and if you're a normal or abnormal person, immediately fell in love with him. He's giant, blue, hairy, and cavorts around with the energy of a four year old thanks to talented illustrator Wendy Grieb. Well, Paul Czajak's adorable Monster & Me™ series continues on April 8, 2014, with Monster Needs His Sleep. In Czajak and Grieb's second collaboration, it's time for bed, and Monster needs to go to sleep. But he just keeps finding more things to stay awake for! It isn't until Monster admits he is afraid of the dark that he finds a glowing solution to his nightmare problem.

A picture book series not quite your style? Looking for something older? Fan of adventure and fantasy series? Then have we got something for you! That may have been too cheesy of a build up, but seriously, middle-grade readers will love our new Tristan Hunt and the Sea Guardians series by Ellen Prager. The Shark Whisperer, book one, is an action-packed story of adventure, fantasy, and humor that reveals the wonders of the ocean. After falling into a pool of sharks, things for awkward Tristan Hunt begin to look up. Tristan is invited to an ocean-themed summer camp in the Florida Keys where he discovers that he and his fellow campers have very rare talents when it comes to the ocean. After the camp receives a distress call from ocean animals, the Sea Guardians get pulled into a daring rescue in the Bahamas. With the help of sharks, dolphins, a quick-escape artist octopus, and some seabird bombers, the campers must use their talents in an attempt to outwit an evil shark-finning, reef-blasting billionaire.

We'll keep on the animal theme and finish out the spring 2014 season with another adorable picture book, If An Armadillo Went to a Restaurant by Ellen Fischer, and illustrated by Laura Wood. Would an armadillo order spaghetti with meatballs if she went to a restaurant? No way! She would like a plate of ants and worms. Little ones will slurp, munch, and crunch their way through this delightful book about animal diets and habitats. In the end, you might find yourself asking just what you might like to order.


Think these books are awesome? Guess what...they're all available for pre-order from your favorite book vendor! Might we also suggest these books as great for your 2014 book lists? If you love them, tell us about it with a customer review (and tell your bookseller too so they can keep recommending our quality books to other readers!).

Laura Krughoff and My Brother's Name are Going on Tour!

It's tour time everyone! Tours are some of our favorite things here at Scarletta because they're always a wonderful way for authors and illustrators to get out, talk about their work, and meet fans face to face. Right now we're gearing up to head on the road with Laura Krughoff, for her first tour of the twin cities. As many of you may knowLaura is the author of My Brother's Name (Sep 2013), a psychological/GLBT fiction that questions identity and gender in a whirlwind of a novel. It will keep readers on the edge of their seats as it encounters the precipice of mental illness and just how far familial love can go.

Anytime you have a book with as much emotional depth as My Brother's Name and heavy subjects like mental health and transgender identity issues, it's crucial to use that opportunity as a window into the author as much as into the characters. This tour will also give you another chance to meet and chat with like-minded individuals, specifically book-lovers.

So join us, enjoy an evening amongst peers, and if you're lucky maybe go home with a new book or two. You'll find the schedule below. Also, if you follow our social media accounts, we'll also be posting the stops there.

January 5, 2014

Bookcase of Wayzata

824 Lake Street, Wayzata, MN 55391

2:00 PM

January 6, 2014

Subtext

165 Western Ave N, St. Paul, MN 55102

7:00 PM

The event at Subtext will include a giveaway of My Brother's Name to one 

lucky attendee.

January 7, 2014

Magers & Quinn

3038 Hennepin Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55408

7:00 PM

The party at Magers & Quinn will include hot beverages and baked goods to 

warm the winter chill away!

See you there!

Why Don't People Go on Book Diets? What Would It Mean If They Did?

The literary world is full of terms like "devour" or "consume" used to describe how one reads a book. Even the term "bookworm" finds it's roots in the tradition of referring to any insect that may chew through books as "worms" even though damage is typically caused by the Common Paper Louse (Don't google that if you don't like bugs. Or really, even if you do. It's just no fun).

So, if we're good with imagining books as some sort of brain food, then how far can we stretch that? Book restaurants? We've got those in the forms of book stores. Books about how to prepare books? That's an entire genre, and not a small genre at that. There are tons and tons of parallels, mostly because I'm looking for them, but they exist.

And yet, I'm not seeing much by way of book diets. I mean, diet books are everywhere, but there don't seem to be many people writing about selective book consumption for a specific purpose. Why not? Perhaps it's because people generally believe that no books are detrimental. I doubt that because if that were true, banned books week would be blueberry muffin week or something due to lack of banned books. Perhaps people are worried that going on a book diet might limit their worldview, and there may be some merit to that. I feel like the real reason is because nobody else has the right combination of spare time, relevance to work, and penchant for pointless rambling necessary to discuss the future of literary book clubs.

BOOK DIETS:

The Cleanse: Nothing but children's books, without any trace of sadness, scariness, or really anything that can't be described as "warm and fuzzy" or "super wicked cool". Great for getting you mentally back in shape to see the world as a beautiful place of excitement and adventure. As an adult, you may need to repeat the cleanse multiple times annually for continued effectiveness.

The Doyle Diet: Nothing but sleuth protagonists. Maybe sprinkle in a cheap murder-mystery on cheat days. Ideally a weekly dose of Sherlock Holmes accented by Poirot as necessary. This diet is sure to help you bulk up your intuitiveness, and slim down your cluelessness. Side-effects may include increased paranoia and a penchant for stylish hats.

The ABC Diet: Apocalypses, Battlefields & Catastrophes. This diet consists of steady doses of Disasters of all proportions. End-of-Days and Final Hours stories help keep you thankful that you live in a relatively safe world. Also, all that panicking you do for the characters towards the end will keep your heart rate up, burning real world calories. It's a truly transcendent diet. 

These are just a few of the many diets that I'm sure could one day come to be the driving force behind book clubs the world over. Let these culinary collections of chapter books shape how you read, and watch as your mind becomes truly fit. Or, just keep reading like you always do. That's never a bad thing.