Mo Willems's Pigeon, Jon Scieszka's Stinky Cheese Man, and Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kidwere some of the familiar book characters that greeted the more than 20,000 retailers attending the American International Toy Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from February 13 to 16.
Toy Fair is where the newest and hottest products in the children's entertainment marketplace are exhibited—and where the toy industry often borrows from children's literature to create games, puzzles, and plush toys.
This year, there were plenty of kid lit characters to be found among the 1,100 exhibitors. Ludwig Bemelmans's Madeline was well represented at the Briarpatch booth, where she and characters Fancy Nancy and Frog and Toad have been translated into assorted games and puzzles.
At YOTTOY, a company that specializes in quality hand sewn dolls of classic characters, Madeline was joined byPaddington the Bear, Harry the Dirty Dog, and Maisy the loveable mouse. John Bemelmans Marciano, the grandson of Madeline's creator was also on hand at the booth to sign copies of his newly release Madeline at the White House (Viking, 2011), which hit the New York Times's Bestseller Picture Book list shortly after its January 25 release.
"Harry Potter" (Scholastic) and the "Twilight" (Little, Brown) series also made an appearance at Screenlife Games, which created the video board game Scene It, featuring clips, trivia questions, and on-screen puzzles from films based on the books.
Madeline Display
Also on display were plenty of non-book related items that teachers, guidance counselors, and librarians may want to explore using in the classroom. The teen edition of Boom Boom Cards promotes various acts of kindness and tracks good deeds online. Players receive a card from the deck and are asked to perform underground acts of guerilla goodness and then post the experience on the Boom Boom website, along with photos and video, before passing the card on to someone else. Each card's unique ID number makes it possible to follow all cards that are played on the website's map. Some of the actions on the cards include: "Ask someone who is alone at lunch or break to join you," "Attend a school event that traditionally has low attendance," and "When You parents ask, 'How was your day?' actually tell them."
If you're learning about or taking a class trip to New York City, Washington DC, or Chicago, consider 4D Cityscape Time Puzzle, which challenges kids to collaborate and to think spatially. Upon completing the puzzle, they'll not only have an urban landscape, but they'll also gain knowledge of both the terrain and architectural history of each of those cities.
In this age of digital technology, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has developed a Send a Story Series, which allows people to send small books to a recipient through snail mail. Each of the 5" x 6" books has a place for a message from the sender—and it takes three first-class stamps to mail. Two books in the series include I Like You (1965) by Sandol Stoddard Warburg, illustrated by Jacqueline Chwast, and No Matter What (1999) by Debi Gliori, and are so popular that they're listed in the latest American Booksellers Association's Indie Bestsellers List.
This article originally appeared in the newsletter Extra Helping. Go here to subscribe.
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