{"id":2825,"date":"2017-01-20T16:02:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-20T16:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/?p=2825"},"modified":"2017-01-20T16:02:25","modified_gmt":"2017-01-20T16:02:25","slug":"unpublished-mark-twain-story-to-be-released-by-random-house-childrens-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/industry-news\/unpublished-mark-twain-story-to-be-released-by-random-house-childrens-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Unpublished Mark Twain Story to be Released by Random House Children’s Books"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"PURLOINING<\/a>RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN\u2019S BOOKS TO RELEASE NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED,<\/u><\/strong>
\nUNFINISHED CHILDREN\u2019S STORY BY MARK TWAIN,<\/u><\/strong>
\nCOMPLETED AND BROUGHT TO LIFE BY CALDECOTT MEDALISTS PHILIP AND ERIN STEAD<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine <\/u><\/em><\/strong>to release September 26, 2017<\/span>, with a 250,000-copy first printing<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

New York, NY, January 20, 2017<\/span><\/strong>\u2014Doubleday Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children\u2019s Books, has acquired a never-before-published Mark Twain<\/strong> children\u2019s story, it was announced today by Mallory Loehr, Senior Vice President & Publisher of the Random House\/Golden Books, Doubleday, and Crown Books for Young Readers Group. The story, a fairy tale left unfinished by Twain, will be brought to life by author Philip Stead<\/strong> and illustrator Erin Stead,<\/strong> the creators of the Caldecott Medal\u2013winning A Sick Day for Amos McGee.<\/em> The book, THE PURLOINING OF PRINCE OLEOMARGARINE,<\/strong> was acquired and edited by Frances Gilbert, Associate Publishing Director, Random House Books for Young Readers, from Tina Wexler at ICM, representing the Mark Twain House & Museum, and Emily van Beek at Folio Jr., representing the author\/illustrator team.<\/p>\n

THE PURLOINING OF PRINCE OLEOMARGARINE,<\/strong> an eleven-chapter, 152-page illustrated storybook for all ages, will be published onSeptember 26, 2017<\/span>, with a first printing of 250,000 copies.<\/p>\n

The basis of this new work is sixteen pages of Twain\u2019s handwritten notes after telling his young daughters a fairy tale one night in 1879 while the family was staying in Paris, an event he documented in his journal. In 2011, a visiting scholar at the Mark Twain Papers & Project at the University of California at Berkeley spotted the notes in the archives while conducting his own research and recognized their significance. Although Twain told his young daughters countless bedtime stories, made up on the spot as they requested them, these notes are believed to be the only ones he ever jotted down from those sessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. John Bird, noted Twain scholar and author of\u00a0Mark Twain and Metaphor,<\/em> brought the text to our attention,\u201d explained Cindy Lovell, executive director at the Mark Twain House & Museum. \u201cHe\u2019d been researching another project when he came across this partial story written by Twain for his daughters. We are thrilled to have the Steads joining us to further bring this treasure to life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo publish a new Twain story is an incredible literary event,\u201d says Gilbert. \u201cWhen I first got the chance to read this unpublished Twain story, I couldn\u2019t believe what I was holding. I\u2019ve admired Erin and Philip Stead\u2019s work since their first book and couldn\u2019t think of a more ideal match for this project. It\u2019s an American dream team.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE PURLOINING OF PRINCE OLEOMARGARINE <\/strong>follows a young boy who eats the flower sprouted by a magical seed and gains the ability to talk to animals. From there, the boy and his new animal friends go off on a wild adventure to rescue a kidnapped prince. Though the story was left in fragments and never completed by Twain, it bears many of the hallmarks of his beloved style, in the humor and playfulness and in the quest of a young boy off on his own navigating the adult world.<\/p>\n

Philip and Erin Stead, two of today\u2019s most notable names in children\u2019s literature, have completed the text and illustrated the book, framing the narrative as a story \u201ctold to me by my friend, Mr. Mark Twain,\u201d and even including occasional interruptions by an imagined meeting over tea between Philip and Twain.<\/p>\n

Said Erin of taking on the project, \u201cAs an illustrator, not a writer, I can often use the excuse that I can\u2019t find the right words to describe how I am feeling (stunned<\/em> and honored<\/em> being the closest and most generic). Luckily I can now turn to Twain, who is quite quotable, to provide a little context and inspiration: \u2018I\u2019m not the declining sort. I would take charge of the constellations if I were asked to do it. All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence: then success is sure.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Added Philip: \u201cOf course any person in their right mind would be terrified of this project. But having the support of the Twain house allayed some fears\u2026and then I had a good long walk-and-talk with my dog about it, and she assured me I had her full support, and that I was the right man for the job\u2014provided it did not cut into our twice-daily ambles through the neighborhood, mealtimes, or the hours set aside each day for lying on our backs with our bellies in the air.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exploring themes of charity, kindness, and bravery in the face of tyranny, with sharply drawn satire and tear-inducing pathos, this extraordinary combination of talent both classic and contemporary reaches its full potential as an old-fashioned\u2014yet thoroughly modern\u2014fully illustrated storybook that readers of every age will treasure. A monumental event not only in the world of children\u2019s literature, but for literature overall, the publication of THE PURLOINING OF PRINCE OLEOMARGARINE<\/strong> will take place during the 150th anniversary of Mark Twain\u2019s very first book, a collection of twenty-seven previously published stories titled The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches.<\/em><\/p>\n

ERIN STEAD<\/strong> is the Caldecott Medal\u2013winning illustrator of\u00a0A Sick Day for Amos McGee,<\/em> also named a New York Times<\/em> Best Illustrated Book of the Year and a Publishers Weekly<\/em> Best Children\u2019s Book of the Year (A Neal Porter Book, Roaring Brook Press, 2010). She and her husband, author and artist Philip Stead,\u00a0with whom she co-created\u00a0A Sick Day for Amos McGee,<\/em> Bear Has a Story to Tell,<\/em> and Lenny & Lucy,\u00a0<\/em>live in northern Michigan. Erin also illustrated\u00a0And Then It\u2019s Spring,<\/em> written by Julie Fogliano and named a Boston Globe\u2013Horn Book<\/em> Honor Book and a Best Children\u2019s Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews <\/em>and\u00a0Publishers Weekly.<\/em> Her 2016 book The Uncorker of Ocean Bottles,<\/em> written by Michelle Cuevas, was named a best book of the year by Time, People,<\/em> the Boston Globe,<\/em> and School Library Journal.<\/em><\/p>\n

PHILIP C. STEAD<\/strong> is the author of the Caldecott Medal\u2013winning book A Sick Day for Amos McGee,<\/em> also named a New York Times<\/em> Best Illustrated Book of the Year and a Publishers Weekly<\/em> Best Children\u2019s Book of the Year, illustrated by his wife, Erin Stead. Together with Erin, he also created Bear Has a Story to Tell, <\/em>an\u00a0E. B. White Read-Aloud Award honor book.\u00a0Philip, also an artist, has written and illustrated several of his own books, including Samson in the Snow; Hello, My Name Is Ruby;\u00a0<\/em>and A Home for Bird.<\/em> Philip and Erin live in northern Michigan.<\/p>\n

Visit Erin and Phillip online at philipstead.com<\/a> and erinstead.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Random House Children\u2019s Books<\/strong> is the world\u2019s largest English-language children\u2019s trade book publisher. Creating books for toddlers through young adult readers, in all formats from board books to activity books to picture books, novels, ebooks, and apps, the imprints of Random House Children\u2019s Books bring together award-winning authors and illustrators, world-famous franchise characters, and multimillion-copy series. The company\u2019s website, Kids @ Random (randomhousekids.com<\/a>), offers an array of activities, games, and resources for children, teens, parents, and educators. Doubleday Books for Young Readers is an imprint of Random House Children\u2019s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.<\/p>\n

Both the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford, Connecticut,<\/strong> and the Mark Twain Papers & Project at the University of California at Berkeley<\/strong> work to foster an appreciation of Mark Twain as one of our nation\u2019s defining cultural figures and to demonstrate the continuing relevance of his work, life, and times.<\/p>\n

The Mark Twain House & Museum<\/strong>\u00a0has restored the author\u2019s Hartford, Connecticut, home, where the family lived from 1874 to 1891.Twain wrote his most important works,\u00a0including\u00a0Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,<\/em> and\u00a0A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur\u2019s Court,<\/em> during the years he lived there.\u00a0In addition to offering tours of Twain\u2019s restored home, a National Historic Landmark, the institution provides activities and educational programs that illuminate Twain\u2019s literary legacy and share information about his life and times.<\/p>\n

The house and museum at 351 Farmington Avenue are open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.<\/span> For more information, call 860-247-0998<\/a>, or visitmarktwainhouse.org<\/a>.\u00a0Programs at the Mark Twain House & Museum are made possible in part by support from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and the\u00a0Greater Hartford Arts Council\u2019s United Arts Campaign.<\/p>\n

The Mark Twain Papers in the Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley, <\/strong>is curated by Robert H. Hirst, who is also general editor of The Mark Twain Project,<\/strong> which is the comprehensive scholarly edition being produced at the archive. The Papers are Mark Twain\u2019s private archive, which came to UC Berkeley in 1949 and became a permanent part of the library in 1962 (when Twain\u2019s last surviving daughter, Clara, died). The Project was started in Iowa City, IA, and Berkeley, CA, before becoming a single project in 1980, editing everything of significance written by Mark Twain. It has been supported for half a century by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Learn more atlib.berkeley.edu\/libraries\/bancroft-library\/mark-twain-papers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the book at http:\/\/rhcbooks.com\/books\/248945\/the-purloining-of-prince-oleomargarine-by-mark-twain-philip-c-stead<\/a><\/p>\n

MEDIA CONTACTS:
\n<\/strong>Mary McCue, Assistant Director, Publicity | 212-782-9317<\/a> | mmccue@penguinrandomhouse.com
\n<\/a>Josh Redlich, Associate Publicist | 212-782-8335<\/a> | jredlich@penguinrandomhouse.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN\u2019S BOOKS TO RELEASE NEVER-BEFORE-PUBLISHED, UNFINISHED CHILDREN\u2019S STORY BY MARK TWAIN, COMPLETED AND BROUGHT TO LIFE BY CALDECOTT MEDALISTS PHILIP AND ERIN STEAD The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine to release September 26, 2017, with a 250,000-copy first printing New York, NY, January 20, 2017\u2014Doubleday Books for Young Readers, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[289],"tags":[896,894,895,290,130],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfreader.com\/r\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}