Book News
Turn the iPhone page.
It was only a matter of time before it happened — and now it has. Children’s picture books are now becoming available on iPhone.
According to , picture book publisher Winged Chariot Press has made “The Surprise,” by Sylvia van Ommen, a story for prereaders about a sheep who shears her own wool as part of a mysterious project, available on the iPhone for about 99 cents.
“The iPhone is particularly suited to picture books, owing to its touch-sensitive color screen,” Heal Hoskins, founder of Winged Chariot Press, said. “Children can follow the story on the iPhone using sliding illustrations, animation and sound.” The company plans to make other picture books available on iPhone, as well.
How significant is this development? The reader (a.k.a. Harry Gutbucket Jr.) who commented at the bottom of the Bookseller website may have been sarcastic, but there are undoubtedly others who will take such comments seriously.
“That’s it,” Harry wrote. “Books are finished! Bring on the tech! Bring on the revolution!” m
First Lines
Hardball by Sara Paretsky
Johnny Merton was playing with me, and we both knew it. It was a fun game for him. He was doing endless years for crimes ranging from murder and extortion to excessive litigation. He had a lot of time on his hands.
We were sitting in the room at Stateville reserved for lawyers and their clients. I couldn’t believe Johnny was stringing me along, thinking I’d get him out early. It had been too many years since I’d practiced criminal law for me to be a good bet for any convict, let alone someone who needed Clarence Darrow and Johnnie Cochran working double shifts before he had a prayer.
“I want the Innocence Project working for me, Warshawski,” he announced that afternoon.
“And you are innocent of exactly what?” I pretended to make a note on my legal pad.
“Whatever they’re charging me with.” He was grinning, inviting me to think he was clowning, but I didn’t smile back. Whatever else he might be, Johnny Merton was no buffoon.
Johnny Merton was past sixty. During my brief stint as his lawyer when I’d been with the Public Defender’s Office, he’d been an angry man whose rage at being assigned yet another new-minted attorney made it almost impossible to stay in the bull pen with him. He’d earned his nickname, “The Hammer,” because he could bludgeon anyone with anything, including his emotions. The twenty-five intervening years — many behind bars — hadn’t exactly mellowed him, but he had learned better ways of working the system.
Independent best sellers
Fiction
1. South of Broad, by Pat Conroy
2. That Old Cape Magic, by Richard Russo
3. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett
4. The Girl Who Played With Fire, by Stieg Larsson
5. The White Queen, by Philippa Gregory
Nonfiction
1. Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers
2. Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall
3. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell
4. The Wilderness Warrior, by Douglas Brinkley
5. Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin
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