Naruto drops to number 79 on the USA Today booklist, down from 42 last week.
Two from PW Comics Week: Shakespeare gets the manga treatment, from John Wiley, a publisher better known for calculus textbooks than sequential art. Still, the sample pages show some promise. Also, yaoi manga-ka Makoto Teteno will be doing a book signing at Borders stores in LA and DC this summer, marking (they say) the first time a yaoi author has appeared in bookstores. Teteno is the author of DMP’s Yellow.
From the Newsarama blog: the Death Note movie drew over 306,000 viewers in Japan this week, toppling The Da Vinci Code from the number one box office slot. David Welsh is still waiting for the tribute album.
If you’re tired of summer vacation already, take a gander at this academic article about fan art. (Found via the Pseudome forums.)
Tokyopop is sponsoring a summer reading program with a difference at the Los Angeles public libraries.
Teens, ages 11 to 18, who join the “Manga Madness Summer Reading Club” at their local branch library will receive a free folder, book bag, reading log, and bookmarks. Every branch will have special scheduled teen programs as part of the reading club.
This is nice because around here anyway, the programs for younger kids seem to get all the attention. Our library has a teen summer reading program but it’s pretty low-key.
At the Los Angeles Public Library’s Central Library and its 71 branches, librarians have doubled and in some cases tripled the number of manga series ordered for their young adult collections because of high demand from teen readers.
Hey, it’s reading. And all reading is good. Here is an interview with the YA librarian (via The Comics Reporter.)
At The Beat, Heidi passes along a report from a Southern correspondent of a Books-a-Million shelving yaoi in the erotica section. I know we’re supposed to be outraged, but I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the concept of Books-a-Million having yaoi at all.
There’s not much information yet, but here’s the website for MangaNEXT, which bills itself as the first manga con.
ANN has details on CLAMP’s autograph sessions at AnimeNEXT.
Only slightly off topic: too many maids in Akibahara.
“I’m still trying to wrap my brain around the concept of Books-a-Million having yaoi at all.”
It’s kind of crazy, but the B-a-M in my town has the best yaoi selection of any of the chain stores in the area, and better than some chain stores in larger cities. They have many of the June titles and a fair number of the Blu books as well. And on the opposite side of the bank of shelves? Inspirational books!