About MacKenzie Smiles

Who can resist a laughing child, reaching to turn the page, engaged in the colorful and imaginative world of story? MacKenzie Smiles wants every child to remember the happiness of reading with a loved one. Our goal is to publish children’s books with a contemporary touch--books that engage both parent and child with their striking, high-quality artwork and entertaining stories.

MacKenzie Smiles is the brainchild of Christina Turner and Brenda McLaughlin, two former publisher executives. “We were both aware of the amazing children's books that were being published in other countries, yet in this country we seem to license out so much more than we license in. It occurred to us, as we talked about what our next career moves would be, why not start a company and introduce children to more aspects of their world--through books. We’d like to think that when kids finish reading our books, they will have smiles on their faces,” said McLaughlin. Their program includes award-winning books imported from other countries as well as those originating in the United States.

For a complete list of their titles, click here.
Audio News

The final battle has begun . . . Pendragon Book Ten: The Soldiers of Halla, by D.J. MacHale, will release on May 12, 2009. Join Bobby Pendragon and his fellow Travelers for one last desperate battle against Saint Dane! Brilliance Audio is celebrating the conclusion of this marvelous adventure series with special edition re-issues of the first nine books in the series; CD prices have been significantly reduced on both the retail and library formats. Plus, each audiobook in the series will contain a preview bonus disc from the next book in the series (the actual first 70 minutes from the next book), so start with Book One: The Merchant of Death, and build your collection now!


Harlequin Targets Teens

Introducing Harlequin TEEN, the home of relevant, authentic fiction for every young adult reader who loves to escape beneath the covers of a great read. The current market for teen fiction is incredibly exciting and our selection of heart-pounding, edgy stories from established authors and fresh new voices is poised to capture that growing audience. Our range of genres will include everything today's young readers embrace--contemporary, paranormal, fantasy, science fiction, historical and, yes, romance.

Harlequin TEEN launches with two titles:
August 2009--My Soul to Take, by New York Times-bestselling author Rachel Vincent, the first title in her new Soul Screamers series. The story features a teen banshee who senses when someone near her is about to die--and when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream uncontrollably.

September 2009--Gena Showalter’s Intertwined follows a boy with a chip on his shoulder, four souls trapped in his head, and a girl who makes their voices go silent.

We hope readers will enjoy these two unforgettable stories and look for many more in 2010, including releases by debut authors such as Julie Kagawa and Mara Purnhagen as well as bestselling authors like Maria V. Snyder. We will publish across all formats, with the majority in trade paperback. All of our titles will also be available as e-books, in the manner of Harlequin’s front-list releases. We’re keeping our list small to start out, and we are being highly selective about what we publish, to ensure that each book will be competitive while offering something unique compared to what’s on the shelves. After our two titles in 2009, we will be releasing 12-14 titles in 2010, eventually building to around 24 books a year.

Although Harlequin is best known for and very proud of being synonymous with romance, Harlequin TEEN is not a traditional teen romance series; rather, it is a single title program featuring the types of books you might expect from imprints such as HarperTeen; Little, Brown; and Razorbill. Many of our stories include romantic elements--crushes and romance are a big part of teens’ lives--but the editorial is in keeping with the accepted range of subjects and themes found in today’s teen fiction. We believe our editorial will speak for itself and allay any concerns regarding content.

We researched launching a teen program for quite some time and now have all the pieces aligned for our launch to this audience. We have also built the HarlequinTEENPanel.com site to reach out to readers and gather their input. With this panel of 250+ teens, we are able to benefit from discussions with them on such things as packaging, story lines, series concepts, and much more. This has given us a much stronger rooting in the YA arena and will help us determine what type of books we put into the marketplace.

We invite you to visit us at HarlequinTEEN.com to find out more about our upcoming releases, read excerpts online, and request a copy of the galleys for our two launch titles. If you like what you read of Rachel Vincent’s My Soul to Take, Ingram will be offering the series, Soul Screamers, on the Popular Series Standing Order Program, for which you can sign up via ipage®.


2009 Summer Reading Program

Don’t forget to visit ipage® for iKids Summer Reading title lists.

The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) has chosen “Be Creative at Your Library” as this year's summer reading theme for libraries across America. Look no further than Ingram Library Services for the titles you need to encourage young readers to visit your library and read all year long!


Some great titles on our Summer Reading List include:
Acting for Young Actors
An Introduction to Art Techniques
My Girlosophy: How to Write Your Own Life
Hip Hop America
Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel
Art to Make You Smile
Funky Felt Crafts: Create Fun Felt Jewelry, Gifts, Room D'Cor & More!
The Best Book of Ballet
Ashley Bryan: Words to My Life's Song

Click here to view the entire Summer Reading title list.

Be sure to visit our iKids section on the Collection Development tab of ipage. There you'll find lists you can use to create the perfect mix of titles for your young patrons to read throughout the year.

For more information on planning and promoting the CSLP's reading theme, visit their Web site at www.cslpreads.org.