BTW News Briefs

Amazon Buys Shelfari

On Monday, August 25, Amazon.com announced that it had bought Shelfari, a social networking site for bibliophiles, as reported by Information Week. Shelfari launched in 2006. News of Amazon's acquisition of Shelfari came a little over three weeks after the retailing giant announced it was buying Abebooks.com.

On the company's blog, Shelfari CEO and co-founder Josh Hug told readers: "Shelfari and Amazon will work hand in hand to continue to grow our dynamic community and create innovative new tools around the books you love. We've got some big plans ahead. With more resources and Amazon's expertise in building a platform where people come to share ideas, there are a lot of new opportunities in the future that will benefit each of you."

According to Information Week, in February 2007, Amazon invested $1 million in Shelfari, though the social networking site remained an independent company.

Random House to Begin Shipping Paperback Edition of Biden Memoir

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden's Promises to Keep: On Life and Politics is being published in a new paperback edition by Random House. The first printing of 100,000 copies is expected to begin arriving in stores on Thursday, August 28. A U.S. senator from Delaware since 1973, Biden details how the guiding principles he learned early in life are the foundations on which he has based his life's work.

Our White House to Benefit National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance

Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out (Candlewick Press), featuring contributions by more than 100 authors and illustrators and an introduction by noted historian David McCullough, goes on sale September 9. All royalties from sales of Our White House are going to the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, a not-for-profit organization of young people's authors and illustrators that educates and advocates for literacy, literature, libraries, and the arts.

Among the authors contributing to Our White House are Katherine Paterson, M.T. Anderson, Kate DiCamillo, Natalie Babbitt, Susan Cooper, Gregory Maguire, Patricia MacLachlan, Megan McDonald, and many others. Illustrations for the book were contributed by Brian Selznick, Chris Raschka, Peter Sis, Ed Young, Chris Van Dusen, Matt Tavares, Steven Kellogg, Bagram Ibatoulline, and others.

A companion website, www.ourwhitehouse.org, also launching in September, will feature educational resources and reference information, expanded content from the contributors, and activities and ideas to get children excited about American history and to inspire them to become civically engaged.