Book News, In Brief

Amazon must have some damned good lobbyists. The NYTimes reports, "Some influential members of the Democratic party want to give electronic reading devices to every student in the country. [...] The name of their proposal: 'A Kindle in Every Backpack.'"


Stephenie Meyer must have some shame...somewhere. EW reports, "For those of you who can’t get enough Edward and Bella, EW can announce — exclusively — that Yen Press will be publishing Twilight in graphic-novel form, publication date still to be determined. Though Korean artist Young Kim is creating the art, Meyer herself is deeply immersed in the project, reviewing every panel."


The producers of the new Harry Potter movie must have said some powerful prayers. The Australian reports, "In 2003 [...] Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, [...] said J.K.Rowling's stories of the boy wizard threatened to corrupt an understanding of Christian faith among the impressionable young. [...] Now, however, the Pope appears to have fallen under the Potter spell. The latest in the film series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has won surprising praise from the Vatican newspaper. L'Osservatore Romano said yesterday that even though the Potter saga lacked what it called 'a reference to the transcendent,' the latest film drew 'a clear line of demarcation between good and evil, making clear that good is right, and that in some cases this involves hard work and sacrifices.'"