A bronze statue of The Lorax has been stolen from the grounds of the late Dr. Seuss‘ San Diego estate. The statue reportedly weighs 300 pounds and stands three feet tall.

The San Diego Union Tribune reports that Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, Seuss’ step-daughter and the sculptor who created the art piece, wants “very badly to get our little Lorax back home where he belongs.” Dimond-Cates made two Lorax statues; one for the San Diego estate and one for the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden (pictured).

In an interview with Reuters, San Diego police lieutenant Andra Brown revealed that the police have not yet determined whether this is a prank or a theft. The police have observed that the ”evidence at the scene suggests that the thieves rolled the statue down the hill to an adjacent property, where it was likely loaded onto a waiting vehicle.”

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The marketing team behind film adaptation of Dr. Seuss‘ The Lorax have made more than 70 deals for promotional product tie-ins.

Comedian Stephen Colbert gave a sarcastic pitch (written in verse) asking for more: “I’m demanding more branding of Loraxian stuff!” The pitch included suggestions such as Lorax-themed SUV’s, oil drills and McDonald’s meals.

Follow this link for a full transcript of Colbert’s ranting rhyme and click here to watch the video. What do you think?

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The Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert interviewed Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak this week. Follow these links to watch part one and part two of the interview.

According to Shelf Awareness, Colbert “turned [to Sendak] for advice on becoming a celebrity children’s author, pitched his sequel idea for Where the Wild Things Are 2: Still Wildin’ (featuring action star Vin Diesel) and generally let the wild rumpus begin.”

During the interview, some of the “rumpus” that emerged included Sendak’s opinion on the current state of children’s literature; he finds it “abysmal” and thinks that “most books for children are very bad.”

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It’s heavy work in the world of book publishing at present, with Hachette Book Group confirming that they are one of the unlucky publishers that will miss out on payments from the beleaguered Borders, Inc USA, as the bookstore closes a major book distribution plant in the mid-west costing 300 jobs.

Now for the second time in four months, like a game of chess, the leadership has changed at the book publisher of novels by such distinguished authors as Sen. Edward Kennedy and Christopher Hitchens.

Author-editor-producer Susan Lehman has been forced out as publisher of Twelve after taking over in September. Twelve is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, which announced Jan. 11 in an company email shared with The Associated Press that associate publisher Cary Goldstein will replace Lehman effective immediately.

“Susan Lehman is an extremely insightful, creative and talented editor,” Grand Central executive vice-president and publisher Jamie Raab said in the email. “Unfortunately, the role of publisher just wasn’t the perfect fit.”

Lehman had yet to acquire any new books for Twelve, designed to release just 12 books a year, one every month. But Raab told the AP that obtaining new books was not a factor that toys in her decision and otherwise declined to offer a specific reason beyond saying that being a publisher is “an all-encompassing job” that can take years to learn.

“Had I had more time, I’m certain I could have failed on my own demerits,” Lehman wrote in an email to the AP. “But 12 weeks isn’t enough time to do even that. It’s a wonderful imprint. I had lined up great play chess and non-fiction writers for terrific books I hope will find their way into print. Cary Goldstein has a great job and I wish him well.”

Lehman has worked in a variety of christian book publishers fields, from editing at Riverhead Books to producing television documentaries.

Jonathan Karp started Twelve in 2005, but left in June to head the flagship trade imprint of Simon & Schuster. Twelve’s bestsellers include Kennedy’s True Compass, Hitchens’ Hitch-22 and Sebastian Junger’s War.

Grand Central is a division of the Hachette Book Group – also associated with major children’s publishers and toy shops in New York.

Four Japanese book publishers have accused Apple of distributing pirated e-books, including Chinese translated works by venerated local authors Haruki Murakami and Keigo Higashino.

In a harsh statement yesterday, the publishers rebuked Apple for profiting on illegally obtained literature.

“We have no choice but to deem it illegal that Apple Inc. distributes materials which clearly violate copyright,” the consortium said in a statement sent to Apple’s Japanese subsidiary and obtained by AFP.

“Some of the works have been deleted in response to requests from authors and publishers but a majority of them continue to be illegally distributed,” the statement said.

The publishers are: Japan Book Publishers Association, the Japan Magazine Publishers Association, the Electronic Book Publishers Association of Japan, and the Digital Comic Association.

Rather than sue Apple, the publishers have demanded to sit down with Apple to “set new rules in the era of digital networks.”

Pirated books include Murakami’s three-volume “1Q84″ and “Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World,” Japan Today reported in November.

Last Wednesday, author Higashino, who, like Murakami, has not allowed any of his works to be go digital, told Japan Today that a Taiwanese publisher illegally retrieved, translated, and began selling his books through the App Store for “a few hundred yen each.”

“As a copyright holder, I have asked Apple to delete them and am waiting for its response,” Higashino told Japan Today.

The consortium also said it could not accept Apple’s policy of removing illegally distributed works after being flagged for copyright infringement. Google adopts a similar policy with YouTube, allowing the automatic upload of videos without a screen process. It avoids liability thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which provides a safe harbor for companies like YouTube that respond quickly to takedown requests.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Japanese publishers are so powerful in Japan that the world’s second largest electronics market was one of the last countries to start selling e-readers. Now, however, Japanese e-readers proliferate.

Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

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Dr Seuss’s Grinch stole christmas early this year for the book publishers, landing major deals to put the children’s books on the Android reading ebook tablet.

Are any of you fans of the film adaptations “The Cat in the Hat,” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas?” But have you ever wondered how the stories with their characters came to light in the first place? The American writer come cartoonist “Dr Seuss,” made them possible, and today they can both be enjoyed on Android devices with the benefit of apps.

The apps which can be purchased for $3.99 each can be used not just for entertainment value, but for educational purposes for the young at heart, consisting of customisable music, special effects and audio. As Mashable reported to book publisher, the two special apps can be used either by read along, having the app talk to you or by auto-play. This works when you simply touch your Android screen and the words flash up in front of you.

Just in time for Christmas, there are two Dr. Seuss books available for download at $3.99 each. They are “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and “Cat in the Hat”.

The books can be enjoyed in three ways. Once is a read along where specific words are highlighted to build your vocabulary (your child’s that is), another is a narrative and the last is an automatic page turn. The app includes great self-publishing background music and classic Dr. Seuss artwork that will keep you entertained to the end.

The Dr. Seuss app for Android can be viewed on any Android smartphone as well as popular tablets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Archos 5.