Fodor’s Travel, an imprint of Random House, Inc., announces the launch of 80 Degrees, a comprehensive winter travel initiative, sponsored by Discover®, designed to help travelers find and book their ideal warm weather vacation. The online Travel Planner enables travelers to identify their perfect vacation by expressing their travel preferences according to more than 20 criteria, including travel style, activities, budget, type of lodging, logistics, and region. Visitors to Fodors.com who complete the Travel Planner will be invited to enter the 80 Degrees sweepstakes, sponsored by VisitFlorida. The sweepstakes includes the chance to win a five night stay at the Don CeSar Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida, including airfare for four. Visit the Fodor’s 80 Degrees Travel Planner and win a trip to Florida.

In memoriam: Erich Segal.

In memoriam: Robert B. Parker.

Six Random House Children’s Books have been selected by the American Library Association to receive some of the most prestigious and influential awards in children’s publishing:

• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Wendy Lamb Books) was awarded the John Newbery Medal, for the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
• Going Bovine by Libba Bray (Delacorte Press, Books for Young Readers) received the Michael L. Printz Award for literary excellence in Young Adult literature.
• Julia Alvarez won the Pura Belpre Author Award for Return to Sender (Alfred A. Knopf, Books for Young Readers) given to a Latino writer whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino culture and experience in an exemplary work for youth.
• A Faraway Island by Annika Thor, translated from the Swedish by Linda Schenck, (Delacorte Press, Books for Young Readers) received the Mildred Batchelder Award for the most distinguished translated work from an American publisher.
• Mare’s War by Tanita S. Davis (Alfred A. Knopf, Books for Young Readers) is a Coretta Scott King Author Honor.
• The Great and Only Barnum: The Tremendous, Stupendous Life of Showman P.T. Barnum by Candace Fleming (Schwartz & Wade Books) is a finalist for Yalsa’s Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award.

Need help finding the perfect gift for friends and family? Use our Personal Shopper Widget at www.booksequalgifts.com and feel free to embed it on your own site or blog.

Congratulations to our two 2009 Grammy Award nominees in the Spoken Word Album For Children category: Captain Nobody, written and read by Dean Pitchford and Scat, written by Carl Hiaasen and read by Edward Asner.

2009 National Book Award fiction winner Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin to be Random House Trade Paperback on sale December 4.

Scam Alert: We have become aware of a fraudulent scheme that wrongfully uses the “Random House” name. In this fraud, a call is placed to an intended victim advising him that he has won a large sum of money in the “Random House Sweepstakes.” All of this is untrue and violates state and federal criminal laws. Click here to learn more about the scheme and what to do if you are contacted in connection with this fraud.

Random House congratulates its two National Book Award winners: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann and The First Tycoon by T.J. Stiles.

Madeline McIntosh will return to Random House, Inc. in the newly created position of President, Sales, Operations, and Digital.

Check new titles that are available this week!