The week before Labor Day in the book publishing world can be as deadeningly quiet as the week before Christmas. But unlike the December silence - when everyone at Random House is busy planning their free week off - the August silence merely means everyone’s resting up for the Frankfurt Book Fair frenzy. Enjoy the quiet while you can -- October is just a month away.

The splashiest sale of the week was agented by Noah Lukeman and Irv Schwartz of Artists Management Group/Renaissance, who brokered Tom Hallman’s Behind the Mask to Stacy Creamer at Putnam. This true story - about a boy with a severe facial deformity - is based on a series of articles Hallman wrote for The Oregonian in fall of 2000, which won him this year’s Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. Putnam bought world rights and plans to publish in fall 2002.