Sideshow: New medium and audience for Springsteen

His medium has been song verse, but Bruce Springsteen has always been a master storyteller. So it makes sense he would write a book. What's surprising is that it's a story for kids.

The New York Times reports that Simon & Schuster on Nov. 4 will release the Boss' first children's book, Outlaw Pete. Based on the song of the same name from Springsteen's '09 LP Working on a Dream and intended for kids of all ages, it's about a little boy bank robber who repents his criminal ways.

Perhaps, she's not as great a catch as she was a dozen years ago, but megastar Britney Spears, 32, is single again, having dumped bf David Lucado after a little more than a year. Her rep tells Entertainment Tonight the gal, indeed, is footloose and fancy-free.

TMZ says the breakup occurred after Brit's dad and her conservator Jamie showed her a video of Lucado getting very friendly while dancing with another woman. Seems Jamie paid big bucks to buy the vid.

Chelsea Clinton has resigned her post as an NBC News reporter after three years. Bill and Hillary Clinton's only child, who reportedly was paid $600,000 a year by the network, tells People she's leaving so she can "continue focusing on my work at the Clinton Foundation and as Marc [Mezvinsky] and I look forward to welcoming our first child."

"My mother would be so touched by the tributes and prayers that we have received from around the world," Melissa Rivers said Friday of her mom, Joan, 81, who was rushed to a New York hospital Thursday. The legendary comic reportedly went into cardiac arrest while undergoing a procedure on her vocal cords at a clinic. "Her condition remains serious," her daughter wrote, "We ask that you continue to keep her in your thoughts."

215-854-2736