Unlike the Children's Poet Laureate, a position established last year by the Poetry Foundation, the national ambassador will be a Library of Congress position, therefore, as Adelson explained, a "nationally ordained" post.

Ambassadors, who will serve two-year terms, will be selected in a process overseen by John Cole, director of the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. A committee, which has yet to be created, will select ambassadors; members will include Adelson, Cole and, as Adelson called them, "a number of knowledgeable people representing different interested parties," including teachers, librarians, booksellers, authors and book critics. The inaugural ambassador, who Adelson said will be selected during the next few months, will be announced in January at a press event at the Library of Congress, with the Librarian of Congress making the official appointment.

The goal for the position, which will be given to renowned children's illustrators and authors of both fiction and nonfiction, is twofold, Adelson said. First, it's to "bestow an honor to someone who has contributed greatly to children's books." The other hope, she added, is that the ambassador will be able to "spread the word and raise awareness" about the importance of reading and children's literature at large.

To promote the position, the CBC has retained a publicist and will focus its attention on publicizing the ambassador starting next January. —Rachel Deahl

"When you're presented with a chance like this, it's really overwhelming," Eagan said. "I kept thinking, how do rock bands come up with names?" From the outset, she was after a name that captures the spirit of the books that are considered her stock in trade: "stories with amazing female characters who are wild, funny and an inspiration to readers." Her quest began with lots of Googling—wildflowers, which then led to red flowers. In the end, Eagan settled on Poppy, saying, "It's colorful, quirky, feminine, classic, not trendy, and it's a visually arresting word because it has 'pop' in it," she reasoned. Fittingly, the imprint's logo is a bold pop-art style rendering of the namesake flower in full bloom.

Poppy will largely be home to the paperback original series that Eagan has been editing since their inception—Gossip Girl (including the hardcover prequel due out this fall), the A List, Clique, and It Girl—as well as a new series debuting in January. That series, Poseur, by first-time author Rachel Maude, taps into the popularity of TV reality shows Project Runway and America's Next Top Model, and will follow a group of teen girls who create a fashion label as a school project. Readers can even try out some of the real designs/patterns included in each book. In addition to these series, paperback reprints of select hardcover titles edited by Eagan will also share the Poppy umbrella.

Shunsuke Daito shows off the pop-up he created, with the help of Matthew Reinhart and Robert Sabuda, for a Japanese reality show.

Japanese actor Shunsuke Daito spent a week in late May living and working with Sabuda and Reinhart for an episode of Ururun, a Japanese television show that sends neophytes to work with master craftsmen around the globe.

Sabuda and Reinhart helped Daito create a pop-up edition of "Peach Boy,"
a retelling from Japanese folklore about a childless couple who adopt a baby they find floating down the river inside a peach.

"When he first got here, we showed him the things we are working on, these elaborate pop-ups that are just enormous," Sabuda said. "Then we showed him some much, much simpler pop-ups so he'd have a more realistic view of what he could accomplish."

Before penning her first Toot and Puddle book, the author had created a successful line of Holly Hobbie greeting cards for American Greetings, featuring her signature blue-bonneted girl. That character then came to life as a rag doll, and other dolls created for various markets followed.

Megan Tingley, v-p and publisher of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, explains how Hobbie's transition to book author came about. "Holly was legendary for her dolls, but was eager to go in a new direction with her art work," says Tingley. "Fellow artist Jane Dyer referred her to Maria Modugno [then an editor at Little, Brown] and Maria worked with her to develop children's book ideas. Everyone in-house was astounded by Holly's virtuosic watercolors skills and saw potential in these two little pig characters she proposed. So we offered her a multi-book contract. We felt she could have a long life in the children's book world. And 10 years later, I guess we were right!"