Friends in High Places
Actor Jerry O’Connell attended the launch party of friend Geoff Rodkey’s The Tapper Twins Go to War (With Each Other)! (Little, Brown), at Books of Wonder in New York City on April 7. O’Connell, who has twin daughters himself, purchased a copy for each of them.
Mesmerized
Author Mara Rockliff met “Ben Franklin” (channeled by historical interpreter Bill Ochester) in Philadelphia last month for coffee at Little Jimmie’s, a bakery in the historic one-room Beggarstown School House, built in 1740. Ben Franklin regaled Mara with stories about the Revolution, and she shared her new book Mesmerized: How Ben Franklin Solved a Mystery that Baffled All of France (Candlewick) with him.
Bright Places
Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places (Knopf), met fans and the media throughout the U.K. and Italy in late March, culminating with a party at the Bologna Book Fair, where Niven met her international publishers for the first time and also enjoyed a more intimate end-of-tour celebration, plus a cake (seen here) with her U.S. team.
Feathered Guests
Barnes & Noble held a nationwide story event to celebrate Tad Hill’s Duck & Goose series on March 28. Hills visited the Park Slope Barnes & Noble, sharing a storytelling activity with the crowd. Hills’s two feathered friends and the stars of his series also paid a surprise visit to the bookstore.
Looking Up!
The release party for Tommy Wallach’s debut novel We All Looked Up (S&S), was a musical one. Wallach is also a musician and created a companion album to the book, also called We All Looked Up. The concert event took place at Joe’s Pub in New York City on March 27.
On Air
Author Dana Walrath spoke about her novel-in-verse, Like Water on Stone (Delacorte) on Vermont Public Radio on April 2, along with Chris Bohjalian (l.), author of the adult novel The Sandcastle Girls (Vintage). Both books take place during the Armenian Genocide. The previous day, the two authors spoke at the Vermont State House as the legislature approved April 24, 2015 as the official recognition of the 100th anniversary of the genocide.
