This week: a bookstore urges kids to read past their bedtimes; an author is declared a patron saint; a YA author’s fans come in all sizes; an author visits from the Emerald Isle; a children’s book “Trivia Bowl” heats up; and an author and illustrator show that minding your manners can be fun.
One Cozy Nook!
Copperfield’s Bookstore in Petaluma, Calif., recently unveiled its interactive window display designed to look like a kid’s bedroom. Complete with a bed, lamp, toys, and books, the space welcomes bookstore visitors to hang out and read “past your bedtime.” Here, seven-year-old Luna is absorbed in reading Brian Selznick’s Wonderstruck.
What a Saint!
Sarah Dessen was in Canada for a two-city tour for Saint Anything with stops in Montreal and Toronto. On November 16, she spoke at the Penguin Random House Canada offices before a crowd of booksellers, bloggers, and fans. The offices were transformed into the restaurant Seaside Pizza, which is featured in Saint Anything. After speaking, Sarah was presented with a medal declaring her the Patron Saint of YA. Marketing and publicity manager Vikki Van Sickle (r.) got in on the action.
And the Winner Is…
The Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education held its second annual CCBC Trivia Bowl on November 13. More than 100 children’s book aficionados were in attendance, all hoping to win a statuette of Babe the Blue Ox by answering trivia questions. Topics this year included Harry Potter and illustrator Tom Lichtenheld, seen here on the left with the Babe trophy and CCBC director KT Horning.
‘YALL’ in the Family
Julie Kagawa met one of her youngest fans at YALLfest, which took place November 13-14 in Charleston, S.C. Guy Woods, all of two and a half weeks old, waited in line with his father Russ. His mother was also in attendance at the festival and came back later in the day to meet Kagawa herself. Kagawa had just returned from a European tour for Iron Warrior, the final book in Kagawa’s Iron Fey series.
What a Welcome!
Librarians, booksellers, and bloggers gathered to meet Irish illustrator P.J. Lynch (front l.) for lunch near the Candlewick offices in Somerville, Mass., on November 12. Lynch was in the U.S. promoting the first children’s book he both wrote and illustrated, The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower, or John Howland’s Good Fortune.
Mind Your Manners
Author Delia Ephron and cartoonist Edward Koren attended an event at Barnes & Noble Tribeca on November 14 for the re-release of their Do I Have to Say Hello? Aunt Delia’s Manners Quiz for Kids and Their Grown-ups (Blue Rider Press), which has been updated from its original 1989 edition. Here, the author and illustrator lead audience members in a creative exercise.
