This week: an author event draws a “marvelous” crowd; a teachers’ convention provides the perfect photo op; the founder of a publishing house is rewarded for her ingenuity; a decorative book launch includes cats and petit fours; and two authors and friends celebrate their books in tandem.

Star Struck

There was a full house in attendance at an event featuring Brian Selznick called “The Marvels” held on November 22 at Symphony Space in Manhattan. Selznick, who hosted the event, shared images and short films documenting his creative process in creating The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck, and The Marvels. Guest performers included actress Barbara Barrie, who read excerpts from Shakespeare that inspired Selznick, and pianist Lucas Elliot Eberl, who offered an original score. Here, one of Selznick’s fans gets a work out as she schleps books for Selznick to sign (those things are heavy!).

Selfie ‘Experts’

The annual convention for the National Council of Teachers of English took place November 19–22 in Minneapolis. Following their panel discussion, “Expert-to-Expert on the Joy and Power of Reading,” authors and literacy experts took a group selfie. Pictured (l. to r.) are: Ernest Morrell, Kylene Beers, Pam Allyn, and Kwame Alexander.

In ‘Toon’

Françoise Mouly, founder of Toon Books, was awarded the Smithsonian’s American Ingenuity Award in the field of education at a gala event on November 12 in the atrium of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. The awards are given annually to individuals working within nine disciplines. Here, Mouly accepts her honor.

A Sweet 16 Book Party

Author Anne Michaels celebrated the release of her first children’s book, The Adventures of Miss Pettifour (Tundra) on November 16 at Garland Cabaret in the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto. The room was decorated with cutouts of the 16 cats that appear throughout the book, and guests enjoyed petit fours, donuts, goodie bags, and performances of sea shanties.

Mood Lighting

Melanie Crowder, author of A Nearer Moon (S&S/Atheneum), and Laura Reasau, author of The Lightning Queen (Scholastic Press) spoke and signed their books at a joint event held at the Boulder Bookstore in Boulder, Colo., on November 15. Reasau (l.) and Crowder are both Colorado residents and also close friends. At the event, guests sampled treats that were themed after the books and took part in craft activities connected to the main protagonists in both novels.