A Tailor-Made Audience

Anita Silvey and Wendell Minor recently collaborated on the picture book Henry Knox: Bookseller, Soldier, Patriot (Clarion, Nov.), about a little-known hero of the Revolutionary War. Knox, a 25-year-old bookseller, led an expedition to transport cannons from New York’s Fort Ticonderoga to Boston to combat the siege of that city. What better audience for the book than Knox “himself”? Seen here with the book is historical re-enactor Bob Heffner, who regularly portrays Knox at schools, libraries, museums, and historical sites. Silvey and Minor discovered Heffner via Facebook (which also might have come in handy during the siege of Boston); the actor plans to incorporate the book into his presentations. Photo: Heather Lewis.

Harper’s Holiday Spirit

The marketing department at HarperCollins Children’s Books celebrated the holiday season with its annual Yankee Swap. Staffers brought in anonymous gifts and selected a number. In order, each opened a gift, with the option of switching it for a gift that had already been opened. Here, the department shows off their treasures, including this year’s sought-after gifts: an elephant hat, a sock monkey wine holder, and the board game Apples to Apples.

Little, Brown and Meyer Support Red Cross

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and author Stephenie Meyer donated $1.5 million to the American Red Cross International Response Fund from a portion of the sales of Meyer’s The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, which Little, Brown published back in June. Pictured here, at the check presentation on Monday, are (l. to r.) LBYR publisher Megan Tingley, Hachette Book Group CEO David Young, and American Red Cross senior v-p of international services David Meltzer.

Preparing for ‘The Water Wars’

Sourcebooks got a jump on the new year last week, celebrating writer Cameron Stracher’s first YA novel, The Water Wars, which Sourcebooks Fire will publish in January. The book is set in a near future in which a lack of water has led to rationing, wars, and black markets. Stracher spoke about water scarcity and conservation at the event, which was held at 200 Orchard, a bar in New York City, and attended by media and publishing figures, librarians, and bloggers. Here, Stracher is flanked by his editor, Leah Hultenschmidt (l.), and his agent, Lisa Bankoff.