In Brief: November 17

This past Monday night, the National Book Foundation celebrated its annual 5 Under 35 event, which honors promising young fiction writers, at powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn. This year, for the first time, a young adult author was among the honorees: John Corey Whaley, who was recognized for his novel Where Things Come Back (Atheneum, May), which was recently named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of the Year. Here, Whaley chats with filmmaker/author John Waters, who was the event’s host.

The Children’s Book Council’s Early Career Committee hosted its eighth annual “Extreme Trivia Challenge: Battle for the Golden Bunnies” Tuesday night at Scholastic’s headquarters in New York City. More than 75 publishing professionals tested their knowledge of children’s literature at an event hosted by authors Carolyn Mackler (The Future of Us, with Jay Asher) and Gabrielle Zevin (All These Things I’ve Done). This year’s questions included “Name the children’s author with this day job: Hobo, gold prospector, oyster pirate.” (Jack London), and “Which children’s book author wrote the lyrics to ‘A Boy Named Sue’?” (Shel Silverstein). Seen here, chairperson Mary Van Akin of Random House helps attendees get ready to do battle. Photo: Hans Canosa.

Pop-up wizard Robert Sabuda had a chance to work on a much larger scale than usual when he was tapped to contribute to the holiday window display at Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue in New York City. Sabuda created a backdrop of the New York City skyline for the display, which was unveiled last week (with help from the Radio City Rockettes). Additionally, Henri Bendel set up a Sabuda section inside the store, where his books were available for purchase. Sabuda is also currently involved in another side project: a Kickstarter campaign that’s raising money to convert a New York State horse barn into a community art space.

The Connecticut Children’s Book Fair, held on the campus of the University of Connecticut in Storrs, celebrated its 20th anniversary this past weekend. More than 20 children’s book authors and illustrators participated, including Tomie dePaola (who designed this year’s program), Grace Lin, David Macaulay, Mo Willems, Walter Wick, and Jane Yolen. Seen here (l. to r.): authors Michael Northrop (Trapped) and Jeff Hirsch (The Eleventh Plague), who participated in a panel called “Dystopia & Disaster: EXTREME Teen Reads,” along with Caragh O’Brien (Prized) and Suzanne Weyn (Distant Waves).

Author Simone Elkeles had some help at an event last month promoting her bestselling Perfect Chemistry series. While visiting Santa Barbara High School, she was joined by three actors who portray the books’ Fuentes brothers in book trailers for the series. Seen here, l. to r., are Giancarlo Vidrio (who plays Carlos Fuentes), a fan, Elkeles, Gabriel Chavarria (Luis Fuentes), and Alex Rodriguez (Alex Fuentes). The third book in the series, Chain Reaction, was published by Walker in August. Elkeles has traveled to bookstores in California, Michigan, Texas, and Illinois, and will appear at NCTE in Chicago this weekend.

Children’s bookstore Books of Wonder in New York City hosted a launch party Tuesday evening for C. Alexander London’s We Dine with Cannibals (Philomel, Nov.), the second book in his Accidental Adventure series. The books follow the adventures of TV-loving twins Celia and Oliver Navel, who are reluctantly drawn into globe-trotting adventures. In keeping with the cannibal theme, the party featured finger sandwiches and blood orange juice. London is also holding a contest, in collaboration with SMITH magazine, which asks participants to come up with a six-word memoir describing their most “accidental adventure” for a chance to win a Kindle. The third book in the series, We Give a Squid a Wedgie, is due in June. Photo: Karen Wang, Kidsmomo.com.