In Brief: January 24

More than two and a half decades after Scholastic first convened The Baby-sitters Club, Ann M. Martin’s series is hitting a few modern milestones. First, 20 titles were released in e-book format at the end of 2012. More recently, on January 16, the Baby-Sitters Club Twitter Party let fans interact with the author (shown here responding to queries via iPad), test their BSC knowledge, and enter to win prizes. The hour-long party reached more than 64,000 accounts and generated upwards of 360,000 impressions. The party day and time – Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. – was chosen to coincide with the regular BSC meetings, which in the books are held in Claudia’s bedroom on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 5:30 p.m.

Brooklyn author-illustrator Tad Hills has plenty of fans, including some close to home. For the second birthday of a local boy named Rafa, his mother ordered a cake inspired by How Rocket Learned to Read (Random/Schwartz & Wade). Rocket is Rafa’s favorite children’s book character, and Hills’s book is required nightly bedtime reading. Shown here, Madison Lee of Madison Lee’s Cakes at Cousin John’s Bakery in Park Slope, Brooklyn, puts the finishing touches on her literary creation.

St. Paul, Minn., Public Library children’s book librarian Kim Faurot recently threw a Harold and the Purple Crayon Party and Potluck at her home. Besides dining on purple and Harold-story related foods –“nine kinds of pie” and “Harold Party Porter,” guests (who were dressed in violet hues) played Harold and the Purple Crayon games and watched the Harold and the Purple Crayon DVD. Front row: Author-illustrator Debra Frasier (On the Day You Were Born); author Trisha Speed Shaskan (Honestly, Red Riding Hood Was Rotten!), with giant crayon. Middle row: Jamie Swenson (librarian, soon-to-be-published author with FSG), illustrator Lauren Stringer (Tell Me About Your Day), and author-illustrator Stephen Shaskan (A Dog Is a Dog). Back row: author David LaRochelle (It’s a Tiger!), author-illustrator Rick Chrustowski (Big Brown Bat), and author Rob Reid (Silly Books to Read Aloud).