Heads Up!
Last month in Chattanooga, Tenn., author Jordan Sonnenblick participated in a head-shaving event to raise money for kids with cancer, sponsored by the charity Jack’s Chattanoggins. Fifteen-year-old Chattanooga resident Jack Skowronnek was inspired to launch the organization after reading Sonnenblick’s Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie (Scholastic) in 2010; the novel features a main character whose younger brother has cancer. In the first photo, Sonnenblick (l.) and Skowronnek sport their pre-shaven looks. In the second photo, newly bald Skowronnek and Sonnenblick pose with Chattanooga mayor Andy Berke. Since its founding, Skowronnek’s charity has raised more than $100,000 in funds for the Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital in Chattanooga.
Picture Perfect
The Eric Carle Museum in Amherst, Mass., hosted its ninth annual Children’s Book Festival on June 7. This year’s festival centered on the exhibition and picture book What’s Your Favorite Animal? by Eric Carle and Friends (Holt). Events included a presentation and book signing with contributors Nick Bruel and Peter McCarty, and an animal scavenger hunt. Visitors were also invited to bring along their favorite stuffed toys to have their portraits drawn by artists David Hyde Costello, Astrid Sheckels, Jeff Mack, and (shown here, r.) Diane deGroat.
Fun with New (and Old) Friends
Elephant and Piggie were the guests of honor during a party at Colgate Bookstore in Hamilton, N.Y., on June 4. The event was part of Elephant and Piggie’s five-city tour for My New Friend Is So Fun! (Hyperion), the latest installment in Mo Willems’s early-reader series. During the event, bookstore staff performed a dramatic reading of the book for an enthusiastic group of young fans.
