School Days

The School of Visual Arts in Manhattan is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Illustration as Visual Essay MFA program, with an exhibition called We Tell Stories featuring the work of graduates. The exhibition, held at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, includes a room devoted to graduates of the program who have illustrated children’s books. Attending the opening reception for the exhibition on November 4, were alumni (l. to r.) Brian Floca, J. Stephen Savage, and Gerardo Blumenkrantz. We Tell Stories is open to the public and runs through December 13.

Signs of Autumn

Seventeen-year-old actress, singer, and model Bella Thorne, has taken on a new role: YA author. The celebrity visited Barnes & Noble Tribeca on November 11 to celebrate the publication of her debut novel, Autumn Falls. Thorne greeted fans and signed copies of the book. After New York City, the Florida native heads to signing events in Chicago and Miami.

Golden Years

Since late September, longtime editorial director of Golden Books at Random House Diane Muldrow has toured the country for Everything I Need to Know About Christmas I Learned From a Little Golden Book, a companion title to Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book. Both feature illustrations from vintage Little Golden Books. Muldrow stopped by Cincinnati's local Fox station WXIX to talk about the history of the classic children’s books and what led to her creation of the new series, which are being marketed strongly toward baby boomers. Releasing in December is Everything I Need to Know About Love I Learned from a Little Golden Book.

150 Years and Counting

Despite its advanced age, Houghton Mifflin held a lively party late last week to celebrate its birthday. Perhaps Newbery Medal-winning author Lois Lowry described the company’s importance best in a note that senior v-p and publisher Betsy Groban read at the event: “In the years since 1977, when Houghton Mifflin published my first book, I have packed up and moved nine times. Nine new places to live, nine new places to call... what? If it really means what they say – where the heart is – then for all that time, Houghton Mifflin, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, have always been my home.” (From l. to r.): Dinah Stevenson, Donna McCarthy, Gary Gentel, and Betsy Groban celebrate.

A Good Day for a ‘Bad Day’

Friday marked the opening of Still Lugubrious, an art exhibit at the Portland (Maine) Public Library in honor of the 20th anniversary of Lisa Jahn-Clough’s Alicia Has a Bad Day (HMH). First published in 1994 by the children’s book editor Walter Lorraine, the book was inspired by the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem, “A Rainy Day.” To date, Jahn-Clough has published 16 picture books and three YA novels. She currently heads the Children’s Writing program at Rowan University in New Jersey. Pictured here are author-illustrator Lisa Jahn-Clough (l.) and Julia Richardson, editorial director of HMH Books for Young Readers.

Getting ‘Hitched’

On October 25, Coughlan Companies, a parent company to Capstone Publishing, donated two hitching stones to the Betsy-Tacy Society and the homes of author Maud Hart Lovelace’s fictional characters Betsy and Tacy, in Mankato, Minn. Members of the society and area locals held a dedication ceremony at the houses, which are recognized as National Literary Landmarks. The new posts were handcrafted to replicate the original stones that were removed in the 1900’s. Those hitching stones were featured prominently in the Betsy-Tacy books as a favorite meeting place for the friends.