This week, an author meets a very small super hero; a publisher answers an age-old question; two middle grade authors “draw” an audience; an illustrator and author are honored; and authors welcome the spring melt.
Mighty Small
Author Lisa Yee met a toddler-aged Wonder Woman at a signing for Wonder Woman at Super Hero High, the first in her new middle grade series, DC Super Hero Girls (Random House). The event was held at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in San Diego on March 23.
Coco-Nuts!
National Geographic Kids Books proved that you really can mail a coconut – several, in fact. For April Fool’s Day and to promote Real or Fake?: Far-Out Fibs, Fishy Facts, and Phony Photos to Test for the Truth, Holly Saunders of NG Kids and Tracey Daniels of Media Masters Publicity arranged to have coconuts sent to bookstores and media outlets. National Geo Kids staff members, from left, are: Emily Everhart, Samantha Dighton, Karen Martinez, and Laurie Hembree. Now, it’s up to the recipients to decide how to use their coconuts: piña coladas, anyone?
It’s a Draw!
Disney authors Tom Angleberger (Rocket and Groot: Stranded on Planet Strip Mall!) (l.) and John Claude Bemis (The Wooden Prince – Out of Abaton, Book 1) teamed up for an event at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, N.C., on March 24. The authors spoke about their books and held a doodle-off, drawing comparisons between their latest middle grade novels: for example, they both feature characters made out of wood, talking forest creatures, robots, and sea monsters.
A United Front
On March 24, Candlewick Press hosted a reception for author Carole Boston Weatherford and illustrator Ekua Holmes at the Boston Public School’s Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building in Roxbury’s Dudley Square. The event was held to honor Weatherford and Holmes’s picture book, Voice of Freedom: Fannie Lou Hamer, Spirit of the Civil Rights Movement. Images from their 2016 Caldecott Honor book were displayed, one of which is shown here alongside Weatherford (l.) and Holmes.
Total Meltdown!
The eighth annual Meltdown Family Music and Book Festival took place on March 26 in Northampton, Mass., at Smith Vocational High School. The festival was conceived by Jarrett J. Krosoczka and his wife, Gina. The event features authors and children’s rock bands that take the stage to discuss their work, perform, and welcome in spring. Attendance this year was in the thousands, and featured six guest authors. Here, Bob Shea rocks the crowd with the help of some attendees. The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, Mass., has provided book sales for the festival since its inaugural year.
