The Force Is Strong at This Store
Last Saturday, Kepler’s Books in Menlo Park, Calif., held a party to celebrate the release of LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary (DK, Oct.), a photographic guide to the many Star Wars—themed LEGO sets that have been manufactured over the past 10 years. (Kepler’s was one of dozens of bookstores hosting a book release party.) The store invited fans to dress up in LEGO and/or Star Wars costumes for a costume contest, held a raffle and offered a LEGO building station. Here, kids (the event drew 120 visitors in all) peruse some LEGO Star Wars vehicles on display. Photo: Derk Dreeszen.
Willems on the Web
More than 200 schools and libraries participated in a live simulcast last week with children’s author Mo Willems. Kids around the country tuned in as Willems answered questions, did some sketching and read from his latest books: Big Frog Can’t Fit In and the new Elephant and Piggie book, Pigs Make Me Sneeze! Willems, who as seen here on-screen dressed up for the occasion, has several photos from the simulcast rehearsals posted on his blog.
A Busy Night at Hicklebee’s
Hicklebee’s in San Jose, Calif., recently hosted 150 teachers for an “Educator Night,” and several children’s book authors came out to discuss their latest books. Seen here, l. to r., are Natasha Wing (An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers), Alex Beard (The Jungle Grapevine), Sarah Klise (Little Rabbit and the Night Mare), Teri Sloat (There Was an Old Man Who Painted the Sky), owner Valerie Lewis, Betsy Franco (Pond Circle) and Kristin Venuti (Leaving the Bellweathers).
Scholastic’s (Second) Webcast with Whoopi
Scholastic is holding a second online webcast for its multiplatform 39 Clues series. Whoopi Goldberg, who hosted the first webcast last year, will return for this one, entitled “The 39 Clues: Advanced Agent Training,” which will take place on Monday, November 2. Goldberg will speak with all five authors of the series: Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson and Patrick Carman (next up in the series is Watson’s In Too Deep, out November 3). Additional information is available at Scholastic’s Web site.
