GoodEnough to Eat
Don'tgo emailing Cake Wrecks -- that's how this cake issupposed to look. Scholastic received this photo from a David Shannon fan, Carol B. of Richmond, Va.,who made this cake for her son Gilby's second birthday. Carol took inspirationfrom the picture book No, David! (1998),about a mischievous boy. David will be back in bookstores later this year, upto his old tricks in a holiday story, It'sChristmas, David! (Scholastic/Blue Sky).
Feeling Like a Million Bucks, Er, Books
Liz Kessler's Emily Windsnap series will draw to a close in April, but it's going out with a bang: the series just hit the one million mark for U.S. copies sold. Candlewick will publish the fourth and final book, Emily Windsnap and the Siren's Secret, on April 27. In honor of the sales milestone, Candlewick treated a group of Girl Scouts from eastern Pennsylvania to ARCs of the forthcoming book in an event-complete with mermaid, a la the series' heroine-at Barnes & Noble Oxford Valley, in Fairless Hills, Pa., seen here. The galleys were a reward for the scouts, who had helped plan and promote an appearance by Kessler at the store last September.
Mo,Moonlighting
MoWillems is on the road promoting his new Cat the Cat series of books, but thatdoesn't rule out side gigs. All this week, Willems has been filling as a guestcartoonist for Hilary B. Price, creator of the nationally syndicated comicstrip Rhymes with Orange (see Mo's handiwork here). Over theweekend, Willems was in New Orleans (just in time for Mardi Gras); he visited Houstonyesterday and is in Austin today, with later stops in San Francisco, LosAngeles, Chicago, and Cleveland (click here for tour details).
EarthAngel
Moveover, Naked Cowboy. Visitors to Times Square in New York City last Friday gotan early Valentine's Day treat-by which we mean copies of Lauren Kate'sparanormal romance novel, Fallen, ofcourse. Random House had a street team (seen here), including a "fallen angel"by the name of Daniel, promoting Fallen allday Friday. They gave away 500 Fallen postcardsas well as some copies of the book itself. Fallenwill be followed by three more books; next up is Torment, due out from Delacorte in October of this year.
AFairy Tale Tour
Britishauthor Michelle Harrison recently visited the U.S. for a cross-country pre-pubtour for her first book, 13 Treasures (Little,Brown, Apr.), a middle-grade novel about a girl named Tanya who can see fairies(unfortunately for Tanya, the fairies are quite evil). Harrison's novel won the2009 Waterstone's Children's Book Award in the U.K. Here, the author (second fromr.) meets a group of librarians at her stop in Chicago;she also met with booksellers and librarians in Los Angeles,Minneapolis, Philadelphia,and New York.Attendees were invited to wear an article of red clothing; in 13 Treasures the color red protectswearers from being discovered by fairies.
SweetHome Alabama
E
arlierthis month, author Irene Latham visited The Bookstore in Huntsville,Ala., to promote her debut novel Leaving Gee's Bend (Putnam, Jan.), acoming-of-age story set in 1932, against the backdrop of the Alabama community's quilting tradition. Here,Latham, a longtime resident of the state, is seen with store owner CassandraWilson. Latham has been busy visiting schools, libraries, and bookstoresthroughout the region; next she'll visit Camden, Ala., to which the story'sheroine, Ludelphia, travels in the novel. Photo: Anthony Wilson.
CallIt an Artist's Dozen
Forthe past three years, a group of children book illustrators and authors in theSan Francisco Bay Area have been getting together for semiannual lunches, as away to combat what can sometimes be isolating work. As evidenced by this photo,the most recent gathering had a strong turnout. In the front row, (l. to r.)are reviewer Sharon Levin with illustrators Sarah Klise, Molly Bang, MarissaMoss, Christy Hale, Yuyi Morales, Jane Wattenberg, Ashley Wolff, Elisa Kleven,and Maria Van Lieshout. In the back (l. to r.) are Mollie Katzen, JulieDowning, Elizabeth Gomez, Alexandra Boiger, and Katherine Tillotson.
