In Brief: January 20

Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, the husband-and-wife writing team behind Please, Baby, Please and Please, Puppy Please, have been making the rounds of the morning shows in support of their third picture book, Giant Steps to Change the World (S&S, Jan.), illustrated by Sean Qualls, which invokes such figures as Harriet Tubman, Mother Teresa, and Barack Obama to inspire activism among children. Seen here, the Lees spoke with the Today Show’s Meredith Vieira on January 12 (click here for a video clip of their appearance) and also stopped by The View (video available here).

The gruesomely adorable (or adorably gruesome?) stars of Brian Castleforte’s new book Papertoy Monsters have been popping up all over the Internet, leading up to January 25, which publisher Workman has dubbed Papertoy Monster Day. The monsters—which kids can punch out of the book and fold into shape—can been found on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr (where this monster, Wingy Wingy, was spotted taking special interest in a popular Workman title). Workman is reaching out to bloggers to post about Papertoy Monsters on January 25; the folks at Boing Boing have already shared their monster-making efforts and, according to the publisher, the Instructables and GeekDad Web sites will also participate. In addition to a monster quiz and Web video, Castleforte has also created a pair of downloadable cupid monsters (both naughty and nice), in advance of Valentine’s Day.