In Brief: August 11

The husband-and-wife team of Erin and Philip Stead recently traveled from their home in Ann Arbor to Petoskey, Mich., where they dropped in at McLean & Eakin Booksellers for a reading of their Caldecott Medal–winning picture book A Sick Day for Amos McGee (Roaring Brook/Porter, 2010). These collaborators aren’t entirely attached at the hip, though: Philip Stead wrote and illustrated a picture book of his own earlier this year, Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat (June), and Stead is illustrating Julie Fogliano’s first picture book, And Then It’s Spring (Feb. 2012), both from Roaring Brook/Porter.

Author Elise Allen celebrated the release of her first solo novel, Populazzi (Harcourt, Aug.) with a launch party this past Saturday at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, Calif. Allen (who is the coauthor of Hilary Duff’s Elixir and its forthcoming sequel, Devoted) sported a Populazzi tattoo and necklace for the event, where she discussed the book, which follows teenage Cara’s attempts to ascent the popularity ladder at her new school to become Supreme Populazzi. “Today’s First World Problem,” Allen tweeted beforehand, “getting several loads of wine and baked goods from car to signing without anything melting along the way.”

To celebrate the publication of local author/illustrator Wendy Wahman’s picture book A Cat Like That (Henry Holt, June), Tegan Tigani, events coordinator/buyer at Queen Anne Books in Seattle, baked cupcakes decorated with cat favorites like mice and brought them to a reading at the nearby Twirl Café, where she served them in cat food tins decorated with the name of Wahman’s book. After the event was over, Tigani had the added bonus of making a new friend. “I gave a cupcake to a construction worker enjoying his picnic lunch on my walk back to the store,” said Tigani. “He said, ‘How sweet!’ ”