Children’s publishers hosted parties as staffers donned costumes based on favorite characters and books—both classic and contemporary. We’ve gathered a selection of photos from the festivities.


Holiday House, Peachtree, and Pixel+Ink held its Boos & Books Bash in person in its two offices—with others connecting via Zoom. Pixel+Ink author Janet Sumner Johnson attended the festivities in New York and was the surprise judge for the costume contest. From the New York office: back row (from l.); Kade Dishmon (The Great Peach Experiment 4: Duck, Duck, Peach); Tova Seltzer, Hannah Finne, and Michelle Montague (Spreckle from Spreckle’s Snack Surprise); Alex Aceves, Thelonia Saunders, and Rebecca Godan (Eden Smith from The Five Impossible Tasks of Eden Smith); and Janet Sumner Johnson. Front row (from l.): Sara DiSalvo (Myra Hodger from Plotting the Stars 2: Seagarden), Alison Tarnofsky (Christine from Be That Way), Della Farrell (Violet from The Brand-New, Never-Used, Perfect Crayons), Alison Weiss (Clara Poole from Clara Poole and the Long Way Round), and Erin Mathis (the friends from Plus One).


From the company’s Atlanta office: back row (from l.): Morgan Hillman, Adelaide Cronin, Lucy Ricketts, Lily Steele, Zoie Konneker, Ashton Eveker, and Jamie Evans. Front row (from l.): Saskia den Boon and Kayla Phillips (Ty and Sky from Sky and Ty 1: Howdy, Partner); Erin Wasserman and Elyse Vincenty (Little Red Riding Hood from Little Red Riding Hood: 40th Anniv. Ed.).


Justice was served at Simon & Schuster, with Jon Anderson (l.) as Brett Kavanaugh, and Richard Ackoon as Ketanji Brown Jackson.


Lucy Cummins was out of this world for Space Case by Stuart Gibbs.


Caitlin Sweeny paid homage to Sabrina Sue Loves the City by Priscilla Burris.


Dan Potash rocked out for Metal Baby by Stephen W. Martin.


Scholastic’s publicity team dressed as favorite characters from the publisher: (from l.) Aleah Gornbein and Victoria Velez as fairies (from Forever Fairies by Maddy Mara), Seale Ballenger and Lia Ferrone as dragons (from Wings of Fire by Tui Sutherland), and Brooke Shearouse as Clifford.


(From l.) Mona Tavangar, Anjali Bisaria, and Lora Wanta recreated the cover of All We Need Is Love and a Really Soft Pillow! by Peter Reynolds. Costumes created by Lora Wanta.


Patti Ann Harris, dressed as a dinosaur in honor of Everything Awesome About Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Beasts! by Mike Lowery.


The Harper editorial team made magic as the rabbits from Maurice Sendak’s forthcoming Ten Little Rabbits (front row: Nancy Inteli; back row, from l.: Erika DiPasquale, Lisa DiSarro, Tamar Mays, Megan Ilnitzki, Rich Thomas, Alyson Day, Amy Cloud, Karina Williams, Lynne Polvino).


Bob, the French-fry-loving seagull from Bob Holt’s The Red Jacket, made an appearance thanks to Sari Murray.


The marketing design team formed the titular character from The Big Cheese by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald (from l.): Nicole DeLeon, Claire Young, Marisa Domenech, and Cecilia Payseur.


Lucy Pevensie from The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis with the lamppost (from l., Blake Hudson and Mimi Rakin).


The marketing operations team struck the golden ticket as Willy Wonka characters (front row, from l.: Lexie Axon, Ann Dye, Avery Coffey, and Rae Gande; back row, from l.: Sam Main and Alison DeMartino).


At Candlewick’s party, Olivia Swomley, as a mushroom, handsold a copy of Fungarium Poster Book.


A group photo from Bloomsbury: (back row): Daniel O’Connor, dressed as the 2005 version of himself; (middle row, from l.): Lily Yengle as Kirkus Reviews, Britt Hopkins as a Norwegian Mountain Troll, Catherine Valdez as Bee from Bee and Puppycat, Phoebe Dyer as Shark Week, and Annie Rosa as the TARDIS; (bottom row, from l.): Amanda Dissinger as Henry Kissinger, Celia Monroe and her service dog Granger as Dr. Doofenshmirtz and Perry from Phineas and Ferb.


The Levine Querido team dressed as some of their favorite LQ books.


The staff at Little Bee Books came as a variety of fictional characters from both non-Little Bee titles as well as Little Bee titles.


Little, Brown Books for Young Readers staffers chose a number of costumes: (from l.) Savannah Kennelly as a ringleader; Alice Gelbe as a “zilot” from Zilot & Other Important Rhymes); Andie Divelbiss as “the Queen of Nothing” from Holly Black); Bill Grace as “The Knight Snacker” from The Knight Snacker); and Stefanie Hoffman as the cover of Wisteria by Adalyn Grace.


David Caplan saddled up as the horse from If I Was a Horse by Sophie Blackall.


More LBYR characters: (from l.) Leyla Erkan as Atticus from Chip; Christy Ottaviano as Lulu from Scroll; and Jessica Anderson as Dragonboy from Dragonboy.


The coffee wagon showed up too, thanks to Jenny Kimura as Café Bustelo.