C.A.K.E.

The inaugural Comic Arts for Kids Expo (CAKE), will take place on March 23rd, at Lillian H Smith Library in Toronto. The author list is pretty great! C-Ton, Evan Munday, Willow Dawson, The Brothers Leung and many more! Creators will also be asked to draw a panel on giant sheets of paper with kids. The panels  will be hung  on the wall. By the end of the day, they expect to have a giant comic story created by all of those taking part in CAKE.  (Small Printers and Little Islanders will be chronicling the creation of this mural throughout the day. Time lapse video. Enough said. )

Arranged by Little Island Comics and Small Print. For more info go to: Small Print.

Booklists Youth Announcements: Spring 2013 Webinar

One of my FAVE picture books this season.

 Windblown from OWLKids.

Check out this free hour-long webinar March 15th spotlighting new youth spring titles! Representatives from Owlkids, Groundwood Books, Sleeping Bear Press, Zondervan, and Holiday House will showcase their picture books and middle-grade novels for sharing aloud or for independent reading, as well as exciting new titles for young adults. Moderated by Booklist’s Books for Youth editorial director Gillian Engberg. To register click here.

Graphic Novel Webinar Today

J. Torres (Bigfoot Boy) and Scott Chantler (Three Thieves) present at this Booklist webinar — you can watch live or register to have the webcast emailed to you.

Panel Discussion: New Graphic Novels for Libraries and Classroom 

The popularity of graphic novels among readers of all ages continues to soar. Tune in for a preview of hot spring titles and industry insights from both graphic novel publishers and creators in this free, hour-long webinar moderated by Booklist Books for Youth editorial director Gillian Engberg and featuring a panel of representatives from Kids Can Press, ABDO Publishing, DC Entertainment, and Viz Media. Click here to register.

Top Bookstores In Toronto

Type Books in Toronto

Toronto.com did a lovely piece on the cool bookstores in Toronto. If you aren't familiar with all of them, this post is definitely worth checking out. I think there are a few over-sites, such as no mention of Another Story or Mabel's Fables, but there is only so much space!

Maude of Cavendish

The Complete Journals of LM Montgomery, The PEI Years, 1901-1911 has just been released and it provides a fascinating look at Lucy Maude Montgomery’s life from her late 20s into her late 30s. The first entries describe her working life as a copyeditor in Halifax before she moved home to Cavendish, PEI to care for her recently widowed grandmother. Montgomery wrote her first novel, Anne of Green Gables, after returning to PEI and she also met her future husband during this time. The last few journals entries were written on her honeymoon when she was contemplating whether she had made the right choice. The journals also feature 300 b&w photos, most of them taken by Montgomery.

The Complete Journals of LM Montgomery, The PEI Years, 1889-1900 was published in 2012 and follows LM Montgomery from ages 15-26. It was chosen as one of the Top 100 Books of 2012 by The Globe & Mail.

MY FAVOURITE BOOK THIS SEASON!!!!!!

The Art of Clean Up: Life Made Neat and Tidy speaks to my very soul. Swiss artist Ursus Wehrli takes things, places and people such as chicken noodle soup, a ball pit and a bunch of swimmers and organizes them by size, colour and shape. It is a thing of beauty. Below is a video on the making of the book.

Scarlet

We were all very excited to see the new Lunar Chronicle book Scarlet show up in our office. We all loved Meyer's first book in the series Cinder about Cinderella as a Cyborg. Amazingly, as a debut novelist, she made it onto the NYT Bestseller List! Scarlet was given a starred review in PW and she will be coming to Toronto to promote March 7th and will be at Indigo Yorkdale March 9th.

Maddie on Things

This beautiful image from Maddie on Things graced the cover of Chronicle's Spring catalogue. Theron Humphrey planned his road trip with the intent of taking pictures of America. When he saw Maddie's amazing balancing abilities, he quickly changed his focus to his pup.
I love this book because it it quintessentially Chronicle charming, elegant and beautiful. See the video below for more amazing images.

Books Do Save Lives!

As originally reported in the Port Douglas and Mossman Gazette last month, nine-year-old Port Douglas boy Vasco Gonsalves and two other boys aged six and 11 found themselves stuck in exposed mud flats during a recent family camping holiday at Lake Tinaroo. Vasco had sunk to his waist, while the other two boys were up to their chins in mud. However, Vasco had received a copy of Not-for-Parents: How to Be a World Explorer for Christmas and remembered reading the book’s section on “How to Escape from Quicksand”.“I got out because of the book,” Vasco told the Port Douglas and Mossman Gazette. “It said to lean back and lift my legs and bring them up, roll over and swim back, and I got out and ran to tell my mum and the other mums and dads,” he said.  Thanks to Vasco’s initiative, his two friends were also rescued from the mud. Lonely Planet’s Asia-Pacific Sales and Marketing Director Chris Zeiher says the travel publisher was proud and heartened to learn of Vasco’s story. “To hear of Vasco’s clarity of thought and recollection of “How to Escape from Quicksand” in such a dangerous situation is remarkable, and the fact that our product had a hand in saving these boys from such a dire predicament is humbling,” Chris says.  “We’re often told by our travellers that ‘Lonely Planet saved my life’ by getting them out of an awkward situation whilst on-the-road, but this is an extreme example of that statement.” Published last October, Not-for-Parents: How to Be a World Explorer is subtitled “Your All-Terrain Manual”. In addition to explaining “How to Escape from Quicksand,” it also includes tricks and tips to help navigate by the stars, start a fire, fight a bear and tame a camel.

Jane Austen Book Covers

In last week's NYT Book Review there was an essay on the many different cover treatment's Ms. Austen has had over the years. This one is the "Twilight" version. One particularly weird one features a naked Lady Godiva, riding on her horse. Click here to see the complete slideshow.