Fusenews: Peepy Goes Walkabout

I think it is safe to say that the very first authors to dip so much as a single toe into the new Children’s Center at 42nd Street were none other than YA mavericks Lisa Yee and Eric Luper.  They came when we were still in our crazed are-we-ready-to-open-yet????? phase, and were mighty accomodating to our loopiness.  However, that very day tragedy struck.  Eric’s account of the day is here.  The first part of Lisa’s heartbreaking tragedy is with a wrap-up here.  Oh.  And if any of you are wondering why Eric’s post has a picture of me with my arm wrapped way way way outside the comfort circle of Ms. Yee, she was ill.  It was her wish not to spread germs and so I accomodated in as goofy a posture as possible.

• Sometimes I like to plug theatrical events as they come my way.  The Lifetime Theater in Chicago performs picture book productions outside of the usual scope.  Here’s something from their most recent press release for those of you within hopping distance of The Windy City:

• I have good news for Tim Tharp above and beyond becoming an NBA finalist in the Young Person’s category for his book The Spectacular Now. He is now the official 2008 winner of the Richard Peck Lookalike Contest. See for yourself. Thanks to PW’s Children’s Bookshelf for the link.

• Here’s a tip for a forward thinking author or illustrator.  Let us say that you are due to have a book signing before a famous person of some sort.  Perhaps you would like to get their notice in some way.  So howzabout autographing and illustrating a picture for them in a copy of your own book?  That’s exactly what Adam Rex did for one John Hodgman (a.k.a. the only celebrity to link to my blog) and it got him a Hodgman-rific review as a result.  I tell you, between Peter Brown’s popularity with Jon Stewart’s kid, the presence of people like Samantha Bee and John Oliver at 826NYC, and Rex’s connection to Hodgman we’re growing closer and closer to the ultimate goal: A children’s author getting to talk about their book on The Daily Show.  Oh sure, Sherman Alexie spoke on Colbert, but they didn’t even discuss his book.  Plus he was an adult author first.  We can do better.

• Daily Image:

The winners of Unshelved’s annual Pimp My Bookcart competition have been announced.  Now I live in Columbia University married student housing, so I know I should be faithful to those that provide me with shelter.  But honestly, don’t you think the winner should have been the UCSD bookcart shown here?

And check out the Flickr pics of the creation of the bookcart here if you get a chance.  They wuz robbed!

Filed under: Fusenews