Being associated with Random House, we’re really proud to announce that the U.S. National Endowment of the Arts is celebrating the birthday of the Children’s Book Author, Dr. Seuss, with a program titled, “READ ACROSS AMERICA!”. The event starts on March 2nd, 2013 ( which is just a few days away! ) and looks to be a very fun thing for both Children and Adults. Yes, this is a chance to get your Kids really exciting about reading!

The main focus is to help kids develop a love of reading and also create some much needed support for local Libraries. The NEA has held this event for some time and it’s always a success. Plus, they always have many different things going on so it’s always a good idea to ask your local Library what they will be doing or you can also check out the official website to see what’s happening too, just CLICK HERE!

Additional Links:

Random House’s Seussville Page
Resources for Teachers
Find Your Local Library!
READ ACROSS AMERICA on Facebook
READ ACROSS AMERICA on Pinterest

Here’s a nice YouTube video we came across the other day and as soon as we viewed it we knew we had to share it here. It’s a small clip from one of Chip Kidd’s lectures were he talks about his “new mantra”. It’s pretty funny so please be sure to check it out!

This post is a friendly remind that the CHARITY BUZZ Auction where you can win the opportunity to have Designer Chip Kidd create a Book Cover for your book or novel. The contest ends in about 3 days & it’s going pretty good so far but we could always use more action! The bidding right now is up to $1600.00 so you still have a chance to get this special freelance work at a great price. Also, please remember, all this money goes to an extremely important charity. So, don’t miss out!!

Here’s the LINK for more info, just CLICK HERE!

The most talked about prequel miniseries in the comic industry, BEFORE THE WATCHMEN, are about to be collected in 4 deluxe hardcover editions. DC Comics just announced that the book covers will be designed by Chip Kidd and they have given them a release date of this summer.

Having previously designed a variant cover for BEFORE WATCHMEN: RORSCHACH issue #3, Chip Kidd was recently asked by DC Comics about what it means to him to design these historic covers. Here's what he had to say, “To design these covers is both a privilege and an honor. And a challenge! The ‘Before Watchmen’ creative team did a truly impressive job, and I will try to do justice to them. So to speak.”

Well, we can't wait to see them and we hope you're just as excited as we are. So stay tuned for their future reveal.

We have some really great news to share and we’re also very proud of the Author/Graphic Novelist Leela Corman. She just received a really great Book Review over at the VILLAGE VOICE for her new Graphic Novel, UNTERZAKHN, published by Pantheon Books.

HELL YEAH! They have a News Reporter over there named Diana Clarke and this Woman wrote a wonderful review that is both very in-depth and has a lot of insight into the book. So, when you get a chance, or if you’re not doing anything right now (ha ha), then please CLICK HERE and give it a quick read. If you have been thinking about reading this book then it will really inspire you.

Pantheon Books, a division of Random House who’s main focus are Graphic Novels, is having a “Fan Art” Competition starting right NOW and it will only last about one week. It’s called “PANTHEON PANELS”. Here’s the deal:

Submit a one-page comic representing the home you grew up in, but drawn in the style of Chris Ware's “Building Stories”.

Deadline is Friday, March 1st. Winners will be announced/posted on Friday, March 8th.

Please submit your original artwork in a standard image format-jpg, pdf, tif, etc. Images should be RGB, 72-300 dpi, and no larger than 1.5 megs.

Please submit your material to pantheonpanels@randomhouse.com
Good Luck!

We were pretty thrilled this morning to wake-up to a wonderful book review for Chip Kidd’s, THE CHEESE MONKEYS: A Novel in Two Semesters. Lindy, over at the LINDY READS AND REVIEW Website shared her thoughts on the Cheese Monkeys and what it meant to her. She also took some very excellent photos of the special page treatment this book has. You see, if you look at the page edges of the book and then slightly bend them, 2 different “magic messages” appear. One message is even the title of this blog!

Please read Lindy’s Book Review by click right HERE!

In today’s ultra-stressful world we can all use a good laugh every now and then. So, here is our attempt to share some awesome parody book covers and even a few hilarious comic strips… all related to the love of reading books. Plus, the art of writing them.

The 2 parody book covers shown here are just way too funny, and so well done, that we had to share them! The 1st one is not an actual book cover but a mash-up of J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE HOBBIT, if it were a Children’s Little Golden Book, ha! Then, believe it or not, the 2nd one is an actual real-life book, a cook book, that is an amazing idea capitalizing on the fame of “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

OK, These comic strips pretty much explain their self but the one of the confused book buyer in a bookstore totally cracks me up! Plus, if you’re an Author, then be sure to check out the 2nd strip because you know you have met this “Muse” before, ha!

All of us here are really proud of the Book Author, Karen Russell, for receiving a totally wonderful and well thought-out book review for her latest work titled, VAMPIRES IN THE LEMON GROVE (Knopf), at the New York Times Sunday Book Review! Her work is both entertaining & hilarious! This new book is a collection of stories and check out what one of the things the NY Times Reporter, Joy Williams, had to say about them, “Her work has a velocity and trajectory that is little less than dazzling and a tough, enveloping, exhilarating voice that cannot be equaled. Sometimes not even by Karen Russell herself.”

To read the Review, please CLICK HERE!

This is just a fun post to share some recently created graphics that celebrate both Book and Authors. You might recognize some of these Writers: Haruki Murakami, Dr. Seuss (represented by the Cat in the Hat! ), and Neil Gaiman.

Please feel free to share these on your favorite social networking website, like Facebook and Twitter. Thanks!