Odyssey Books and TLC's Cake Boss make stories good enough to eat

Congratulations to Odyssey Books! This is their first year to exhibit at Toy Fair at the Javits Center in NYC. They kicked off their new product line and book imprint, StoryTime Cafe by having Carlos Bakery, better known as TLC's "Cake Boss" make a custom-built cake, depicting Christina, Barb's daughter in bed reading a book surrounded by many of the characters featured in their childrens' picture books.

That's Mauro Castano, Buddy Valastro's right hand man personally setting up the cake display and supervising the cutting of the sheet cake served to all the reporters and retailers at the show.

Leave it to Barb Ciletti to do a first rate job introducing their new product line!

Photos by Nancy Stadler

Endpapers for a Children's Picture Book

You don't see illustrated endpapers much these days, probably due to budget constraints. But I think it adds some fun and whimsy plus has an old fashioned storybook feeling to it. I'm not one hundred percent finished with the artwork yet but thought I'd take a break and give you a sneak peek.

Definition of endpapers: The plain white, decorated, or printed paper that is at the front and end of a book, one half of which is pasted down to the binding. The endpapers are used to give a finished look to the binding.

Martin Luther King Day Top Ten Books

Just found out that Patria Press' historical fiction chapter book about the childhood of Frederick Douglass was chosen by KidCity as one of their top ten picks for MLK Day and Black History Month!

Below are more details from the KidCity website:

African-Americans suffered disproportionately (and still do) by racist attitudes and actions. But the civil rights movement is no more owned by African-Americans than Holocaust resistance was owned by Jews or suffrage was owned by women. Injustice, suffered anywhere, affects all those who touch it, fight it, comply with it, or blatantly promote it.

Martin Luther King Day and Black History Month give parents a chance to break the cycle of history repeating by looking through the window of how African-Americans suffered, fought and eventually broke through barriers.

"Of all the biographies received, the Young Patriot Series was the most engaging and well-told for single digit kids. Through anecdotes and everyday actions, kids can see how Frederick Douglass lived and eventually paved the way for the civil rights movement."

Douglass' childhood is an amazing story, and it was a lot of fun to research and illustrate his life. Here's the poster from our book signing at Book Expo America in NYC.