Chris Van Allsburg

East Grand Rapids Public Library: (event offsite at EGRPL) Chris Van Allsburg Appearance & Book Signing. Kent District Library, The Grand Rapids Ballet and Schuler Books & Music will host a book release celebration for award-winning children’s book author and former East Grand Rapids resident Chris Van Allsburg in honor of his new book, The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie.

Location: Street: 2660 28th St SE City: Grand Rapids, Province: Michigan Postal Code: 49512-1619 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Description

From two-time Caldecott winner Chris Van Allsburg, creator of Jumanji and The Polar Express, comes a poignant story of one hamster's struggle with destiny. Being a pet store hamster isn't much fun for Sweetie Pie, but life in human homes proves downright perilous. As Sweetie Pie longingly gazes out of his cage at the squirrels frolicking in the trees, he wonders if he'll ever have the chance to feel the wind in his fur. Allsburg's expressive, soft-hued illustrations artfully capture a hamster's-eye view of the wide and wonderful world where maybe, just maybe, Sweetie Pie could someday run free.

*Chris Van Allsburg will also join us on Thacker Mountain Radio at 6 p.m.

Description

Without telling her family, Elyria takes a one-way flight to New Zealand, abruptly leaving her stable but unfulfilling life in Manhattan. As her husband scrambles to figure out what happened to her, Elyria hurtles into the unknown, testing fate by hitchhiking, tacitly being swept into the lives of strangers, and sleeping in fields, forests, and public parks. Her risky and often surreal encounters with the people and wildlife of New Zealand propel Elyria deeper into her deteriorating mind. Haunted by her sister’s death and consumed by an inner violence, her growing rage remains so expertly concealed that those who meet her sense nothing unwell. This discord between her inner and outer reality leads her to another obsession: If her truest self is invisible and unknowable to others, is she even alive? The risks Elyria takes on her journey are paralleled by the risks Catherine Lacey takes on the page. In urgent, spiraling prose she whittles away at the rage within Elyria and exposes the very real, very knowable anxiety of the human condition. And yet somehow Lacey manages to poke fun at her unrelenting self-consciousness, her high-stakes search for the dark heart of the self. In the spirit of Haruki Murakami and Amelia Gray, Nobody is ever missing is full of mordant humor and uncanny insights, as Elyria waffles between obsession and numbness in the face of love, loss, danger, and self-knowledge.

Location: Street: 160 Courthouse Sq City: Oxford, Province: Mississippi Postal Code: 38655-3914 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Two-time Caldecott winner Chris Van Allsburg tells the tale of Sweetie Pie, an unassuming hamster, in a soft color palette and his trademark detailed text. Transitioning from life in a pet store to a human home provides its fair share of challenges for Sweetie Pie—nosy, slobbery dogs, children who want to turn him into a doll—and all Sweetie Pie wants, as he gazes out the window, is to feel the wind in his fur. Maybe, just maybe, someday he will. Ages 4 – 8 (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Chris Van Allsburg will sign up to four books, including one book from home. He will personalize but no long inscriptions. Book signing only, no memorabilia. No posed photographs.

Street: 5015 Connecticut Ave NW City: Washington, Province: District Of Columbia Postal Code: 20008 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie Chris Van Allsburg Writer and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg’s more than 20 children’s books are celebrated for their “beautiful simplicity of design, balance, texture, and a subtle intelligence beyond the call of illustration” (New York Times). Two of his best known works, Jumanji and The Polar Express, won Caldecott Medals and were adapted into popular films. Van Allsburg’s first book, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, was a Caldecott runner-up. Often full of chaos, danger, and fantastical irony, his other works include Zathura, The Sweetest Fig, and Queen of the Falls. In The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie, a pet store hamster longs for a life of freedom, fresh air, and frolicking with squirrels Parkway Central Library 1901 Vine Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 (between 19th and 20th Streets on the Parkway) This is a FREE event; no tickets or reservations are required. For more information, please call 215-567-4341, or click here

Location: Street: Free Library of Philadelphia Additional: 1901 Vine Street City: Philadelphia, Province: Pennsylvania Postal Code: 19103-5207 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)