Robert Munsch “ despite being very nearly silenced by a stroke last year, and having one of his new stories delayed because of an attempted terrorist bombing, of all things “ is clearly very much back in the swing of things. On Saturday, Jan. 16, Munsch launched the French and English versions of his newest book, Put Me In a Book! (Scholastic Canada) at Chapters Scarborough. The event was in support of the literacy foundation ABC Canada, of which Munsch is an honorary chair “ perhaps as a result of his little-known earlier book, Make Me an Honorary Chair! (Photo courtesy of Scholastic Canada)

Author Beth Powning launched her new novel, The Sea Captain’s Wife (Knopf Canada), at the Royal Canadian Legion in Sussex, New Brunswick on Jan. 15. The launch featured Powning and friends in period costumes, the singing of sea shanties, a miniature lighthouse, artificial fog, and the author herself reading from the book (in front of a reported 500 attendees) on the prow of a mock ship. (Photos courtesy of Dave Nickerson/Knopf Canada)

You thought we were kidding about the mock prow of a ship, didn’t you…

There were no costumes, lighthouses, or fake ships at the launch of three Dundurn Press Spring YA titles at Indigo Yorkdale on Jan. 16, but there was cake. Three cakes, in fact, in the form of the three books being launched: Girl on the Other Side by Deborah Kerbel, The Silver Anklet by Silver Birch Award-winner Mahtab Narsimhan, and Ghost Ride by Marina Cohen. Above: Kerbel, Narsimhan, and Cohen get out the knives. (Must… resist… “have your cake and read it, too” joke….) (Photo courtesy of Dundurn Press)