All-Star Cast to Headline Art Auction Variety Show at BEA

Leading authors and illustrators of children’s books will show off their hidden talents in a variety show to be held during the Children’s Book Art Auction and Reception at BookExpo America on Wednesday evening, May 28.

Shannon Hale and Michael Buckley are the organizers and masters of ceremony for the entertainment and comedy show, the Slushpile Family Circus. The cast includes Jarrett J. Krosoczka, the auction’s honorary chair, David Levithan, Jon Scieszka, Pseudonymous Bosch, Melissa de la Cruz, Brandon Mull, Jason Reynolds, Scott Westerfeld, Libba Bray, Tom Angleberger, Maryrose Wood, Jennifer Holm, Paul Zelinsky, and Melissa Guion. Hale and Buckley, who are also promising a “mysterious guest star,” said, “Come one, come all and witness the bizarre, the unusual but always entertaining Slushpile Family Circus.”

The Children’s Book Art Auction, which is co-sponsored by the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the ABC Children’s Group at ABA, will be held from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the River Pavilion of the Jacob Javits Center. Tickets are $105 and may be ordered here. ABFFE members and bookseller members of the ABC Children’s Group can attend for free but should register here.

Proceeds support ABFFE’s defense of the free speech rights of kids. ABFFE is a co-founder of the Kids’ Right to Read Project and a sponsor of Banned Books Week.