Vijaya and I were in New York City last week, to attend the 90th Anniversary Party for Scholastic.

Scholastic celebrated by kicking off a literacy campaign called “Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life” that includes an auction of original art on Scholastic’s website at scholastic.com/readeveryday/. Twelve artists (including myself) contributed pieces that were turned into posters with the original art used to raise money for the nonprofits Reading Is Fundamental and Reach Out and Read.

In the photo above are (from L to R) Jon J. Muth (Zen Shorts), Mary GranPré (Harry Potter), Norman Bridwell (Clifford the Big Red Dog), Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Bruce Degan (The Magic School Bus), Barbara McClintock (Our Abe Lincoln), Ed Fotheringham (Tony Baloney), David Shannon (No, David), myself, Sean Qualls (Dizzy) You can read Sean’s blog about the event here, Mark Teague (LaRue), Stephen Savage (Where’s Walrus?). Photo credit: Stuart Ramson.

Above is Norman Bridwell, artist of Clifford, the Big Red Dog!

Raina Telgemeier (Smile), Jon J. Muth (Zen Ties), Mary GranPré (Illustrator of Harry Potter)

Jon J. Muth, Bruce Degen (The Magic School Bus) and Stephen Savage (Where’s Walrus?)

A great site called Bites: Chomping on Books Spitting out reviews has some pictures here. And below is a scan of the original art with the three BONE cousins as kids.

I’d never met any of these folks before. What a great group! I was equal parts amazed, and awed by the talent and friendliness of everyone in the room.

The pictures are from Stephen Savage who emailed them around to the rest of us, and the group shot came from Scholastic. Bottom line: It was fun and full of surprises; and all for literacy!

To view all the pieces of art click here!

I’m very pleased to announce that RASL will be included in the 2011 edition of Best American Comics.

This year’s editor,  Alison Bechdel, chose RASL #6 The Mad Scientist to be in the 2011 line up. That’s the Nikola Tesla issue.  Best American Comics anthologies are always filled with good reads, and it’s an honor to have work included.

I am especially happy because I am a huge fan of Alison and her graphic novel, Fun Home. Thanks, Alison! Big thanks also to regular series editors Jessica Able and Matt Madden. Besides being well respected cartoonists themselves, Jessica & Matt also run the website Drawing Words & Writing Pictures. RASL was named a notable last year, and you can see Jessica & Matt’s write up here.

I do not know yet who the other cartoonists in the book will be, but a review from Publisher’s Weekly that appears on Amazon also mentions Joe Sacco and Dash Shaw.

I really like the cover designed by Jillian Tamaki

Below are a few images from RASL #6, The Mad Scientist: