The notion of using movies to introduce people to books is not a new one. But this week's sponsor, the library marketing department of HarperCollins Publishing, took it one step farther. They created a Book and Film Festival Kit with everything you need to get the most out of showing book-tie-in movies in your library or school. There's a "now showing" poster, a list of suggested books/movies with themes, useful information about fees, copyright, and community involvement, and more. It's absolutely free, just tell them where to send it!

When I draw our daily scripts I do the lettering first and the art second. But it's the other way around for our Sunday Book Club strips. And sometimes I underestimate the sheer square footage required for the plot summary and dialog. Witness this Sunday's strip for Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, where the artwork is heavily obscured by the seemingly endless description of the book. And that was the edited down version. Because I'm particularly proud of the full drawing I thought I'd show you the original (click to zoom):

By the way, coming up with a new book every week means we need to read a lot. After all, not every book we read is good enough to recommend, and not every book want to recommend lends itself to this format. So usually we split the reading responsibilities. Which means that at least half the time I'm illustrating a book I haven't read. But we both read both of these. So it comes from the hearts.