Children’s author Margaret Wise Brown was born on 23 May 1910. She is best known for the books Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny.

Margaret Wise Brown. Brooklyn Museum.
Children’s author Margaret Wise Brown was born on 23 May 1910. She is best known for the books Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny.

Margaret Wise Brown. Brooklyn Museum.
Sir James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860.

Portrait of J.M. Barrie. 1904 or earlier.

Peter Pan and Wendy by J.M. Barrie.

Charles Dickens Giving a Reading, 1867
This engraving is from a sketch by Charles A. Barry. It appeared in Harper’s Weekly in December 1867.
If I’m not reading, I’m adding books to my to-be-read list. That list is monstrously long–maybe not a mile, but getting there!
Here are some of my newest additions, courtesy of the Spring Preview 2016 Catalog from Daedalus Books.
The writer of such adventure classics as The Sea Hawk, Scaramouche, and Captain Blood was born on 29 April 1875. Here he is as a young man, looking rather dapper:

Portrait of birthday boy Rafael Sabatini
G is for Gaskell, Elizabeth:

(Unframed) Elizabeth Gaskell Quote Print by see what i sea designs. $9.00+
“You don’t really understand an antagonist until you understand why he’s a protagonist in his own version of the world.”-John Rogers
I was too busy to submit to Fossil Lake III: Unicornado! but I’m just as excited about its release as I was about last year’s Fossil Lake II: The Refossiling (which features my horror story Beyond the Boneyard Gate).
Go here to learn more about the new release!

Fictional characters. Sometimes you like them, sometimes you loathe them, and sometimes you’re half in love with them. Want to get to know someone in a hurry? Swap character crush stories; it’s the ultimate icebreaker!
Reel Infatuation is a reader participation virtual cyclopedia of character crushes. It’s a symbiotic, interactive platform built on the old-fashioned notion of give-and-take. We want to hear all about your film, television, and literary loves! Are your stories sweet, silly, embarrassing, or seemingly inexplicable? Share ’em! First crushes, old crushes, new crushes? Bring ’em on! You show us yours, and we’ll show you ours!

Our goal is to share as many character crush stories with as many people as possible. Think of it as a continuing conversation joined by thousands of voices from around the world: you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll occasionally be totally confused. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
Reel Infatuation is comprised of this fabulous introductory blogathon, a website, Facebook page, and Twitter account. All stories will be cross-posted in order to maximize the fun! After the (first annual) blogathon is over, we’ll keep the party going on all of the other platforms.
THE REEL INFATUATION BLOGATHON…
IT’S IN THE DETAILS:

After signing up for the blogathon, be sure to grab a banner or two!
SIGN UP HERE:
PARTICIPANT LIST:
We (myself and my partner-in-pop-culture, Ruth* of Silver Screenings) are incredibly excited to share this project with you! If you think it sounds half as fun as we do, please spread the word! On that note…
JOIN THE CONVO TODAY!
In addition to the blogathon, you may submit your stories at any time via email, Facebook message, directly to our Facebook wall, or by tweeting! (We will take care of the cross-posting duties.) Please include the following information:
We ask that you keep your non-Twitter/non-blogathon posts to a maximum of 300 words each. There is no cap on how many stories you may share! Keep ’em coming!
Contact info:
Help us break the Internet, and all things pop culture, by spreading the word about Reel Infatuation. Thanks for being awesome.
*Kudos to Ruth for making the beautiful blogathon banners!

Beatrix Potter quote