AN EVENING OF UNUSUAL TALENTS:
JIM BENTON, RENATA PALUBINSKAS & ZACHARY SCHAFER AT BOOK BEAT
THURSDAY June 26th, from 7:00-8:30 PM the Book Beat at 26010 Greenfield in Oak Park, presents an entertaining evening of unusual art and books by three rare and exceptional Detroit area talents.
New York Times bestselling author and international designer Jim Benton will present his latest outrageous and kooky title for mature teens and adults; CHERISE THE NEICE, a book of bleak and hilarious dark humor. Also present will be Lithuanian born artist Renata Palubinskas, who recently illustrated the surreal satire; SCHNOOKS WAR ON TERRORISM with her partner Zachary Schafer. The arts review website Detroiter.com has called Renata "possiby the best painter in this city."
If you like Edward Gorey, Charles Addams, Tim Burton and other bits of gruesome comedy, you might like the new Jim Benton book Cherise the Neice, from Pennguin/Plume ( ages 14 and up. )
It's a morbid little story told in rhymes and pictures of a little girl named Cherise, and her Aunts, whom are getting bumped off one at a time. Is Cherise the culprit or is she just an unfortunate waif moved from home to home after the mysterious disappearance of her parents?
But don't fear, we will also have on hand copies of Jim Benton's popular "Dear Dumb Diary" and "Franny K Stein" series, for younger readers.
People magazine has called Jim Benton "The most visible cartoonist in America." His young adult series Dear Dumb Diary (with over 2 ½ million copies in print) recently produced a New York Times bestseller for Never Underestimate Your Dumbness. Benton’s crazily infectious “Happy Bunny” books and designs have become global icons appearing in Anti-Drug Campaigns and as designer clothing brands in major department stores. “Happy Bunny” was named Best Art Brand License of the Year in 2007 and Best Character Brand for Scholastic Books. Benton’s sketchbook characters Meany Doodles, Just Jimmy, Watashi Baka Da, Sweetypuss, Little Bad and many others are featured on bags, t-shirts, buttons, calendars, hats, food, clothing, posters, books and stationary. His newly developed “jOkObO project” is featured at Virgin MegaStores. Benton’s energetic cartoon-sketch empire grows at a steady pace with an endless supply of imaginative marketing ideas and products. 
Renata Palubinskas was born in Kaunas, Lithuania. Schnook’s War on Terrorism is her first book, a superb collection of paintings about an “every-man dog” trying to do good in the world, and help put an end to terrorism. In finely detailed paintings we are taken along on Schnook's journey.
Renata’s mystical and detailed paintings of children and surreal grotesqueries are exhibited across the United States and treasured by collectors. She says, “I paint to communicate another reality… and portray children caught in the conflict between the duality of awareness and naivety.” A Metro-Times review stated, “She renders neo-medieval fantasies with razor-sharp precision, conjuring up Hieronymous Bosch by way of René Magritte.”
Zachary Schafer is the author of Schnooks War on Terrorism. He was born in Korea in 1975 and is a fine arts painter in the Detroit area.
One of the most powerful short-story writers of the twentieth century, Isaac Babel expressed his sense of inner conflict through disturbing tales that explored the contradictions of Russian society. His masterpiece, Red Cavalry, set in the Soviet-Polish war, is one of the classics of modern fiction. By turns flamboyant and restrained, this collection of Babels best-known stories vividly expresses the horrors of his age.
"Amazing not only as literature but as biography." --Richard Bernstein, The New York Times
The Book Beat reading group will be meeting on Wednesday, June 25th at 7:00 PM at Gayles Chocolates on Washington in Royal Oak for a discussion on the "Red Cavelry" stories by Isaac Babel. We also recommend a reading of the following autobiographical stories; "The Story of My Dovecot", "First Love", "In the Basement", "Awakening", "Guy de Maupassant" and "The King" (from Odessa Stories)- these are all included in the Penguin classic edition: Red Cavalry and Other Stories (Paperback, Penguin Classics).
For more information about Book Beat events please call 248-968-1190. The Book Beat is an independent bookstore serving the metro Detroit area since 1982. We are located at 26010 Greenfield in Oak Park. VIsit our website at: thebookbeat.com.