All week long we have been celebrating Banned Books Week here on OOM. As you may know, this week brings together all bookophiles and helps raise awareness of the freedom to seek and express ideas. The theme of this year’s Banned Books Week is Graphic Novels.

Jeff Smith, creator of the phenomenally popular Bone Series, was placed on this year’s Top 10 List of Banned Books. Jeff took some time to speak with The Guardian  and The Washington Post on his views about Banned Books Week. Jeff also blogged for The Huffington Post about Banned Books Week.

Jeff also joined Dav Pilkey, creator of the Captain Underpants series, on NPR’s Morning Edition. Listen to the interview here.

Be sure to check back on OOM all week for more posts about Banned Books Week 2014!

Hello, live from San Diego Comic-Con! AKA Comic-Con International: San Diego, which began in 1970 and has grown to become the focal point for the world of comics conventions, with attendance topping 130,000 in recent years—Comic-Con is an amazing convergence of artists, authors, creators, fans, cos-players, and others from all over the world.

Last night Scholastic hosted its annual SDCC party at the Hotel Palomar. It was an exciting evening filled with Scholastic authors and artists. There was a special photo booth, an exclusive Ewok Pilot comic by Jeffrey Brown, and a sneak peek at some of the amazing art included in the just announced BONE #1: Out from Boneville, The Tribute Edition, a full-color special edition of the first book in Jeff Smith’s award-winning and bestselling BONE series coming in February 2015 and kicking off the 10th anniversary celebration of the Scholastic Graphix imprint in 2015.

Can’t wait for 2015 for your comics fix? No problem! Jeffrey Brown is here at SDCC celebrating the release of Star Wars: Jedi Academy: Return of the Padawan!, the second book in his New York Times bestselling series. And Raina Telgemeier and Kazu Kibuishi are both at the con getting ready for their August 26th releases—Sisters, Raina’s follow-up to her Eisner Award-winning and bestselling memoir Smile, and Amulet Book Six: Escape from Lucien, the highly-anticipated next installment of Kazu’s #1 New York Times bestselling Amulet graphic novel series.

The Eisner Awards, often called the Oscars of the comics industry and named after famous comics creator Will Eisner, are also presented during Comic Con and this year’s ballot includes three Scholastic publications nominated for Eisner Awards – The Lost Boy, by Greg Ruth, Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown, and Dogs of War by Sheila Keenan and Nathan Fox. We’ll be cheering on these fantastic graphic novels tonight as the awards are announced at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront!

Well, that’s all for now! Time for me to get back to the convention floor. But be sure to follow Graphix on Twitter and Tumblr for behind the scenes info, upcoming titles, announcements and more!

Thanks to Sheila Marie Everett, our Graphix publicist, for contributing this post!