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[Still from Game of Thrones, HBO]

Today is Take Your Kids to Work Day. In honor of all the children running around cubicles or staring wistfully at the candy bars in the vending machines in break rooms, we imagined what it would be like for characters to take their kids to work. Trust us, it’s better than having them stare at another motivational poster.  

It’s National Library Week and today we're drawing special attention to the library’s biggest contributors: the chronically overdue. They’re both a hindrance and a help. They’re the reason you’ve been waiting six months for that bestseller to become available, but their late fees paid for new carpeting at your favorite branch. But they have a legitimate reason for not returning that book on time. Or at least that’s what they told us.

[Movie still from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, Paramount Pictures]

It’s National Sorry Charlie Day, a time for people to come together to apologize to all the Charlies they have wronged. Fortunately, we can’t think of any Charlies we’ve wronged, so we will have to settle on feeling sorry for five hapless fictional Charlies. Note to all aspiring authors: if you want to create an unlucky character, we recommend the name “Charlie.” Everyone will be primed to pity your protagonist.

March 31^st is Hug A Medievalist Day, the most important holiday of the year if you chose to devote your course of study to Chaucer, Charlemagne, or Camelot. As Quirk’s resident medievalist, I am DELIGHTED to provide you with some additional ways to celebrate that special Middle Ages expert in your life (especially if they’re not too keen on the hugging thing). Let us sally forth!

Beloved books are popular for a reason, but what if those stories had gone just a little bit… differently? Just a few letters can make a world of difference to a story. We’ve taken a whack at pitching a few classic titles that have taken a bit of a turn for the silly, strange, and ridiculous!

Feel inspired? Share your own pitches for famous novels with a twist @QuirkBooks on twitter with #Pitchatwist!

Taylor, Dodge and Landon looked at the vast desert ahead of them. It looked remarkably like the desert they had just spent days trudging through. They’d be out of water soon.

Landon said, "I jus' don't know what this desert's comin' to. There’s bound to be life somewhere."

 
Dodge said, "I been walkin' aroun' in the same desert, saying the same thing. What we comin' to? Seems to me we don't never come to nothin'. Always on the way. Always goin' and goin'. Why don't folks think about that? They's movement now. People moving. We know why, an' we know how. Movin' 'cause they got to. That's why folks always move. Movin' 'cause they want some pin better'n what they got. An' that's the on'y way they'll ever git it. Wantin' it an' needin' it, they'll go out an' git it.”