• Meet best-selling children's author Blue Balliett at a reception at the Lakeview Center in Gillson Park, 800 Gillson Park Drive, Wilmette. The not-for-profit Book Worm Angels literary organization will present Balliett with the 2012 Kermit W. Myers Achievement Award. Balliett will read excepts from some of her children's books and will discuss her mystery-writing career. The reception runs 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 20. Tickets for the event cost $35 for adults. Children accompanied by a paying adult admitted free. (773) 332-8091 or bookwormangels.org.
• Meet author Kyle Cramer as he discusses and signs copies of his book "American Frankenstein: How the United States Created a Monster!" at 7 p.m. Monday, May 21, at The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, 811 Elm St., Winnetka. (847) 446-8880 or thebookstall.com.
• Joel Peckham discusses and signs copies of his book "Resisting Elegy: On Grief and Recovery" at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, at The Book Stall at Chestnut Court, 811 Elm St., Winnetka. (847) 446-8880 or thebookstall.com.
• Meet Ted Williams, the former homeless man with the voice that made him a media sensation in 2011, as he reads from and signs copies of his new book, "A Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work and Humility Brought Me From the Streets to Salvation," at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 22, at Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville. (630) 355-2665 or andersonsbookshop.com.
• Sharon Draper introduces the paperback edition of her book "Out of My Mind" at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 23, at Anderson's Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville. Draper will read from and sign copies of the title. (630) 355-2665 or andersonsbookshop.com.
