"Guest authors" are a dime-a-dozen.

But a "Guest Author Extraordinaire"? Very rare!

In the days when children's books ruled the world...

Esquire, February 1958.

Eloise, the girl who lived at the Plaza Hotel, was the center of four famous books in the 1950s that were written by Kay Thompson and illustrated by Hilary Knight. She was so famous that despite the fact that Eloise couldn't drive (and was fictional), Renault hired the little moppet to advertise its latest offering, the Dauphine. 

(Memo to Nissan and/or GM: If you need a children's author to plug the Leaf or Volt, I'm available.)

Ann Patchett opened a bookstore in Nashville...

...and on opening day, the bestselling author gave a speech at Parnassus Books that went like this.