On May 6, author-chef Ted Reader attempted to break the Guinness Record for World’s Largest Commercially Available Burger by cooking up this 600-lb behemoth in Toronto’s Dundas Square. Given that the previous record was a 185-lb burger, it’s safe to say: Mission Accomplished. As you can see from the image above, Reader chose to do some very subtle promotion for his new book, Napoleon’s Everyday Gourmet Burgers (Key Porter Books). The burger, by the way, was auctioned off, with the proceeds going to Camp Bucko, a charity camp for children who are burn survivors, which is a very appropriate thing for a barbecue chef to support. (Photo by David Cuthbertson/DC Photography/Courtesy of Key Porter)

Sarah Selecky launched her collection of short fiction, This Cake Is For the Party (Thomas Allen Publishers), on May 6 at Czehoski on Toronto’s Queen West. Above: Selecky (left) goes cheek-to-cheek with Thomas Allen publicist Jenna Illies. (Photo by Matthew Liteplo/Courtesy of Thomas Allen)

The 2010 edition of the Toronto Comic Arts Festival was held May 8 and 9 at the Toronto Reference Library. Among the many comix-types present was none other than tween adventurer Alison Dare, hero of the Alison Dare series by J. Torres and J. Bone and published by Tundra Books. Above: Dare, though looking a tad pale (even in a comic book crowd), appears to fit right in at TCAF. (Photo courtesy of Tundra/From Q&Q‘s Flickr Pool)