In her latest book, My Favorite Things, author and illustrator Maira Kalman juxtaposes cherished personal objects with items from the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Of the disparate artifacts immortalized in her new book, Kalman writes “These objects might be on a sidewalk or in a museum, but all seem to be equally brave to survive.” Join Kalman for a discussion of her favorite things, and the impulse we all share to collect our own. Maira Kalman is the author/illustrator of 18 children's books including What Pete Ate, Fireboat and Looking at Lincoln. She has created illustrated editions of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style and Michael Pollan's Food Rules. She worked with composer Nico Muhly to create The Elements of Style song cycle, first performed at the NYPL with the support of Paul Holdengraber in 2005. Both of her year-long online illustrated columns were compiled into books published by Penguin Press, The Principles of Uncertainty and And the Pursuit of Happiness. She is a contributor to The New Yorker, Departures Magazine and other publications. A retrospective of her work originated at the ICA in Philadelphia, traveling to Los Angeles., San Franciscso, and ending at the Jewish Museum in New York City. Her most recent public performance was dancing the part of the duck in Isaac Mizrahi's production of Peter and the Wolf at the Guggenheim Museum. Wearing flippers and a tutu.