Aperture Announces Between the Balloons: My Thanksgiving Parade

New York, October 22, 2026—Aperture announces Between the Balloons: My Thanksgiving Parade, the first title published by Aperture Kids, a forthcoming new imprint dedicated to books for children and young audiences that harness the power of photography to kindle creativity and visual literacy. Available now, the book is released in time for the 100th anniversary of the New York City parade and the opening of Aperture’s new home at 380 Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Featuring photographs by E.A. KAHANE, illustrations by The New Yorker cartoonist Tom Toro, and a story by Doro Globus, Between the Balloons invites readers—young and young at heart—into a world bursting with possibility. Larger-than-life balloon characters, marching bands, and delightful surprises fill every page, where nothing is quite as it seems. Through a playful blend of photography and illustration, this book reveals a magical reimagining of the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.

For E.A. KAHANE, this special children’s book is an unexpected new chapter for a twenty-five-year photographic project. “I never imagined when I began photographing the parade that those images would one day become a book for children. Seeing how Tom’s wonderfully delightful illustrations and Doro’s words transform these photographs into an entirely new realm has been pure joy, and one that I hope invites children to look at the world around them and dream of what else it might become.”

Globus adds, “E.A. KAHANE’s celebratory photographs made me think about all the layers of creativity and imagination that go into bringing the parade to life. Looking through them with my own kids, we started asking, ‘What if? What if a float got loose? What if a balloon came alive?’ That conversation, buzzing with the uninhibited creativity of children’s minds, sparked the idea with Aperture of inviting Tom to add another layer of fun to the parade. It was such a pleasure to write the prompts for Tom and then see where his imagination took them—and us.”

“Joy and humor leap out of every E.A. KAHANE photograph. I wanted to capture that spirit in my drawings by creating playful, surprising connections between each moment through the wondrous eyes of a child. The Thanksgiving Day Parade is a living thing. It moves and breathes, and if we free our imaginations to play among the iconic balloon characters, magic can happen,” says Toro.

As part of a lively calendar of talks and events, public programs on the occasion of the launch of Between the Balloons will be announced soon.

Between the Balloons: My Thanksgiving Parade was made possible, in part, with generous support from Thomas R. Schiff and Mary Ellen Goeke. The book is published by Aperture and available at Aperture.org.

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E.A. KAHANE (born in New York, 1961) is an artist whose photographic practice transforms images into immersive encounters. Her work has been shown at Art Center Sarasota, Florida; Museo Mille Miglia and MO.CA, Brescia, Italy; and New York Historical; a solo exhibition will take place at Sarasota Art Museum, Florida, in 2027. Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Brooklyn Museum; New York Historical; Newport Art Museum, Rhode Island; Barack Obama Foundation, Chicago; and Museo Mille Miglia, Brescia. Between the Balloons, her first children’s book, was inspired by her photobook Come Join the Parade!! 25 Years from My Third Floor Window (2024). KAHANE divides her time between New York, Rhode Island, Florida, and Brescia, where she can be seen photographing landscapes, car races, parades, and portraits.

Tom Toro has published hundreds of cartoons in The New Yorker and his drawings have appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, and other major publications. Toro’s children’s books include Crocodiles Need Friends, Too! (2025), Back to School, Backpack! (with Simon Rich, 2023), I’m Terrified of Bath Time (with Simon Rich, 2022), and How to Potty Train Your Porcupine (2020). He lives in Portland, Oregon, with his family and too many cats.

Doro Globus is a writer, editor, and publisher of David Zwirner Books. Her other children’s books include We Made a Song: It Takes a Team (2026), I Am an Artist (2024), and Making a Great Exhibition (2021). She was born in New York and now lives in London with her husband and two children.

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About Aperture
Aperture is a nonprofit publisher that leads conversations around photography worldwide. From our new home at 380 Columbus Avenue in New York, Aperture connects global audiences and supports artists through our acclaimed quarterly magazine, books, exhibitions, digital platforms, public programs, limited-edition prints, and awards. Established in 1952 to advance “creative thinking, significantly expressed in words and photographs,” Aperture champions photography’s vital role in nurturing curiosity and encouraging a more just, tolerant society.

Aperture’s programs and operations are made possible by the generosity of our board of trustees, our members, and other individuals, and with major support from Bobby Campbell Charitable Fund, Coach, David Dechman and Michel Mercure, Susan and Thomas Dunn, FotoFocus, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Celso M. Gonzalez-Falla, William Talbot Hillman Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Anne Levy Charitable Trust, Mailman Foundation, Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, James McKinney, Richard and Ronay Menschel, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Robert Motherwell and Renate Ponsold, Neuberger Berman, New York City Council, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, Ms. Eliot Nolen of the Mary P. Oenslager Foundation Fund, Yesim and Dusty Philip, Theodore and Mary Jo Shen, Diane Sherman, Michael W. Sonnenfeldt/MUUS Collection, Jon Stryker and Slobodan Randjelović, Jane Smith Turner Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, and Wyeth Foundation for American Art.

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Press Contact:
Lauren Van Natten, Aperture, publicity@aperture.org