BEA round-up

Three days breathing Javitz Center air have left me feeling a little delirious. But before I self-medicate by planting flowers and working out at the gym, let me share a few BEA pics with you.

(pic from Mitali Perkins Twitter feed)
Mitali Perkins, Jennifer Donnelly and I did a good job representing YA books at the Indie Choice Book Awards luncheon.


(pic from Mitali Perkins Twitter feed)
After I won the award for Most Engaging Author (THANK YOU, INDIE BOOKSELLERS!), my daughter Stef worked hard at keeping me humble.



Stef and I were lucky enough to go running with Christopher McDougall, author of BORN TO RUN.

I was very happy to catch up with Sarah Dessen who has been busy criss-crossing the country to support her new book, WHAT HAPPENED TO GOODBYE.

AND I enjoyed a spectacular sushi lunch with my editor, Joy.

I was going to include lots of photos and breathless commentary about the fast-paced bidding and high-pitched drama at the ABFFE art auction. But I was so busy talking and bidding (mostly talking – EVERYONE I know in publishing was there, including Sarah Odedina from Bloomsbury, the British publisher of CHAINS and FORGE), that I didn’t take even one single pic. GAH! You can read a little bit about the auction in Josie Leavitt’s blog. Thank you to everyone who came out and made the night such a success.

(This blog entry has taken nearly three hours to compose, because WordPress is being a jerk, and because my tired brain really wants to be outside.)



BE SURE TO CHECK IN TOMORROW FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO BID ON HAVING ME CRITIQUE YOUR MANUSCRIPT!!! ALL PROCEEDS GO TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF JOPLIN, MO!!

Congratulations!!

Congratulations to all of the winners of the American Library Awards announced yesterday!

Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool won the Newbery

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Sick Day for Amos McGee, illustrated by Erin E. Stead, written by Philip C. Stead won the Caldecott

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Dreamer, written by Pam Muñoz Ryan, won the Pura Belpré Author Award. (Yay Pam!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma’s Gift, written and illustrated by Eric Velasquez, won the Pura Belpré Illustrator Award.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia won the Coretta Scott King Author Award. (Yay Rita!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave, illustrated by Bryan Collier and written by Laban Carrick Hill won the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award.

 

 

 

 

The Printz Award went to Ship Breaker, by Paolo Bacigalupi.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jonathan Hunt has posted a list of all of the award winners (including Honor books!) at his SLJ blog. Go forth, enjoy, and read.

 

No Name Calling Week

No Name Calling Week is fast approaching: January 24 – 28. (Which isn’t really a full week, is it? The project is aimed at schools, so it’s a school-week long. But I think the weekend would be a useful addition. Just sayin’.)

What is No Name Calling Week? I thought you’d never ask!

No Name-Calling Week is an annual week of educational activities aimed at ending name-calling of all kinds and providing schools with the tools and inspiration to launch an on-going dialogue about ways to eliminate bullying in their communities.

The idea came from James Howe‘s wonderful book, THE MISFITS, and has grown into a national movement. The NNCW website is loaded with ideas and resources for schools and families. Go look!!

To support this effort, a bunch of authors (including moi) have made anti-bullying videos.

Would you please help spread the word? Thank you!

FORGE tour – Week 1, pt 2

WHATTA BIRTHDAY!!!

Thank you to everyone for the kind messages and good thoughts. If the rest of the world knew how much fun it is to turn 49, they wouldn’t angst about it so much.

Special thanks to the teens, parents, librarians, teachers, and booksellers at the Pittsford B&N for making my birthday FORGE tour event such a blast.

yep, that's my dad! My father was super-impressed by the signs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

They made me a birthday cake!! And gave me presents: about 1.5 tons of popcorn, and a popcorn game, and a pen that had my name on it – SPELLED CORRECTLY!!

 

 

 

 

i love my readers!

Some of the teens came early and camped out. They were smart and brought pillows, blankets, and food!

 

 

 

 

 

These guys all volunteers for the Rochester-area Teen Book Fest – the BEST teen book fest in the country. (My visit to the store was part of the fund raising efforts for the fest.) I’ll be speaking at TBF again in 2012.

 

 

 

And a few last pics from Missouri.

Pete the Bookseller from Reading Reptile took me to Charlie Parker’s grave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And made sure I enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich at Arthur Bryant’s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eric is a Twitter friend and a teacher with a massively marked-up copy of CHAINS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

best shirt ever He gave me my new favorite shirt, from the History Geek club he runs. LOVE IT!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christine Taylor-Butler is a friend I met at Kindling Words. She took the time to come to my bookstore event, which was VERY much appreciated. It’s always comforting when I can see friends in the audience.

You Can Come to the Best BookFest ever

One of the stops I am most looking forward to on this fall’s book tour takes place in New York City on Saturday, October 30th.

It’s much, much, MUCH more than one silly author excited about her new book.

It is an extravaganza for teachers, librarians, educators and other people who care deeply about books for kids and teens. It’s a bookaganza. A day-long festival with authors, illustrators, editors, children’s literature experts, librarians and reviewers. (And lunch!)

It’s BookFest @Bank Street!!!!

A short list of guests:

Leonard Marcus, author of Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon

Wendell Minor, illustrator of Nibble, Nibble

Diane Muldrow, Editorial Director, Golden Books

Stephen Savage, illustrator of The Fathers are Coming Home

Mac Barnett, author, Oh No!: Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World

Jon Scieszka, author, editor, Guys Read: Funny Business

David Yoo, author, Stop Me If You’re Heard This Once Before

And me! I’ll be talking about FORGE!

Check out the entire, earth-shaking schedule!!

This is how the official website describes it: “BookFest @ Bank Street is an event devoted to the celebration, discovery, and discussion of books for children and teens. This event, designed for adults, features luminaries from the children’s literature community. Authors, illustrators, editors, reviewers, and scholars will take part in panel discussions and breakout sessions.”

Personally, I think the word “bookaganza” should have been used in there.

But here’s the thing. You must pre-register. And the registration deadline is this Friday, September 17th.

Do it now, OK? And spread the word!