Before I start with the photos, I want to make sure that you know that on today, JULY 2ND!, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was actually signed.
John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, the next day, saying “The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”
So why do we wait until the 4th to celebrate? There was a little editing done, and the final, final version was completed on the 4th. Writers everywhere will understand.
Onto the second round of photos from ALA. We’ll start with this glam shot:
Me and my Simon & Schuster editor, Kevin Lewis. I do all my historical books with him.
Teri Lesesne professornana taking a picture of me taking a picture of her, while Ruth Cox Clark has a good laugh about it. Teri posted her version of the shot.
I ran into Sandra Payne, YA Librarian Goddess of New York City, outside the convention center.
Came across Jay Asher, who did not write the book he’s holding. He wrote 13 Reason Why… but!
He is actually IN the mermaid book, making a rather fetching mermaid. This explains why Jay’s blog is called Disco Mermaids.
Tanya Lee Stone and I got VERY LOST trying to find the blogger party.
While we were lost (for what seemed like hours) we came across this sign by the elevator. Our favorite line: “Fire alarm sounds like: Whoop Whoop.”
We eventually made it to the party which was loads of fun. My pictures didn’t turn out so good, but Betsy Bird has a lot of it on her YouTube video. If you look carefully, you’ll see my new favorite shoes, too.
I was honored to meet Nikki Grimes at the S&S booth. Be sure to look for her new book, Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope when it comes out next month.
I attended an illustrator’s luncheon and listened to incredible artists discuss their work. Along with this fellow, my illustrator, Matt Faulkner, I heard Kadir Nelson, David Small, Robin Preiss Glasser, Stephen T. Johnson, G. Brian Karas, and Brian Floca. Amazing.
At the Simon & Schuster party, I had a great time scheming with M.T. Anderson as we planned an expose that will detail the warped details of our childhoods that led us to write books about epidemics and Colonial-era slavery. Half of the world thinks that were siblings. We might as well be. Here is M.T. talking to Holly Black, with Mr. YALSA, Ed Spicer, in the background.
We all sang “Happy Birthday” to Walter the Giant Storyteller.
The Newbery/Caldecott speeches were unbelievably good. Astoundingly good. So good, the two winners should get another medal.
At the banquet, I sat at the table with Neal Shusterman (you want to read Unwind) and his two sons.
Before all the speech-excellence, I met Cynthia Kadohata.
And Ashley Bryan, who made me gush and say silly things because I admire him so much.
On that fangirly note, I’ll wrap it up. I’ll post a few more photos tomorrow, including the author-highlight of the conference for me. I hope to make a short video over the weekend.
I’ve done my 15 minutes (well, two hours) of writing. Have you?
