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Mad Woman Goes on Book Tour

If all goes well, I head to Minnesota in a few hours. I promise lots of pictures and tour details for the next month.

Before we get to the schedule, I’d like to puff out my chest and proudly point out that my daughter Bookavore (aka Stephanie) has some great quotes about economic sustainability and getting folks to shop locally.

And…. Brilliance Audio just released a wonderful audio version of CHAINS!! The reader, Madisun Leigh, does a wonderful job – so wonderful that I was in tears by the end of the first chapter. I can’t wait until I have time to listen to the whole thing!

And… not only did I buy The Dress for the fancy-pants National Book Award gala, but I took it to Mary Jean’s Alterations in Oswego and it will be ready when I get off the plane in a few weeks. BH ordered his tux there, too.

And… my absentee ballot arrived on time and I voted!!!!

And….. the book tour appearances below are my public gigs. On most days, I’ll be visiting schools during the day and then doing an evening appearance at most stores. I am really sorry I won’t be headed to the West Coast on this tour, but you can’t have everything, and my cup is totally overflowing right now, so I’m not going to make a fuss. (FYI – I’ll be going back out on tour in March. Keep your fingers crossed.)

CHAINS BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE: FREE YOUR MIND!!

MINNEAPOLIS
Tues, October 21 at 7:00 pm : Barnes & Noble, Roseville, MN 651-639-9256

Wed., October 22 at 6:00 pm: Wild Rumpus, Minneapolis, MN 612-920-5005

DENVER
Thursday, October 23 (AKA MY BIRTHDAY) at 5:00 pm: Bookies, Denver, CO 303-759-1117

Friday, October 24 at 7:00 pm: Tattered Cover, Denver, East Colfax store 303-436-9219

CHICAGO area
Saturday, October 25 at 1:00 pm: The Bookstall of Chestnut Court, Winnetka 847-446-0882

Sunday, October 26 at 2:00 pm: Center for Teaching through Children’s Books, National-Louis University, Skokie. This is at 5202 Old Orchard Road – 3rd Floor Public Forum Room. Sorry, I don’t have a contact phone number, but I do know that lots of teachers and grad students are expected to attend. At least, I hope they do.

Monday, October 27: Barnes & Noble, Skokie (no public event, but will have signed books available) 847-676-2230

OMAHA
Tuesday, October 28 at 7:00 pm: Omaha Public Library, An all-city event in Centennial Hall at the Alumni House on the UNO Campus, 6705 Dodge St. 402-444-4800

BACK TO CHICAGO area
Wednesday, October 29 at 7:00 pm: Anderson’s, Naperville 630-355-2665

MILWAUKEE
Thursday, October 30 at 7:00 pm: Harry Schwartz Bookshop (Mequon store) 262-241-6220

DOVER, DE
Saturday, November 1: several appearances during the day: Delaware Book Festival

BALTIMORE
Monday, November 3: The Children’s Bookstore (no public event, but will have signed books available)

WASHINGTON, DC area
Monday, November 3 at 7:00 pm: Barnes & Noble, McLean, VA 703-506-2937

Tuesday, November 4: Politics & Prose, Wash. DC (drop-in booksigning at 12:30) 202-364-1919

NEW JERSEY
Wednesday, November 5: BookEnds, Ridgewood (no public event, but will have signed books available) 201-445-0726

NEW YORK
Thursday, November 6 at 6:45 pm: Merritt Bookstore, Millbrook, NY 845-677-5857

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Friday, November 7: Odyssey Bookstore, South Hadley, MA (no public event, but will have signed books available) 413-534-7307

ATLANTA area
Monday, November 10 at 7:00 pm: Little Shop of Stories, Decatur 404-373-6300

Tuesday, November 11: The Reading Tree, Alpharetta (no public event, but will have signed books available) 770-740-7171

MIAMI
Wednesday, November 12 and Thursday, November 13: Miami Book Fair (school events only)

NEW ORLEANS
Friday, November 14 at 4:30 pm: Octavia Books 504-899-7323

Saturday, November 14 — Special school event only, sponsored by Octavia Books

NEW YORK CITY – NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FESTIVITIES
Tuesday, November 18 – Teen Press Conference

Tuesday, November 18, 7pm – All twenty of this year’s National Book Award Finalists will read from their books at New York City’ s New School

Wednesday, November 19, National Book Foundation Awards Dinner and Ceremony

SAN ANTONIO, TX
Friday, November 21 – Tuesday, November 25: National Council of Teachers of English annual conference and ALAN Workshop

CENTRAL NEW YORK
Thursday, December 4 at 6:00 pm: The River’s End Bookstore, Oswego 315-342-0077 (followed by a fundraising dinner for the Oswego Public Library!)

SE PENNSYLVANIA
Saturday, December 6 at 6pm: Moravian Bookshop, Bethlehem, PA 610-866-5481

And now I should probably try to sleep.
Yeah, right.

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Attention Minnesota!

Thank you very much to all the teachers who turned out last night to my presentation in Dewitt! There were more than 80 people, including some old friends from schools like Fabius-Pompey, Chittenango, and J-D. It was a really fun night, and my projector/computer hook-up worked perfectly. Now I just need to figure out the best way to carry it all on the airplane.

I don’t have a link, but I was told yesterday that CHAINS earned a Starred review from Booklist, which brings the total to THREE. That is a very nice feeling. Extremely nice. Whipped cream and cherries on top, with nuts and sprinkles nice!

Do you know anyone that lives in the Minneapolis, MN area? If so, please, please let them know I am heading their way. Next Tuesday, I’ll be speaking at St. Bernard’s School and the Roseville Area Middle School during the day. My public appearance that night will be at the Barnes & Noble in Roseville.

A week from today I’ll be visiting Valley View Middle School and Southview Middle School. That night (am VERY excited about this!!!) I’ll be speaking at Wild Rumpus. I have been looking forward to visiting this store for years! Please notify all residents of Minneapolis to come and join us. And if you could, make the gentle suggestion that they car-pool to save gas and be kinder to the environment.

I got an email back from my county election board explaining the delay in producing absentee ballots. “The ballots are held up due to a court proceeding in Albany on the Independence Party line for Supreme Court Justice. The case is being heard today and hopefully the judge will render a decision today, although that may be wishful thinking. The ballots have not been printed because if we print and the judge rules differently than the way the ballot is printed, we have to reprint at considerable expense. With a ruling today, we will have ballots by the end of this week.”

Seems to me that there should be a deadline trigger for these kinds of rulings to ensure that ballots are sent out in a timely basis. We’ve decided that when my ballot arrives, BH will overnight it to me wherever I am on the tour. But I am still grumpy about it.

National Coming Out Day was last Saturday (yes, I am always late with these things) and in honor of that, and in honor of every American’s right to go about their lives without being the target of stupid hate-speech, I bring you the Think B4 You Speak campaign. My favorite video is the one in the middle with Wanda Sykes. I would love to sit down with her with some pie and pot of coffee. (Thanks, Bookavore, for the link.)

Which one of the three videos is your favorite?

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