Mystery Guest Author

Today I got to be the "Mystery Guest Author" at Saratoga Elementary School's Battle of the Books. What a fun time! Thanks to John Fagan for inviting me.

Sunday Play and Work

Took my kids on the merry-go-round on the mall today - just like my parents used to do with me when I was a kid. (We were celebrating my mother's birthday.) It used to cost 25 cents per ride; now it's $3.50 a person. It's still a great ride, with wonderful music and beautiful old horses (even a zebra or two.)

In the evening, I worked on my "Author's Note" for the new book. This week is going to be full of copy-edits!

Gaithersburg Book Festival

Had a great time at the Gaithersburg Book Festival today! It was so much fun presenting with Jennifer Allison, Pamela Ehrenberg Jacqueline Jules and Ann McCallum. And so well organized too! Thanks to all who came and made it so much fun!

Getting Old, But Having Fun

Went to the wedding tonight of a young woman I've known since she was ten. We were in a German dance group with her and her parents for years and years. About 4 years ago the group disbanded and we haven't seen them much. It was so nice to see her and all our old friends again. It's funny - if you do things with people long enough, you have lots of stuff in common - just because you'd already done so much together!

Also, it was cool to bring my kids - and see other kids I've known since they were my kid's age now in high school! It made me feel old, but it sure was fun.

And there's nothing like the chicken dance at a wedding!

ALA Conference Fun!

Had a fabulous time at the ALA conference today. Asked my publisher if I could go, and they let me have a free pass to the exhibits. It was so neat!

The highlight was at the Scholastic booth: I was waiting in line to say tell Christopher Paul Curtis what an inspiration he was to me, when I see THE BEST BAD LUCK I EVER HAD on the shelf right behind him. I kind of squeal, "That's my book" and all the people at the booth got excited. They started talking about this guy named "Steve" and how he always book talked my book to librarians and how he liked it so much and they asked me to sign a book for him. Then they wanted to take my picture to show Steve.

Then when I finally get to see Christopher Paul Curtis, I say thanks and how he inspired me and tell him about my book. So then he pulls a copy of the Scholastic shelf and asks me to sign it for him! Then he gave me an autographed copy of BUD, NOT BUDDY. It was just sooo cool!!

Lesson learned - always bring your camera to these events! I would have loved a picture.

I also came across the audio version of BEST BAD LUCK at the Random House/Listening Library booth. They asked me to sign it which was very cool.

Finally, I ran into Eileen Kreit, who's the president and publisher of Puffin Books (which is publishing the paperback version of BBL in September). She recognized my name from my name tag and came over to talk to me and told me all about how they had developed the new cover for the paperback version of BEST BAD LUCK. She just made me feel so welcome and excited about my book.

Everyone at ALA really made me feel like a star. Thank you so much!!!

So glad I went - I almost didn't because it was a crazy weekend. (Our air conditioner caught fire and we didn't have AC for three days of the latest heatwave, but that's another story.)

Stay cool!

Doctors Doctors

Uggh - I've spend the past week taking my kids to the doctor. First Kara got a rash from the chicken pox vaccine, then Charlotte had a bug bite/poison ivy that got infected and no one could figure out quite what it was. I hate that! We saw 6 different people and no one could tell us definitely what was wrong. Poor girl was itching all over the place! I start worrying it's something serious like Lyme disease, though most of the doctors agreed it was unlikely to be that. She's now on a antibiotic and seems a little better (at least not worse) but I'm still worrying. Sigh - at least she's acting fine!

Needless to say, I didn't get much writing done. I did manage to go out yesterday and buy a blouse to wear to my next school visit. I was wearing a cashmere sweater - cute, but way too hot for summer. Hopefully things will calm down soon.

Acceptance Speech

I recently learned The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had was selected as an honor book for the Judy Lopez Memorial Awards for Children's Literature. So thrilled! They wanted me to write an acceptance speech for the reception (which is in LA and I won't be able to attend.) Just sent off my speech - hope it works. So funny to be asked to write an "acceptance speech!"