NCTE

Off to the NCTE conference in Philly.

My schedule.

Hope to see some of you there!

SLJ Best Books of the Year

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis was named one of School Library Journal's Best Books of the Year for 2009.

Hooray!

What a racing pigeon auction sounds like

Don't let the pigeon lose the race

What do you do when you go to Florida?

Swim in the ocean?

No way.

Walk on the beach?

Uh uh.

Play golf?

Nope.

You go to a racing pigeon auction!

The pigeon being bid on is the one in the lit box.
(The highest bid when I was there was $4700.)

This shows the lineage of the pigeons:

And afterwards, you could have some jambalaya!

I found out about this auction because on a recent flight, my husband sat next to a fantastic guy who runs racing pigeon auctions. I mean, what are the odds?

He was so nice to me and just the person I need for my racing pigeon research. Yay.

Grace Lin Auction



This month's Grace Lin painting auctioned to support the Foundation for Children's Books.

Bid here.

NCTE Schedule

For those of you headed to the NCTE convention in Philadelphia this weekend, my schedule is below.

I'm looking forward to meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones.

Saturday, November 21
12:30-2:30
Books for Children Luncheon
Marriott Grand Ballroom, Salon A
5th Floor

Saturday, November 21
4:15-5:30
Panel discussion: Author Blogs: Connections, Collaborations and Creativity

With Laurie Halse Anderson, Maureen Johnson, Justine Larbalestier, and Lisa Yee
Convention Center; Street Level; Room 103A

Sunday, November 22
9 a.m. - 11 a.m.
Book signing at Farrar, Straus & Giroux/Macmillan Booth 513

Now that reading is dead

50 Things to Do with a Book (Now That Reading is Dead) by Bruce McCall.

Things to do include using them as sandbags in a flood and targets for skeet shooting.

Popeye and Elvis on a roll

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis named New York Public Library's 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing.

Kirkus Best Books

I'm thrilled that The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis has been named one of Kirkus Review's Best Books of 2009.

Two words:

Woo

Hoo

I inspired someone

My favorite part of this is "Me thinking."

Book lamp

This lamp turns off when you put the book on it and back on when you lift the book off.

Closing shop again

Once again, I'm closing up my blogging shop for a few days.

I lost my dear friend, Joe Guccione (age 62) after a valiant battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).

My husband and I spent almost every Saturday for a year and a half with Joe and his wife, my dear, dear friend, Leslie.

Saturdays will never be the same.

Sigh....life is hard sometimes.

NCTE blogging panel

I'll be at the NCTE conference in Philadelphia November 20-22. I'll be speaking on a panel about author blogs with Laurie Halse Anderson, Lisa Yee, Maureen, Johnson, and Justine Larbalestier

(For an easier to read version of the info below, click here.)

Some awesome writing

From a biography of his mother, written by a fifth grader:

Original version:

She hated putting price stickers on plastic bags at her father's bakery.

Revised version:

Peel, stick. Peel, stick. She hated her job. Her fingers were aching, shaking and sore as she put price tags on plastic bags at her father's bakery.

School Library Journal Interview

An interview with little ole me in the November issue of School Library Journal.










Photo credit: Getty Images