American Library Association

Flew down to ALA for just one day. A wonderful whirlwind of people, books, bubbling excitement, bright lights, chattering conversation, and my favorite: the smell of all those new books, crisp and inky and promising.

Here's the wonderful Melanie Cecka at Bloomsbury showing the working dummy of my upcoming book, Big Cat Pepper, to Sheldon Fogelman, and no, he's not my agent. I never met him before, but he's lovely. Out for lunch with Regina Hayes and Catherine Frank, we came upon a Quinceanera Party. Beautiful young women and men in full celebration. The attendants in gorgeous red vests. And here's a hand dressed and styled Barbie. Love the way she morphs for different times and cultures. This is especially for Tanya and Catherine. Seeing friends is one of the big bonuses for us shut-in writers, right? I was supposed to meet Tobin Anderson for a cup of tea, ended up with a lovely group. Got a great shot of Linda Sue Park, who is so good with a camera you never get to see HER in the photos. Here you are, Linda Sue, with Tobin and Norton Juster, author of Phantom Tollbooth and many more books. Linda Sue and Tobin were fresh from their reader's theater presentation. Check out another awesome reader theater participant, and fellow Bloomsbury author, Shannon Hale for her report of the event.
End of the day, waiting to get picked up for my ride back to the airport. Couldn't resist this shot of someone -- guessing he is a librarian!-- just reading. Quietly, while the vans and taxes and chattering groups swished by.

Dinner party

Last-minute dinner parties are my favorite. Throw together some people and food and let the party happen. For a couple of months I've been wanting to meet Casey Scieszka, who moved here recently from Mali (and before that China), but having Kerry Madden in town put the fire under me and I jumped on my e-mail for some quick invites. Gathered up Lissa Rovetch, Julie Downing and her husband Scott Slotterback , Julie Romeis and Mary Colgan.

Here's Casey, Julie D., Julie R., and Scott.

We stood around in the kitchen eating hors d'oeuvres, finally moved to the table, ate and laughed and laughed some more. Of course, we authors begged Julie R and Mary, both editors at Chronicle Books, for stories about slush piles, and the funny things people sent in with their stories. Casey had a few good stories too, as she spent a summer internship cleaning out a slush pile, returning original art. Kiss of death? A cover letter insisting grandchildren/children/students/people on the street loved this story. Funny objects? glitter, chocolate, and our favorite, a six pack of beer.

The two Julie's, Scott, Lissa and my husband Tom.
Mary and Kerry.
Julie Downing brought a copy of her new book, No Hugs Till Saturday. Special book for me, as she borrowed/swiped my son Felix's name for her main character. (Our Felix showed up for the party, but I missed getting a shot of him! Says he doesn't look a thing like the dragon Felix.) Lissa Rovetch brought her new book, There Was a Man Who Loved a Rat: and Other Vile Little Poems. Hysterically funny poems written by her mother, with Lissa's wonderfully wacky illustrations. And Casey had just sold a book to Roaring Brook. Kerry dancing with joy after getting her biography on Harper Lee in to Viking. Plenty to celebrate all around!

A super smart, funny, lovely group of people. Both Julie R. and Lissa are starting regular gathering of children's writers and illustrators in the Bay Area. I'll keep you posted with the places and dates-- there are so many talented people here!

And last photo, late in the night -- guests gone home, dishes done. Shhh and good night.

Big Cat Pepper illustrations

Just went over to Lauren Castillo's blog..... she has posted another spread from our upcoming book, Big Cat Pepper (Bloomsbury, spring 2009).

I'm so awed and thrilled to see what she is doing. This is the huge honor of writing down a poem and having an illustrator make those words into a whole world. Truly, it doesn't get better than this.

Now, I have the home-court advantage of knowing what the text is on the spread she has posted, but check out those slippers sliding off the boy's feet. They say it all. And the sad, tender look on his face. And the beautiful textures and colors.

Gorgeous.

Do you believe in magic?

I have a big old cactus in a pot in my garden. Every couple years it does this amazing thing. It did it today, when our hot and sweltering afternoon cooled to a delicious, balmy evening.

Here it is this afternoon, and a few hours later.

You want to know what this has to do with writing? Everything. Just for a moment, to feel how wonderful it is to be alive, breathe in a bit of beauty, and breathe out love and thanks.

Laurie Halse Anderson live chat

Authors and hoping-soon-to-be-published-authors-- want to see a pro in action? The most awesome and forthright Laurie Halse Anderson will be chatting live on the MySpace readergirlz forum this Thursday, June 19th. For those of you who love to read YA literature, Laurie is inspiring when she talks about why and what she writes and her hopes for youth today. Check this out!

<http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz>
<http://www.readergirlz.com/issue.html>

The chat will start at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST and last for about an hour. We're featuring her book PROM but the discussion goes in every direction. To whet your appetites, here are a few things we've found out about Laurie:

On your nightstand: Flashlight, notebook, pen (all for middle of the night ideas) and my inhaler.

Favorite drink while you write: Tea or coffee

Favorite bookstore: River's End Bookstore, Oswego, NY

Favorite library: Mexico Public Library, Mexico, NY

Pet: Kezzie (my German Shepherd)

Place to write: The loft of our house

Inspiration: My readers

Dream book tour: One that includes Paris, Edinburgh, and Tokyo

Author-buddies: Sarah Dessen, Chris Crutcher, Holly Black

Cure for writer's block: Run 5 miles

Favorite outfit: Jeans and hoodie sweatshirt, sneakers

Long-hand or laptop? Laptop

Stilettos or Uggs? Uggs!!!

Author idol: Francesca Lia Block

Next up: Chains (Fall 2008), Wintergirls (Spring 2009)

Awesome Martha Weston Grant applicants, PEN article with Susan Bartletti and Markus Zusak

I've got a wonderful stack of letters from people applying for the Martha Weston Grant through SCBWI. I'll wait a couple more days for the last few to wend their way through the mail, and then send them all off to the two other people on the award committee, Anna Grossnickle Hines and Susan Bartoletti. This is very exciting -- I can see we have a really strong applicant pool this year. Thank you to everyone who applied.

A special shout-out to Laurie Halse Anderson for spreading the word via her blog post. She rounded up a bunch of cool applicants who might never have even heard of the award! Thank you!! And a special, excited congratulations to Laurie who was JUST honored with the 2008 ALAN Award. Read about it here.

And there's a fantastic article up on PEN's site with Markus Zusak and Susan Campbell Bartoletti. They are the first-ever authors featured in PenPals, an e-mail conversation between writers and illustrators of Children’s and Young Adult books. Writing on different continents, they both covered Nazi Germany in their books: The Book Thief (Zusak), and Hitler Youth and The Boy Who Dared (Bartoletti).

Here's how Bob Lipsyte describe their conversation: "Read Markus on “the magic act” of creating fiction that you come to believe is true and Susan on the writer’s job of finding and describing that place where “darkness and light…smack up against each other.” I found the amazing document that follows funny, wrenching and ultimately comforting and inspiring."

One more story: Markus Zusak and I both honored at first YA Author Breakfast at ALA Annual last year. We went from table to table with an incredible group of YA authors in a wonderfully crazy author speed-dating. I followed Markus, and have to admit, I was as star struck as anyone, and had a tendency to want to stop and listen to him rather than talk about my books! I just found a lovely cache of photos of the breakfast right here.

Here we all are, and here's what we saw: Fun morning!