ALA in Pictures

Signing Operation Yes at the Scholastic booth
Cheryl & Co. made me feel like a rock star

Don't you love Cheryl's military style green dress?

Meeting Joyce Sidman and Pamela Zagarenski
As delightful in person as their books are on the page

Liz Garton Scanlon
I was so proud to cheer for All the World

Having tapas with the Poetry Princesses

M.T. Anderson and Katherine Paterson
The brilliance was dazzling

At the Paterson Tea with Liz Garton Scanlon and Laura Purdie Salas

With Cheryl Klein and Francisco Stork
at the Scholastic reception

I love this picture! Yes, we were all that happy.
Tanita Davis and D, her husband; me, and Kelly Fineman

So glad to see Adrienne Furness
So sad not to have gotten to shop with her

At the Newbery/Caldecott banquet
Laura Purdie Salas, Kelly Fineman and Elaine Magliaro

Laura, Kelly, and me

I got home from the Newbery/Caldecott banquet after midnight on Sunday. I got up at 5:00 am the next morning to go to Shakespeare Camp. More on that anon!

A Generous (and Genius) Idea

Thank you, thank you, everyone who came out to dance with me to celebrate the launch of Operation Yes. Reading the comments was almost as good as having you all rocking out at my house, and probably less hard on my carpet. There was even SOUP made in my honor. (Thank you, Jama!)

There's still time ('til midnight Friday, wherever you live) to win a signed copy of the book and a "YES" wristband. Just go here and leave a comment. (Internet Explorer users: I'm sorry, but iWeb refuses to play nice with IE. Can you possibly use Firefox or Safari? I promise your life will be better if you do. But again, if you have trouble, leave your comment here instead.)

In other news, the innovative Darcy Pattison has put forth a generous (and genius) idea: Random Acts of Publicity Week.

Darcy says "I’m declaring next week, September 7-11, as the RANDOM ACTS OF PUBLICITY WEEK, a week when you do something to promote a friend’s book, or to promote a recent book you’ve read."

(Looks like Liz is starting this early, with her lovely tribute to Marcelo in the Real World, aptly titled "Some Books Just Blow Me Away.")

Seriously, having friends who write books I love is one of the major blessings of my life. I know other bloggers struggle with how to review books by friends (and I do too, sometimes) but mostly I just pinch myself that I'm part of such a generous and talented community. So, like Liz, I'm starting the RANDOM ACTS early, too.

On GoodReads, I posted a mini-review of Tracking Trash, written by my friend, Loree Griffin Burns. Because yesterday afternoon, my mind needed a strong dose of non-fiction, and Tracking Trash cleared out my head with its prose as clear as a pristine bay. Plus, it made me smile and remember why scientists are the biggest kids on the planet, pursuing the most fun questions with their never-still minds. (That includes you, Loree!)

And this Sunday, I'll be headed to Hooray for Books! in Alexandria, Va, to see my friend Kristy Dempsey, who will be signing her new picture book, ME WITH YOU. It's hard to describe a book that does such a good job of being its own perfect self, but I'd call ME WITH YOU a hug in book form. Yeah. If want to let someone know that you really love them and would hug them every second if you could, this is the book you buy to share together.

More random acts next week!

Books We Can't Forget and Other Great Links

I'm so not in the blogging mindset lately. My life is consumed by family, and talking to Cheryl about my next book, and plotting for the release of Operation Yes.  

A part of me thinks I should shut down Read*Write*Believe for the summer. The other part says I'll miss it if I do. 

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying these great posts across the blogosphere: 

What a Girl Wants: The Books We Can't Forget

Why Some People Need to Write the Funny (via Robin Brande)

I'm Younger Than That Now 

Good news everywhere

Good news everywhere...

! My roommate for the SCBWI L.A. conference sold her first book. Remember this: Valerie Patterson, author of The Other Side of Blue, because you're going to be hearing about it, come Fall '09/Spring '10. Get the whole scoop on the sale from her agent, Sarah Davies. I hope to be interviewing Val soon, about her first sale jitters and joy.

! Two new friends that I met in L.A. started blogging. From the co-blog Plot This:

Katie Anderson, self-confessed "yoga nerd," writes Relax into the Prose (go! look at that yoga/writing picture.)

and Sarah Frances Hardy confesses in an earlier post that she's the girl you wanted to sit near in Chem, 'cause she takes great notes, and yeah, she's right: here are her notes from Sara Pennypacker's breakout session on "Making Your Beginnings Shine." And don't miss her artwork here. (I love the line drawings.)

! My friend, Mac McCool, has an article about graphic novels in the new Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market.

! Jane Yolen is graciously offering lovely free bookmarks with her poem "Revision Takes Wings" on them. Check out the comments section of her interview at 7 Impossible Things for the details. Here's a picture of where I have mine prominently displayed on my desk:

That's what friends are for

More on the SCBWI L.A. conference...

This is what friends are for. They blog so you don't have to:

Cindy Pon on what I ate. (Not everything that she did, but I had that amazing beet salad and that bread basket, and all that yummy Rock Sugar Grill food.) Plus, Cindy is a very fun person to hang out with, and the author of the upcoming YA fantasy, Spirit Bound. She also appreciates a good-looking waiter.

Paula Yoo (author of the YA novel, Good Enough) blogged everything. And she got a pic of me, holding Letters From Rapunzel after I had done my mini-interview for readergirlz. Thanks, Paula! I can't wait to see all our videos. (And thanks for my Yoo "special" drink.)

Bill Cochran (author of The Forever Dog) blogged what he learned. Oh, yeah, I learned some of that stuff, too, like "You never know who’s going to inspire you. But it’s hard not to get inspired at this place."

Elise Murphy blogged cupcakes and costumes. Loved hanging out with you, Elise. You made even an airport a good place to be.

Here I am with Jacqui Robbins, author of The New Girl...and Me, at the Golden Kite lunch.

I now know several amazing and surprising things about her that I've sworn never to reveal. She has blogged three of the wonderful picture book authors that were there, including Adam Rex, Deborah Freedman and Yuyi Morales.


And speaking of Adam Rex, here's a cool fact: we both have a close family member in the astrophysics field. (He, his wife; me, my daughter.) Adam has not blogged this amazing coincidence yet, but when he does, I'll link. :)


And here he is with my friend, Amy Thomas. I loooove this picture! (I love Amy, too. That girl has brains and a great sense of humor.)

So there you go. Go read what others had to say about the conference. That's what I plan to do!