Random Photo of the Month

Last week I had two fabulous school visits in Newfane and Lockport, NY. I'll post more about that soon, but for now here's a quick preview of some of the cool stuff the schools did in preparation for my visit. In addition to other fun lead-in activities (like the daily trivia question contest about me and/or my books), the students in both schools did writing and art projects, including these wonderful library lions that were on display in DeSales Catholic School when I arrived to give my presentation:


The Lockport Union-Sun & Journal came to DeSales and wrote up an article about my visit. You can read it here!

Thanks for the library love!

Hooray! Thanks to all the fabulous people who left comments over the past several days, I'm giving $250 to the Brooklyn Public Library. You guys are awesome! Thanks for helping out with the challenge, and for all the great comments, library-related and otherwise.

Jennifer R. Hubbard, who came up with the library-loving blog challenge idea, is compiling all the totals—stop by her blog to see how much money has been raised all together.

Thanks again, and I hope all of your own local libraries continue to be places you love to visit and support for years to come!

Library-Loving Blog Challenge!

I came across this challenge on Janet Fox's blog, and it all started with Jennifer R. Hubbard (view her original library-loving challenge post here). The deal is, for every commenter in response to this post between now and midnight on Saturday, March 27, I will donate $1.00 to my local library: Brooklyn Public Library.

Your comments don't even have to be clever—you can say, "I love libraries!" or "Unicorns are pretty!" or whatever you like. (Just, you know, keep it clean, people. I write books for kids, remember.) And if you are moved to make a flat-fee donation to your own local library or to start your own challenge, please do! And let me know that in the comments, also.

Some rules: only $1.00 per individual commenter, so if one person comments 50 times, that's still just $1.00. And I'm going to say for now that I'll donate up to $250 ... but if the comments actually reach that high, keep posting—I may be inspired by your enthusiasm to donate more. I do love the library, and I make very good use of my local branch of the BPL. Let's see how much of my hard-earned money you can get me to give away! :)

You can do even more by spreading the word ... please link to this post, tweet about it, and send your friends here so they can comment and raise more money.

For a complete list of participating bloggers (and to visit other sites where you can help libraries just by leaving a comment!) visit the writerjenn blog at http://writerjenn.livejournal.com/.

Friday Five

I've been a fan of other people's "Friday Five" lists on other blogs, and thought I'd try doing a little Friday Five of my own. I like a little structure/routine but not too much, so this will be the kind of feature that involves talking about five things in some kind of context that will vary from week to week and won't really have any limitations/requirements beyond that basic set-up. Sort of like the structure of beginning readers, where you've got a basic format you've got to stick to, but the variety of content you can play with inside that structure is wide open. (See how I tied it into children's book writing, there?)

Anyway. Thought I'd start with a nice happy one:

FIVE GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK

1. I met up with two nice writer friends for a writing date on Monday. They've been meeting up with each other for some time, and have often invited me to join them, but it kept not working out for me for various reasons. This time it worked out, finally (partly due to a looming deadline that made me feel a writing date was particularly necessary and partly due to my shiny new laptop and my desire to take it out for a spin) and it was great. We had coffee, discussed a plot problem one of us was struggling with, and sat and wrote and got a lot done. We agreed on a regular Monday writing time and place and will continue to meet up every week. I feel very good about this.

2. I picked up the Girl Scout cookies I'd ordered from my friend Jen's daughter. OMG they are very delicious. Yay for Thin Mints! And yay for Jen's husband who very nicely brought the cookies into work with him so I could stop by and pick them up.

3. I took a lovely long walk in Prospect Park on Tuesday afternoon, enjoying the beautiful weather and listening to Neil Patrick Harris reading Beverly Cleary's Henry Huggins.

4. Yesterday I went out to NJ to visit one of my best friends who I don't get to see often enough. We had lunch and I got to see her beautiful new house and her parents and her kids and we went shopping and caught up on a lot of things and it was great.

5. Late Wednesday night I bought a super-cheap leather jacket on eBay. This was my second-ever eBay purchase (the first being a Buy-It-Now purchase of the CD single of Baltimora's "Tarzan Boy" in 2004—no, seriously) and I have already won another auction since then for something else and I'm a little concerned about how fun it suddenly seems to shop on eBay. But that's not the good part—the good part is that the leather jacket is to wear while riding on the back of my boyfriend's motorcycle, because it is no longer winter, really, and I am very excited to go for my first ride of the year. Hopefully this weekend (hint, hint, boyfriend, if you are reading this).

NYC Teen Author Festival!

The 2010 NYC Teen Author Festival is happening NEXT WEEK!


I'll be signing The Dragon of Trelian at the HUGE multi-author signing at Books of Wonder on Sunday, March 21. The signing runs from 2:00 to 5:45pm, but because there are so many (70!!!!) authors, we're signing in shifts. I'll be there from 2:45 to 3:30pm.

Here's a full list of all the events, which begin on Monday, March 15!

2010 NYC Teen Author Festival

Monday, 3/15 (NYPL, Tompkins Square Branch, 331 East 10th Street, 6pm):

First Draft to Final Draft – Talking About the Writing Process
featuring:
Gayle Forman
Daphne Grab
Carolyn Mackler
Sarah Mlynowski
Blake Nelson
Marie Rutkoski
Eliot Schrefer
Natalie Standiford

Tuesday, 3/16 (Barnes & Noble Tribeca, 97 Warren Street, 7pm):

Getting Inside the Mind of a Teen Boy
featuring:
Nick Burd
Matt de la Pena
Gordon Korman
David Levithan
Barry Lyga
Michael Northrop
Jon Skovron
Jake Wizner

Wednesday, 3/17 (South Court, 42nd Street NYPL, 6pm):

The Treasure Map to Going Bovine with Will Grayson(s)
(or, an evening of readers’ theater)
featuring:
Libba Bray
John Green
David Levithan
E. Lockhart

Thursday, 3/18 (Five Borough Read, 10am):

Authors read to high school students and the public in libraries across the city.

Manhattan:
Countee Cullen Branch, NYPL, 104 W 136th St
Donna Freitas
Eliot Schrefer
Rachel Vail
Lynn Weingarten
Ebony Wilkins

Jefferson Market Branch, NYPL, 425 6th Ave
Gabe Guarente
Carla Jablonksi
Kristen Kemp
Barry Lyga
Samantha Schutz

Muhlenburg Branch, NYPL, 209 W 23rd St
Alice Hoffman
Emma McLaughlin
Lauren McLaughlin
Courtney Sheinmel
Jennifer Smith

Grand Central Branch, NYPL, 135 East 46th Street (between Lexington & Third Aves.)
Angie Frazier
Aimee Friedman
Robin MacCready
Sarah Maclean
Amanda Marrone

Seward Park Branch, NYPL, 192 East Broadway
Cathleen Bell
Susane Colasanti
Matt De La Pena
Gayle Forman
Daphne Grab

Yorkville Branch, NYPL,, 222 East 79th St
Micol Ostow
Robin Palmer
Shani Petroff
Robyn Schneider
Abby Sher
Jake Wizner
Michelle Zink

Brooklyn:
Central Branch, Brooklyn Public Library, Dweck Auditorim, 10 Grand Army Plaza
Emily Horner
Melissa Kantor
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Matthue Roth
Siobhan Vivian
Adrienne Maria Vrettos
Melissa Walker
Robin Wasserman

Bronx:
Bronx Library Center, NYPL, 310 East Kingsbridge Road
Coe Booth
Sarah Darer Littman
Neesha Meminger
Maryrose Wood

Queens:
Broadway Branch, QPL, 40-20 Broadway, Long Island City
Jessica Blank
Sarah Burningham
Heather Duffy-Stone
Marianne Mancusi
Elizabeth Scott

Staten Island:
West New Brighton Branch, NYPL, 976 Castleon Avenue
Elizabeth Eulberg
David Levithan
Michael Northrop
Kieran Scott

Thursday Evening, 3/18 (Books of Wonder, 18 W 18th St, 6-8pm):
Sourcebooks Fire Launch Party
featuring authors Lisa Brown, Anne Eliot Crompton, Helen Ellis, Adele Griffin,

AND

the rocking tunes of Tiger Beat! (with Libba Bray, Dan Ehrenhaft, Barnabas Miller, and Natalie Standiford)

Friday, 3/19 (South Court, 42nd Street, 2-5 and 6-8:30)
NYC Teen Author Festival Symposium

Afternoon
2:00 Introduction
2:10 – 3:00: Using Genre to Tell the True Story of Adolescence
featuring:
Judy Blundell
Sarah Beth Durst
Lauren McLaughlin
Diana Peterfreund
Sara Shepard
Maggie Stiefvater
Robin Wasserman

3:00 – 3:30: Making a First Impression – 2010 Debut Authors
featuring:
Angie Frazier
Emily Horner
Alyssa Sheinmel
Ebony Wilkins

3:30 - 4:15: Grief, Loss, and the YA Novel
featuring:
Alexandra Bullen
Heather Duffy-Stone
Donna Freitas
Alice Hoffman
Sarah Darer Littman
Lisa Ann Sandell
Samantha Schutz

4:15 – 5: The Boy You Can’t Have
featuring:
Susane Colasanti
Elizabeth Eulberg
Robin Palmer
Elizabeth Scott
Melissa Walker
Maryrose Wood

5-6: Break

Evening
6:00 – A Tribute to Regina Hayes
featuring:
Sarah Dessen
Joy Peskin
Jacqueline Woodson

6:45 – 8:30: What it Feels Like for a Girl – Writing in a Teen Girl’s Voice
featuring:
Jessica Blank
Eireann Corrigan
Sarah Dessen
Jenny Han
Terra Elan McVoy
Siobhan Vivian
Adrienne Maria Vrettos
Jacqueline Woodson

Saturday, 3/20 (Bartos Forum, 42nd Street, 1pm):
Stuff for the Teen Age Event

Come check out Stuff for the Teen Age, The New York Public Library’s list of the hottest books, movies, music, and video games from 2009. Talk with your favorite authors. Rock out to your favorite songs. Have fun. Hear a very special presentation from keynote speaker, Libba Bray, the author of Going Bovine.

Sunday afternoon:

Books of Wonder Signing (18 W 18th St, 2-5:45)

NOTE: Because of the number of authors, signings will be in shifts. Below is the approximate schedule, which is subject to change

2:00-2:45
Alma Alexander
Nora Baskin
Cathleen Davitt Bell
Judy Blundell
Libba Bray
Coe Booth
Elise Broach
Alexandra Bullen
Nick Burd
Sarah Burningham
Susane Colasanti
Matt De La Pena
Violet Haberdasher
Maggie Stiefvater
Robin Wasserman

2:45-3:30
Tom Dolby
Heather Duffy-Stone
Sarah Beth Durst
Elizabeth Eulberg
Gayle Forman
Aimee Friedman
Jenny Han
Alice Hoffman
Carla Jablonksi
Melissa Kantor
Kristen Kemp
Michelle Knudsen
Peter Lerangis
David Levithan

3:30-4:15
Sarah Darer Littman
Barry Lyga
Robin MacCready
Carolyn Mackler
Sarah Maclean
Marianne Mancusi
Amanda Marrone
Wendy Mass
Lauren McLaughlin
Neesha Meminger
Sarah Mlynowski
Michael Northrop
Robin Palmer

4:15-5:00
Diana Peterfreund
Shani Petroff
Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Matthue Roth
Marie Rutkoski
Lisa Ann Sandell
Samantha Schutz
Elizabeth Scott
Kieran Scott
Courtney Sheinmel
Sara Shepard
Abby Sher
Jon Skovron

5:00-5:45
Jennifer Smith
Natalie Standiford
Rachel Vail
David Van Etten
Siobhan Vivian
Adrienne Maria Vrettos
Melissa Walker
Suzanne Weyn
Lynn Weingarten
Martin Wilson
Jake Wizner
Maryrose Wood
Michelle Zink

BONUS EVENTS:

Also keep in mind…
Before the Festival:

March 11: Blake Nelson and the Care Bears on Fire at Barnes & Noble, Union Square, 33 E 17th St, 7pm, for a night of reading and rock

After the Festival:

April 14: The Next Teen Author Reading Night, 6-7:30 at the Jefferson Market Branch of NYPL, 425 6th Ave, at 10th St.

Helen Ellis, The Turning
David Levithan, Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, Dedication
Sarah Mlynowski, Gimme a Call
Marie Rutkoski, The Celestial Globe
Elizabeth Scott, The Unwritten Rule
Rachel Vail, Brilliant
Adrienne Maria Vrettos, The Exile of Gigi Lane

For another look at the schedule, including any last-minute updates, click here.

Unrelated final note: I'm grateful to Kristin Cashore for linking to one of the best songs from the Buffy musical on her blog today. I love Buffy, and it was nice to have an excuse to listen to a bit of the musical today. I think I might be up for a full rewatching sometime soon. And btw, if you haven't yet read Kristin's Graceling, you should. Maybe you can buy a copy at Books of Wonder on March 21!

I FOOLED YOU release day!

Hooray! I Fooled You is out in the world today! It's a middle grade anthology from Candlewick Press and contains my very first published short story ever, "The Bridge to Highlandsville." Stop by your favorite real-world store or order a copy through Indiebound.org!

You can see more info about the book in my 2/26 blog post.

Also out in the world today is the YA novel Saving Maddie, by my friend and fellow VCFA'er Varian Johnson! Visit his blog to follow along with the Saving Maddie blog tour and find out more about the book and the author.

Edited to add: just realized today is ALSO the release day for The Sky Is Everywhere, the debut novel from Jandy Nelson, also a VCFA'er! Yay!