For a writer who is usually chained to her desk, I got out and about a lot this week. March 7th was WRAD–World Read Aloud Day, so it was cool to be a part of that! I thought I’d share some of the pictures and highlight moments while it’s all still fresh in my mind.
MONDAY: I went to Lincoln Elementary and faced the bright eyes of about 40 kindergarteners during two different classes.
With author Tom Leveen
Kindergarteners are squeezably cute
HIGHLIGHTS: * Lots of hugs. * The teacher, Miss Palson, emailing that after we left the kids sat down and WROTE. * Sharing the stage with author Tom Leveen who is one very cool dude.
TUESDAY: A day of firsts: I did my first class SKYPE, for my first class of ELEVENTH graders at Silver Creek HS in Indiana. Oh, and add another first to that, because I read from a new manuscript for the first time. Right now, I’m calling the book Swimmer Girl because I don’t have a good title for it. It was really cool to test the waters with it. No picture this time. 
HIGHLIGHTS: *A chance to see Mr. Paul Hankins and his infamous Room 407 * Fuzzy computer screens that eliminated about a decade’s worth of my wrinkles. * Surviving some firsts
THURSDAY: This was an author visit–but I wasn’t the author of the moment! At this event, I was lucky to snag an invite: It was a celebratory dinner for Jack Gantos who just won the Newbery.
Me being a fangirl while Jack signs my book
HIGHLIGHTS: *Meeting a group of wonderful authors, illustrators, teachers and librarians. * Being asked by amazing hostess Mary Wong to sign her wall.
FRIDAY: Career Day at Centennial Middle School and guess who was there to talk to the eighth graders about writing?
HIGHLIGHTS: *Great questions from the kids who were an awesome, focused audience. *Surviving technical difficulties.
And the week is not over yet. Tomorrow it’s off to Tucson for the Tucson Festival of Books where I’ll talk about my experience as a debut author. All in all, an exhausting but wonderful week. Hope yours was great, too!
(And, if you’re a librarian or a teacher and you love author visits–drop me a line. Maybe I can be highlighting a visit with you!)
