Tag: bookstores

Talking, Reading, Baking

As always, I loved appearing at Books of Wonder, the fabulous children’s bookstore DSC01014 in Manhattan. It was great to meet my co-panelists, Aimee Carter, J.A. White, and Leila Sales, and hear them read from their wonderful new middle-grade books. I bDSC01013rought mini-Bouts buns, which disappeared quickly, and got to meet my publicist, the charming and slightly virus-ridden April Roberts, who brought swag for the audience. And I was so pleased to see some old friends. Dave and Martha, Shani and Michael, Judy, and Susan (and of course Phil and Ben) — thank you for coming out for the event!

A couple of days later, I went to the Mill Road School for mill road schooltheir annual author/illustrator tea. They provided a delicious lunch for an impressively large group of writers and artists (the Hudson Valley is teeming with us). Then I talked to three fifth-grade classes about how Baker’s Magic went from idea to bound book (I called the presentation Baking a Book, which involved taking a metaphor and stretching it just about as far as it could go, or possibly slightly farther). The students asked loads of questions, some of them really challenging to answer. Afterward, I got to hang out with the authors and illustrators in the library, eat brownies and cookies, and sign books for students. Exciting, exhausting — fun!

 

 

Books of Wonder(ful)

The Books of Wonder Great Middle-Grade Reads event was so much fun! Joining me at the table were three other great middle-grade authors:

 

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Dan Poblocki, presenting his really scary new book, The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe. And Morgan Keyes, with the second book in her fascinating Darkbeast series. And, all the way from Australia, Catherine Jinks, presenting How to Catch a Bogle, set in Victorian England.

 

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Jennifer Dee (@rifflemg) live-tweeted the event — a first for me! — and my HarperCollins editor, Andrea Martin, stopped by.

 

And as always, owner Peter Glassman and the enthusiastic and well-prepared bookstore staff were the perfect 100_6880hosts. They made us feel just a little bit like rock stars — a pretty amazing feat, considering the real life of children’s book writers…