Lisa Yee's Blog: Neil Gaiman Meets The Peep

Am I the only one who gets confused and sometimes can't figure out what month it is and where I am? (Don't answer that.)

Okay, let's pick up where we left off last blog. That's right. San Diego for the ALA Midwinter Conference and the Newbery (and other) awards.

BTW, I cannot believe that The Today Show their tradition on having the Newbery and Caldecott winners on the day after the announcement.

But not to despair. They did have an author on that morning . . .

Okay, back to the blog. After running into these bad boys on the convention floor . . .

. . . it was rehearsal time. Rehearsal for what? Rehearsal for this . . .

YES! A dancing/chatting show featuring these seven Scholastic authors . . .

And here we are, unblurred . . .

(That's Trent Reedy, Angelina Jolie, Katherine Applegate, Blake Nelson, Judy Blundell, Roland Smith and Pam Munoz Ryan.)

Soon it was time to get serious about having fun. Here's Lizette Serrano (1st photo, on left) going over the show with us, and the "heavenly hunk" in the tux is our host, John Mason . . .

There was even a live band, cameras, microphones, the whole shebang . . .

My editor Arthur Levine was there, and look, it's Katherine Applegate of Animorph's fame getting writing advice from Peepy . . .

(Son is a HUGE fan of her book HOME OF THE BRAVE.)

In a rare moment, the camera caught the authors sitting down and behaving . . .

While we were practicing behaving well, the reception began . . .

Then the audience entered and it was SHOW TIME!

John Mason was hysterical as he introduced each of us (and had props for all our books). I was enthralled by everyone's interview. However, I was HORRIFIED by the other author's entrances because . . . THEY DANCED onto the stage. Yes, danced.

I was up last, so I turned to Roland Smith who was sitting next to me and asked him, "Can you lift me?" Bravely, he said, "Yes."

And so when it was my turn, we ran up together, holding hands, then he hoisted me into the air and I struck a pose . . .

Thank you, Mr. Smith!

The next day, I attended this . . .

Nancy Pearl is an amazing librarian, and she's even talked about my book MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS on NPR!!! Plus, she's been to my house to blow up things . . .

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(I suspect that Neil Gaiman would appreciate the carnage.)

The room was packed and both were witty and wonderful . . .

After, Neil signed copies of his Newbery winning THE GRAVEYARD BOOK . . .

I was sort of in awe of him, but you know Peepy, she's not shy. She went right up to him . . .

And of course, he was smitten by her . . .

He even asked if he could hold her . . .

Lucky Peepy, and lucky me!

That night, we had a delicious meal with our friend, San Francisco librarian, Carla Kozak . . .

Ah, what a awesome time at ALA!!!

Next blog: The dancing continues when I am forced to hula in Hawaii . . .

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to win a free copy of WARP SPEED, Lisa's new book that will debut in March? If so CLICK HERE.