ALA Conference: Famous Authors, Famous Librarians, Famous Peep

It's that time of year again. Yes, the American Library Association Conference, hence to be known here as "ALA."

The last time we were at ALA this happened and that, too . . .



This year it was in Anaheim. We know, because we braved the LA traffic to get there . .


(Disclaimer: I don't know the man in the photo. I took the picture to remind myself where I parked.)



As soon as we arrived, we ran into our friend, illustrator Ken Min. Luckily, he wasn't hurt. Then we went to registration, where we had already been stered in advance . . .


(The badge lists where the company is from, not where you or I are from.)

We met Rob Bittner, our Guardian Angel, for lunch. Because he's from Canada and I'm from the USA, we ate lunch at the International House of Pancakes . . .



After breakfast, which we ate for lunch, it was time to explore! The convention floor was crowded with people and books and librarians and books . . .



Look! It's librarians!!! Here's the bloggeful Betsy Bird, and there's note-y Travis Jonker . . .



Authors were everywhere, too. Hello, bestselling authors Marie Lu and Melissa de la Cruz!



Peepy was relieved that six-time Emmy winner turned author/illustrator Mo Willems wasn't (too) mad at her. Especially because she's his replacement . . .



At Scholastic we saw our editor (and my dear friend JK Rowling's editor) Arthur Levine, conferring with his debut author Mike Jung . . .



We turned around and look who we saw! Yes, Weston Wood's own Paul Gange, who introduced Peepy to lots of important stuff; and Scholastic's Library and Educational Marketing Dude, John Mason . . .



There was quite a commotion as Caldecott Medalist winners Allen Say and Brian Selznick, with NY TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater, all signed books at once -- and they all had to share a pen!!! (Part of that last sentence isn't true.)



Here's Allen and Brian and Maggie . . .



We went in search of Sasquatch or Dan Santat, whichever we could find first. Sadly, we didn't see either, although we saw clues as to where one or both of them were . . .



But we did see Nancy Holder and NY TIMES bestseller Ally Condie . . .


(Ally and I have 50 - 75% of these things in common: 1) we have the same agent, 2) we are both red belts in karate, 3) we were both at ALA, 4) we both took the Evelyn Wood speed reading course.)

I was thrilled to finally meet Prinz Award Winner and National Book Award finalist Gene Luen Yang, and former National Ambassador of Young People's Literature, Jon Scieszka, was thrilled (slightly) to see Peepy again . . .



Next Blog: More ALA awesomeness!!!!!


(Find out who the famous author is behind the Peep.)

UPCOMING JULY STUFF . . .

July 15 - COMIC-CON Panel - HEROES FOR THE MIDDLE-GRADE READER (AND YOU, TOO!): Middle Grade Books That Will Rock Your Socks Off, Sunday, 2:45p.m. - 3:45p.m., Room: 5AB

July 27 - South Pasadena Library Writing Workshop for Kids

July 30 - Once Upon a Time Bookstore - Get Your Pens Out Writing Club

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

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

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Dining with Dan, Meeting Mark Twain, and .

This being summer and all, I've decided to cut back from blogging seven times a day (or twice a week) to once a week. That way we can all have more time to eat chocolate, get a pony, write novels, or whatever one does when summer calls.

Most likely I will be blogging on Monday, unless I blog on Tuesday or Wednesday, or another day of the week. And possibly I will blog more than once a week, but maybe not. One never knows.



So then, many of you know, or don't know, or will know, that illustrator/author Dan Santat and I eat a lot. And we eat a lot with each other at lunch time, a lot.





And many times we eat with other people . . .



The other people pictured include, but are not limited to, and are in no particular order whether pictured here or in real life: Michael Reisman*, Jodi Reamer$, Jonathan Auxier*+, Tom Angleberger*, Grace Lin* +, Bob Boyle*+, Winston Swain*, Mo Willems*+, Jarrett Krosoczka*+, Brian Floca+, Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy, James Burks*+, Richard Jesse Watson+, and millions more. (Here's a nifty way to say who does what: * = author, + = illustrator, $ = agent.)

The most recent venture of the Dan and Lisa Lunch Club, which I said I would blog about each time but have failed to do, was at a place called, Young Dong Garden. (Dan thought the name of the restaurant was silly and giggled through the entire meal.)




In other This and That news, my Peep and I explored Monrovia recently. The library was closed, but Peepy got to hang out with Mark Twain . . .



I know you're all "Ooooh, Peepy met a celebrity," but she's met them before. Here's Peepy telling Einstein about science . . .



Later, she goofed off . . .



We also went shopping for beloved office supplies, which is dangerous, because we tend to obsess over folders and pens and such . . .



My Peep was convinced she saw Jarrett Krosoczka at the store!



Speaking of punctuation marks (pretend we were), do you have a favorite?



Figure out which one you like best, then check HERE to see what it says about your personality type.

For the record, I picked a PERIOD.

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

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...