Counting down to BEA 2013!!!

I'm sure most of you already know, but Book Expo America is in New York City next week (Thurs. May 30 - Sat. June 1)!! I will be attending on Fri. (the only day I could go this year), so right now I'm contemplating what authors to try and meet, what galleys to try and pick up, what shoes to wear... LOL, all very important decisions.

It's so much fun to go to, I can't even stand it! This year, I'm attending and then hopefully blogging (over on YALSA's the HUB) about the Children's Author Breakfast...with Octavia Spencer, Mary Pope Osborne, Rick Riordan (*squee!) and VERONICA ROTH *jumps up and down flailing* I am beyond excited to see two of my favorite authors speak.  There are a bunch of other authors doing great signings when I'll be there and I love to just stop by the different booths to check out what's what. 

This past year or so I've been totally wrapped up in a lot of professional reading and unfortunately, that's left me a little burnt out. So, my goal this year at BEA is just to get happily wrapped up in the swell of reading joy.  To rediscover my love of all things bookish... and to let the stress fade away.  I want to pick up books based solely on my gut reaction, not "needing" to read it because it's the next up and coming thing. I want to be swayed by a cover, an author's enthusiasm, my friends' gushing...everything.

I want to remember my annual "Book Christmas" love. 

I hope to see as many of my blogger, librarian, and author friends as possible.  It's one day to cram in a ton of chatting, gushing, and book swapping, but I can't wait to do it all! In case we haven't met in real life yet, here's a small pic of me.  

Hopefully we can bump into each other and say "hi!" See you next week! 

Meeting YA Authors Beth Revis and Lauren DeStefano!!

This past Wednesday night, January 18th, I was lucky enough to go straight down after work to RJ Julia's independent bookstore in Madison, CT to meet YA authors, Lauren DeStefano and Beth Revis. :)

What a great opportunity! It was the chance to meet two authors who debuted HUGE books last year. (Click here for my reviews of Across the Universe and Wither)

It was super interesting to go to this particular author event, because Lauren and Beth didn't each talk about their own book and then answer questions. They let the audience ask any question they wanted and then they both answered (and sometimes argued, lol!) and bounced a lot off of each other.

We ended up talking about how science fiction is becoming a larger trend in YA, how people are interested in reading about characters that live in broken societies (like Wither or The Hunger Games) because we are afraid of what our own government might do in the future, Lauren's really cute shoes* and their matching hair feathers, writing in general, and the pressures of publishing a second book.

It was a really fun and interesting time! I felt so lucky to be able to go. Meeting authors is one of my favorite things to do whenever I get the chance. :)

*BTW-these are the adorable shoes that Lauren was sporting at the event.  Interrogation revealed that she bought them that day, at Payless!...which means I might actually be able to afford to break down and go buy a pair. <3

What You Wish For book launch event at the United Nations in NYC

Yesterday, I was extremely privileged to be invited to a special book launch event at the Der Hammarskjold Library Auditorium at the United Nations in New York City. The program was co-sponsored by the UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) and the Book Wish Foundation.


The event was to launch What You Wish For, a book of short stories and poems written by some of the bestselling and most highly honored young adult authors. What really makes this book special is not only all of its contributors, or the fact that they contributed their work for free, but that ALL proceeds from the sale of this book will be sent directly to fund the founding of libraries in the camps in Eastern Chad housing displaced refugees from Darfur.


The program began with moving presentations by Udo Janz, Director of UNHCR (far left), and Grainne O'Hara, UNHCR Senior Policy Advisor (far right), who discussed her experiences while in Darfur in 2003-2005. Then John Prendergast, Co-Founder of the Enough Project, (second in from the left) who has also created a sister schools project that connects students in the US and in the Darfur refugee camps via Skype. Lastly, Mohamed Yahya, Co-Founder of Damanga and an actual survivor of the war in Darfur, thanked everyone for caring enough to come to an event that will support the future of his people.

During this presentation time, Udo Janz explained that while ofttimes other funds from the UN are devoted primarily to security, food, and medicine in the camps (considered life-saving necessities), the money from What You Wish For can only be used for the libraries. Many of these camps do not even have schools, let alone a library to help the refugees develop literacy skills. Every dime from selling copies of this book will go to this "secondary" concern in the camps...one that I feel is eminently important!



As I mentioned, there are some fabulous contributors to this book! R.L. Stine, Meg Cabot, Cornelia Funke, Alexander McCall Smith, Jeanne DuPrau, John Green, Ann Martin, and more. During the second half of yesterday's book launch, I was lucky enough to be able to hear from many of these authors about their decision to contribute to this important book.


(R.L. Stine and Ann M. Martin have a pre-event tete-a-tete.)


(R.L. Stine sitting front and center onstage)


(The author panel - from left to right - Marilyn Nelson, Karen Hesse, Sofia Quintero, R.L. Stine, Nate Powell, Ann M. Martin, Jeanne DuPrau, and via Skype, Cornelia Funke and Meg Cabot.)

Each author discussed their contributions to the book, why they feel that this type of organization is important world-wide, and their writing in general. Here are some snippets of what they discussed:

Cornelia Funke-Fantasy gives her a more accessible way of talking about some of the harder things in life. Many kids read stories that have difficult themes when their own lives are not great.

Meg Cabot-Reading often takes you to another world. Fun books can often help you work through your toughest problems.

Jeanne DuPrau-Libraries are a wonderfully quiet place to reflect. "Libraries have been huge in my life."

Karen Hesse-Her contribution to the book developed when she challenged herself to write a picture book a week or a novel a month...what she ended up with was the short story that appears in What You Wish For.

Ann M. Martin-Her Ann Martin foundation helped to support a library in Ghana by providing books and funding. Now she works with Lisa Libraries to help repair damaged libraries.

Marilyn Nelson-"We're ridiculous." Humor helps to remind us all who we are in relation to the world.

Nate Powell-Comics are actually 1 to 2 decades "ahead" in foreign countries (esp. Japan and France) from where they are in the US. They can be a definitive gateway to literacy around the world.

Sofia Quintero-She "grew up under hip-hop," in a time period when young people were able to create something out of nothing. They used their bodies to make social impact. "Young people are not the future, they are the PRESENT." "They can be a part of saving themselves." Libraries are sacred and open to everybody, often safe even when nowhere else seems to be... "books are the building blocks of creating a safe place to go in your own head."

R.L. Stine-"Safe" scary books allow kids to explore things that scare them when they are in a safe place.

They all agreed later during the question period that YA literature may seem dark, but that the darkness shows the moments of hope and light in our lives in a much brighter way. Reading these books allows teens to meet the darkness in a safe place. These are themes that can be recognized the world over...

If you want, you can see the entire event here:



It's about two hours long, and I don't expect anyone to watch it in it's entirety, but if you want to see the information about Darfur, that's in the first hour. If you want to see the authors, that picks up at the second hour. The question and answer section with about half an hour left, and if you want to see me ask a question (*squee!), I'm at about 1:36:00.

Overall, I have to say that this was one of the best author events I've been to to date. I truly believe that this book is worth talking about and asking if you will think about buying a copy because the money goes to such a fantastic cause. So, if you are interested in getting a copy and helping to build libraries in Darfur refugee camps, check it out here.

I Met Laini Taylor *squee!* and Have a Signed ARC of The Daughter of Smoke and Bone to Giveaway!!

I was sooooo lucky to be able to meet Laini Taylor in person at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT. Let me just say that she is AWESOME. Laini was so personable and inspiring and creative. (She even made my YA skeptic mom ask to borrow the book later!)



Laini started out by describing how she got to this tour. Her first two books, a halted attempt at a science-fiction title, how she came to write Lips Touch: Three Times and finally came to publish The Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I was stoked to find out that it is the first book in a trilogy!!

When she read from the book, you really felt as if you were there, in the story. The main character, Karou, is so fully formed that you had no question about her motives...only the intriguing and wondrous world that she lives in! You could hear the rustling of pages throughout the room even before she stopped reading, lol.

Laini was super gracious answering questions, giving great reading advice, and just being a generally hilarious and warm-hearted person. It was amazing to meet her and in a such a cozy environment! When she did the signing, it was great because only about 25 people were there, so we actually got to chat a little with Laini.



I was lucky enough to be able to ask Laini ahead of time if she would sign not only the finished copy of the book, but the two ARCs that I had as well. My friend, Jen from Yabooknerd, was in Vermont for the NELA (New England Library Association) conference, so one signed ARC is going to her, *but* I have another signed ARC to give away!



So, if you would like the chance to win a *signed ARC* of Laini Taylor's The Daughter of Smoke and Bone, leave me a comment with your name and email address before this Friday, October 7th. I'll randomly choose a winner on Saturday, October 8th. Good luck!!

YA Spectacular Event in Madison, CT

So, I've been running around like a maniac doing summer reading visits to all the schools in the city where I work and I just have not had the time to put together a complicated post. So...that means that this should have gone up ages ago, but instead I'm just getting to it now...

Anyway, on Thursday, June 9th, I was lucky enough to go to the YA Spectacular event hosted by RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison, CT. It was AWESOME. Though I had to brave a horrific lightning storm, downed trees, and a GPS that just refused to accept the fact that, no, I could not go through that giant roadblock and I MUST turn around, getting to see the awesome and lovely Sara Shepard, Sarah Mlynowski, and Maureen Johnson (OMG...I just met one of my heroes!!!) was beyond worth the near death travel experience.

Upon arriving, I was stoked to find out first of all that the authors had not yet made it (Phew! I was so worried I'd have to sneak in the back like a creepy stalker...) and that a bunch of my librarian pals were there, too!! My librarian/blogger online BFF, Jen from Yabooknerd was saving me a seat (*Thank you, thank you, thank you!), my friends from the Windsor library system, Amy and Andrea, both made it, Bailey from the Newington Library and Mary Kate from the Scotland Library also made it! We are a brave, brave crew of YA Librarians, I tell you! No one was keeping us from these lovely ladies.

After buying a copy of Maureen's new book, The Last Little Blue Envelope, and gossiping like crazy about books and BEA with the other librarians and RJ Julia's ya even coordinator, Jen elbowed me... I looked up to see Maureen Johnson peeking out from behind the curtains onstage like a little kid at their first school play performance. *insert giggles here*

As the ladies were introduced, Maureen continued to peek out and then caused the entire crowd to start giggling as she darted across the stage so that she could peek out from the other side. *more giggles*



After introductions, Sara, Sarah, and Maureen finally came out on stage. They had these tall barstools that the ladies were to sit on and as you can see above, Sara Shepard's dress was just a little short and she was a little cautious at first about getting up on the stool. Maureen kept cracking jokes, though and they quickly settled into their places to read.




To begin with each author read a passage from her newest book. Maureen briefly explained the plot of her book,Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes, and then read a funny passage from the sequel (which I am dying to read!). Sarah Mlynowski read a section from her new YA book, ,Ten Things We Did (...And Probably Shouldn't Have)...which I had to sneak out and buy a copy of to get signed! Finally, Sara Shepard read a section from her new book, The Lying Game.

Next, Maureen played Oprah and did a question and answer session roaming through the crowd. I was tweeting like a maniac during the event...here are some of the tweets I sent out (@jessyabookobssd)

Sara Shepard will be putting out 4 more #PLL books...

Whoops! @maureenjohnson admits to dropping phone in toilet at #BEA11

TEN THINGS WE DID is actually based on Sarah Mlynowski's real life experiences...

Strange abandoned fires...Sara Shepard's hobby growing up...

"I love writing all the secrets people have" -Sara Shepard

@maureenjohnson is lurking in the audience taking questions... #yaauthorcreeping

As you can probably tell, it was kind of a wild and crazy Q&A session! Sara Shepard got asked TONS of questions about both the Pretty Little Liars book series and the TV show. Sarah Mlynowski ended up explaining quite a bit about her somewhat wild teen years, and Maureen Johnson was hilarious...even answering a question about how she keeps her socks organized.



I ended up asking how each author balances their online social networking with their writing time. Sara Shepard says she doesn't do any social networking so it's not an issue. Sarah Mlynowski uses her social networking as a reward for finishing her writing goals. Maureen Johnson, who is famous in YA twitter circles for rivaling Libba Bray as a twitter goddess, admitted that she doesn't really even try to keep the social networking in check. "It just works itself out in the end..."

After the Q&A, the authors were kind enough to sign about a million books apiece! The line was HUGE...no kidding. Having been in this situation before, Jen, Mary Kate and I sat calmly and gossiped until the line went down. Jen and I admired the books we'd bought and exchanged (Yes, we are those book dorks that brought books to lend to each other by other authors to a signing...). Finally, the line went down and we headed up to have our fangirl moments.



It was awesome to meet all three authors, but I was definitely BEYOND over the moon to meet Maureen Johnson in person. I had that moment where I almost couldn't spit out what I wanted to say, but I did finally get to tell her that I recommend her Scarlett Martin series to all my teen readers looking for funny contemporary books. I was somewhat disappointed that they weren't selling Suite Scarlett because I would have LOVED to have a signed copy. Then, Maureen made my night, by not only signing my books, but fulfilling my weird request to have her also add the twitter hashtag, #yasaves, as a homage to her part in the outcry online against censorship based on YA becoming "too dark."

This was an awesome event and I am so grateful that RJ Julia put it together. :)