Book Expo America, Day 3

Sunday was the last day of BEA, and, as expected, it was somewhat quiet. I actually found that to be a good thing, though; I got more accomplished on Sunday than any other day, because the lack of crowds meant that people had more time to talk.

Throughout the weekend, Firebrand Technologies, the company behind NetGalley, was hosting blogger signings at its booth. The idea was to raise the profile of the book bloggers, and provide a venue for people to meet and interact with the bloggers. Sunday at 11am, MotherReader Pam Coughlan and I shared the booth for our signing. I was worried that no one would show up to talk to us, especially on Sunday, but I needn't have worried. We were kept busy talking to people the entire hour. It seems that a lot of people, from booksellers to authors and publishers, are interested in learning how they can work with bloggers. Pam and I talked extensively about Kidlitosphere Central and the Cybils Awards, and gave out business cards and Cybils bookmarks.

At 12:00 I spent an hour volunteering in the booth for IBPA: The Independent Book Publishers Association. After that, we stopped at a couple more booths, went to get some lunch, and then headed home.

Overall, I felt that the mood at BEA was cautiously optimistic. Yes, there was a lot of concern about the economy and the future of the book business in an increasingly digital world. I think that book people, by nature, aren't the type to dwell on misfortune, and I think that we've reached the point of moving on and looking for solutions. A lot of the brightest minds in the industry are looking at where we are and where we're headed, and I heard a lot of good ideas over the weekend.

The nature of BEA itself was changed somewhat from previous years that I've attended, and certainly more changes are in store. It was smaller, as expected, and the unrestrained galley grab of recent years was gone. There were plenty of galleys to be had, but for the most part they weren't stacked in huge stacks all along the aisles as we've come to expect. Some were given out on request to eligible people, some were put out in limited quantities for limited times, and many were given out in autographing sessions, of which there seemed to me to be more. One publisher, I think it was Simon & Schuster, sent messages on Twitter every time they put out a new, limited time galley. Personally, I see these changes as a positive thing; publishers are learning to market smarter.

The programming was also smaller, but more focused. To be honest, I don't think that I've ever attended any of the programming sessions at BEA. In past years, I've looked at the long list of sessions, and not seen much that interested me. But this time I attended several and for the most part found them to be high quality, interesting and relevant.

In short, in spite of the economy, in spite of the changes, for me this was actually one of the best BEAs that I've attended. It'll be interesting to see what happens with BEA in future years, and whether they are able to save the show by continuing to find new ways to make it relevant. I do wish that it wasn't going to be held midweek, though. I like the weekend schedule. But, I'll keep an open mind and see where things go. This one ended up better than I expected, so who knows?

Goodbye, New York. Goodbye, book tribe. See you next year. Until then, have faith, stay strong, and look to the future.

Book Expo America: Day 2

We slept a little later on Saturday, thankfully, since we weren't trying to get any autographing tickets. I was still pretty exhausted from the previous day, though.

We started the day walking the floor and standing in a few autographing lines. I tried to enter every Kindle & Sony Reader drawing I could find, because I'd really like to have one of these. It was such a beautiful, sunny day that we decided to get lunch at the hotdog stand outside on 11th Ave and eat lunch sitting on a wall in the sun. It was quite enjoyable.

After lunch, I attended a panel called Teens Sound Off. It was a panel of six teens talking about their reading and book buying preferences. All the panel members were girls - I would have liked to see a couple of guys on the panel - and I had some trouble hearing them (but then, maybe that was the ear infection) but it was a very interesting panel. I "live tweeted" the panel on Twitter, and rather than try to summarize it, I'll just include my tweets here as bullet points:

• Really hard to hear most teens on panel. I think most have said they find out about books from friends.
• Several teens said they don't like series. Surprising.
• All the panelists are girls; most say their guy friends don't read other than assigned. One has a guy friend reading Twilight.
• One teen is a blogger and did a poll; found out that 99% of her blog readers were female
• None of the panelists go to author events. Some live in small town; others say they'll only go to event for much wanted book.
• One teen said she liked both adult & YA books, but felt uncomfortable in adult section; felt like those books weren't for her.
• Teens say cover is really important. Colorful bright covers, animal on cover, person in a cute skirt mentioned as elements
• One mentioned that if a cover looks similar to books she likes, it appeals to her.
• Teen panelists prefer to read "real" books to reading online. Several mentioned too many distractions online.
• But when asked specifically about non-book reading online, most panelists admit the spend more time reading FB and texts than books
• One teen doesn't like when booksellers randomly recommend books, but likes when they find out what she likes & relates it
• Several teens said they don't trust recs from strangers. They seem keenly aware of when people are trying to sell to them
  

After that, I attended the Book Bloggers panel, moderated by Book Club Girl. The panel was well attended, and there seems to be a lot of interest in how publishers, authors, and boksellers can work with book bloggers. Rather than trying to tell you about it, I'm going to refer you to this post and this audio recording.

As the exhibit hall was closing. I attended a reception hosted by ReadHowYouWant at the Javits Center. ReadHowYouWant uses proprietary technology to convert publisher files to XML and produce the book in accessible formats for the disabilities market. Formats they produce include large print in a variety of sizes, braille, Daisy, and e-book. ReadHowYouWant has published two of our books so far in their accessible formats.

Saturday night I attended a party celebrating the book Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd, edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci and published by Little, Brown and Company. Geektastic includes contributions from some of the leading young adult authors.

The party was held in a private room at the Lucky Strike bowling alley two blocks from the Javits Center. It was a great party and I had a lot of fun. Having the party at a bowling alley was a stroke of genius. As an introvert, I'm not a big fan of the kind of party where you're supposed to walk around and talk to people. If it's people I know, I'm fine with it, but I'm very uncomfortable walking up to people I don't know and making small talk. Having something to do - bowling and pool - provided a great way to get to know people without having to figure out what to talk about.

I ended up spending most of the evening bowling with Sara Zarr, author of Story of a Girl, Sweethearts, and the forthcoming Once Was Lost, Andrew Smith from Little, Brown, and Diane Roback from PW. Sara was really nice and fun, and I'm glad to have had the chance to get to know her. Diane and I hit it off right away, and she gave me lots of good bowling tips. (I'm a terrible bowler.) With her help, I even got a strike! High five to all my bowling buddies, and it was great to meet you.

In addition to Sara Zarr, I also met Scott Westerfeld, Holly Black, and David Levithan. Barry Lyga, whom I'd met the previous evening at the Kidlit Drinks night, was also there. Rachel Wasdyke from Little, Brown was a fantastic host (although a somewhat distracted bowler, LOL). If I met anyone else, I apologize for forgetting you!

Geektastic looks like a fun book, and I can't wait to read it. Here's the publisher's description:

Acclaimed authors Holly Black (Ironside) and Cecil Castellucci (Boy Proof) have united in geekdom to edit short stories from some of the best selling and most promising geeks in young adult literature: M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!

More BEA posts to come...

BEA: Interesting books part 2

My husband picked up an autographed ARC of a book called Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse, by Kaleb Nation and published by independent publisher Sourcebooks. I'd never heard of the book, but it sounded interesting and I admire Sourcebooks, so I tucked it away to look into later. Since then, I've had several people, including teens, tell me how hot it is and how lucky I am to have an ARC.

Now I'm intrigued; apparently this book has been generating some prepublication buzz. I checked his Facebook page and it has 1275 fans. I usually have my ear pretty close to the ground when it comes to YA fantasy, so it's surprising for me to discover a book that I've never heard of that's generating this kind of buzz. I haven't read this book either, so I can't recommend it, but it's certainly one that's going on my TBR pile.

Here's the publisher's description:

In a bustling metropolis where magic is outlawed, a six-year-old child is found inside a locked bank vault. A scrap of paper reveals his name: Bran Hambric. The child remembers nothing of his life before the vault. Only magic could have done this. But why would any mage risk breaking the law to place a child in a bank vault?

Eight years later the City of Dunce has forgotten about Bran. Even his foster parents don't seem to know he exists. But there are those who have been watching, biding their time, waiting to strike, people who know where Bran came from and why he was sent away. And they will do anything to get Bran back, dead or alive…

Welcome to a world unlike any other where the adventure of a lifetime is just beginning.

BEA: Interesting books part 1

I'm always on the lookout for interesting small press and self-published books, and The Soulstealer War, by W. L. Hoffman, caught my interest. I chatted with the author at BEA for quite a while, and according to him, it's an epic fantasy with SF elements, quantum physics, and philosophy.

The first book is called The First Mother's Fire, and it has cover art by Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell. You can see the cover art in this wall hanging that was hanging in the booth:

Here's a wall hanging of the map from the book.

The map was drawn by the author and it's beautiful.

I haven't read the book, so I really have no idea if it's any good, but it sounds interesting and I look forward to reading it.

Book Expo America: Day 1

Book Expo America, or BEA as it's more commonly known, is the largest annual U.S. book industry trade show and gathering of the book tribe. BEA was held this past weekend, from May 29 through the 31st, and we attended the event at the Javits Center in New York City.

Our day Friday started with rising at 4am to try to get tickets to the Suzanne Collins autographing of Catching Fire, the sequel to 2008's hot YA book The Hunger Games. Tickets were free, but were distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis at the Javits center beginning at 6:30am. We arrived at Javits at 5:30 - we wanted to be there plenty early enough that we wouldn't miss out - and we weren't the first ones in line. By 6:00am, the line was quite long. Suzanne Collins was obviously the hot ticket this year; there seemed to be more people in line who wanted tickets to Suzanne Collins than for Julie Andrews. The really nice man running the autographing ticket booth joked, "Oh, didn't you hear that Suzanne Collins was cancelled?" I told him he'd better not joke like that unless he wanted a riot!

We succeeded in getting a ticket, and walked away feeling like we'd gotten the golden ticket in American Idol!

The exhibit hall wasn't scheduled to open until 9, so we went to get breakfast while we waited. We were back in time for the 9am starting bell (OK, I didn't really hear a starting bell, but there might as well have been one) and we started out walking the exhibit floor for a while. One of the first things we saw was this really cool flying saucer that you can build:

I don't know if you can tell the size from this picture, but it's about as tall as a person. It comes as a book of plans, and all the parts are things that you can easily find at places like Home Depot. It does require some drilling, but they're working on making pre-drilled parts that you can purchase. I think the top parts are supposed to light up, also, but they didn't have it quite fully assembled yet when we stopped by the booth. It's called The Flying Saucer Planbook and it's available from http://ascplanbooks.com

I then attended a panel on Books to Film, sponsored by IBPA and presented by Rocky Lang, BooksToFilm.tv. The panel included various literary agents and media companies. The panel was interesting, but unfortunately the main thing I got out of it is just how hard it is to sell your book to film or TV. It seemed to me that you really need someone who knows what they're doing to sell it. They said that you can't just send a book; you really need to send a package which includes the things that will catch the interest of a film or TV executive, including a book trailer. BooksToFilm.tv showed some of their trailers, or "Sizzle reels," as they called them, and I will say that I think they do a nice job with them, better than a lot of the ones I've seen.

While I was at the panel, Nick and David walked the exhibit floor and went to some autographing sessions.

At 2pm I attended the awards ceremony for the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards. Ratha's Courage was a finalist in the fantasy and science fiction category, but unfortunately, it didn't win. I was thrilled to see that Women Astronomers: Reaching for the Stars, by by Mabel Armstrong, won the Gold award in the Young Adult Non-fiction category. I don't have any association with this book, but my friend and distributor, Jacqueline Simonds of Beagle Bay Books, distributes it, and I had purchased a copy last year for my niece.

At 3pm we lined up to get our autographed copy of Catching Fire. My son David was the first in line, because he was determined to get a copy and got there early. After all our hard work and early rising, we were thrilled to get a copy!

I ended the day by attending the 7x20x21 panel: "Publishing’s most innovate thinkers talk about what inspires them". There were 7 presenters, each of whom had 7 minutes and 20 PowerPoint slides to talk about whatever they wanted to talk about. Each slide moved forward automatically at 21 seconds, forcing the presentation to move quickly. The presenters were: Debbie Stier, Harper Studio; Pablo Defendini, Tor.com; Jeff Yamaguchi, Doubleday/Knopf; Matt Supko, ABA/Indiebound; Chris Jackson, Spiegel and Grau; Richard Nash, ex-Soft Skull; Lauren Cerand, independent public relations representative (from Richard Nash's blog)

The panel was fascinating, dynamic, and thought-provoking. I was particularly taken with Pablo Defendini's message that e-books and the digital word won't kill books, but instead will allow us to return to books as an art form and a craft, as all the mass-market type books move towards digital formats.

Friday evening I had planned to attend both the BEATweetup, a gathering of book people who Twitter, and the Kidlit Drinks Night, a gathering of children's book people, but by the end of the day I was so exhausted (and suffering from an ear infection) that I just didn't have the energy to do both. I attended the Kidlit Drink night, where I talked to Betsy Bird (who blogs at School Library Journal as Fuse #8), Pam Coughlan (who blogs at MotherReader), Cheryl Klein, Senior Editor at the Arthur A. Levine Books imprint of Scholastic (and Harry Potter editor), Barry Lyga, author of several books including The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (and its forthcoming sequel, Goth Girl Rising), and other people whose names I've now forgotten (I'm sorry! I really am!) It was fun, but I only stayed about an hour; between the exhaustion and the ear infection, I had to get back to the hotel and collapse. Thanks so much to Betsy Bird for organizing it.

More BEA posts coming!

Meet the Bloggers at Book Expo America!

Tomorrow morning the exhibit halls open and Book Expo America, the annual gathering of the book tribe, goes into full swing. I'll be there with everyone else, wearing my comfortable shoes, wandering the floor, and attending some interesting sessions.

One thing that I'll be doing at BEA is a signing. No, I'm not an author, but Firebrand Technologies, the company behind NetGalley, had a brilliant idea: they're going to turn the traditional autographing sessions on their head, and host blogger signings in their booth. Every hour for the entire expo, two book bloggers will be at the Firebrand booth, #4077 (think M.A.S.H.!) to meet and greet any publishers, authors, and blog readers who might be interested.

I'll be signing (I'm not sure what I'll be signing, though) on Sunday from 11am to noon, accompanied by the fabulous MotherReader, Pam Coughlan. This is a good deal for me, because if no one shows up, at least I know she'll keep me laughing with her great sense of humor. In addition to our own blogs, we'll be talking Cybils and Kidlitosphere Central, so please stop by and chat with us!

There's also some talk that Firebrand might be making blogger trading cards, so make sure that you get a Wands and Worlds and a Mother Reader for your collection! (My son is saying, "Gotta catch 'em all!") I think this is even cooler than the signing itself.

There's a host of interesting bloggers signing, so you'd best just hang out at the Firebrand booth for the whole conference to meet them all. If you'd like to pick and choose so that you can spend time elsewhere, here's the full schedule:

http://followthereader.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/blogger-signing-schedule/

I hope to see you there!

BEA: Books and other cool stuff

Two weeks ago, we attended Book Expo America, the largest book industry trade show in the U.S. Here's some of the interesting things that we saw and books we came home with. I'll start with the books, in no particular order. All descriptions are provided by the publishers, and in no way reflect my opinion of these books. I haven't read any of these yet.

• The Penguins of Doom (From the Desk of Septina Nash) - by Greg Fishbone
  Description: Dear Reader, In order to make this book I had to escape from a mad scientist, adopt a trio of wild penguins, become an Olympic freestyle skateboarder, collect a whole bunch of empty yogurt containers, and find my missing triplet sister. In order to enjoy it, all you have to do is read every page. Thanks for doing your part! Sincerely, Septina Nash, Main Character
  Blooming Tree Press / 182 pages / Ages 9 - 12 / On sale date: July 7, 2007 (7/7/07!)
  


• Nightmare Academy by Dean Lorey
  Description: Charlie Benjamin isn't like other kids. His nightmares are so powerful, they open portals straight to the heart of the Netherworld, letting horrifying monsters come through. After a Class 3 Netherstalker invades a sleepover and tries to eat everyone, the Nightmare Academy offers to help. But when Charlie's entrance exam allows a deadly Named into our world, he and his new friends must fight to protect us all from the monsters that rush in when the lights go out.
  Harper Collins / 320 pages / Ages 10 and up / On sale date: August 21, 2007


• Two Moon Princess by Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
  Description: To Andrea, the life of a princess is not a dream; it's tedious and stifling. But the certainties of her life, both good and bad, are thrown into chaos when she accidentally travels to an alternative world, from a cave on a forbidden beach in her family's kingdom to the warm and carefree life of Southern California. Then, a careless visit to the cave results in terrible consequences: a brewing war between kingdoms, her sister's love for the wrong man, Andrea's own conflicted feelings for an enemy leader, and dark family secrets exposed. Andrea must act to resolve problems which she helped to create, and she faces many difficult choices, torn between duty and desire on so many levels.
  Tanglewood / 324 pages / Ages 9 and up / Pub date: October, 2007


• Unlocking Harry Potter: Five Keys for the Serious Reader by John Granger
  Description: Unlocking Harry Potter offers the serious reader five keys to open the text of the best selling books and reveal why they are so popular. Ranging from the familiar Hero's Journey to the esoteric symbols of Literary Alchemy in Harry Potter, Unlocking is a delightful explanation and exploration of the qualities in Ms. Rowling's work that resonate with the spirit of our times and those that transcend it. The five keys Granger discusses are narrative misdirection , how the point-of-view shapes our understanding (and mis-understanding) of what happens, literary alchemy, the historical language of personal transformation, postmodern themes, how Ms. Rowling is writing the epic of our politically correct times, hero's journey, the repeated elements that give each book its structure and narrative drive, and traditional symbolism, the iconographic use of images and events to transcend the world in story. No serious fan of Harry Potter, no serious reader of great fiction, will want to miss the Hogwarts Professor's unlocking of Ms. Rowling's wonderful stories.
  Zossima Press / 312 pages / On sale now


• What-the-Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy by Gregory Maguire
  Description: When ten-year-old Dinah and her two siblings are trapped by a terrible storm, cousin Gage keeps their spirits up with an unlikely story—that skibbereen, aka tooth fairies, live in warring colonies right in your neighborhood. Dinah is skeptical at first, but when the real world seems unbearable, stories told by candlelight have a way of becoming real. Dinah starts to—wants to—believe. Don't we all?
  Candlewick / 304 pages / Ages 10–13 / Pub date: October, 2007


• The Strand Prophecy by J. B. B. Winner (J.B.B. Winner is a pseudonym for a father and twin daughters who wrote the book together)
  Description: The Strand Prophecy is a science fiction epic set in the present day. The action begins on the steps of the White House, with stops in the jungles of Brazil and the deepest regions of Africa. Strand, a troubled and reluctant superhero discovers the beginning of a rapid evolutionary cycle. One in which new life and new predators will quickly emerge to threaten all of human existence. He races against time and the U.S. military to protect the innocent, safeguard his niece and along the way, perhaps find redemption for his brothers death. Strand's action-packed adventure delivers non-stop intensity, mystery and surprise from its first page to it's last. (Read David's review of this book)
  Missile Rider Publishing / 336 pages / Available now


• Igraine The Brave by Cornelia Funke
  Description: Princess Igraine dreams of becoming a famous knight just like her great grandfather, but the truth is, life at the family castle is rather boring. Until the nephew of the baroness-next-door shows up. He's got a dastardly plan to capture the castle and claim as his own the wonderful singing spell books that belong to Igraine's magician parents. To make matters worse, at the very moment of the siege, her mom and dad botch a spell, turning themselves into pigs! Aided by a Gentle Giant and a Sorrowful Knight, it's up to Igraine to be brave and save the day--and the books!.
  Scholastic / 224 pages / Ages 8-12 / Pub date: October, 2007


• In the Serpent's Coils by Tiffany Trent
  Description: Ever since her parents died, Corrine's dreams have been filled with faeries warning her of impending peril. When she's sent out to live at Falston Manor, she thinks she's escaped the danger stalking her. Instead the dreams go stronger, just as girls begin disappearing from school. Then Corrine discovers letters of forbidden love from a medieval monk who writes of his entanglement with a race of vampiric Fey—the same Fey who haunt Corrine's dreams. Who are these creatures and what do they want? Corrine knows only one thing for sure: another girl will disappear soon, and that girl might just be her.
  Mirrorstone / 304 pages / Ages 12 and up / Pub date: September, 2007


• Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness (Erec Rex, book 2) by Kaza Kingsley
  Description: Erec Rex has returned to save Alypium from the grasp of the evil Shadow Prince. But it is not without a price. If he succeeds, he could turn into a far worse villain than his own enemies. Erec learns more about his past, trust, honesty, and friendship as he hurtles toward his inevitable fate.
  Firelight Press / 368 pages / Ages 9-12 / Pub date: October, 2007


• Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star (Fablehaven, book 2) by Brandon Mull
  Description: At the end of the school year, Kendra and her brother, Seth, find themselves racing back to Fablehaven, a refuge for mythical and magical creatures. Grandpa Sorenson, the caretaker, invites three specialists- a potion master, a magical relics collector, and a mystical creature trapper- to help protect the property from the Society of the Evening Star, an ancient organization determined to infiltrate the preserve and steal a hidden artifact of great power. Time is running out. The Evening Star is storming the gates. If the artifact falls into the wrong hands, it could mean the downfall of other preserves and possibly the world. Will Kendra learn to use her fairy gifts in time? Will Seth stay out of trouble? Can they overcome paralyzing fear? Find out in book 2 of this bestselling series
  Shadow Mountain / 456 pages / Ages 9-12 / Available now


• Beowulf by Gareth Hinds
  Description: The epic tale of the great warrior Beowulf has thrilled readers through the ages — and now it is reinvented for a new generation with Gareth Hinds’s masterful illustrations. Grendel’s black blood runs thick as Beowulf defeats the monster and his hideous mother, while somber hues overcast the hero’s final, fatal battle against a raging dragon. Speeches filled with courage and sadness, lightning-paced contests of muscle and will, and funeral boats burning on the fjords are all rendered in glorious and gruesome detail. Told for more than a thousand years, Beowulf’s heroic saga finds a true home in this graphic-novel edition.
  Candlewick / 128 pages / Ages 9-12 / Available now


• Muggles and Magic: An Unofficial Guide to J.k. Rowling and the Harry Potter Phenomenon by George W. Beahm
  Description: "Muggles and Magic" is the first general interest book, resource guide, and reference work for Rowling's millions of fans. Organized in six sections with appendices, this 400-page book is a treasure trove of information and trivia about Harry Potter, Rowling's most famous literary creation, and the phenomenon that surrounds him.
  Hampton Roads Publishing Company / 377 pages / Available now


• The Feathered Cloak: The Trilogy of the Tree: Part I by Sean Dixon
  Description: When eleven-year-old Freya meets Morton—a peregrine falcon who has been stripped of his feathers—in the woods near her home, she has no idea what to make of him. What has happened to this poor creature, and what force has destined that he cross her path?
  
  Before long, Freya and Morton have embarked on an adventure that will take her far, far away from her goatherd father’s small house. As the often bad-tempered girl and the once-majestic bird begin to form an unlikely bond, they find themselves at the centre of a battlefield—one that pits old against new, god against mortal, peace against war, pagan against Christian, and brother against brother. Is this the end for the race of Norse gods and goddesses, and the Vikings who fight in their shadows? Or simply the beginning of a bigger story…
  
  In The Feathered Cloak, newcomer Sean Dixon whisks us back to a time part real and part imagined, weaving myth and history into an epic tale for young readers.
  Key Porter Books / 200 pages / Young Adult / Pub date: August, 2007


• Atherton #1: The House of Power by Patrick Carman
  Description: Edgar, a gifted climber, is a lonely boy scaling the perilous cliffs that separate the three realms of Atherton: a humble fig grove; a mysterious highland world of untold beauty and sinister secrets; and a vast wasteland where he must confront an unspeakable danger that could destroy the people of Atherton. When Edgar discovers a book which contains the history of Atherton's origins and ultimate apocalypse, his world--quite literally--begins to turn inside out.
  Little, Brown Young Readers / 352 pages / Ages 8-12 / Available now

And here's a couple of non-book items that caught my interest:

• Butterflies are one of my family's interests, so we couldn't resist The Book Bug, a cute little critter that holds your book open while you read. Perfect if you read while eating, like I do!


• Miyu Magic Stones are a fascinating concept that has the potential to be the next big thing. They're real, polished semi-precious stones, designed for kids to collect. But more than that, each stone is associated with a "magic power," and also comes with a code that can be entered on the interactive web site. There's a variety of accessories, including a necklace that you can swap stones in and out of, and a collector's box. There's also a book tie-in, The Emerald Boy. They aren't available in the U.S. yet, but according to the company they are very popular in the Netherlands, where they originated. They should be coming to the U.S. soon. Why do I think this could be the next big thing? Because while the cynical parent in me sees this as a clever marketing scheme, my inner child really, really wants one...or two.
  

BEA Kidlit drink night

I don't like noise or crowds, and I'm basically a shy person. So when I arrived at the Landmark Tavern for my first Kidlit Drink Night, I was dismayed to see crowds of people jammed into a tiny strip in front of the bar. But, knowing that most of those people were kidlit people, and thus good folks, I took a deep breath and plunged in. I'm glad that I stayed, because I had a great time and met so many interesting people that I can't possibly remember them all.

I was thrilled to finally meet fellow Cybils organizers Liz B. and Fuse #8, as well as Cybils Fantasy and Science Fiction judge Greg Fishbone, author of the forthcoming The Penguins of Doom. (You can win a manuscript page from Penguins of Doom by commenting on certain posts on Greg's blog.)

Sisters Grimm author Michael Buckley was there, and I told him how much we enjoyed the new book and how thrilled my son and I were that the Empire State Building had been lit up in purple the previous day. (If you've read the latest Sisters Grimm book, you'll understand the significance of that). Harry Potter editor Cheryl Klein introduced herself to me, "Hi, I'm Cheryl Klein, an editor at Arthur A. Levine Books..." which seemed very modest considering that I knew who she was as soon as she said her name.

Other fabulous people I talked to, in no particular order, included:

• Flux editor Andrew Karre,
  
• Dian Curtis Regan, author of Princess Nevermore and Cam's Quest.
  
• Michelle Knudsen, author of Library Lion
  
• Erec Rex author Kaza Kingsley and publisher Neil Jobalia
  
• Jenny Han, of the Longstockings, and author of Shug.
  
• Carrie Jones, author of Tips on Having a Gay (ex) Boyfriend, who was the sweetest and nicest person. I'm sad that I'll probably never read her book, because high school books just aren't my thing. (I had enough of high school the first time around and have no desire to relive it). But I hope her book makes the challenge list so it'll get lots of attention and teens will read it to find out what they're being prevented from reading. I'm just kidding, of course, but I do hope her book gets lots of attention, because she deserves it.

I know there are many people that I'm forgetting, so if you talked to me and I left you out, please leave a comment!

More BEA and Kidlit drink night wrapups from:
Fuse #8
Jenny Han
Edited to add:
Liz B.

Another reason why small press is better

Today is the official opening of Book Expo America. We arrived at the exhibit halls shortly after they opened this morning and plunged into the crowds searching for the new and interesting. The number of people here is staggering. Trying to get through the HarperCollins area reminded me of Mardi Gras: you didn't walk through so much as you pressed through, surrounded by so many people on all sides that you could barely move. HarperCollins only had three YA ARCs available that we could see, and none of them appealed to us enough to take them, although Nightmare Academy did intrigue me a bit and I was tempted to take it. But we're trying not to overdo it and only take the books that we really want to read and review, after previous years when we've taken so many books that a back ache was the biggest thing we got from BEA. We also visited the Penguin booth where they had Seeing Redd, the sequel to The Looking Glass Wars. Although I did read The Looking Glass Wars, I thought it was excessively violent, and the sequel didn't appeal to me enough to want to carry it around.

After this largely unfruitful search through big-publisher land, we ended up after lunch in the small publisher area, where we had a great time. The aisles were uncrowded and we saw a lot of interesting things, which I'll be posting more about later. It's a shame that many people never make it to the small press area, because there was a lot to see and do there, but I'm selfishly glad, because it made the afternoon much more enjoyable for us.

We ended up our afternoon at the Candlewick Press booth, where as usual they bent over backwards to help us out. Candlewick is a great company and I like a lot of what they do. At my son's request, they promised to send us a review copy of Mythology, the upcoming new entry in the ologies series.

Also today we interviewed Shelly Mazzanoble, author of Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the D&D Game from Wizards of the Coast. Shelly was delightful and I'll be posting that interview soon.

Now I'm off to the autographing area for a couple of books, and then I'll be headed to the Kid Lit Drink Night. I hope to see some of you there!

Mo Willems fans take note

I don't read many picture books anymore, so sadly I haven't had the opportunity to get to know the work of Mo Willems. But I know he has a legion of fans in the kidlitosphere, so I thought this would be of interest. Book Expo America (BEA) just announced the line-up for its children's book and author breakfast, to be held June 1 at the Javits Center in New York:

...this opening-day breakfast will feature Mo Willems, author of Knuffle Bunny too! A Case of Mistaken Identity (Hyperion Books for Children); Jacqueline Wilson, author of Candyfloss (Roaring Brook Press); and Daniel Pinkwater, author of The Neddiad (Houghton Mifflin Children’s Book Group). Libby Bray, author of The Sweet Far Thing (Delacorte Press) will be the Master of Ceremonies.

Click here for more information

Speaking of BEA, are any other bloggers going to be there? Any chance of a kid lit get together?