BEA with Courtney Sheinmel

This was my first time at BEA. I'm somewhat of a camera addict, which drives my family crazy, but at least we have all the important events in our lives for posterity (as well as some not-so-important ones). My 2k8 classmates Donna Freitas and Nancy Viau were at BEA with me, and they didn't seem at all annoyed that I was following them around with my camera . . . but maybe they were just being nice.

Here are a few pictures from the first day at BEA, Friday May 30th (which also happened to be my grandmother's 93rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Grandma!):

Nancy holding up a copy of our friend Debbie Reed Fischer's book, Swimming With Sharks, which was prominently displayed in the Flux booth.

Donna and me, posing in front of the poster for her excellent book, Possibilities of Sainthood, in the FSG booth, and later Donna signing in the autographing area (the guy in the yellow shirt in the far right is Cheech Marin).

Children's book ambassador Jon Scieszka holds up a copy of my book, My So-Called Family, right after I finished signing copies of my ARC.

Donna met me in the autographing section of the convention hall right after my signing. We went to Nancy's signing for Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head -- I can't wait to read it! Then we walked back to our hotel together. We meant to take a cab, but there were no cabs, so we carried ALL the books and galleys we had collected over the course of the day. I mean, bags and bags of books. It was about a mile to our hotel, but it seemed like 10 miles. The whole not getting a cab thing was kind of my fault because I made Donna leave through a different exit than the one she wanted to use. But she says she forgives me and that we're still friends. Anyway, it was a great workout.

BEA with Nancy Viau

Nancy Viau and Jeff Kinney (author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid)

Thanks for the great BEA pic, Nancy! Tell us more:

I attended the ABC "Not a Dinner and (Mostly) Silent Auction" in Hollywood. 2k8 classmates Laurel Snyder and Donna Freitas were there, too, although we didn't get a chance to chat much during all the fun. I got to meet wonderful librarians like Ilene Abramson, Director of Children's Services/L.A. Public Library System and authors/speakers like Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and Rick Riordan (author of the Percy Jackson series of books, including his latest, The Battle of the Labyrinth). Nikki Giovanni's spirited talk brought tears to my eyes, and she received a standing ovation. Jeff and Rick were so funny, my cheeks hurt from ear-to-ear grinning. Here's a bit more about the award-winners that night:

The Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC) announced the recipients of its fifth annual E.B. White Read Aloud Awards.

The winner of the 2008 award for Picture Books is When Dinosaurs Came With Everything, written by Elise Broach, and illustrated by David Small (S&S). In a statement, ABC said of this most-nominated picture book, the selection committee loved "the perfect combination of wonderful writing, whimsical illustration, and imaginative premise."

The winner of the E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers is The Mysterious Benedict Society, by Trenton Lee Stewart (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers). "The committee loved the appeal of [this] story for a wide ranges of ages, and felt it was destined 'to become a classic,'" said the ABC statement.

Stay tuned this week for more summer conference stories--BEA, NJSCBWI, and RWA!

BEA Up Close & Personal

Who signed in the autograph area?

Forget the TV/movie stars like Brooke Shields, Cheech Marin, and Barbara Walters. The real stars were our debut authors! Signing in the autograph area were:

Nancy Viau, author of Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head

Courtney Sheinmel, author of My So-Called Family
and
Donna Freitas, author of The Possibilities of Sainthood

That's Donna!

What Class of 2k8 books were spotted?

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem, The Lucky Place by Zu Vincent, & Swimming With The Sharks by Debbie Reed Fischer

Thousands of terrific books were up for grabs for anyone brave enough to weave through the crowd, stand in line, or fight for floor space. What a great day!

Stay tuned tomorrow we have more from the floor of BEA!