Decatur Book Fest 2009

The Decatur Book Festival was this weekend, and as usual it was FABULOUS!

I only got to go on Saturday and for the first time, I spent more time in the teen area than at the children's stage, but my daughter and I got to see some GREAT authors.

First up was Kate DiCamillo - she had a standing room crowd and I had aspirations of getting my copy of Tales of Despereaux signed, but the line was SOO long that I decided that hearing her was good enough.  She read from her new book, The Magician's Elephant, out on Tuesday and answered lots of questions, mostly from the kids in the audience.  The thing that shocked me the most about her - she is SOO tiny, I mean the woman must wear a size - 0  - yep, so jealous of her!

Here is a video I took of Jon Scieszka introducing her:

Speaking of Jon Scieszka, we saw his presentation about "Guys Read" - he had lots of funny, inspiring things to say and told us some great stories about his family. I am telling you, my dream author dinner party would include this guy - and of course Mo Willems - and maybe take place in Mo's chalkboard dinning room... I have a feeling it would be one non-stop laugh fest! So boys, I am available anytime you are.....

My daughter got to hear one of her favorite authors, Lauren Myracle and we were introduced to Sara Shepard, the author of the pretty little liars series. She was also a teeny-tiny author - what, so do these woman not eat when they write?? - My daughter & I really enjoyed her talk and bought the first 2 books in the series.

Our last author of the day was David Levithan - he was just like I pictured him, kinda of a nerdy/hip New Yorker - he looks like some of the guys I went to college with actually!  He read from Nick & Norah and also from his new book, Love is the Higher Law, a book I now MUST read! He also shared that he is writing a new book with Rachel Cohn and also writing a  book with Mr. John Green - that is exciting news! He closed by giving us his current favorites he is listening to - wish I had written them down, I am always in the mood for some new music, especially when the suggestion comes from a hip New Yorker (which I am not!)

I wish I could have gone back today, but family duties interfered - can't wait until next year!

Decatur Book Festival

My daughter Hannah and I made our 3rd annual trek to the Decatur Book festival yesterday - what a great time, I just wish I could have gone on Saturday!

We first saw Doreen Cronin, author of Click Clack Moo and others - and we got to buy her newest book  Thump Quack Moo (which officially comes out on Tuesday)- Farmer Brown is back and he is busy getting ready for the Corn Maze and of course Duck has his hand in it too. She was very fun to hear and she has two adorable little girls that at one point wanted to join her on stage!

Then we watched fellow Atlanta blogger and now children's book author Laurel Snyder on a fantasy panel. We bought a copy of her new book Up and Down the Scratchy Mountain and she told my daughter that she was the first person that she signed this book for- pretty cool!

The last person we saw was another Atlanta author/blogger,  Deborah Wiles.  She is going to be a guest author at my school this year - and after seeing her, well, I am just SO excited!  She talked about her books, but she also talked about writing - something that I KNOW is going to get my students excited.  Her talk made me want to go right out and get myself a writers notebook and start writing my story.  I have a sign in my kitchen that says "Home is where Your Story Begins" and that could have been the title to her talk.

We left the festival hot and sweaty, full of YUMMY cinnamon kettle popcorn, but with lots of new books and for me lots of ideas to share with my students and teachers.

Media Odds & Ends

I have started a little weekly (well, we'll see how "weekly" it becomes) newsletter for my teachers. I hope that it will be info. about what is going on in my media center, but also some odds and ends of information that I find in magazines, newspapers and the Web (especially my fiends in the blog world!). here is an excerpt from this weeks. Most of the odds & ends pertain to happenings in Atlanta, but if you are in or near the ATL, you might want to take a look!

I attended the Decatur Book Festival this weekend and heard presentations from author Melinda Long (who I am trying to have come visit our school this year) and an illustrator panel with Caldecott award winner Chris Raschka (The Hello Goodbye window), Judy Schachner (Skippy Jon Jones book) and two local illustrators. It is always interesting to me to hear from creative people like this and how they come up with ideas and how children’s books actually get produced, it amazes me how LONG a picture book can be in production. I also got lots of STUFF. Here are some interesting things I picked up:

Where the Wild Things Are exhibit: Until September 30th at the Breman Museum in Midtown Atlanta. Original art by Maurice Sendak and children’s activities related to his books.
Visit http://www.thebreman.org/ for more info.

16th annual Book Festival of the MJCCA. November 3 – 17th. Some great authors will be giving presentations, including Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief, lawyer and author Alan Dershowitz and the authors of the book Three Women, Three Religions, One Quest for Common Ground. Check out the website for more details: http://www.atlantajcc.org/index.php?src=gendocs&ref=SE-BF07&category=SignatureEvents (I am going to try and attend the presentation by Markus Zusak on Sunday November 11, if anyone is interested in joining me!)

The Wren’s Nest, the historic home of author Joel Chandler Harris located in Atlanta is offering lots of programs for students this fall. One program is a reading challenge. Read five Brer Rabbit stories, then go to the website (see below) and download the Reader’s Tee form. Have a parent or teacher sign the form then visit the Wren’s nest and receive a COOL free t-shirt. Visit their website for details on this contest and other activities. http://www.wrensnestonline.com/

I picked up a flyer that looks VERY interesting. It is called Paper Back Swap. It is an online book club of people who “swap” their paperback books for just the price of shipping the book. I have not tried it YET, but I think I will be checking it out. Their website is http://www.paperbackswap.com/

One of my FAVORITE things to do in Decatur is go to the children’s book store Little Shop of Stories. It is just a great place, what is there not to love about a book store that has an ICE CREAM parlor attached to it! They have some great activities and book clubs throughout the year. Sign up for their newsletter and check out what they have to offer. They also host MANY authors throughout the year and do special educator presentations with some of these authors. They hosted Patricia Polacco last year and she was FABULOUS! Their website is http://www.littleshopofstories.com/

I picked up a flyer about Georgia Project WET. Their website includes information on Project WET (which is water education programs for teachers), Georgia River of Words (an environmental poetry and art contest) and also information about volunteer opportunities with Adopt a stream and Rivers Alive. Check out all this great environmental information at http://www.gaprojectwet.org/

One more thing I found over the weekend. The Atlanta magazine SKIRT! Is having an essay contest for girls in grades 5-8. Pass along this info, to anyone you know who might be interested.
“To celebrate the historic moment of a women running for the White House, skirt! Wants to hear from girls in grades 5 though 8 about why they should be President and how they would make a difference in the world if they were elected.
Your Campaign Package: be creative…design your own bumper sticker. Be Thoughtful…tell us about your campaign issues. Have Fun///Hillary Clinton’s campaign song is “You and I” by Celine Dion. What would yours be? Surprise us with your ideas and presentation.”
Prizes in each grade level will receive $150 and selected entries will appear in the magazine in January 2008. Entry deadline is November 15, 2007 and must include name, address, phone number, age, grade level and school. Send entries to: Skirt! 107 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30305 or e-mail Stephanie.davis@skirtatl.com

Decatur Book Festival

today began the 2nd annual Decatur (GA) Book festival. I went to see a few author there last year and my favorite part about the whole festival was just walking around the square in Decatur and being around other people who LOVE books and reading and literature. i am hoping to go on Sunday to see Melinda Long, author of How I Became a Pirate. I have an ulterior motive in seeing Ms. Long, I am hoping to bring her to my school this year as a guest author! this also gives me an excuse to visit my favorite children's book store, Little Shop of Stories in downtown Decatur. I've blogged about this store before and it really is a special place, I just wish it were closer!