What is Habit 7 1/2: Play.

Sunday at ALA. Julie and I didn't start quite as bright and early as Saturday, and yet, we ended up at the conference center at the exact same time. Which meant we were about 45 minutes early for the first session, because it started at 8:30. We got great seats, however! About four rows back and on the aisle so a clear shot to see Nancy Pearl. She discussed her newest book, Book Crush which is bound to be a favorite as I do love my children's lit.

Nancy Pearl also discussed some of the top signs that you know you are an avid reader. One of them being that you could never properly pronouce words. I have that problem. I always have had that problem. It used to vex my mom dreadfully, particularly because she was a speech therapist. It must have looked (sounded) awful for a woman in her career to have a daughter who couldn't talk properly. One of Nancy Pearl's favorite words to misprounce? "Misled".

Another sign was when you attempted to gain the definition of an unknown word through the context of what was around it. She used the example of Ruby Gillis in Anne of the Island dying of consumption. She was eaten? Worse would be galloping consumption. That's like take out.

The last sign was when you began to believe that what took place in book-verse happened in real life. She apparently discribed in great detail her date with "Mike" to the junior prom complete with dress and what happened to her daughter, and her daughter pointed out that that was exactly like the prom adentures of another girl in Double Date. Oh. Of course, my worse mixing of fact and fiction was actually in a dream format whereas I dreamt that a high school friend of mine had died, and it was so vivid that I went around the entire next day convinced that he had, in fact, died. And I was depressed. But, voila! He was on IM that night. Joy!

Julie and I then went to the exhibits and, firstly, we found Shannon Hale's newest ARC Book of A Thousand Days. I have yet to read it, because I'm dreadful about saving things like that. At that time, we also went to the Graphic Novel section of the exhibit center and picked up a few samplers and some ideas. We then headed to the Random House fall 2007 book preview, but on the way, as I was reading to Julie from the back of Emma (vol 4), a friend from Simmons stopped me. It was Elizabeth! It appeared we had no free time to really chat, but it was so nice to see her again, even for that brief moment. Despite there being a whole slew of Simmons people, I didn't spot nary a one after that encounter.

It made Julie and I slightly late to the book preview, but, we only missed one book being discussed, so that wasn't half bad. I had never been to one before, and it was so nice getting to see some of the insides of the book. Plus, we got a really fun Love, Stargirl bag with shiny blue plastic handles. Of course, mine started to break when we were later walking in the exhibit hall, but that's ok. We found a nice little sandwich shop next to the convention center thanks to two women on the escalator who overheard us talking about lunch. We got there just in time because soon a line was developing for the sandwiches!

More later, I'm tired of typing now (plus, I look like a slacker and who wants to work with a slacker these days?).

It's as clear as black and white.

I have this picture of the author being unapproachable, and I think I can blame Julie Andrews for that. Did you ever think that I would have a negative thing to say about that woman? Because when I went to her book signing in Boston a couple years ago, the fear of God was put into me that I couldn't really a)talk to her or b)take any pictures. It really is quite a silly thing that I should base all interactions with authors on her standards. Silly because I have met authors before her and after her, and they were all very nice and highly approachable.


The scene: high school, 11th grade

In my English class, we were broken into small groups and assigned different books to read. My group was assigned The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks. As part of this project, we had to come up with type of project presenting the book to the class. We ended up inviting Russell Banks to come to our class and give a book talk. He came, he was very nice to all of us crazy high schoolers and our project was a success.


The scene: ALA Conference, 2007

Mitali Perkins' book launch party for her newest book, First Daughter. I had so much fun there! I ate things (samosas) that had vegetables in it (peas) and learned how to do some bhangra dancing (and, there are pictures that have me in it doing some dancing, but you won't be seeing them here!). Julie, Genevieve, and I teamed up for Mitali's presidental quiz and we all actually won a free copy of First Daughter. This was later signed by Mitali. Just so you know (this was the bonus/tie breaker in the quiz) that 23 presidential children have gone on to write books. 23

After Mitali read a "bit and a bite" from her book about bhangra dancing, and then we all danced a couple dances (after being taught), as well as watched a professional dancer do a dance for us. The songs were all about the beauty of the girl's eyes. Here is a picture of Julie, Mitali, and I from after the dancing:

After the book launch party, we all headed down to the KidLit Drink Night at Capital City Brewing Company for dinner. Well, I at least had dinner there! It was a rotating cast of librarians/bloggers/authors that completely confused our poor waiter. But, it was so nice getting to meet all of these new people and a whole new world of blogging has been opened up to me. I'm so new at this blogging that it was quite embarrassing to introduce myself. I also realized that perhaps a Welsh phrase was not the best name for a blog because it's awfully impractical when attempting to tell a stranger the name of your blog. Especially when one word includes the double "ll" at the end of it (you really do need to make a strange sound if you want to pronouce it correctly. You live and learn!

A complete list of everyone that we met is over at Julie's blog. Though, I must say that it was particularly nice to have met Jennie at Biblio File. She had to put up with my tired ramblings, poor girl!

After dinner, Julie and I decided that we were far too tired to attend the storytelling program that evening, so we headed back home on the metro and, eventually, home home.

So, overall, it was a great experience and this was only day one! And, I've added so many books I need to read to my "book book".

Day 443: Goat has attempted to eat my book.

Actually, it should be ALA Day 1, but how boring would that be? Probably not so much because my first day ever of ALA conferencing was exciting. It invovled getting up at 5 a.m. so I could be at the metro station a bit before 7. I met Julie there, and we rode our way in style towards the DC convention center. At registration, I managed to snag the nice registration lady. Julie was not so lucky. Mine was so nice that she even attached my "New bee" ribbon onto my badge.

The eight o'clock session I attended was completely filled up. I had to sit on the floor (so hopefully it was clean). It ended up being a lot shorter session that it was supposed to be as the presentor was sick and had given us a substitute. We got through the material in 30 minutes (it was about new technologies and uses in the library). This was followed by 30 minutes of discussion, and then freedom.

Freedom to go to the exhibits! At the Florida Library Conference, they weren't really giving away things (at least, I didn't see anything like this there). So, my first ARC pick-up, I acted a bit like this:


(that being loving ripped from the utterly fabulous Stick Library comic, "Control Freaks".) I, of course, being the one on the right running away with a free book (and I am actually a trained archivist). And then I realized that there were more!!! About the time that I realized that if I bent down I couldn't stand up because my bag was weighing me down that much, I decided that I had enough of free books, and, goodness me, what was I to do with them all the rest of the day (you must realized that this was about 10 am). Of course, I was justified in taking what I did because Julie was still in session, so missed out on that first initial rush of ARCs. So, I was collecting stuff for the both of us. I also got Lois Lowry to sign a copy of Number the Stars for only $3. Not too shabby. I could have gotten The Giver, but I read and loved NtS first. So, why not?

My 10:30 session was on Libraries and Landscapes. My undergraduate degree was in historic preservation, and, we might be expanding our library, so I thought that it would be interesting to see what other libraries did on the outside of their buildings, as a session I attended in Florida dealt with their innards. I think I might have been the youngest person there. It was an interesting session, though, with the exception of the last speaker (the token librarian) they didn't delve much into the problems that a landscaped environment can create for the library. I did learn a fun new phrase, "blessed bling bling" regarding a very shiny gold plated church altar thing.

After this session, I met up with Julie for lunch. But, I had decided that it would be better to run back to my car and drop off my bag of books so I wouldn't be so weighed down for the rest of the day. It was probably a good idea with what else we did. Besides, I had a bagel and some water, I would be all set for a cheap lunch. It was a race against time and the metro... and I won! Despite trying to go down an up elevator, I managed to get back to the conference center with nine minutes to spare before the next session. These shoes are made for walking!

My 1:30 session was on Shakespeare in the Library, and it was not all that I had hoped it would be. One of the speakers was all about how academic librarians and professors should work together. Another was like "wee! Elizabeth I!!! I've been in love with her since I was ten." So, you get the picture. Plus, Julie came in from her session and managed to distract me by her exhibit guide. (I confess, I am easily distracted when I get tired.) We actually left the session early so we would be able to arrive at Mitali Perkin's book launch on time.

And, I'll have more on that later... now it is time for dinner.