It is the middle of the night. 

This evening was the Newbery/Caldecott Wilder banquet and I got to go!  It was amazing. I can't do the evening justice so I will instead write all the tweets I would tweet if I thought my twitter followers wouldn't get annoyed at me for over-tweeting. 

Alice & Olivia one-shoulder dress and gold shoes. Rhinestone earrings. Still, I don't look as good as Brian Selznick.

The House in the Night makes me happy about the future of the sleepytime book in an age of manic antic stories.

Huzzah Marla Frazee!  Your pictures make me happy to be in the world.

Yay for Jen Bryant!  She and I were on tour together a few years ago and know all each other's secrets. Melissa Sweet won honor for Jen's text A River of Words. 

Note to self: do not eat potato if you want to feel awake. Also, do not eat dessert or drink wine. WHy do you do this to yourself? Now you are sleepy. 

Jacqueline Woodson was the third person I met who was a working children's book writer - long before I was published. The first two were Sheila White Samton and Emily McCully. 

Neil Gaiman feral child raised by library. As he is talking, I realize I was one, too.  I mean, except for my lovely parents. 

Ashley Bryant gets us all to chant poetry, call and response style. This technique never fails to move me (Peter Yarrow did it at BEA). Yet I could never lead it.

Massive coughing fit near end of Bryant's talk. Escape to bathroom. Possibly an hysteric reaction to knowledge that will have to give Printz honor speech tomorrow night. 

 

There's more I could write, but I'll leave it at that. I survived author speed-dating in the morning and had a wonderful lunch with the smartypants members of this year's Printz committee, all of whom had great things to say about YA books. And I signed the first ever real hard copies of The Treasure Map of Boys! In stores July 25. 

All in all, a big, good, memorable day. Goodnight.

xo

E

P.S. This is me on twitter.