ALA Update - The Illustrated Edition

I'm back from ALA, and have finally managed to tame my inbox, and now I'm ready to share a bit more detail about my trip to the American Library Association conference in Anaheim.

I drove down to Anaheim on Friday, and had a convivial dinner Friday night with Sondra LaBrie from Kane/Miller and Betsy Bird from A Fuse #8 Production. Sondra has the details, and Betsy has promised to share the photo that she took of the three of us at some point. Betsy is also video blogging the whole conference, so do go check that out. The service was, as Sondra noted, ridiculously quick, and we had to fight hard to keep the bus person from taking away our chips so that we could continue talking. But we were up to the challenge.

Saturday morning I visited the exhibit hall, where I scooped up so many books in the first hour that I had to make an unplanned trip back to my car to drop off books. Mary Pearson was signing at Henry Holt, and I picked up a couple of extra copies of The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Then I met up with Liz Burns from A Chair, A Fireplace, and A Tea Cozy for the Edwards Award luncheon, where we heard Orson Scott Card's acceptance speech. I don't agree with Card's views on gay rights (which did not come up in any public way at the ceremony), but I did like what he said about children and books (here I am paraphrasing from my notes):

1. No amount of bad writing will keep a kid away from a great story.
2. No amount of good writing will make a kid interested in a book.
3. You can't make a kid like a book (or even pretend to like a book).
4. There's no such thing as children's literature.

I'm not so sure about #4, but I do agree with the first three. Card also lamented the way that we as a society have been conditioned to be ashamed of the books that we like, thinking that if we enjoy a book it must be "trash." But mostly he talked about the importance of story, and how kids won't slog through a bad story, and how children allow stories to change their lives. He suggested that everyone should write novels as if they were writing for impatient children. (This importance of story was echoed in both the Newbery and Caldecott Award speeches, too, the next day.)

After the luncheon I attended the LAYAPALOOZA, a fun event hosted by the LAYAs (a group of Los Angeles-based young adult authors). Their MySpace page explains that they "concoct gameshows which are performed live at various gatherings of the literary industrial complex, which is rarely showered with the same amounts of money as certain other "industrial complexes." They are really fun. And brave enough to sing in front of a group of people, and pull people up from the audience to play quiz show games.

This is where I got to meet Lisa Yee and Peepy (for many more photos of the latter, see Lisa's ALA wrap-up post).

I was on a team with Neal Shusterman, who I had seen speak at NCTE last fall, and so I got a picture with him. Those are noisemakers from our game. I won a signed copy of Cecil Castellucci's Beige for playing. And I got a way cool bracelet, too. But it would have been worth it even without the prizes.

After that I headed over to the Grand Californian, where I had lemonade and a nice chat with Mary Pearson, before the kidlit blogger event hosted by Feiwel and Friends at the same hotel. They had a beautiful suite, and they gave us food and drink and left us on a balcony with a table and a view of one of the Disney parks. It was lovely.

I got to hang out with Maureen from Confessions of a Bibliovore, Susan from Wizards Wireless, Tasha from Kids Lit, Laura from Oops ... Wrong Cookie, Wendie Old, Gregory K. from Gotta Book, Jay Asher from the Disco Mermaids (his conference post here), Betsy from Fuse, and another woman who is just starting to blog. Plus the people from Feiwel and Friends, who were gracious and interesting.

To the left is a picture of Betsy, me, Jay, and Greg. I also got another photo with Greg because I really liked his t-shirt (click to enlarge - it says "Real Men Read"):  

Our event ended up overlapping with another event that followed, and I was able to finally meet Monica Edinger in person (though I didn't get a photo). I also got to chat briefly with Laurie Halse Anderson (she ducked in the picture - she is way taller than me, but very gracious about it).

Here are Betsy's shoes, my shoes, and Laurie's shoes. Can you guess which is which? We were charmed by the contrast. You can't really tell, but the red ones are heels, and the one on the left is funky high-tops.

And here are Jay and Greg's shoes, which provide less of an interesting contrast. But I wouldn't want them to feel left out.

And finally (for that party), this is Laura and me with Barack. He does love a party. We left with nice gift bags from Feiwel and Friends, and several of us went to dinner at a local pizza place (where the service was somewhat lacking, but the food was good). We were joined there by Jim Averbeck, who I hadn't met before, and another blogger that I sadly didn't get to talk to. It was nice just being able to sit in one place and chat for a while. Thanks to Susan for organizing!!

Sunday I started the day by attending the YALSA Coffee Klatch, a chance to meet some of the Best Books for Young Adult authors. They had us sit at tables, and the authors moved from table to table, spending about five minutes each. I sat with Gina from PBS Parents, and it was great to meet her in person. The authors who came to our table included Terry Trueman, Dana Reinhardt, Eleanor Ramrath Garner, Stephanie Hemphill, A. M. Jenkins, David Levithan, Jay Asher, and Meghan Sayres, and Adrian Fogelin. There wasn't really enough time to talk with them, but it was still fun to get a face to face snapshot. The photo above is a group shot of all of the participating authors.

After the breakfast I did manage to snag a quick meeting with Susan Beth Pfeffer. I'm constantly raving about Life As We Knew It and the dead & the gone, and I love Sue's blog, so it was a treat to finally meet her in person. She had a very impressive manicure, too. You can see Sue's entertaining post about the conference here.

After that Gina and I walked the exhibit hall for a while, attended the Random House Fall Preview, and then sat outside and chatted about children's book blog ideas for the PBS Parents website (I'm sure to be talking about that more down the road). Then Gina had to go, and I went back to the exhibit hall, and by random luck, managed to stumble across various books and signings.

This is me with Dana Reinhardt and Wendy Lamb, at Dana's signing. How cool is that? That Sunday afternoon walk around the exhibits was also when I managed to snag a copy of the much-coveted Inkdeath, largely by being in the right place at the right time.

Sunday night I went to the Newbery/Caldecott banquet with Susan from Wizards Wireless. I was feeling self-conscious in my dress, but I did get pictures of Susan with Wendie ...

and Betsy. If you click to enlarge the photo you can see Betsy's way cool tattoo of the Newbery Award covers.

It was a treat attending the event with Susan - we talked and talked, and people-watched, and were moved by both Brian Selznick and Laura Amy Schlitz's acceptance speeches. I was too enthralled to take notes, but they both gave fabulous, if very different, speeches. Brian did this slide show in the style of The Invention of Hugo Cabret about winning the Caldecott Award, and it was amazing. He wore a snazzy sparkly shirt that I really wish I had photographed (I think Susan will have a picture to put up of that). Laura stood up there without a podium, as though she was talking to a bunch of kids, and told us stories, from the heart. As Susan pointed out, each speech was in the style of the book that won, and you could not help but be happy for everyone involved.

And that's it. Monday I drove home, exhausted, and in pain from lugging around so many books. I did manage to get my suitcase into the trunk, but it was a very near thing. 

Here is my loot. There are too many titles to list, but if you're really interested, you can peek at the following close-ups of the piles (click to enlarge):

These are finished titles, mostly signed, mostly purchased from the publishers, except for a couple from Feiwel and Friends and Kane/Miller, and a copy of Ender's Game that they gave us at the Edwards Award lunch.

The rest are ARCs. There are many. They are very tempting. Some of them are signed, too, and a few are adult titles that I picked up.

Mheir looked at these piles and asked if this would provide me with at least a week of reading material. But I think it's more like six months worth, if I don't read anything else (which, of course, I will, so this is probably a year's worth of reading material). But I doubt I'll be at a conference like this, with my own car to fill up with books, any time soon. And so I justify my gluttony.

And that's it. If anyone has read this far ... I'm impressed. Hope to see you at the Kidlitosphere conference in September.

© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Jennifer Schultz]

Jen, I'm glad you had a great time at ALA. Just a tip for your next conference-there is a post office in the exhibits area (usually way in the back). You can ship your ARCs to your home.

[Kelly]

What a great post, Jen. Thanks for sharing with the rest of us. Love the shoes pictures :)

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks, Jennifer! I have been vaguely aware of that, and am bound to end up using that service sometime. But I head one person say that she waited in line for 45 minutes to ship a box. Throwing things into my trunk was pretty easy...

And Kelly, you are very welcome. Hope we'll hang out at the same conference sometime soon...

[sarah]

Oh I am so jealous! I see Paper Town, White Sands, Red Menace, Do It Yourself Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and Impossible! I am dying for those. :)

When I went to ALA Midwinter I felt a little guilty about taking so so so so many ARCs. But like you, I figured it was going to be a long time before I had another opportunity like that! That helped with the guilt. ;)

[Jen Robinson]

I am very fortunate, Sarah! But I have every intention of giving every one of those books a fair look (that's not to say that I'll be able to review them all, but I'll at least assess them all). Of course many of them won't be ARCs anymore by then... (I mean, they will be, but the printed book will be out).

[Maureen]

It was such fun hanging out with you and everyone, Jen! I'm also relieved to see that somebody got more books than I did. Happy reading, and I'm sure we'll hear about the really good ones.

Maureen

[Fuse #8]

Great pics and round-up! I posted a video yesterday from the Blogger Meet-Up. And I'll send you the picture of us with Sondra. Wasn't sure if she wanted it posted or not.

[Rebecca Reid]

Those are great concepts to think about. "No amount of bad writing will keep a kid away from a great story." That makes me sad.

[TadMack]

I'm still sighing over your loot.
And Betsy's Newberry tatt (sheesh, I thought the bracelet was cool. But ink? Very librarian chic!) and the shoes, which now explain why Betsy was that much taller than you. Funky red heels!

I also disagree with O.S. Card on #4, but sometimes I swear he says things just to get a rise out of people...! THANKS again for chatting about this and showing pictures. Maybe someday I'll get to be somewhere like this. It's JUST. SO. COOL.

[Megan Germano]

I totally see that copy of Moxy Maxwell in there... and I am JEALOUS!

[Jen Robinson]

Great hanging out with you, too, Maureen!

And Betsy, I loved your video of the meet-up (and other events).

Rebecca, I don't think that he's saying that kids don't appreciate good writing - more that story is dominant, and they'll suffer bad writing if that's what it takes to read a good story. Of course it's best if you can have both. But I find it kind of encouraging that kids can be so pulled in by story that they'll keep reading even without quality prose.

Gosh, TadMack, how did you ever guess that the red high heels were Betsy's? I didn't really put Card's #4 in context - he was making a point that he didn't write Ender's Game intending it as a book for kids in the first place, and the idea that there is no children's literature bolsters that point. But, like you, I think that was a bit overstated, at the very least. As for attending a conference like this one day - you'll get there - you'll be one of those authors whose signature I have to wait in line for, and getting cool photos with all of the other authors. Of course you'll probably also be rushing off after the autograph session to get yourself some loot.

And Megan, the pathetic thing is that I haven't read the first Moxy Maxwell book. Usually I don't take sequels if I haven't read the first book, but in this case I'm 100% certain from the reviews that I'll love the first book, so I seized the opportunity for the second. And I thought that one of my nieces would like it, too.

[Jen Robinson]

Can I just add that as I'm sitting here at my desk working, that darned Inkdeath is calling to me from the other room. "Read me. Now." Scary.

[Lisa Chellman]

Wowie zowie, it looks like you had a *tremendous* time!!! All the cool people! All the cool books! Thanks for sharing! (!!!)

[Jen Robinson]

I am very fortunate, Lisa. That's for sure. And hopefully I'll get to meet you at some future conference.

[Sondra Santos LaBrie]

Jen - Lovely round up. I love the photos, especially the one of Betsy's tattoo and the beautiful display of books you collected. I'm glad we finally met and had the opportunity to chat.

Happy Reading!

And Betsy, I'd love the photo of the three of us for the K/M blog which is sadly lacking in the photo department!

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks, Sondra! I'm glad that we finally met, too. It was a pleasure chatting with you. As for the pictures - that's something I've learned from blogs like Betsy's - photos can really bring a post to life. I'm not always good about remembering to take them, and I always wish that I had taken more, but I'm happy to have the ones here.

And thanks! I'm sure to enjoy my reading.

[Wizards Wireless]

What a lovely post, Jen! And I had a wonderful time talking with you at the Newbery Caldecott banquet... it was one of the highlights of the conference for me.
-Susan

P.S. Yes, I do have a good picture of Brian Selznick's sparkly shirt. I'll post it as soon as I finish the term paper I'm working on.

[Jen Robinson]

Thanks, Susan! It was a highlight for me, too. I'll look forward to seeing the sparkly shirt photo when you get caught up.

[Karen]

What a wonderful time you had! Thanks for blogging about it and letting us live vicariously through you! Really love the ARCs!!!!

[Jen Robinson]

You are very welcome, Karen. I'm glad that I went. Now all I need to do is find time to READ some of these ARCs. I have this constant low-level frustrating, knowing that they are in the other room, and I'm not reading them. Hopefully later this weekend.

[Gregory K.]

My shoes and I appreciate the inclusion. Good seeing ya, Jen, and looking forward to continuing convos in September!

[Jen Robinson]

Definitely looking forward to the conversation, Greg. Good luck with the library stuff in the meantime.