National Book Festival

I spent the day Saturday on the National mall w/ a good friend and my daughter. Especially b/c it was raining and all we had was trail mix and crackers to eat. We could have bought ice cream, but we were already cold. We walked over to the "refreshment stand" and all they were selling was water, soda, and skittles. I found this odd and since Riley has braces, we stuck to our trail mix. To carry all my books, I brought a backpack that no one has used for at least 5 years. It had a snickers protein bar and we did give in around 4:00 and split it. Despite the weather and empty stomachs it was an amazing day.

The book signing lines were horribly long, and so for the most part we just went to see them speak and I took really bad pics of them.

For those of you that couldn't go, here's what we learned:


Lizz Kessler-charming, wonderful, inspiring and we'd recommend her books for any 7-10year old girls. I want her to come to my house and tell me stories at bedtime. She writes about mermaids and signed Riley's book "Best Swishes".

Nicholas Sparks-big fat tool. He would only sign his latest book. Seriously? It's already a best seller and it's not like the man is hurting for money. My friend wanted to get "The Notebook" signed, b/c it is here favorite-no dice.



Lois Lowry-a legend. We learned that the Giver was inspired by her father's struggle w/ Alzheimer's disease. He couldn't remember that his daughter had died and it started her thinking "what if there was a society that got rid of bad memories". My favorite part, was when a little girl asked her, with a little bit of frustration in her voice, "Why did you end the Giver that way?" It got a laugh, but then Lowry said she always meant it as a hopeful ending and didn't realize until later that people would think they died.


Jeannette Walls (Glass Castle)-I was worried she couldn't live up to the book, but she was so much better. Humble, funny, inspiring, and so positive. Updates on her family: Her mom lives w/ her and takes care of their horses, Her brother, retired from being a cop and teaches 9th grade English (she was beaming w/ pride when she told us this, her older sister is happy, and her youngest sister is in a clean, safe place in California. Can I mention one more time that I pretty much love her.



Here's a pic of Shannon Hale. She took copies of all of her rejection letters and taped them together and then stretched them out across the pavillion. I think she was rejected 19 times before someone would publish "The Princess Academy" and then it won the Newberry.

Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann-They just completed a book called "Traveling on Pomegranates: A Mother-Daughter Story". They talked about the writing process and read passages from it and I can't wait to read it.

Kate DiCamillo-she writes 2 pages a day. She says it might not be ambitious, but it's a book a year and in her case usually a really good book a year. Someone asked if she was happy w/ the film adaptation of "Tale of Despereaux" (that was my question, b/c I thought the movie stunk a little). She says she did like it, but we need to learn to "let it go". She compared it to letting your kids grow up and making their own choices.

Rick Riordan-You would have thought he was Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers, the way the kids were screaming. He writes the Percy Jackson series and Riley and I can't wait to check them out. Also, we found out that he's from San Antonio. A kid asked him why a character in his book loves enchiladas and he replied that in San Antonio, Wednesday's were enchilada day and that's his favorite. As a former San Antonio public student, Riley could relate. Those lunch ladies may cook up some weird stuff, but Mexican food Wednesday is always a hit.

Patrick Carmen-We had never heard of him, but it was raining and we had seats. He is passionate about getting kids to read and travels all over doing that. We are going to go check out his books-"Land of Elyon", "Atherton", and "Elliot's Park". He talked about the "39 Clues" series. I've seen them, but never knew what they were about. I guess a brother and a sister are given the choice between a million $ or the first clue. Of course they take the clue and search for the clues in a 10 book series (each written by a different author). I guess they also come w/ trading cards and an online game. The point of them is to get "non-readers" to read. I am so buying them for Spencer.

Jeff Kinney-He writes the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and is awesome. He said that they were originally were written for adults and is shocked that they've been a successful kid series. After he was done speaking, he announced that he would sign books for an additional 30 minutes. The book-signing spot was at the other end of the mall. It is a beautiful site see a bunch of kids (even boys) running down the National Mall, carrying bags, umbrellas, and back packs. Beautiful!