I was thrilled to be a speaker at KidLitCon this year! I’d wanted to go to the conference for the last few years, but this year, I was determined to go because it was pretty local for me: Hershey, PA. Once I received the invitation to be on a panel about bloggers and building relationships with authors and publishers, I was in! The Con is run by an incredible group of bloggers that I’ve admired since I was in library school; I was thrilled at the chance to finally meet people like Pam, The Unconventional Librarian, Sheila Ruth, fellow Tolkien fan and Cybils organizer, and Charlotte, whose speculative fiction reviews and Timeslip Tuesdays are the goods. And that’s just the tip of the blogger iceberg. I’m unpacking my brain, so this will be largely pictorial, with little bits of commentary; it was two fantastic days of learning, making new friends, and discovering new books. Can’t ask for better than that, right?
I was so excited for the keynote speaker: DORK DIARIES and MISADVENTURES OF MAX CRUMBLY author Rachel Renee Russell! She is a wonderful speaker; inspirational and fun. Her daughter is coming out with a picture book next year – you read it here! – and she was so proud because it’s already listed on Amazon. Go, Mom! She said that the bloggers from the KidLitosphere were good to her when Dork Diaries first pubbed, and she’s never forgotten that. She was generous with her time, listening to everyone who had something to talk to her about at her signings. She also had adorable bookplates that she autographed, so I was able to snag a book for my son’s girlfriend’s younger sister. I’m also a rock star in my library, thanks to this picture.
Our panel was up first, so it was a relief and nerve-wracking, all at once. My fellow panelists were April Crews from Calico Kidz – a great blog dedicated to educational reading – and Marisa Nicole, a high school senior who started her blog, Marisa Nicole Reads, because she wants teens to read, and she’s going to be the one to tell them how amazing YA is. We talked about fostering relationships, as book bloggers, with publishers, publicists, and authors. I loved the idea of a KidLit “godfairy” that April put out there: a librarian (whoo hoo!), bookseller, someone who knows and loves books, knows what’s coming up, and can tell you what to look out for. Marisa discussed the power of social media; tagging authors and publishers in Instagram and Twitter posts, and urged bloggers to just contact authors and publishers that you don’t have a relationship with (yet).
So, little did I know that illustrator Floyd Cooper was sitting in on our panel. That’s a doodle he left when the panel was over. A doodle! I’ve just about mastered the 3-D cube as my go-to doodle. This is why he is the illustrator and I’m the lady shoving his books into kids’ hands. During his afternoon keynote, Floyd talked about his “erasing” artwork – he treats a board with paint, gets a stretchy eraser, and goes to work. He created a portrait as he spoke, showing us how he works. I was in the back, so I know it’s not that great a picture, but it should give you a bit of an idea of how genius his work is. He stood up and called this image forth, as he was speaking, with an eraser.
That moment when you meet CD Bell, whose books, Weregirl and Chimera, you’ve been getting emails about, and getting excited for, and all you can do is fangirl over her 2010 book, Little Blog on the Prairie. Thank goodness she was gregarious – and generous! She gave me copies to read, so I’ll be diving into them soon. Promise.
The astounding Pam Tuck, who gave a keynote that blew my mind. When she mentioned that she “only” had EIGHT CHILDREN when she started writing her first book, As Fast As Words Could Fly, I realized that “I’m so tired, my 5 year-old really tuckers me out” is probably something I should never, ever say again. She’s now the proud and lovely Mama of 11 kids, and I can’t wait to read her book, My Mother of Many. It’s out next year, so I’ll have to grumble and wait. She is one of the most genuinely kind people I’ve ever met.
I met so many great, funny, smart people with a passion for KidLit that it fired me up again. It made me excited to get back to my library and get more books in front of my kiddos, it made me excited to curl up with my own little one to read and read and read again, and it fired me up to keep blogging, keep finding books to talk about, and to blog better. By better, I mean to really, really read diversely; to find authors and illustrators that represent everyone in my library, my community, my world.
It wasn’t all KidLit. Being at Hershey was pretty amazing. They really do have chocolate EVERYWHERE, and it really does smell like chocolate when you’re walking around outside! While I was KidLit-ting, my Hubs and my Kiddo were enjoying touristy stuff at Hershey and Amish Country, but they made sure to make time for me when I was done with the conference for the day, and took me back to Hershey World, where we went on the World of Chocolate ride and wandered around the ginormous Hershey store. All in all, it was a fun little getaway for two of my favorite guys, and a fun getaway for me. I’m already looking forward to next year.
Mom Read It 