Review: The Unready Queen by William Ritter

The UnreadyQueen by William Ritter

Publisher & Release Date: Algonquin Young Readers

Type: Middle Grade Fantasy, 320 pages

Series: TheOddmire Book Two

Summary: Human and goblin brothers Cole and Tinn are finding their way back to normal after their journey to the heart of the Oddmire. Normal, unfortunately, wants nothing to do with them. Fable, the daughter of the Queen of the Deep Dark, has her first true friends in the brothers. The Queen allows Fable to visit Tinn and Cole as long as she promises to stay quiet and out of sight—concealing herself and her magic from the townspeople of Endsborough.

But when the trio discovers that humans are destroying the Wild Wood and the lives of its creatures for their own dark purposes, Fable cannot stay quiet. As the unspoken truce between the people of Endsborough and the inhabitants of the Wild Wood crumbles, violence escalates, threatening war and bringing Fable’s mother closer to the fulfillment of a deadly prophecy that could leave Fable a most Unready Queen.

My Review: 

I was invited to join the Blog Tour for this second book in the Oddmire series! I was given an advanced ebook for free in exchange for an honest review, just like last year for book one!

I was thrilled to be back in the Oddmire Forest with Cole, Tinn, and Fable! I fell in love with these characters in Changeling and couldn't wait to catch up on their latest adventures! I was particularly interested in seeing how Tinn was doing after the events of the first book and I wasn't disappointed.

But while book one focused on the twins this book really focused on Fable, the someday Queen of the Forest. I absolutely loved seeing how her character grows into herself throughout the course of this novel! She is incredibly well written and I just love her to bits.

The Oddmire Forest is once again the setting of this book but we see more of the town as well. Seeing how the townspeople respond to having a forest full of magic is incredibly interesting and I think it was handled quite well. There is also a lot more conflict in this book which honestly makes the world seem even realer.

Once again this book has such a charming wit about it that just sucks me in! I would gladly read as many books as William Ritter writes about these characters in this world! I highly recommend this series for kids who like magical stories! And if you've read Jackaby you won't want to miss out on this!

~Laura!

Review: Changeling by William Ritter

Changeling by William Ritter 

Publisher & Release Date: Algonquin Young Readers, July 2019 

Type: Middle Grade, Fantasy (272 pages) 

Series: Book One of The Oddmire 

Summary: Magic is fading from the Wild Wood. To renew it, goblins must perform an ancient ritual involving the rarest of their kind—a newborn changeling. But when the fateful night arrives to trade a human baby for a goblin one, something goes terribly wrong. After laying the changeling in a human infant’s crib, the goblin Kull is briefly distracted from his task. By the time he turns back, the changeling has already perfectly mimicked the human child. Too perfectly: Kull cannot tell them apart. Not knowing which to bring back, he leaves both babies behind.

Tinn and Cole are raised as human twins, neither knowing what secrets may be buried deep inside one of them. Then when they are twelve years old, a mysterious message arrives, calling the brothers to be heroes and protectors of magic. The boys must leave behind their sleepy town of Endsborough and risk their lives in the Wild Wood, crossing the perilous Oddmire swamp and journeying through the Deep Dark to reach the goblin horde and discover who they truly are.

My Review:

Earlier this year I was asked to review the first book in William Ritter's new series, The Oddmire called Changeling and I jumped on the opportunity. I have never agreed to a blog tour so fast! I absolutely love Ritter's writing. His first book, Jackaby remains one of my all time favorites. He has a way of adding charm and wit into every aspect of his work!

Changeling is an enchanting fairy tale set in the same world as Jackaby. That was all I needed to know before I dove headfirst into the mysterious Oddmire Forest. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down! It is perfect for all ages, but I can see little kids particularly falling into the world Ritter has created in The Oddmire and never wanting to leave. This book is easily on the level of storytelling that is set up in the Spiderwick Chronicles!

The idea of the changeling is one of the oldest folk tales of Europe, a fairy child that is swapped out with a human child. Changelings have fascinated people for centuries and are prevalent even in today's pop culture, having recently been featured in shows such as Supernatural and Outlander and even an episode of the podcast Lore. I, myself, have always been interested in the idea of them.

So, with a myth so beloved by many it is hard to believe that there can be an original take on it, and yet Ritter does just that! What if the switch in interrupted? What if the babies, human and fairy alike grow up together? Changeling answers just those questions!

My favorite part of this book is the mix of beautiful, eerie setting in the Oddmire that I would love to explore and the amazingly rich and detailed, full of life and motive characters that inhabit it! Hinkypunks, Goblins, Shapeshifters, and fantastic Humans all come together to solve the mystery of the changeling!

As soon as I finished it I wanted to read it again. It was heartwarming and funny, but also just as dark as a true fairy tale should be! I enjoyed Changeling and am eagerly awaiting the next book in what is sure to become a beloved series for young readers for many years to come!

(Thank you to Algonquin Young Readers for sending me the advanced egalley in exchange for this honest review!)

~Laura!!

Thoughts from Places: My Fourth Teen Book Festival in Rochester!

This was my fourth time going to Rochester's Teen Book Festival! This amazing event that brings authors and readers together from all over the country is pretty unique! First of all it is free, which is amazing. Teens all over fund raise to keep it that way all year long and it makes it so incredibly special. Another reason it is so special was Stephanie Squicciarini, the founder of TBF. She passed away earlier this year and is truly missed, but I think everyone could feel her there though. She put so much time and effort into making the festival as amazing as it is. She put everything she had into it and would do some really crazy things to raise funds (my favorites were dying her hair into a rainbow of colors and wearing a prom dress)! This year during the opening ceremony they did a wonderful 13 second cheer to honor her and the 13^th TBF and I have got to be honest I was pretty much sobbing while I yelled my heart out. I had met her a couple times in passing throughout the years. I remember thanking her once for creating such fantastic event and she was so happy to hear that I enjoyed it. Stephanie was a truly remarkable woman and I hope TBF goes on in her memory for many, many years to come.

This year I was incredibly excited to go with two TBF newbies! I went with my friends, Allison and Katie. Rochester is a couple hours away from us so we had to leave pretty much at dawn to get there and had a great ride catching up (we've not seen each other in a while) and singing to Disney songs!

The Authors show off their fan made capes!

Most of the big events at TBF take place in the Nazareth College's Gym, including the opening ceremony with the annual game show hosted by Charles Benoit, most of the signings, the door prizes, TBF Shop, and the books that BN sells! This year all the authors had handmade TBF capes and played two facts and a fiction (which for some reason was really hard for them)! It's a great way to kick off the day!

One of the other great things that makes TBF special is that teens are 100% the focus. Teens volunteer during it, make the designs for the t-shirts and the program, have their own panel of teen authors, and most importantly they have priority seating at the panels! Usually every year there is at least one of my favorite Young Adult authors that I must meet. This year was different as it was Allison's favorite, Tamora Pierce, that we were determined to make seeing her panel with Bruce Coville a priority. So that was our first stop after the game show, but we couldn't get in as there were so many teens! Which is of course a great problem to have at a teen festival!

Roshani Chokshi and Claire Legrand during
their panel in the Chapel!

We decided that we would try again for Tammy and Bruce's next panel and went to see Roshani Chokshi and Claire Legrand! I am so glad we did because the two of them were hilarious! They were fantastic together and I truly believe that they should write a book together because it would be the funniest and creepiest thing I have ever read. Both authors talked about ideas for books that they have had that are horrible and honestly I think it made everyone feel better, because not every idea is good. They chatted about Hogwarts houses and their patronuses (Roshani is pure Slytherin with a shrew and Claire is a RavenPuff like me with an ocelot)! At one point, Roshani mentioned that her daemon would be a crow because she once almost fell off a cliff looking at a shiny shell! I also loved their advice about writing: finishing a story is the hardest thing so find the stamina to just see everything to the end and then decide how you feel about it!

By the end of that first session the three of us were starving so we headed out to see what food trucks had come! Katie and I had great poutine and Allison had some pretty good burgers! Once fed, we made our way back to see if we could get into the Tamora Pierce and Bruce Coville panel and this time we were lucky enough to be able to sit on the floor on the side of the room! Tamora and Bruce are best friends and critique partners and you can tell! They are amazing together! Allison has been telling me for years that I need to read one of Tammy's books and when I finally did in preparation for TBF I was so glad I did (I read Alanna, by the way)! Allison has every right to tell me “I told you so” because Tamora is beyond words. She is in her 60s and her health isn't the greatest but oh my gosh does that woman have spirit! She is hilarious and her friendship with Bruce is fabulous. At one point she warned a reader, “don't start with him. He will challenge you to a duel” over the proper color of a unicorn (white, obviously). They are both such characters themselves that it is no wonder that scores of people around the Globe absolutely adore them and their books! They, too, gave brilliant advice, such as always drawing a map of your setting no matter how big or small, get a partner that is honestly straight with you, and when you are stuck for an idea go back to those obsessions you had as a kid because your brain was obviously doing research when you didn't even realize it!

Bruce Coville and Tamora Pierce during their
talk! 

After experiencing Tamora and Bruce, the three of us headed to a different building to hear Jennifer Castle speak. All day I had been telling Katie and Allison about how much I enjoyed her book, Together at Midnight! After hearing her talk about it and how it is about random acts of kindness they both were sold on reading it which made me so happy! Jennifer told us about how she has a key word that sums up each of her novels and how she is always thinking about “What if” to think of plots.

Then it was the big moment! The time for meeting the authors and getting autographs. After 4 festivals I have mastered how to maximize the Authors I am able to meet and the key is having a friend with you. One of you stands in the longest line while the other goes into shorter lines and then you switch! I also do not own books for all the authors I want to meet as I read a lot of books from the library, but I always have something for them to sign! A little known fact of TBF is that their website has downloadable posters of the authors that can be printed! I always do this and all the authors are always so surprised and excited! Authors I met this year include (asterisk indicates book signed instead of poster) :

Margaret Peterson Haddix signs my copy of
The Palace of Mirrors!

Jennifer Castle*

Roshani Chokshi

Bruce Coville

Margaret Peterson Haddix*

Rachel Hartman

Justina Ireland

Brigid Kemmerer*

Brendan Kiely

Alisa Kwitney

Claire Legrand*

Taran Matharu

Dana Mele

Tamora Pierce*

A question I often get is what I talk to the authors about! Well, usually I start off my telling them that it is an honor to meet them. I never forget how lucky I am to be able to have such a cool and unique experience. Before they sign or sometimes during I tell them about bits and pieces of their books that I loved! I told Claire Legrand how much I loved her ghosts in The Year of Shadows and how original they were! I mentioned to Roshani Chokshi that I loved that she mixed Hindu Mythology with Hades and Persephone legends in The Star-Touched Queen! And to Jennifer Castle, I started to cry because of how much I loved how well she wrote about kindness in her novel, Together at Midnight!

Allison and Katie meeting Tamora Pierce!

I think my favorite part of the day though was seeing Allison interact with her heroine, Tamora Pierce! I was so excited and happy for her that I almost couldn't contain it! In fact I basically didn't, as I think I talked to Tammy more about how excited about Allison talking to her than I said how much I was glad to meet her!

Teen Book Festival in Rochester is without a doubt the best book event in the World. Everyone who has been agrees. I am fortunate that I live so close and am able to go so often! I completely recommend going! Keep an eye out on my Signings page for more in depth descriptions of meeting the authors listed above as well as more photos of me with them!! They will be posted shortly!

~Laura!

Book Hunting Adventures: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The story of how I found two editions of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll in his hometown, Oxford!

While in England for the first time in the fall of 2015 with my mom, we split up for a day. She stayed in London and I went off to Oxford, home of Lewis Carroll. 150 years earlier Carroll's Alice in Wonderland was published and while I hadn't gone to Oxford with the intent of purchasing not one but two more copies of the novel that is what happened. After seeing where the real Alice and the Mathematician who wrote for her and her sisters lived at Christ Church College, I went to Alice's Shop. It is not only a shop that sells only Alice merchandise, but is in fact the shop that Alice Liddell herself would buy candy in. It is also the model for John Tenniel's drawing of the “Old Sheep Shop” in Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. 

Alice's Shop and St. Philip's Book Shop next door.

He drew it as if it was in a mirror so it was all backwards. Being there felt like being in a strange world where I was in the looking glass myself, but one where Alice was still a book. Every where I looked in the small shop I saw Tenniel's art, everything you can think of was there including a small, blue paperback copy of Alice that was the 150^th Anniversary edition. It was only £5 and it was light so I didn't think twice before buying it with some other souvenirs.

The story of buying Alice in Oxford should have ended there, if I had not followed a sign that said “books” down an arch covered alley and up a flight of small stairs next door to Alice's Shop. Honestly, that's how most of my adventures happen, accidentally following signs. St. Philip's Books was a lovely crowded shop. I noticed that English independent shops are different than ours here. It is hard for me to explain, but the workers seem to be in a constant state of cataloging the shop's collections at small tables overflowing with books. The atmosphere was studious and calm. Upon walking in the one of the first books I saw was a yellow cloth edition of Alice and Through the Looking Glass that had an illustration I did not recognize.

 From the 1930's, it was illustrated by J. Morton Sale. A slightly rare edition that they were only asking £10 for it, so what could I do but buy it? It still intrigues me to this day because of the illustrations because Alice appears more like a scantily clad teen than a seven year old! While paying for Alice I noticed a glass fronted cabinet that contained first edition Inkling books, including many of Tolkien's. The woman who was helping me saw my gaze and said “You're free to look through them, but I'm going to be honest you probably can not afford them. We've priced them properly and thus ridiculously high.” I was sorely tempted, but did not take up her offer. I had plans to see if I could find cheaper Tolkien works at another shop I had on my list!

Until next time,

keep hunting those books,

~Laura!

Review: Diary of a Mad Brownie by Bruce Corville

Diary of a Mad Brownie by Bruce Corville

Release Date: June 30^th 2015

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers

Age Group: Children's

Pages: 208

Source: ARC from publisher at BookCon 2015

Summary (goodreads.com): Told in diary entries and other “documents,” this magical, modern-day comedy by the master of funny fantasy, Bruce Coville is a story filled with laugh-out-loud humor and heart.

Angus is a brownie. No, not the kind you eat! He’s a tiny magical creature that loves to do chores. Angus has just “inherited” a new human girl, Alex. To say that Alex is messy would be an understatement. She’s a total hurricane-like disaster—and she likes it that way, thank you very much! Living with each other isn’t easy but Angus and Alex soon learn there is a curse that binds them. What’s worse, it threatens Alex’s family! Working together, Angus and Alex will set out to break the curse . . . without killing each other first . . . hopefully.

My Review: 

Hopefully everyone reading this review knows what a brownie is. Everyone who asked me what I was reading thought I meant the desert and that was disheartening to me. I love that this book has a brownie as the main character. I adore them and I feel they need more main stream attention. I should not have had to explain to almost everyone who asked me what a brownie was. Most of the time I had to refer to the Spiderwick Chronicles' Thimbletack as an example and even then most just looked vaguely confused! I hope Diary of a Mad Brownie brings a wave of books about the little creatures! I demand that it replaces the worn out stories of vampires and werewolves or the world gone dystopian that everyone is so fond of now!

Now that that is out of my system… I adored this book and that it was written with so many points of view. I like the connection between Angus and Alex at the beginning of the book as they start their respective diary/journal. The irony that Angus whose main duty and love is to clean gets stuck with the messiest girl alive is perfect. I love their relationship and how it grows. I really hope this book gets a sequel; more of their adventures would be amazing to read! I love that the book is set up through Angus' diary to begin with but as he journeys to Alex and begins to wonder what she's like and what his new home contains there is supporting evidence in the form of letters that confirm that everything he doesn't want of his new life is exactly what he's getting (such as a cat).

I adore Angus's writing style. He has a way with words does that mad brownie. He's old fashioned as well as Scottish and it shows in his grammar and spelling. His little temper tantrums are hilarious and his insults brilliant! I love that he has that harmatia in his temper as well. It creates a lot of conflict for him and it is interesting to see him trying to better himself by keeping it under control. (Diary of a Mad Brownie also features amazingly beautiful drawings as well and they alone are worth checking out this book!)

My only complaint, and it isn’t really even a real complaint is that I wish there was a prequel story about Angus and his Sarah. Sarah is so important to Angus and while I completely understand why the story begins with Angus about to meet his new assignment, I also feel as if I missed something because I didn’t get to read Sarah’s story as well. How exactly did they become such friends? I just think that it would be interesting to explore that relationship more.

Diary of a Mad Brownie is a fantastic read! I recommend it to everyone, young and old! 

~Laura!

Adaptation Review: The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy (Season One)

The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy (Season One)

Starring: Peter Pan and Wendy Darling- Kyle Walters and Paula Rhodes

Michael and John Darling, Lily Bagha- Brennan Murray and Graham Kurtz, Lovlee Carroll

Writers: Kyle Walters and Shawn Deloache

Summary: Everyone has to grow up, right? Well, not if Peter Pan has anything to say about it! Peter, a late-twenties man-child and comic book artist living in the small town of Neverland Ohio, has three life goals: 1) NEVER GROW UP! 2) Have as much fun as humanly possible while doing as little work as possible. 3) Win the heart of his best friend, Wendy Darling. With his friends John, Michael, Lily and his fairy, Tinker Bell, Peter is nailing goals 1 and 2. Goal 3, however, is a bit trickier.

Wendy Darling, an advice blogger and overall go-getter, is tired of the never-changing small town of Neverland Ohio and wants to see the world, to become… an adult. It’s Peter vs. Growing Up in the battle for Wendy! But is growing up really the enemy? Or is it the solution?

My Review:

I love this series more than words can say! As a child I never really liked Peter Pan. I never really understood the appeal of Neverland with the pirates and crocodiles. Also, Peter and Wendy always kind of annoyed me. I thought Peter was kind of creepy and needed to calm down and Wendy needed to realize that Peter did not see girls as anything other than mothers so her crush was pointless. I did understand not wanting to grow up though. The reason this adaptation of Peter Pan finally connects for me is the unique portrayal of the plot and characters and the real life idea of not wanting to embrace the changes that adulthood brings.

I think The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy does a fabulous job capturing Peter and Wendy’s struggle as they grow up. I love the differences between Wendy and John who have tried to grow up (as best they could with Peter around), and Peter and Michael who have done everything they possibly can to avoid it. These differences are portrayed in the way the story is set up. Neverland is not a mystical place second to the right and straight on till morning, but instead it is a small town in Ohio. The New Adventures puts these famous characters in a real life place and asks: What if Peter DID have to grow up? Peter Pan is known around the world as the boy who never grew up, but in this adaptation he did grow up (sort of). Now he is twenty something years old and a comic book artist, but just because he has a job and is technically an adult due to his age, he is still a child at heart. (However, despite Neverland being a real town and a place where it is impossible for a child not to age, there is still magic in Neverland! The band Mermaid Lagoon has actual Mermaids as members, Kensington Darling, ancestor of our Darlings, found the first fairies in America in the Garden of Lights, and of course Peter has a fairy, Tinkerbell.) Peter spends the course of the first season trying to talk Wendy out of wanting to “grow up” which to her means leaving their small hometown and seeing the world, also leaving behind Peter himself who will never leave Neverland.

            This adaptation’s Wendy Darling is close to my heart. She is practical, goal oriented, and kind. She wants to get out and see the world. Right off the bat in the first episode the New Adventures starts tackling issues that are plaguing women today. Wendy gets a letter from a “Dear Darling” viewer asking her how she deals with being old. To which Wendy replies, “I forgot! That being a woman, 27, and single basically equates to being dead. I will start digging my own grave as soon as I finish making this lovely dress of cat hair and tears.” In today’s society that is still not really too keen on the idea of equality of the sexes this hits home. Wendy spends the first season torn between two equally important things: love and a career. Wendy, like most women today, feel as if she cannot have both.

            As for this adaptation’s Michael and John Darling? They are so much more that I ever thought they could be! Michael is on Peter’s side of the growing up debate. He is very much the baby of the season despite being in his early twenties probably. Michael still carries around a stuffed bear backpack and in the modern fashion of the New Adventures seems to spend most of his time trying to get on a reality TV so as to become famous (like so many of our generation it seems). John on the other hand takes after Wendy. He is arguably the most grown up of them all. He has his life completely planned out (literally even has it planned on paper). He likes order and cleanliness, the complete and utter opposite of his brother. And yet the two Darling brothers are the comic relief of the series. It wouldn’t be as good without them, whereas in all the other adaptations I’ve ever seen or read they don’t seem necessary at all. Where’s Tiger Lily fit into all this you ask? Well in New Adventures Lily is a rich fashion heiress and CEO who will do anything to get Peter to herself. But she isn’t all bad. She is the foil of Wendy in that she too is in her late twenties and single, but she is successful due to her family business. She knows exactly what she wants and nothing will stop her. She is determined to have both career and family.

Part of what I adore about The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy is the subtle and sometimes not so subtle hints to the original story. The subtle, that one would only catch if they have read the book, such as Wendy’s opening lines:

“All children grow up and I knew this sooner than most. When I was, like, two years old I was in this garden picking flowers and I plucked one, brought it to my mother and she looked down at it and said ‘Ugh. Why can’t you stay this way forever, darling? It is all downhill once you turn two. The beginning of the end. And that’s why God invented Happy Hour! WAITER! I spilled’ This is when I knew I had to grow up.”

This is almost exactly like the opening paragraph that introduces the readers to Wendy and in a roundabout way to Peter, the boy who never grew up. Later in the same episode our introduction to Peter (outside of the prologue) is when he sneaks in through Wendy’s window, scares her and says, “It’s not my fault I move like a shadow” alluding to his original entrance when he accidentally left his shadow behind and had to go back for it. As for the not so subtle I refer back to the aforementioned prologue in which Peter tells the tale of the founding of Neverland Ohio by J.M. Barrie. If that isn’t a reference I don’t know what is. It is these references big and small that make this adaptation spectacular! Another great thing about the New Adventures is that the show is multimedia with each character having their own twitter and the paper that the characters work at has an actual website (you can watch an introduction video to the paper here (intro video contains spoilers for season one))!

            The New Adventures of Peter and Wendy is truly a wonderful show that I hope continues. I loved this show so much while it was airing its first season that when they put up an Indiegogo asking their fans to fund their second season I didn’t hesitate to contribute (gaining the season one DVD, a signed Darling brothers picture, a signed drawing by Kyle Walters aka Peter Pan, and a “Neverland Ohio” magnet in the process)! I am glad to say that the second season of the show starts tomorrow on EpicRobotTV’s Youtube channel and this season promises to be even better than the first with the introduction of Hook, Smee, and Mr. Darling! You can watch the trailer for season two here (and season one’s trailer here). If you haven’t already watched season one (which you really truly should) you can find the entire playlist here or if you’d prefer you can buy it on DVD (and other merch) here!

Until next time Neverlandians,

~Laura!

Thoughts From Places: BookCon 2015

BookCon

Sunday, May 31^st 2015. Javits Center, NYC

I found out about BookCon when Maureen Johnson tweeted that she would be signing on the second day of the convention. There was no way I was going to miss meeting my hero. About an hour later I had bought an Adult Sunday badge and a Megabus ticket to NYC.

I got on the Megabus Saturday night at 10pm and got to NYC at 8am (an hour late because a couple people got off in Syracuse when they weren’t supposed to and we had to go back for them. Lesson learned). Doors to the Queue Hall of Javits Center opened at 8am. I got there at about 8:30, was handed a lanyard and an Epic Reads tote bag, then went straight to the WORD bookstore to buy a copy of Royal Wedding and From the Notebooks of a Middle School Princess for Meg Cabot to sign later (her signing required purchase at the store), and then into the Show Floor line that was already at least 150 people deep. BookCon started at 10am and when those doors opened there was a flood of people streaming in for a day of books and fun.

I started my day at BookCon with the First in Line Red Carpet Event & Author Breakfast held by Penguin Random House. After waiting in a very long line for 45 minutes that was relocated several times and wrapped around various booths and through lots of different doors, I made it to the red carpet. My hand was stamped and I was allowed into the curtained off area. I was immediately handed a tote bag and a silver sharpie. The bag said “I read ____ before you” wherein we were asked to fill in the blank using the sharpie. I wrote 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Next I was given a copy of All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven and Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. I then met both of those authors! I also received a copy of E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars and an ARC of Illuminae. While I am grateful to Penguin for holding this event, the whole time I couldn’t help but feeling like I was being herded through it as if I was cattle. I think it was poorly organized. The idea was that this event would last from 10-11:30am and that the first 500 people in line would be let in. I was probably about 200^th or so in line and at 10:30 a man came around saying that the chances of people that far back in the line meeting any author was slim. How they expected to have 500 people go through this event in an hour and a half, when they didn’t actually start letting people in until about 10:15 is beyond me. I got in at 10:45 and E. Lockhart had already left (which was sad for me because she was the reason I went to the event at all). However, it was a unique idea and perhaps next year they will improve it.

My BookCon haul

The next event I was planning to attend, Sarah J. Maas’s signing was already full, so I wandered around the show floor for a little while. It was here that the size of the Con was fully drilled into my head. On a piece of paper I had written the booth numbers of the publishers that I definitely didn’t want to miss. 18 booths in total and barely any of them were close together. If I ever go to another BookCon or anything involving booths I’m writing my notes in order of booth number instead of alphabetically. I searched out about half of them, then accidentally stumbled upon a couple others. It was during this aimless wandering that I was able to get advanced copies of The Diary of a Mad Brownie by Bruce Coville and Another Day by David Levithan. I was handed a copy of Outlander by some random person and I somehow was able to snag a Shadowhunters poster and tote bag. At about 11:30 though I went back to Penguin Random House’s booth to get in line for the MAIN EVENT A.K.A. MAUREEN JOHNSON’S SIGNING!!

Set the scene: I am so excited I may jump out of my own skin. I am sitting in the line, flipping through my worn and annotated copy of 13 Little Blue Envelopes. This is the book that inspired me to travel, that is one of the few books that I think changed my life, and the book that I take on every trip. I come across a passage in the book that describes the main character, Ginny’s backpack as a huge and green. I look down at my own backpack that fits that exact description and I start to laugh hysterically. I am about 10 minutes away from meeting my hero and I’m losing it. The line starts moving and I am bouncing up and down trying to get a glimpse of Maureen Johnson. Then I see her and all thought leaves my head for about 10 seconds. Then, like a tidal wave hitting the shore, a series of basic thoughts, such as “Oh” and “Whoa” and “MAUREEN JOHNSON!” enter my head.

Me and Maureen Johnson

When it was my turn the first thing Maureen did was STARE at me and my shirt, which was a picture of Maureen staring above the word STARE (which you can buy here). I handed her my book, she opened it to the title page, and shook her head when she saw what Hank Green had done to it last month (he crossed out her name, wrote his own, then hanklerfished it). I told her that I had spent last night on a bus from Buffalo so that I could meet her. I tweeted that to her a couple weeks ago and she responded. She remembered that tweet! She thanked me for coming all that way and asked if we had good chicken wings. However, before I could answer she was noticed something. As we were talking she had been flipping through my book and saw the writing, coloring, and photos. She was astounded and I guess pleased. She asked if she could take a picture of it! She took a picture of the page that I pasted a print out of The Bar at the Folies-Bergere by Manet on, a very important painting to the plot of the book. The girl who was standing behind me agreed to take our picture together and then I went to leave, but Maureen was still talking to me about my copy of her book. I felt a little bad because I didn’t want to hog her time. I think she realized this too and she thanked me again and I thanked her, then left.

I walked away from the table, took out my phone, noticed that the hand holding it was shaking rather violently, dialed my mom, and started to cry. I could not believe what had just happened. I still cannot believe that I finally met Maureen Johnson and that she kind of knew who I was. I wandered around in a bit of a daze for a little while after that encounter. At one point I saw James Patterson walking around the show floor and barely noticed. I decided to make my way down to the Queue Hall to get in line for Meg Cabot’s signing, even though it didn’t start for another hour and a half. After what happened with the Maas signing I didn’t want to miss it. Besides, after meeting Maureen I needed to sit down and reflect a little bit.

Me and Meg Cabot

Meeting Meg Cabot was another dream of mine. I credit Meg as being the author who got me into Young Adult Literature with her Princess Diaries series and into book blogging when I won an advance copy of Abandon (when I met her I told her the former. She said “I love to hear that! Thanks!”).  I thought it was appropriate that the book she signed was the first adult book of the series Royal Wedding since I am now an adult like Princess Mia. The crown I am wearing in the photo was given to me by one of her helpers. Almost everyone in the line was wearing a cardboard crown very proudly.

After meeting Meg Cabot I took to wandering again. However, this time I had a goal in mind. I was going to try to find Maureen Johnson and talk to her again. I failed, but I did score an ARC of Libba Bray’s Lair of Dreams, as well as the first volume of The Golden Compass graphic novel. I also at one point thought I was going crazy when I hear the Sloth from Ice Age talking. Turns out John Leguizamo was doing a panel at the time and I am not crazy (which is always a relief to realize). I went to the Lithograph booth and got a temporary tattoo of a line from Cinderella put on my arm. Throughout the two days of BookCon the story of Cinderella was basically walking around on the arms of everyone who visited the booth. I also went on the hunt for as many free bookmarks as I could possibly find to add to my ever growing collection (I got 25 in total). By that time I was becoming truly exhausted so I went to get into the line for Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York.

Brandon Stanton

I was really looking forward to this panel because I had missed out on his signing earlier in the day. I love HONY and one day I hope to do something similar in Buffalo, but I didn’t go for tips on how to do my own thing I just wanted to see the man behind such a powerful and humbling project. I didn’t know what to expect of him, but it wasn’t what I eventually saw. He looked comfortable on stage, but also a tad shy. He was extremely friendly and eager to answer questions. I am so glad I got the chance to see him speak. If you haven’t checked out Humans of New York you really should.

Overall, my experience at BookCon was as amazing as it was utterly exhausting. I was also sore for a couple days after due to all the books I was lugging around! BookCon 2016 is being held in Chicago, I hope many of my readers will get the chance to go!

~Laura!

Thoughts From Places: Teen Book Festival 2015

Teen Book Festival 2015

            The Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival at Nazareth College is the best book event I have ever gone to. Everyone is incredibly nice, there are door prizes, and amazing opportunities. TBF starts with an hour long panel with all of the authors. This year it was hosted by one of the authors, Charles Benoit, in disguise. They played truth or talent. Some of the highlights were Heather Brewer and AS King revealing that they are actually ninjas, G. Neri talked about his severed thumb, and Gayle Forman delegated her talent to her daughter. Ally Condie told a story about how she embarrassed herself in front of frat boys, Jessica Brody sang a Spice Girl rap, and AS King said she once shook a hand inside of a cow. Jonathan Maberry once knocked out a nun with a nunchuck, Jennifer Lynn Barnes talked about how monkeys are little fluffy balls of destruction and death, and Julie Kagawa demonstrated her awesome defense skills.

One of the greatest things about TBF is the author panels. This year I went to Michael Buckley’s, Julie Kagawa and Katie McGarry’s, and Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Charles Benoit, and April Henry’s Panels. I went to TBF with my cousin and we both adore Michael Buckley’s Sister Grimm Series so immediately after the opening panel we made our way to his panel. Alright, let’s be honest here: through this panel I gained a bit of an author crush on Michael Buckley. He is such a great guy and I could have listened to him talk for hours. He talked about many things, including his career. He said that he once entered and won a joke contest in MAD magazine with the joke: “why did the monkey fall out of the tree? Because it was dead.” What did he win? Well, technically, he won Eddie Murphy. Apparently they shipped the comedian to his house and they got to hang out for a day. They went to the local mall and mocked people because there wasn’t much else to do in his small town. Buckley said he was drawn to the “musicality of language.” He also talked about how he lives in Brooklyn and that one “could throw a rock out of a Brooklyn window and hit a kid lit author” that’s how many live in his neighborhood. He also admitted to stalking Libba Bray once (who can blame him?).

Me and Michael Buckley

Later during the signing part of the day, his line was also the first line we stood for. When I met him I told him how one of my pages at work said I was the older version of his character Daphne. He agreed that it was a huge compliment since she is very friendly and full of hope! He also mentioned that Laura is his sister’s name! I asked him for a photo and when I went behind the table for it he asked me what we should do for the picture. I replied, “Smile?” His response? “Nah, that’s what normal people do! Let’s do this!” Hence the picture above!

            The next panel Kelly and I went to was Julie Kagawa’s. She is the author of the Iron Fey series. She did a joint Q&A panel with Katie McGarry, author of the Pushing the Limits series. I have never read any of McGarry’s books but I enjoyed their panel immensely. The two authors have been friends for a while and their easy banter was amusing to witness. They talked about their writing processes and how they differed and what to do about writer’s block (skip it, talk to friends, or power through it). McGarry also said that she suffers from the “severe shiny object syndrome” in that she gets a new idea and then has to fight not to chase it when she’s in the middle of writing something else. I thought that was a very appropriate phrase!

Me and Julie Kagawa

            During the signing part of the day I met both authors. I talked to Julie Kagawa and told her how much I enjoyed her series. I also got the photo above. I honestly had no idea that she was hugging me like that until I looked at the photo on the way home! She was so cool! I didn’t have a book of Katie McGarry’s but I did have her TBF poster which she signed for me!  

            After eating a quick lunch we went to the “Crime Scene” panel hosted by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Charles Benoit, and April Henry. I didn’t know Henry’s work, but I had recently read Barnes series The Naturals, and I had read Benoit’s You back in 2011 and met him at that year’s TBF (my first one). I was extremely interested in April Henry’s research methods. She once took a course on anti-kidnapping to research a novel. The final exam involved actually being kidnapped and then being graded on how well they escaped.

Each of the authors also talked about how they get through writer’s block. Charles Benoit’s answer was simple, but effective. He stops writing in the middle of a word. So that he already knows what he has to write next because he knows that at the very least he has to finish that word, then the sentence, then the whole thought. Both April Henry and Jennifer Lynn Barnes had three ways each to combat writer’s block. Henry would think about what she couldn’t let happen in the book and worked from there, she would pick a random line of dialogue from something and plug it in her book to see what would happen, and if that didn’t work she would go on Write or Die, a helpful website that starts deleting words if you stop writing. Barnes’ first step would be to figure out if she had written the wrong thing. She would figure out what led her to that block, go back and fix it, then try again. She also said that sometimes she would get stuck because she wasn’t being nice to herself. She would be working too much and forgetting to live a little. If that happened she would just take a night off and watch TV. Her last step was to realize once again that writing is hard and it is supposed to be. When that happened she would call her author friends and they would talk about how hard it was and she would feel better. When things got really bad she would set simple goals for the amount of words written, like after 500 words she can eat a snack or take a shower.  

Me and Jennifer Lynn Barnes

The photo above was taken of me and Jennifer Lynn Barnes before their panel started. I also met her during the signing part of the day. She asked me if I had guessed who the killer was in The Naturals and I confessed that I didn’t which is one of the reasons I loved it so much.

It is during the signing part of the day that the true wonder of the Teen Book Festival is revealed. The authors will sign as many books as you want, they will talk to you, and take pictures with you. They are treated like rock stars at TBF. I was talking to Kevin Emerson as an announcement came over the PA asking someone to report to the DJ stand and he said, “What kind of book festival has a DJ booth?! I love this place!” During this part of the day the door prizes are given away. This year each winner won 10 books, most of them old ARCs or finished copies of popular books! Between my cousin and I, we won 30 books! (I will be having a contest for some of those books later in the month!) I also met and talked with M.T. Anderson, author of Feed during the signing, as pictured below!

Me and M.T. Anderson

As I said earlier everyone at TBF was really nice. Every time Kelly or I were called over the PA the people behind us would gladly hold our spot in the signing line. The third time we won, we gave the girls who saved our spot their choice of the books we had won! Everyone there is a reader so it was like a giant nerdy party! If you ever have the chance I encourage you to make your way to Rochester to the greatest festival in the YA world.

(Authors that I met at TBF that I did not get pictures with: Charles Benoit, Kevin Emerson, April Henry, Jo Knowles, Emmy Laybourne, Katie McGarry, and Jennifer Niven.)

~Laura!