This is my first ever ALA, and I can’t wait. It’s right here in D.C., and  there’s a party almost every night — one starting in about an hour, in fact. I’m so excited to hang out with my writer buddies and meet some wonderful librarians. Friday night, I’ll be at the Mid-Atlantic SCBWI’s Kidlit drink night. Saturday, I’ll head to the HarperCollins Fiction breakfast with Holly Cupala, David McGinnis Gill, and other awesome authors. A bunch of Tenners I’ve never met — Lindsey Leavitt, Christina Gonzalez, Holly Hoxter, Jessica Leader, and Jackie Dolamore –are gathering for lunch, and then onto the Convention Center Halls to snag some ARCs and gawk at books and famous authors.

If you’re in town, I’d love to see you on Sunday between 2:30 and 3 pm at the HarperCollins booth where I’ll be signing copies of FHN. And I am super-excited to be attending the Newbery Banquet with the DC Kidlit group on Sunday night. I’m a huge fan of When You Reach Me and can’t wait to hear Rebecca Stead speak.

Hope you can make it and that our paths cross!!

In other news, the marketing maven, Saundra Mitchell, sent our picture into Children’s Bookshelf from a recent books & co. event in Dayton, Ohio, and we made this issue.  Dude, you rock!

And congrats to Jessica, aka Confessions of a Bookaholic, for winning the ARC of Holly Cupala’s Tell Me A Secret in my recent contest.