APRIL IS FOR AUTHORS 2012

I'm still recovering from the amazing author/book festival this past Saturday in Palm Beach Gardens. 

Sue Sloan and Helen Zientek, along with a hundred volunteers, knocked it out of the park with their 2nd annual APRIL IS FOR AUTHORS event!

Two dozen authors, from all over the country, came in for the event.  For a full list of authors, click here.

Group Photo of the Authors at the 2012 April is for Authors Event

In my first session, a mother told me her son enjoyed How to Survive Middle School and her daughter loved my new book, Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen, and they drove all the way from Ocala (3-1/2 hours away) for the event. 

Kaycee from Ocala

Tom Angleberger, Mary Monroe and I shared a panel discussion that was moderated by the Palm Beach Gardens mayor, David Levy.  We had a lot of fun with the crowd.

The next panel was comprised of Sharon Draper, Lisa Graff, Claudia Mills and me.  The standing room only crowd had great questions, and it felt like we spent the entire time laughing.  What a blast!  Emily Minor, from the Palm Beach Post, did an excellent job moderating the panel.

My favorite part, as always, was meeting the teachers, librarians, parents and wonderful kids.

Angela

 

 

Haley

 

 

Elizabeth and her dad, Chris

I had time to sneak in a delicious lunch in the author room.  (Yes, there were brownies.)  And I got to chat with some of MY favorite authors.  Also, snuck into Alex Flinn's talk, which I really enjoyed.

Alex Flinn, reading from one of her books

A big thank you to my author escort, Lisa Petroccia, whom I believe I owe a lunch.  (Lisa is such a wonderful media specialist and an ardent supporter that I made her a character in How to Survive Middle School.)  Hint:  Be nice to authors; you never know when we may put you in one of our novels.

I'm already looking forward to April 27, 2013, when the 3rd annual APRIL IS FOR AUTHORS will take place!