Book Club Girl Went to ALA About a Month Ago, But She's Giving Away Jewelry to Make Up for the Lateness of this Post!

In late June I had the extreme pleasure of attending the American Library Association's annual meeting, aka ALA. And I say pleasure because in addition to hanging out with some of my favorite Harper colleauges (you can see why at their Library Lovefest blog) and meeting up with Betsy-Tacy friends from the Maud L listserv, I got to see and meet some of my favorite authors. (forgive these photos, took them with my phone which was fine for tweeting, but clearly, they are not good enough for the blog).

The weekend started off with dinner on Friday night with Katrina Kittle, who I simply adore. She was one of my first guests on Book Club Girl on Air - to discuss her wonderful novel The Kindness of Strangers. Her new novel, The Blessings of the Animals, about which Booklist just wrote, "with subtle yet shimmering insight, Kittle explores the resilience of human nature and the indelible role animals play in healing shattered emotions," goes on sale on August 3rd. I had recently finished Blessings and found so much to discuss in her story of a woman who is recovering from an unexpected divorce and dealing with her teenage daughter while tending to sick and injured animals in her veteranarian practice. We talked about the novel, how it was born and shaped, as well as her extensive garden (and I've been thinking of her tomatoes ever since). On Saturday Katrina signed galleys of Blessings for an impressive lineup of librarians. At some point during the day, Lizz, one of my fellow Betsy-Tacy fan friends from cyberspace, popped in to say hello. It was great to meet her in person, especially when I later read this post over on her blog about how to tell librarians and vendors (read: publishers) apart at ALA. She nailed it.

Also signing on Saturday was Emily Gray Tedrowe, author of the debut novel Commuters. I finished the novel on Saturday night, but already knew that I loved it when I met Emily. She tells the story of a family matriarch who remarries a wealthy many late in life and the effect that this union has on their children, their grandchildren and the small commuter town in which they live. The story is told from the perspectives of the grandmother as well as her daughter, who is dealing with immense changes in her life as the result of a mysterious fall her husband has taken; and through the wealthy man's grandson, a recovering drug addict struggling to find himself in New York City. I can't say enough good things about this book, I read it in about two days time. Here Emily is with book blogger Rachel from A Home Between the Pages.

After a quick lunch with children's book specialist Kathy Baxter (fellow lover of the tomes, who actually MET Maud and the real Carney!) it was back to the booth for Jessica Anya Blau's signing. She signed her great debut The Summer of Naked Swim Parties - which is a wonderful story about a teenage girl's coming of age in the 70s with parents who embrace an alternative lifestyle. Jessica's new novel, Drinking Closer to Home (possibly the best book title ever, imo) is coming in Winter 2011. She also wears really great shoes.

Sunday morning brought us the lovely Adriana Trigiani, and as if by magic coincidence, Julie of Booking Mama, along with her friend from Aaron's Books in Lititz, PA. I will forever, I think, associate Julie and Adriana after our BEA tea. I slipped Julie Katrina's last galley which was hidden away just for her, and helped Adriana with the virtual hordes of people who came to her signing. It was crazy and I had to "Katie bar the door" at the end just to give her a 10 minute break before she had to go over to the Live Stage to read. But she bore it all, as she always does, with flair and charm (and a well positioned face powdering brush). Her new book of nonfiction, Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers, is coming this fall, along with the paperback of Brava, Valentine (both on sale 11/9). It was also so nice to meet Daphne Kalotay, who was signing the gorgeous AREs of her forthcoming novel Russian Winter (on sale 9/7). Janet Mullaney was also on hand to sign galleys of her Jane Austen-as-a-vampire tale, Jane and the Damned, along with magnets and a t-shirt to match!

In the early afternoon I headed over to the Charlesbridge booth where Mitali Perkins was signing copies of her PW Starred Review new novel Bamboo People which is now on sale! Mitali has written the foreword to this fall's reissue of Maud Hart Lovelace's Emily of Deep Valley, and is such a fantastic promoter that she wore a t-shirt with the book cover for Emily on it! I am forever in her debt, and also love the Charlesbridge team, they couldn't be more supportive and helpful. Look for more on Bamboo People here soon.

Back in the Harper booth author M.L. Malcolm was signing, in one of her signature fashionable hats (this woman rocks the hat) and she was giving away mints (a very good idea for people who've been locked in a conference center all day). Librarians were gobbling up her Heart of Lies, a smart, exciting historical suspense novel set in Europe, Shanghai and New York before WWII that has been compared to Jeffrey Archer and Susan Howatch. Heart of Lies is the first novel in a trilogy that will continue in Winter 11 with Heart of Deception.

We rounded out the day with Roy Blount, Jr. signing copies of his forthcoming study of the Marx Brothers Hail, Hail Euphoria (on sale 9/28) which I've just started and am really enjoying. After some feverish unpacking of boxes of galleys for the final day of signings, it was time for a night off!

Monday am brought Dennis Lehane and the longest line in history to our booth to get a copy of his forthcoming novel, Moonlight Mile, on sale November 2nd. I first realized just how long the line was when I snuck out 30 minutes before his signing was set to start to get a copy of the Evolution of Calpurnia Tate signed by Jacqueline Kelly. I was two whole aisles away when I suddenly realized that the chain of people that was growing next to me was in fact emanating from our booth. After a quick hello to Jacqueline, I high tailed it back to the booth help out.

That pretty much wrapped up ALA for me, though there was still a day of activities left, but I had my reprieve and headed back to DC's beautiful Union Station to catch a train back home. I love spending time with librarians and I had such a good time talking with and learning from them. Throw in our great authors and my colleagues, and it was a pretty amazing way to spend a few days. For those who missed it, you can still catch the  Harper library team's book buzz presentation.

In celebration of librarians and libraries, I have two Banned Books bracelets to give away. Simply post a comment about your favorite library or librarian, or any great story about a library and I'll pick 2 random winners from all those comments received by midnight ET Wednesday, July 28th. (US and Canada only please).

Comments

[Julie P.]

I had the best time at ALA and I'm not just saying this, but you guys had the best authors and books. It was so much fun seeing you and Adriana as well as some of the other HC folks that I've "met" via email!

A library story... hmmm. Well, I take my five year son to the library every week and he's developed a crush on one of the girls who works there. He won't let anyone check out our books except for Hannah. He even holds up the line and requests her! A few weeks ago when he was in a major flirting mood, he asked her for her autograph because "she's famous."

So if you're ever wondering, librarians are definitely heroes to kids!!!

[Hattie DeRaps]

Oh my...How cool would I be if I were to wear that bracelet whilst teaching!

Anyway, I have lots of library stories because I used to work in one. But, if I had to choose, it'd be the week that a single empty beer can appeared in the middle of the elevator in the middle of the day. And then I found one on the second floor. And then one in references. And then one on the third floor. By the time I left for the day, there was a complete empty 12 pack. Gotta love college pranksters with nothing better to do than to leave presents for their favorite ibrarians!

hderaps @ mbrsd . org

[Mary-Frances Main]

We always love librarians - but living in the city our love is libraries. What's funny is we go between an old urban library and a suburban 50's style library and we love both for different reasons. They seem to have totally different people in each (although not even a mile apart) and all of them hold fabulous books!
Anyway, LOVE the bracelet!

[Pam Fierro]

My favorite library is the central library in my town. It is such a pleasant place, and offers a lot of features. I'm really lucky to live close to it.
My favorite librarian is my college roommate! After we graduated, she went on to receive her MLS.

[Kate]

My favorite librarian is my mother (of course). When I was a baby, she worked around the corner from my parents' apartment at the Jefferson Market Library, in Greenwich Village. My family moved to Denver soon after, but whenever we would visit NYC, she would point out the library when we walked up 6th Ave. Now I am back in Greenwich Village, and the Jefferson Market Library is my neighborhood branch once again. Right now I am reading a copy of the Senator's Wife from its shelves. (It is a beautiful old building--I recommend a visit if anyone is in the neighborhood).

http://www.nypl.org/locations/jefferson-market

[Christina]

Favorite library story? That's so tough, there are so many! Last week a family came in to the library, they're becoming regulars at our summer programs but I also do storytimes for the preschool that the 2 youngest children attended. When the youngest saw me she yelled Melanina! Her mom asked if that was even my name because her son calls me the same thing at home, I had to laugh and say no, it's Christina but it's nice that they think of me outside the library!

[Irish]

My favorite library is the one in the town where I grew up in - the George Hail Library (http://www.georgehail.org/index.htm). Its small but has so much character. The outside is stone and had a fairy tale feel to it...the main floor creaks a little as you walk on it and the smell of books is just intoxicating. The building was funded and built in the late-1800s through a generous donation by Martha Hail since her husband loved books. This pic (http://www.georgehail.org/Page_Images/historicinterior.jpg) from the 1900s shows how the library was & how it still is today. Well with a few modernizations. The top floor houses a museum that contains artifacts that have been found around town and it was always fun to visit. I spent a lot of time in the children's room in the basement hanging out with friends (my school was right up the road so we'd walk down after school) and annoying the children's librarian with our antics - she never did kick us out though so she couldn't have been too upset. The library just has a ton of memories and while I no longer live in the town I still like to visit it when I am there visiting my parents and friends.

[Stacie]

I volunteer to do the storytimes at our small town library and my favorite part is watching the kids excitement as I am telling them a story for the first time. They can't wait for me to turn the page! Staciele(at)netins(dot)net

[Connie]

My favorite library has to be the library in my middle school because that's where I discovered Betsy ("Heaven to Betsy," to be exact). Plus, I liked our librarian, Mrs. Huang. She was very encouraging :)

[Jessica]

Ohmygosh, those are fabulous bracelets!

My favorite librarian ever was the children's librarian in a small Virginia town that I met during my first year teaching. I met her late one night while I was desperately trying to find some PE lesson plans. After she helped me find the right books, we started talking and swapping books. "Have you read this? No, try this one!" "How about this one? Here let me get it for you!" It was awesome. From then on, she would find books and put them on hold for me, so every time I came to the library I had a little surprise at checkout. She even came to my class as a guest speaker once. She will always have a place in my heart.

[Shannon]

LOVE those bracelets. I wrote a blog about my love for the library. Can I use that?
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The library rocks these days.

Yesterday, my kids and I left the library with three bags filled with CD’s, DVD’s, magazines and books. I couldn’t believe the librarians were actually letting me leave with all of this stuff. For free? Really? Didn’t they know about my tendency to lose things? As I was walking out the automatic doors, I found myself looking over my shoulder, feeling as though at any moment The Library Police would sound their whistles, call me over to the desk and say, ”Ma’am, you have a couple hundred dollars worth of stuff in those bags – you can’t just take it. Hand it over.”

It got me thinking about how cool the library is. I know it sounds nerdy, but in this economy, who doesn’t love to save a buck or two? Everyone knows you can borrow books from the library, but my love affair with the library goes much deeper than that. How do I love the library? Let me count the ways:

1. The Summer Reading program makes my kids compete against each other to see how many books they can read in a summer.

2. Kids get their very own library cards.

3. The library has all the latest issues of “American Girl” and “National Geographic Kids” so I didn’t have to renew our subscriptions.

4. You can do homework with your kids argument-free. Everyone knows you have to be quiet in the library.

5. They have 15 different books on hammerhead sharks. If you happen to have a fan of hammerhead sharks, that comes in quite handy.

6. You can check out audiobooks, which are fun to listen to in the car with your kids. I find that since they are such a captive audience in the car, I can sneak a classic or two in and they don’t notice.

7. My active seven-year-old will sit for an hour with a stack of comic books he cannot really read yet.

8. That new check out machine! You can stack a ton of books on top of each other and “BING”!–the machine checks out all the books for us and prints a receipt. It’s so easy even my kids can do it.

9.With the computers, periodicals, and encyclopedias, is there a better place to work on a high school report?

10. Reading Hour. Sadly, my kids are too old for this now, but when they were younger, they really enjoyed it.

11. Free Wi-Fi.

12. When a book I want is checked out, I put my name on a list. When it comes in, I get an email letting me know they are holding it for me. Lovely.

13. I get email reminders when my books are about to be due (which has saved me big bucks in late fees).

I could go on and on but what about you? What do you love about your library?

-Shannon, StorySnoop

[jenn]

My whole family loves to read. We had a very small library growing up, and we knew all the librarians. When I was in middle school, the library had a lock-in. I thought that was the coolest thing ever, to be able to spend ALL NIGHT in the library. I did a lot of reading, and they had all sorts of cool activities. It was really awesome, and I appreciate all the work I know went into it. I know they only could have done that at a small-town library.

[MomOnTheEdge]

Our local library is amazing. All of the children's librarians are kind and patient. They do a great job with all of the programs they have set up to teach children to use, love, and appreciate the library.

[BD]

My favorite library was the one I rode to on my blue Schwinn bicycle. It had the baskets over the rear tire so I could get as many books as I wanted! At home, I did the unthinkable...either sitting in my 2nd story windowsill (with no screen, and my mom had a fit!) Or from our attic, I'd crawl out on the roof over our front porch and be at tree top level. My favorite library was more than a place, it was a conplete escape into my world of reading. Ah, the good ole' days!

[Mlmalc2]

Dear BCG, Great to have seen you again at ALA, and so glad you like my hats. I've worn them since high school and have so much fun with them; wait until I break out some of my truly flamboyant ones! I'm not competing for that fab bracelet, but I have to share that I grew up in a truly tiny town, where there wasn't a movie theater or even a McDonald's, but there was a library, and I persuaded the librarians to waive the 5-book limit so that I could pile my bicycle basket full of books once a week. One of the wonderful ladies recommended LITTLE WOMEN, which is the book that made me want to be a writer (like Joe) and also the Hobbit (before anyone in this country had even heard of Tolkien). I read all the time, even under my blanket with a flashlight, until one day after I almost burned the house down (flashlights could get hot way back then). Realizing that there was no way to keep me from reading at night my parents officially lifted my "lights out" time, thinking it was better to let me read than risk another fire.
I went to a library recently that hosted a "book club tea" for all the local book clubs to meet and swap ideas, and it was a blast. Happy reading!

[LitPark]

Oh, I want a banned book bracelet so bad!

I have entire post on libraries over at LitPark this month. Folks are welcome to come over and join the conversation: http://www.litpark.com/2010/07/05/question-of-the-month-library/

[Melissa C.]

That bracelet is SO cool!

I love libraries and my love affair with them started at a young age! My favorite memory of a library was way back from my childhood. I grew up in the backyard of our town library! I remember telling my mom that I was headed across the alley to get lost in the stacks and not returning for hours. The librarians there knew me by name. They always had cool activities going on to inspire reading and I soaked it up. It was a sad, sad day for me when they turned it into the City Hall and a new, bigger library was built streets away.

Now, I have a child of my own, and I try really hard to foster that same love of the town library in her as well. We take advantage of what our local library has to offer. We are there weekly, if not daily. And the librarians know us by name!

[pearl]

My favorite library was the one in the city where I grew up and the first one I ever joined. This library was like a small town branch with a wonderful choice of books that introduced to me classics, local authors and a selection of mystery, romance and period books. I rode my first blue Raleigh bike with a front basket and loaded it up with books. I still think fondly about this time and place.

[Kelly Manfredini]

I love my local library. I take my son there several times a week and belong to their book club. I realized the other day that I must go there a lot since about half of them know me by name. The book club is a great group of women and I feel privileged to belong. My favorite librarian? This is a hard one, I guess it is a tie between one of my best friends Joy and the library manager at my library, Beth. Both are total book addicts like me.

[Jennie Booth]

My library is my special place...I love the smell and the feel!