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A Post-NCTE Photo Wrap-Up

Saturday was my busy day at NCTE, starting with a morning book signing, then an interview about THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. for the ReadWriteThink podcast, lunch, and the Middle Level Mosaic, a highlight of the trip for me because I got to hear presentations from English teacher rock stars like Jeff Wilhelm, Nancie Atwell, & Teri Lesesne. I’m back to school this morning to finish our unit on dystopian literature and let my students fight over the ARCs I brought home. Since they’re publisher review copies, I’ve decided I’ll be loaning them out with strings attached…so in the next few weeks, you’ll get to read some 7th grade guest reviewers’ thoughts on new titles coming out in 2010.

I’ll post more about NCTE — all the workshops and speeches — when I’ve had a little more time to process everything in my notes. In a word, it was overwhelming. But in the very best way possible. For now, here’s a Monday morning photo wrap-up.


Here I am with Emily Manning from the International Reading Association. Emily hosts a children’s book podcast on the IRA’s ReadWriteThink website (thus all the fancy recording equipment). We talked about THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. for an upcoming episode.


From left to right, that’s me, G. Neri, Jo Knowles (at her book signing!) and Lisa Yee.


Maggie Stiefvater signs copies of SHIVER and its sequel, LINGER, at Scholastic.


Maureen Johnson was signing her Scarlett books right next to Maggie. Over her shoulder, that’s author David Levithan, wearing his Scholastic editor hat and supervising the event. He’d been signing copies of WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON, his new book with John Green earlier in the day.


Here’s Rebecca Stead, signing FIRST LIGHT and WHEN YOU REACH ME at Random House.


It’s always fun spotting friends’ books at these events. Kay Cassidy’s THE CINDERELLA SOCIETY was on display at the Egmont Booth, along with Lindsay Eland’s SCONES AND SENSIBILITY (below).


Scott Westerfeld signs copies of LEVIATHAN and shows off the art from that book.


The funny & charming Kevin O’Malley signed a copy of his new Miss Malarkey book for my daughter.


On my way to grab a quick lunch Saturday, I spotted Jeff Kinney signing DIARY OF A WIMPY KID books.


Here’s a photo of one of my tables at the Middle Level Mosaic, which was sort of like an author speed-dating event. There were at least a couple dozen tables like this in the Marriott ballroom, each one with a teacher facilitator and an author. Each author spent 8-9 minutes at a table, talking about his or her book, writing, and teacher resources, and then at the end of that time, we got up and moved to the next table. Each author visited three tables, and there were great speeches interspersed during this event, too. (More on those later in the week when I’ve had time to go through my notes.)

Meanwhile, the fun continues in Philadelphia today and tomorrow with the ALAN workshop. Here’s hoping that some of the authors & teachers still in Philly will keep blogging and tweeting all the great things going on. Have a great Thanksgiving week, everyone!

Blogging from NCTE: Day One 1/2

Our NCTE publisher dinner at Philadelphia’s Le Castagne was one of those nights a starry-eyed author never forgets. Friendly, book-loving people from NCTE, the International Reading Association, and Anderson’s Bookshop joined us at a big table behind a curtain, so we had our own little dining room. Since Jenny Moss and I were the guest authors, our school & library publicists broughts copies of our books for everyone that we signed after dinner.


Meet the fabulous Katie Fee (left) and Beth Eller (right), who work tirelessly at events like NCTE to get books into teachers’ hands. They are amazing.

When Beth were telling me about this dinner, she said, "I think we have you sitting next to Linda Rief. She’s an English teacher who –"

"I’m having dinner with Linda Rief?!"

I knew who she was. Linda is a rock star, as far as I am concerned. She writes teacher resource books that have helped to shape my teaching, and she co-founded NCTE’s journal for middle school teachers. She’s been one of my role models since I started teaching 14 years ago. She is also kind and smart and funny, and I loved visiting with her about our teaching/writing experiences.

I also got to sit by Bridget Hilferty from the International Reading Association, who told me about all the work being done on the IRA’s ReadWriteThink website, an amazing teacher resource. Watch for the newly redesigned website in December!

And I sat across from Becky Anderson Wilkins of Anderson’s Bookstore, who is being honored with an Intellectual Freedom award at NCTE this morning for her work promoting First Amendment Rights. She helped defend Sherman Alexie in the midst of a challenge to THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART-TIME INDIAN and is one of my new heroes.

It was an amazing evening, talking books with people who love them so much. And the food was beautiful and delicious (I wanted to take pictures but restrained myself because it was a really nice restaurant, and snapping photos of the gnocci and Dover sole probably would have been a no-no.) But trust me, it was lovely.

Today, I’m off to breakfast and then a signing at Bloomsbury/Walker from 9:30-10:30, followed by a full day of author activities before my flight home late tonight. I may have to leave some of my clothes behind to fit all the ARCs I picked up yesterday. A girl has to have priorities, right?

Blogging from NCTE: Day One

This morning started with a walk to the Philadelphia Convention Center under sunny blue skies (Finally – yay!) to see the panel discussion called "Fractured Classics" about using well-known archetypes to create stories for middle grade and young adult readers. It included fellow Bloomsbury/Walker authors Shannon Hale and Suzanne Selfors as well as Malinda Lo and Diane Zahler, all of whom were funny and brilliant. Here are some of my favorite moments:

Diane Zahler, author of THE THIRTEENTH PRINCESS (Harper Collins):

"Fairy tale retellings allow heroines to take charge of their lives and break out of the passive princess role."

Suzanne Selfors, author of SAVING JULIET (Walker) about a girl who goes into the story of ROMEO & JULIET to try and save Juliet’s life. (She’s also the new YA COFFEEHOUSE ANGEL, which I got a signed copy of today!):

"Before Edward and Bella…Romeo and Juliet were the world’s most famous teenagers."

Malinda Lo, author of ASH (Little Brown), a retelling of Cinderella in which the main character is gay:

"It’s really a story about grief and love, things we’ve all experienced."

She also reminded us that LBGT stories can be a great comfort to teens.

"When I was a teen, if I’d read ASH, I might have figured things out a little sooner, and it wouldn’t have been so scary."

Shannon Hale, author of GOOSE GIRL, RAPUNZEL’S REVENGE, and more (Bloomsbury) talked about how the fairy tales that infuriate her are the ones that inspire her to write. She ranted a bit about the prince who visits Rapunzel repeatedly in her tower in the traditional fairy tale.

"Does he EVER think to bring a ladder?? There’s no excuse for this prince!"

After the panel, I met up with Loree Griffin Burns to talk about our afternoon panel and explore the exhibit hall a bit. My editor Mary Kate took the train in from New York so she could be there for our panel, which made me so, so happy!

The brilliant MK also shared some cover sketches for SUGAR ON SNOW. They are gorgeous, and thinking about a cover makes the book seem that much closer. It’s scheduled for December 2010. We had lunch across the street from the convention center, here…

This is Reading Terminal Market, an enormous indoor market with every kind of food and treat you could imagine. I had a chicken burrito plate that was so big it seemed like the plate was still full no matter how much I ate.

Then it was time for some book-stalking (and author spotting!) in the exhibit hall. How many faces & covers do you recognize?

Mallinda Lo, signing copies of ASH.

Jenny Moss, signing ARCs of SHADOW (Scholastic, 2010). Jenny and I will both be signing at the Bloomsbury/Walker booth from 9:30-10:10 tomorrow morning.

Gene Luen Yang, whose books I love…but I didn’t have a chance to get one signed because it was time for our panel, "Stories & Standards: Pairing Fiction & Nonfiction." Here we are:


From left to right, Jenny Moss, Loree Griffin Burns, Teri Lesesne, Tanya Lee Stone, & me.

If you weren’t there, don’t feel left out… You can click here to see our presentation and download our handouts on the Teachers page of my website. And our facilitator, the wise and bookish Teri Lesesne, aka , also tweeted our workshop while it was happening, so you can click here and scroll down to read her posts.

Here’s my schedule for tomorrow:

9:30-10:30 Signing THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. in the Walker/Bloomsbury booth. (and they’re offering books at a 50% discount, too!)

11:45-12:15 Being interviewed for the ReadWriteThink podcast for IRA

2:30-3:40 Middle Level Mosaic – which I understand to be sort of an author speed-dating event. It sound like fun!

I have more to blog, but right now it’s time for tonight’s publisher dinner with a bunch of bookstore people and NCTE folks. I actually made a joke about not being able to attend because I needed to stay back in my room to read all my ARCs. No one was particularly amused, so off I go. More tomorrow….

Thursday at NCTE

Somehow, I managed to avoid all of today’s flight delay issues and arrive in Philadelphia safe, sound, and on time for NCTE. I spent the afternoon holed up in a coffee shop finishing up some last-minute revisions for SUGAR ON SNOW, which has officially gone to copy editing now. Woo-hoo!

Just got back from a publisher dinner, where I finally got to meet my online author friend Jenny Moss! We’ve known each other here on LJ for a while and have been collaborating with the other two authors on our panel using Google Docs but hadn’t met in person until a few hours ago.

Tomorrow I’ll be at the convention center all day, doing English teachery things until about three, when it’ll be time to get ready for my presentation, a panel discussion on Stories & Standards: Pairing Fiction and Nonfiction for Interdisciplinary Connections. That’s Session E – at 4pm. Afterwards, I’ll be signing THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. at the Bloomsbury/Walker booth from 5:30-6 tomorrow and then 9:30-10:30 on Saturday. If you’re at NCTE, please stop by and say hello!

Packing for Philadelphia: My Schedule for NCTE

On Thursday, I’m flying to Philadelphia for NCTE. For my mom and other people who won’t immediately recognize the acronym, that’s the annual conference for the National Council of Teachers of English. It’s hard for me to even type this without bouncing just a little, because even though I’m an English teacher, I’ve never been to this conference before. There will be lots of people there whose work I’ve admired and used in my classroom for a long, long time.

I’m also speaking and signing copies of THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. and if you’re in Philadelphia, too, I’d love to see you. Here’s where I’ll be:

Friday:4:00-5:15
Stories and Standards
I’m presenting as part of a panel discussion on pairing historical and scientific fiction with nonfiction, along with Loree Griffin Burns, Jenny Moss, and Tanya Lee Stone. The fabulous Teri Lesesne, aka , is facilitating our panel.
Room 107B, Street Level

Friday: 5:30-6:00
Signing THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. at the Walker/Bloomsbury booth. Jenny will be signing WINNIE’S WAR then, too!

Saturday: 9:30-10:30
Signing THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. at the Walker/Bloomsbury booth with Jenny and Winnie again!

Saturday: 11:45-12:15
I’m being interviewed for the IRA ReadWriteThink podcast. After that, I will likely be enjoying a convention center sort of salad or wrap if anyone wants to join me.

Saturday: 2:30-3:40
Grand Ballroom Salon E, 5th Floor
Marriott Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown
21 N. Juniper St.
Middle Level Mosaic Workshop: BE the book!
I’ll be one of a whole bunch of authors at this event. Click here for an overview of the Middle Level Mosaic, with a full list of authors.

Want to Skype with some librarians?

I’m looking for help from a handful of Skyping author friends (published or with early 2010 pub dates) who might be available for a quick chat with a group of librarians Tuesday afternoon. I’m giving a Skype demonstration as part of a full-day workshop for Northern NY librarians, presenting on my books in the morning and then using the afternoon to teach about Web 2.0 applications that librarians can use to connect their students with authors. One of those will be Skype.

I’m hoping to do a handful of quick Skype drop-ins with authors who might like to talk a little about their books and their virtual and in-person visit options to the group. If you’re free between 1:30 and 3pm on that day and would be interested in dropping in on our workshop for about ten minutes via Skype, please let me know by emailing me (kmessner at katemessner dot com).

So you can decide if it’s worth your time or not, I’ll tell you that it’s not going to be a large group – last I heard, there were half a dozen librarians signed up and they weren’t sure if they’d have many walk-ins. But if you’re around and not busy and could take a ten-minute break from your work to chat with them, I’m sure they’d love to "meet" you and hear about your books. It would be a quick visit – just enough time for you to hold up and talk about your latest book, take a quick question or two, and let librarians know about your school visits. I’m hoping to showcase about five or six authors – just enough so folks get an idea of how Skype works and get exposed to a few new authors along the way.

Thankful Thursday: A Visit with Vermont Home Schoolers

I spent yesterday morning with a group of home schooled students in Williston, Vermont.  They ranged in age from six to fourteen — something that usually makes me a little nervous when I’m presenting, but with this group, it worked.  The younger students were incredibly well-informed, and the older ones were generous and patient and had great questions of their own.  I gave one of my newer presentations: Firing Cannons and Kissing Frogs: The Truth About Author Research, and I’ve decided this might be my new favorite because it talks about all the different kinds of research authors do and allows me to look back on just how many fun and challenging and downright strange things I’ve done in the name of research for all my books.

Best part of the day?  After my presentation, as I was winding cords and shutting down my laptop, one of the younger boys came up to me with a huge smile on his face.  

"Thanks!" he said.  "That was a LOT more fun than I thought it was going to be."

I was very happy to have surprised him.

Thanks, kids (and parents!) for such a great morning with your group!

A Celebration of Reading in Rochester!

GIANNA Z. and I were part of a HUGE celebration of books and reading at the annual Rochester Chlidren’s Book Festival this weekend.  Families crowded into the festival at Monroe Community College to meet 42 authors and illustrators, make bookish crafts, listen to talks and read-alouds, and of course, pick out new books to have signed.   I was lucky enough to attend this festival two years ago and was so excited to be invited back. I mean, really…how can you not love a crowd like this, all cheering for books?

I loved visiting with all the kids, teachers, & librarians, and some LJ friends like too!  The fantastic people at Lift Bridge Book Shop handled book sales for the event, and I was in awe of how efficient they were, even with such a great crowd.  

Here’s Peggy Thomas, my festival next-door neighbor with some of her fantastic, fun picture books.

And more author friends… Rebecca Stead and Michelle Knudsen.  My daughter came with me to the festival and had been talking for weeks about meeting Rebecca because she loved WHEN YOU REACH ME so much.  When she finally got to say hello, she was a little tongue-tied, but did get to have her own copy signed, which made her very, very happy.  We picked up a signed copy of Michelle’s new fantasy novel THE DRAGON OF TRELIAN, too – can’t wait to read it!

Here are Herm and Mary Jane Auch, one of the friendliest and funniest couples in children’s literature.  E and I have been laughing over our signed copy of their picture book THE PLOT CHICKENS all weekend.

And here, from right to left (pay attention…I’m naming people backwards this time) here’s author Elizabeth "Sibby" Falk, who organized this year’s festival and is one of the kindest, most talented, and most organized people I know. You really had to experience this festival to appreciate the work that must have gone into making everything run so perfectly.  (Thank you, Sibby!) In the middle is another delightful and talented Rochester author, my friend Kathy Blasi. Both Kathy and Sibby write beautiful historical fiction, so if you’re a fan of stories from the past and haven’t checked out their books, you’ll want to do that.  

And finally, on the left in the photo is Sibby’s daughter Sarah.  Take note of that purple shirt…the official uniform of the fabulous festival volunteers, who seemed to be everywhere. They set up and broke down the event, passed out programs, ushered authors to their presentations on time, and even came around with cookies at the end of a long day.  The volunteers at this festival were amazing – so thank you, volunteers, if any of you are reading this. You made us all feel so very welcome and appreciated.

Rochester Children’s Book Festival

I spent an amazing day at the Rochester Children’s Book Festival.  I love, love, love this event. Love it.  And I’m so thrilled I could attend this year. My daughter spent the day with me, hanging out at my table and wandering around drinking in all the book-love.  And what a day it was.

I have pictures of lots of author friends who were there and the HUGE crowd and the wonderfulness, and I’ll post those when I get home. But tonight, I really want to say a huge THANK YOU to Sibby Falk, an amazing Rochester author who organized this year’s festival. 

Sibby’s a warm, lovely person, a gifted writer, and an amazing organizer.  The festival was just incredibly well organized – just perfect, and I know how much work went into that.  Thanks, Sibby!

Friday Five

1. I’ve not been much of a blogger lately because I have been revising SUGAR ON SNOW, my Fall 2010 middle grade novel with Walker Books. And revising and revising and revising, pretty much into the wee hours of every morning for a few weeks.  But last night right around midnight, I sent SUGAR ON SNOW back to my editor.  I love that about email – you don’t have to wait until someone is awake and at work.  And so now, I am stretching and looking around, remembering that I have another book I’m drafting.   And a blog.  It’s nice to see you all.

2. I’m finally reading GRACELING by Kristin Cashore.  Now I see what all the fuss has been about. 

3. Tomorrow, I’ll be in Rochester for the Rochester Children’s Book Festival.  I LOVE this festival & hope to see you there if you’re in the area. The full list of authors participating is here, and it includes many favorites and friends – yay!

4. THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. got a Gold Star Award from TeensReadToo this week.  This means a lot to me, as I love this review site for kids. Thank you!!

5. I really only had four, and I have to go finish getting ready for school now. Have a great weekend & I hope to see some of you in Rochester tomorrow!