My day started with a big Texas sunrise on the way to school, where I was greeted by this sign…
…this life-size image of the school principal. (This was my first clue that the lead learners at this school have a great sense of humor!)
…and a whole bunch of smiling faces!
I really wish every school could have a librarian like the women I’ve met in San Antonio this week. Wetmore Elementary’s Cynthia Baker and Jean Ann Johnson were hopping from the minute Cynthia picked me up this morning, setting things up, handling the book signing, and making sure every group arrived at the library ready to talk books, reading, and writing. Cynthia apparently book-talked my titles so well that they ran out of a couple titles, but Cynthia and Jean Ann sprang into action, made a few phone calls, and hustled over to the Scholastic Warehouse and Barnes and Noble so that kids could have signed copies of the books they’d requested. Here we are at the end of a very busy day!
From left to right, that’s Jean Ann, me, and Cynthia.
I also had a little fun, informal time with kids at the library later on. Charlie and Cole are both reading my mystery, CAPTURE THE FLAG, so they challenged me to a game.
While I love presenting to big groups of kids, I also really enjoy the quieter conversations that happen when they stop back later to have books signed, or even when they’re on their way back to class. One boy who’d been fascinated by my story about Champ, the legendary Lake Champlain monster, stopped to ask if I’d heard about chupacabra. I hadn’t…so I had him write it down in my notebook to research later on. This is what I found. Fascinating stuff…and a story that just might make its way into one of my books down the road. Yesterday, a girl at Harmony Hills suggested an idea for a future Marty McGuire book, and that’s in my notebook now, too.
Thanks so much for a great day, Wetmore Elementary readers! Everything your principal and librarian told me about how awesome you kids are is 100% true, and I so loved spending the day in your school library.