Fantastic Day in the Apple Thanks to an @RHCBEducators Invite - Penguin Random House Fall/Spring Collection (so Honored To Be There)

Books Are My Life. Well, our lives. And Penguin Random House knows they are our Achilles heels. We were on trains at 6:30 a.m. heading into the city and by 1 p.m., we left the city looking upright book mobiles. Very exciting to have a mini-tour of their facilities and to hear editors debut the line of children, middle grades, and YA novels heading our way. The nerd-boy in me wanted to quickly grab them all because I knew a perfect audience for each.

Book stork or book dork? Why can't I be both.

I've already devoured Thurgood by Jonah Winter and the always distinguished artwork of Bryan Collier. Stormy by Guojing, a beautifully illustrated story of patience, kindness and dog-love, is a must-have for every classroom. Paper Son by Julie Leung and illustrated by Chris Sasaki is perfect for anyone who wants to know the historical story behind the illustrator of Bambi (needs to be in every history classroom) and I Wonder by K.A. Holt and illustrated by Kenard Pak is the perfect book for the inquisitive-minded child. Equally as powerful and inspirational is The Oldest Student: How Mary Walker Learned to Read by Rita Lorraine Hubbard and illustrated by Oga Mora, the story of a woman who learned to read at age 116. It is a fantastic book!

For older readers (I haven't gotten to them yet), I'm excited about White Bird by R. J. Palacio (author of Wonder) and her first graphic novel, two books by Nic Stone, Clean Getaway and Jackpot, Pet by Akwaeke Emezi (I gave away the first copy I bought and got myself a second one, and jumping into Morgan Parker's Who Put This Song On? and Erin Stewart's Scars Like Wings (both coming at YA readers with original stories and new voice - I can't wait). There's a new David Levithan collection, 19 Love Songs and a new writer writing about writing book, Hope in the Mail by Wendell Van Draanan (which I might use for the teacher institute). I'm also intrigued by What I Carry by Jennifer Longo, but already know it's likely to be a heavy read. I need to be ready for it.

I am very thankful to any and all who put the day together and am especially grateful to Rebecca Stead, author of The List of Things That Will Not Change, for her author talk and the precious text she brought into the world to share.

And a special shout-out to the bartender who made me a Japanese Old Fashion while we ate sushi near Grand Central Station. The meal and the drink were outstanding.

Now, for the I-95 traffic that kept all of us lodged in on Wednesday night for two hours, almost making me miss the alarm for the 6:30 a.m. train to Manhattan on Thursday, all I can say is boo. Do they really need to shut down to one late for 20 feet of paving work? That was insane!

Ah, but it's Friday. The meetings begin early and I'm anticipating a sister and niece arrival very very late tonight.
Here's to good sleep, good rest, good books, and good health (with a Japanese Old Fashion for everyone).

Thursday was a fantastic day and I'm hoping I'll be able to continue the energy into the weekend. This was a fantastic way to put the ellipses on this year's Saugatuck StoryFest work. Now, it's time to dream even more.