ISLMA Conference

Tip of the Day: I tried Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butter this week and it's actually pretty good! Check it out! I've been meaning to post about the Illinois School Library Media Association conference I attended a couple of weeks ago. I was invited to be part of their author showcase and it was really cool! Honestly, it was probably one of the smoothest run conferences I've attended yet. Whenever you get 40-50 authors in a room to sign it always seems a little chaotic to me but they had everything set up and organized well before we came in and there was a huge bookstore in the middle of the room so librarians could purchase the book and then easily find the author along the perimeter to sign.

(There I am)

Prior to the showcase I was invited to attend the breakfast where Mary Downing Hahn (former children's librarian, now author) was presented with the 2010 Rebecca Caudill award.

(Mary Downing Hahn)

This is the second time she's received the award. The first time was twenty years ago. I thought the longevity of her career was really inspiring and I loved hearing how she comes up with ideas for her spooky books.

And I have to say, I loved the key note speech by Simone Elkeles!

She is just so funny and witty and you can't not laugh during one of her speeches. I've heard a lot of authors speak and usually the people giving the key note speeches have some incredibly moving story to tell about how their book was inspired by a teen dealing with autism or cancer or suicide, drugs, divorcing parents, death in a family and so on. And I've heard a lot of speeches about books based on some part of history. But this is the first time I've heard a speech about the importance of teen romance! And being that I write teen romance too, I loved it. Yay for Simone representing!

Kristina, Miss See Me on the Shelves