Tales from a Loud Librarian

Paris, president of Bookmarked, graduates from PFTSTA The International Reading Association met in New Orleans this past weekend. Unfortunately, I could not attend the conference because I had so much to do for the PFTSTA graduation which was Saturday. I was really sorry to have to miss it; there were some amazing young adult authors there making presentations. However, when I got the invite from Penguin for dinner at Restaurant R'evolution with three authors, I told them I would be there.  Ruta signed my book In February of 2013, Ruta Sepetys visited us at PFTSTA . The kids adored her; I adored her, and I couldn't wait to visit with her at dinner on May 10th. Actually, I got to sit next to her and chat throughout the entire dinner service. If you haven't read her book, Out of the Easy , you need to because it is marvelous. Ruta explained some of the impetus for the story came from her work with women on death row. She wondered if someone could turn th...

I love meeting authors. One of the reasons that I love attending ALA Annual so much is the opportunity to meet all the authors that I read and recommend to my students. I hate to admit it, but I am a true fangirl. Luckily, I can keep it in check and not gush when I actually come face to face with these remarkable writers. My ALA began on Friday night at Penguin Teen's rock star author dinner. Laurie Halse Anderson was there. She visited my school two years ago when  Forge  the sequel to  Chains  was published. She was kind enough to say that she remembered visiting PFTSTA, and I knew that she was telling me the truth when she described our cafeteria that was surrounded by windows. Her novel that is due out this fall does  not  have a one name title, and it takes on some dark, contemporary themes. My box of books of ALA arrived yesterday, and this one is on my to read list. I finally get a chance to meet Sarah Dessen I have been a big fan...

Click here to watch the book trailer On Friday, January 20th, the 9th and 10th grade students were treated to a talk by Andrea Cremer . She has written a trilogy called the Nightshade series, and she is also a history professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN. I was fascinated with her explanations of how she used her knowledge of the early modern era of history (1500-1800) to flesh out the elements of the fantastical world that she builds. She talked about her upbringing in a very rural area of Wisconsin. This fostered her love of nature, the woods, and wolves because of her proximity to the outdoors. She knew that if her characters were going to change into wolves, then they needed to be beautiful not horrid. As she found the real wolves that she encountered as a child to be beautiful. It was a horse accident one summer that got her on the road to writing. She was bed bound for 12 weeks and wanted to spend her time doing something that she always dreamed of d...