BookExpo America 2009 (part 3)

After breakfast we went down to the children's trade show floor to explore the publisher booths and stand in line for book signings. I actually took this picture on Thursday, when they were still setting up, so it doesn't really do justice to how it looked on Friday. But it should give you an idea, anyway--books everywhere, and then way down at the end of the room (all the way to the left of the picture) the lines for book signings. Friday mostly went like this: Walk down an aisle of booths looking at cool things. Stand in line. Get a signed book from a famous author. Stand in line. Get a signed book from a not-so-famous author. Stand in line. Get a signed book from a famous author. Walk down another aisle of booths, looking at more cool things. Check a bag or two so our backs don't break. Repeat.
That's Ridley Pearson and Dave Barry. They signed Peter and the --- for me. I also got a Mercy Watson book signed by Kate DiCamillo, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society signed by Annie Barrows, and Catching Fire (the sequel to The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins, among others. Someone interviewed me while I was in line for Catching Fire. I don't know what that was for. (So if you happen to hear me on the radio or something, let me know, OK?)

To end the day, Karlene and I went to a party/reception thing at Workman Publishing. There we made a dinner out of lots of little elegant hor d'ouevre-type things, and also picked up a couple more books. The food was probably the fanciest food I've ever had--or at least the most sophisticated. Fancy Nancy would have loved it. I couldn't decide whether to feel sophisticated because I was at this very grown-up party, or just out of place because I'd never experienced that sort of thing before.

Around 7 or 8 PM we made our way back to the hotel, collected all of our bags (we had each checked three by that point), and started for home. I am quite enjoying having so many new books to read; I was reading one a day for the first few days, but have been slowed by Little Bird of Heaven, by Joyce Carol Oates. (It is pretty long, and too sad to read for long periods of time.)

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed seeing BEA through my eyes. I had a great time, and I hope I'll be able to go back sometime! I'd never seen so many books in one place before; and we hardly broke the surface of what there was to see and do--but what we did see and do was awesome! (If you'd like more information--or a less anecdotal, more informational summary of the weekend--you can visit bookexpoamerica.com or search the web for other bloggers' takes on the event.)