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KidLitCon by the Books!

Well, I'm back from KidLitCon 2019! This year the conference was held in Providence, Rhode Island. This was my third KidLitCon, because I attended in NYC in 2012 and in Baltimore in 2015. See my previous posts about KidLitCon here.

New books I bought at KidLitCon
The Breaking News by Sarah Lynne Reul - My new favorite picture book.
Jasmine Toguchi, Flamingo Keeper by Debbie Michiko Florence, illustrated by Elizabet Vuković - I helped select Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl as the Cybils winner this year in Early Chapter books, so I'm excited to read another book in the series.
The Great Greene Heist by Varian Johnson - recently read and was very impressed by The Parker Inheritance, so I thought I'd pick up another one by Varian Johnson.
The Princess in Black and the Science Fair Scare (#6) by Shannon and Dean Hale, illustrated by LeUyen Pham - Y'all know I love the Princess in Black. Aaaand my husband is a scientist. So.


Free Books I got at KidLitCon
Where the Heart Is by Jo Knowles (advance readers copy)
Ballpark Mysteries #15 The Baltimore Bandit by David A Kelly - a gift from the author! How kind. He spoke on two panels that I enjoyed.
Apocalypse Taco by Nathan Hale (advance readers copy)

Books I want to read now that I've been to KidLitCon
see above! Also...
All Rise for the Honorable Perry T Cook by Leslie Connor
The Truth According to Mason Buttle by Leslie Connor
Shouting at the Rain by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman
BunnyBear by Andrea J. Loney - I started reading this picture book at the booksellers table, but someone distracted me and now I really want to finish!
Me Myself and Him by Chris Tebbets - It was fun to hear about his work with James Patterson on the Middle School series.
We Are Grateful by Traci Sorrell
The Infamous Ratsos series by Kara LaReau
Science Comics: The Brain by Tori Woollcott and Alex Graudins
Following Grandfather by Rosemary Wells - I adore Rosemary Wells and apparently she asked Christopher Denise to illustrate this one on her behalf, since it was too close to her.
Grounghug Day by Anne Marie Pace and Christopher Denise
Firefly Hollow by Alison McGhee and Christopher Denise
Also there was a book about emanata mentioned, but I can't find it anywhere... Emanata are the bits that come off of characters heads in comics.
Bruce Block apparently writes great books about filmmaking which one should read if they plan to make graphic novels.

Books I gave away at KidLitCon
Apocalypse Taco by Nathan Hale -- I brought the advance readers copy I got home on Friday night and read it, then passsed it along for someone else to read when I arrived on Saturday. Loved it! Much apocalypse! Many taco! Look forward to seeing it in it's final form, since the arc was uncolored and the final will be two-toned. It's a horror story and I imagine it will be a big hit with fans of his Hazardous Tales books.

The Book of Mormon -- Eight Copies, wow! I brought many copies to KidLitCon Baltimore, but only one was taken from the table. This time all 8 of the copies I brought walked away. I wonder how many people would've taken one if I had brought more.

Books LeUyen Pham loved, as a child new to the USA.
Amelia Bedelia ("Finally someone worse at English than me!" and "So helpful for learning idioms")
The Witch of Blackbird Pond (In 4th grade, her teacher gave it to her with the words, "you are a tropical flower among daisies and roses.")

Other highlights

Seeing sketches for PiB #7 and Best Friends:

Bethany and I drove back and forth to the conference because it was held at Hotel Providence, just about an hour from where we live. I wanted to be certain to be on time for the very first talk on the program -- a keynote speech by LeUyen Pham. Well, sick kids prevented me from leaving as early as I had hoped to, and we arrived right at 9:00 and quickly ducked into the dining room for breakfast. I had planned to inhale my scone and carry my juice with me, so that I could be on time for the keynote, but who should appear right behind me at the breakfast buffet? Uyen Pham! Tada! I said, "If you're here, I know I'm not late!"

Bethany and I sat down with Uyen and ate our pastries. I introduced Uyen to Bethany and reminded Uyen that we had met before, in Decatur, GA (see my post about that, here) and reminisced that she had showed me the Princess in Black book before the first one had come out. "Wow, I can't remember my life before the Princess in Black!" Uyen said, and then, "Well, I'll have to show you the sketches for book 7!" I couldn't turn that down, and made sure to follow through with her when she had a moment the next day. She also showed some slides of artwork she has done for Best Friends, the sequel to Real Friends, in her presentation on Saturday. I sat by her while she was signing and took photos of her with attendees on Friday evening. What a pleasure! Uyen is so gracious and spunky! When she popped across the hotel lobby to hug me goodbye at the end of the conference, I felt like I had made a friend. 


Meeting online friends:

Speaking of friends, it was such a pleasure to meet some friends that I had only known online to this point. I got to meet several fellow Cybils panelists, including Mel Schuit, Ben Hutchinson and Heidi Feidler. And I loved reconnecting with friends I had met at previous KidLitCon conferences! Ten fabulous pictures are on my instagram. There are always a few that I accidentally miss taking pictures with. That's life, I guess! And don't let me forget to mention meeting so many amazing authors and illustrators. I feel like KidLitCon this year had a higher percentage of authors attending this year than any other year I have attended.

How about you? Been anywhere lately? Got any books on your radar?

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