ALA CONFERENCE IN SAN DIEGO: Book Signing of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6

American Library Association at the Convention Center, San Diego, CA

I had a great day yesterday at the American Library Association conference at the Convention Center in San Diego, California. The exhibit halls were filled with hundreds of booths and the aisles crowded with librarians and library people from all over the country. 

With Andrea Brown in the Charlesbridge booth at ALA

In the afternoon, for more than an hour, a steady stream of people came as I signed copies of the new paperback edition of PLANTING A GARDEN IN ROOM 6 in the Charlesbridge booth. Many thanks to Donna Spurlock, Director of Marketing, for setting up the signing and to Lindsay Atkins for making sure that everything ran smoothly. And thanks to my agent Andrea Brown for assisting at the signing table as I signed books and chatted with librarians. I was pleased to hear how much they enjoy using my books with kids.

With Lindsay Atkins in the Charlesbridge booth at ALA

The evening before I attended a lovely party at the home of Kelly Sonnack celebrating Andrea and the agency she has built over the last forty plus years. I was one of Andrea's first authors when it was just Andrea. Now the Andrea Brown Literary Agency has grown to fifteen agents with hundreds of authors! Congratulations Andrea!

With Andrea Brown

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS WITH ANDREA BROWN

Forty years ago Andrea Brown began the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and I became one of her first authors. I had already published a few books, but I knew that if I had an agent, I would be better able to negotiate my book contracts. It was one of the best writing decisions I ever made and the beginning of a fruitful relationship.Since then Andrea's business has expanded to include a whole host of other agents and I have gone on to publish more than one hundred books. I couldn't have done it without her. Thank you Andrea Brown for 40 super successful years!

Illustration by Cece Bell.

PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY Announcement of JULIET'S LIGHTHOUSE

The announcement of my book Juliet's Lighthouse, to be published in the spring of 2022 by Cameron Kids, appeared in this week's issue of Publisher's Weekly. I am excited about the book, which was inspired by a trip to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, where I learned about Juliet Nichols, light keeper on the island at the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and her courageous ringing of the fog bell by hand during two long foggy nights after the mechanism of the bell machine failed. The book will be illustrated by Rachell Sumpter.

CHILDREN’S WRITING WORKSHOP at Big Sur

Andrea Brown and Caroline

Last weekend I participated in the Children’s Writing Workshop, held at the Big Sur Lodge in Jules Pfeiffer State Park on beautiful Highway 1 on the California coast. It was my second time as a faculty member and I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the other authors, agents and editors on the faculty as well as many of the writers attending the conference. The Big Sur Writing Workshops are for writers of picture books, early reader, middle grade and young adult fiction, courtesy of the Henry Miller Memorial Library and the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. As my agent Andrea Brown says, “It’s like writing boot camp, except there are no push-ups.” For more information about this and future workshops, click HERE.

View from my deck at the Big Sur Lodge

Book Signing: American Library Association Conference, San Francisco

Signing A Day and Night in the Forest in the Capstone Booth, ALA, San Francisco

The American Library Association Conference met in San Francisco at the Moscone Convention Center June 25-30, 2015 and I spent two very full and exciting days in the Exhibit Halls signing books, meeting friends, and roaming the aisles to attempt at view all the new books. In the Capstone booth, on Saturday, June 26, I signed A Day and Night in the Forest, one of four new books in the Caroline Arnold’s Habitats series. There was a long line and I signed furiously until all the books were gone. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet librarians and fans from all over and I thank Jennifer Glidden, the marketing manager at Capstone, for making all the arrangements, taking photographs, and for helping everything go smoothly. I enjoyed the chance to meet the other Capstone people in the booth as well and to chat with editor Michelle Bisson.

Outside the Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco

The ALA convention was also an opportunity to meet with my agent, Andrea Brown, with whom I had a delicious lunch, and my editor at Charlesbridge, which will be publishing my book Living Fossils next year. I have already seen the proof pages with terrific illustrations by Andrew Plant. And I stopped by the StarWalk Kids booth to find out the latest news about the StarWalk Kids digital library, which includes many of my older books. Their catalogue, which continues to grow, now has more than 500 titles!

I went to the convention with my friends and fellow authors Joanne Rocklin and Susan Meyers (who both live in the Bay Area) and as we roamed the aisles we kept running into many of our other author friends as well as many of the librarians we have gotten to know over the years. That is one of the great things about ALA–the chance to meet and renew friendships, all in the midst of thousands of new and wonderful books from publishers big and small. I came home with a bag full of books, catalogues, posters and more. I only go to ALA when it meets in California, which occurs every five years or so. This conference brought back memories of my very first ALA, also in San Francisco, back in 1981, when I was a new author. I remember being overwhelmed by the wealth of books and publishers. I still am.