Friday, June 28, 2013

Children’s Literature Conference at Shenandoah University in Virginia


On 6/28/13, I was thrilled to make my second consecutive appearance at the Children’s Literature Conference at Shenandoah University in Virginia; this was the 28th annual.

It is one of my favorite conferences.

My schedule this year:

  • 1.5-hour writing workshop with middle schoolers
  • presentation to educators
  • two breakout Q&A sessions with educators
  • book signing
  • turkey and cheese croissant sandwich

The hallmarks from last year all made welcome (except for the heat) returns.

Star-studded roster:



Beautiful hand-painted banner (all by the same student!) representing every author:


A mug with our names on it: 


Extreme bookselling:


Bathroom signs featuring author and book quotations:


At first I read this as "You will agree to come with me," which is as lovely a description as any for a person surrendering to a good book.

Thank you again to Karen Huff, my kind right-hand woman Becky, and the rest of the crew for making this a must-attend conference. And thank you to the audiences, who were more than receptive and engaged throughout. I look forward to visiting as many of your schools as I can...and I look forward to (hopefully) seeing you at the 29th.

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