Parenthetical

I’m too cheap to attend the American Library Association conference for real. But I am not too cheap to spend $35 on an exhibit pass when the conference happens to swing by my town! That $35 easily paid for itself in free ARCs this evening alone:

The Prince of Mist, Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Green Witch, Alice Hoffman (a long-awaited sequel to Green Angel, her September 11 parable)
Fever Crumb, Philip Reeve (a prequel of sorts to the Mortal Engines books)
The Suburb Beyond the Stars, M. T. Anderson
The Ask and the Answer, Patrick Ness (sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go)
Hawksmaid, Kathryn Lasky (“the untold story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian”)
The Enchanted Glass, Diana Wynne Jones
As Easy as Falling off the Face of the Earth, Lynne Rae Perkins (author of Criss Cross, a sort of quiet book that I loved)
The Golden Bull, Marjorie Cowley

A good mix of “Yes, please!”, “Ooh, I didn’t even know that existed!”, and “Sure, what the hell?”

HarperCollins definitely wins the Awesomest Booth award, by the way. All we had to do was vaguely squeal in the direction of a book, and they were rummaging around for ARCs. They were knowledgeable about their collection, and got excited about the books with us.

Points also to Zest Books, which does YA nonfic that actually looks like fun. I can totally see my girls getting excited about In the Driver’s Seat: A Girl’s Guide to Her First Car, for instance. (See, I thought about my kids a little bit!)

Cybils folks (and anybody else I don’t know in person): if you’re around for ALA, I’d love to meet you! Send me an email.

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