Please, if you know what’s good for you, watch:

Maurice Sendak on the Colbert Report

and then listen to:

Jack Gantos on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.

John Green (author of An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, and Paper Towns) has a new book coming out: The Fault in Our Stars.

Such a big, anticipated release needs a tour, of course.
Tours, as we all know, need venues.
(You see where I’m going with this.)

That’s right, folks: John and his brother/co-Nerdfighter Hank will be starting their Tour de Nerdfighting with a second visit to my school on Jan. 10!

Unfortunately, it’s sold out. It did so in a matter of days. So, um, I guess this is just to rub it in? I’m not a very nice person.

She signed books (and, patiently, bookmarks), chatted to a group of 30 high schoolers during lunch, and gave a more formal presentation to a similar-sized group of middle schoolers. She talked about her writing process and about the travel that inspired Daughter. Both groups were totally engaged and had no shortage of questions. (Here’s two of my middle schoolers on her blog.)

(I’m sure she didn’t intend her hair to be a marketing tool, but boy, my students couldn’t get enough of the hair comments and questions! I think having that to talk about helped them warm up to her. Plus, between that and protagonist Karou’s blue hair, my event publicity design has never been easier.)

At one point, while talking about the challenges of editing, she said, “Just because it’s hard for you doesn’t mean you aren’t meant to do it.” That really stuck with me — she didn’t say it as a Lesson (which probably made it all the more effective), but if there’s one thing I want my girls to get out of middle school, that’s probably it.

She, her Little, Brown entourage, and Wellesley Books were super friendly, flexible, and delightful to hang out with. Thank you again, Laini, Ames, Faye, and Allison!

(That’s me up there in the picture, regretting that this was the first time I’d thought to ask for a dorky author pic for my blog. Better late than never!)

I don’t actually have examples of my own yet; I’m pondering. But I love the question! Thoughts?

I hope I’m not giving anything away to say that she did a couple of storytelling exercises with the girls, my favorite of which involved solving the problems inherent in familiar fairy tales. Why doesn’t the prince ever bring Rapunzel a damn ladder? WTF is up with that?

And, of course, she blogged all about it. That’s my school, right there in the sixth paragraph!

Thank you again, Shannon and the Wellesley Booksmith! You made our day (…week ….month).

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Many people argued that crimes (for a sufficiently loose definition) and rule-breaking are what children’s lit is based on — maybe even all lit. Without a “crime,” what moves the plot along? Where’s the growth?

Discussing his graphic adaptation of The Odyssey: Manners are the things that distinguish good guys from bad in this story: how do you treat strangers? Generosity and hospitality are prized above all; good men don’t even turn away murderers in need. Inhospitality is a misdemeanor in our society and murder, rape, and pillage are serious crimes; in Odysseus’s world, it’s the reverse. — Gareth Hinds

“Kids tend to collect, because kids are essentially powerless, and a collection is something they have control over.” — Kevin Henkes

” ‘Crimes’ push against the skeleton of the world’s structure, until the world breaks apart and is remade.” — the lovely and talented Kristin Cashore.

(This happens in pretty much every YA fantasy or science fiction, certainly. It occurs to me that this might be a distinction between YA and adult fantasy, in fact — the breaking apart and remaking of the world due to the challenging, “criminal” actions of one young person or a small group of young people. It’s a metaphor for the young adult’s own pushing at boundaries, breaking apart their own childhood world and remaking it as an adult, yadda. I can think of a number of YA counter-examples, in which the world stays basically the same. But I haven’t read enough adult fantasy to really draw any conclusions, so I’m just blowing smoke. What do you think?)

Mysteries are unique: you read them skeptically, knowing the author is trying to trick you about the Truth. “But crime fiction is idealistic” — the bad guy always gets caught and punished by good guys who think better. — Avi, who told us at dinner that his real name was Edward. “Avi” was a mispronunciation by a younger sibling that stuck. Who knew?

“When I write about crime… what I am writing about is moral ambiguity. …No one is more involved in moral ambiguity than the child. They are taught morality while living in an immoral world.” — Avi

“We excuse or mitigate characters by saying they had a hard life — might we not mitigate a person’s character by the affluent and spoiled environment in which he grew up, as well?” — Francisco X. Stork, author of Marcelo in the Real World

* Boyfriend E and I broke up. All’s well, really, but it definitely overpowered my will to blog immediately post-conference.

He read to us from the first book he ever wrote (an adorable pasted-together tale about a jewel thief), showed us the wildly different UK, American, and German covers for his new book Heroes of the Valley, and generally dazzled my girls with his good humor and excellent British accent. I’m told that many an IM status was changed to “quite right” last night.

Fortunately I don’t have to go into more detail than that, because Alison at the Wellesley Booksmith (our hookup for all great author events) did it for me! Thanks for the write-up and photo essay, Alison! (That’s me over by the computer, looking rapt.)

When the whole thing was over, he took the time to talk to each girl individually as she got her book signed, asking her what she liked to read and making suggestions. He was unfailingly generous and friendly, and overall a fabulous guest speaker. Thanks for taking the time to visit us, Jonathan!

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