Children's Literature Conference

The following weekend on the 25th of February was the Western Washington University's Children's Literature Conference. In all honesty I was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing and what it would be like. I'd volunteered to help out during the day so I had to be there an hour before the conference actually began. When I got there, everyone was in a frenzy trying to make sure everything was in place for the onslaught of people that were about to pour through the doors. I was looking forward to meeting the authors who were going to be at this years conference; Gary Schmidt, Patrick Carmen and Laura McGee Kvasnosky. As it was I ended up helping Gary with his book signings in the morning and directing conference goers to Laura's signing table in the afternoon. The conference itself was great, Gary, Patrick and Laura all gave wonderful speeches - the stories they had to tell were humorous, sad, witty and all-over amazing! Gary told of how he was once invited to be a guest speaker at a book club. Instead of ending up at a school like he was expecting, he found himself out at a maximum security prison for juveniles talking with a small group of boys (aged 9-17) who had been reading his book 'Wednesday Wars'. It's definitely something I won't forget in a hurry and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to attend something like this. I would love to come back for next years 10 year anniversary conference.