Children's Literature Conference

Laura McGee Kvasnosky and I

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'. Over the coming weeks he continued to go out there and meet with these boys who society had all but given up on and he was amazed at what these boys had to say about his book and that they could relate to it so well.

Gary Schmidt and I

Towards the end of the day as things were wrapping up I had the chance to purchase some books and get them signed by all the authors. For a book nerd like I am it was pretty special. The conference was started by one of the lecturers at WWU who runs a children's literature class (which I took while I was there) and basically just gets a few authors together each year to discuss children's books, what inspired them to write, the topics they cover - things like that.

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.

Danielle xx