NAME THE MYSTERIOUS MAN IN THE PICTURE

Today I had a terrific time gathering with fellow authors at the Provo Children's Book Festival. Pictured above are: (From left) Anne Bowen, myself, Carol Lynch Williams, Emily Wing Smith, and Ann Dee Ellis. If you can name the mysterious man hiding in this picture, I will send you an autographed copy of one of my books (your choice). That is, if you're the first one to respond correctly. (Rock canyon writers excluded.)

The read-aloud was fun--especially reading to my neices and nephews. I feel very blessed to have family members who are so supportive. I thought, man, these kids have heard my stories so many times, do they really want to hear them again? But they listened and played along with me. It was great! The festival had face painting, puppet shows, classes, readings, free books, food, and more. There was a bit of frustration for everyone when the fire alarm was pulled by a child and the whole building flashed and screamed like it was WW IV. The alarm kept going for quite some time and I thought I might have to try to read in sync with the loud bursts of angry noise.

I feel very privileged to have met Laura Vaccaro Seeger in person. I had seen her before when she received the Caldecott Honor award at the Caldecott banquet in Anaheim, California. It was nice to talk to her today, even just for a few minutes.

At the festival there were banners with the author names hanging high on the walls. Each one had our book covers and a fun fact. My fun fact said: Her husband was on President Obama's Inauguration Security Team. So when Steve came to pick me up and saw that tidbit written about him on my banner, I noticed there was an extra bounce in his step.