Making New Friends and Alliteration

Hey everyone. I hope the week past left everyone full of joy and energy. I attended a library author event in Fremont, Ohio this past week which was hosted by the Birchard Library. I generally don't sell many books at library events, but I love to visit and talk shop with other writers. I also didn't notice that I was standing under a sign for "Best Sellers". Maybe it's a sign of things to come, lol.

And along the way, I made some new friends like Holly Leemaster from the circulation desk who recently published a book of poetry.

There was Cas Miller, homeschool champion, steam punk dresser-upper, and author.

There was Sally Snyder author of children's books.

And there was Robert J Roman who just happened to be from the neighboring town of Mansfield.

But all this camaraderie didn't make me forget to grab a book from my library pile for review. And this week's review is an outstanding offering full of Onomatopoeia called Wodney Wat's Wobot. Rodney Rat has a problem pronouncing his r's and they all come out sounding like w's until he receives a robot for his birthday. Much to his surprise, Rodney's robot repeats everything he says but with r's in all the right places. Even more surprising is how Rodney uses h is robot to scare the school bully into leaving the school for good.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Southern Kentucky Book Festival Part II

So it's been a week since I attended and participated in the Southern Kentucky Book Festival, and the glamour is slowly fading as I get back into the swing of scooping cat boxes, cleaning bathrooms, and washing dishes. But the one thing that doesn't fade are the new friendships and great books I discover each year.

One of the first authors I met, Bridgid Kemmerer, happened to be riding the hotel elevator at the same time as me. Bridgid is a YA author with a new book out called More Than We Can Tell which is the tale of two people with past secrets that threaten to crush them. I don't usually read YA because of time constraints, but if I did, I would definitely add this book to my list of to reads.

The next new friend I made happened to be Robin Newman whom I knew from FB but not in person. When I arrived in the lobby hotel, she stood chatting with my friends Debbie Dadey and Tracey Barret. Robin is the author of a series about a pair of mice detectives that solve food mysteries. As you all know, I love mysteries, I love food, and I love food preparation, so it stands to reason that I would love an author who incorporates food into her books.

Detective Robin and me

My table mate, Peggy Goodman, happened to be a Bowling Green resident who wrote a book about a lady with a pie truck called Peg The Pie Lady. There were my panel mates, Holly Niner children's author, Joe Wos cartoonist and maze creator, Crystal Day  Nahsville Country singer and children's author, and Amy Parker Christian children's author.

Me and Peggy Goodman 

Panel Session with Crystal Day, Amy Parker, Me, Holly Niner,
 Robin Newman, and Joeseph Wos

Me and Joe

Cat Jordan, Holly Niner, Robin Newman

I also met YA authors Jacob Devlin, Sharon Cameron, and Cat Jordan. Cat flew in all the way from California and I'm so very glad she did. On the last day of the book fest we had a good chat about all things literary and how fellow authors and illustrators for the most part are extremely nice and quite supportive of each other. There were many others as well, so be sure to browse the Southern Kentucky Book Festival Author Line Up Page and check them all out!

Jacob Devlin, Me, and Sharon Cameron

Me and Cat Jordan

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week, same crazy time, same crazy channel. Also be sure to drop by Literacy Musings Mondays for more great blogs as well as my personal website Fun With Aileen where you will find more on reading, writing, and my very own chapter and picture books. And finally, you can find me on twitter if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

Road Trip!

I know this post is a tiny bit late today, but Emily and I just got home late last night from a four day road trip to the Central Massachusetts Children's Book Festival. This is the first time just she and I have traveled together, and we had a blast. We played a travel scavenger hunt and a license plate game, to help pass the time, which I downloaded from education.com. Education.com is a great site for worksheets, and I have found it particularly useful since we started homeschooling. 

My Very First Selfie

Once at the book fair, Emily helped me set up and watched my table as I passed out blueberry banana bread to my fellow authors. It seemed appropriate to choose this recipe because it is a recipe from my latest book, Cooking In Fern Valley. It received lots of compliments and a few people even purchased the book so they could go home and make some bread of their own.

I was super excited to see my friends Barbara and Victor Mojica, two extremely talented people. Barbara is the author of a series of books called Little Miss History which is illustrated by Victor. The third book in this series particularly caught my eye as I have long been fascinated with the Sequoia trees.

Beside illustrating Barbara's books, Victor has a wonderful book of his own called Captain Crossbones. It is a story of fabulous treasure. Victor keeps the reader in suspense until the last page as to what the fabulous treasure really is, and since I don't want to spoil the surprise, you will just have to get a copy of  your own to find out!

I was also able to finally meet some of my Face Book friends in person. I met the incredibly talented illustrator Diane deGroat, super talented author/illustrator David Biedrzycki, and fabulous author Melissa Stewart. And I met some great new friends like Jef Cezkaj, Carol Gordon Eckster, Joannie Duris, Jennifer Kam, David Kelly, Sarah Lamstein, Heather Lang, Jane Sutton, Joanne Roach-Evans, Susie Rich, and Gordon Morrison.

For school, I asked Emily to interview one of the authors in attendance. She chose Paul Czajak who was sitting beside me. She fell in love with his monster series and decided to chose one of his books as her take home souvenir. As soon as she is finished, I will post her interview.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, the sequels, Return To Fern Valley,  and Cooking In Fern Valley, along with my very first picture book, Quack and Daisy! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.

The Kentucky Book Fair, Unexpected Surprises, And Some Really Great Books!

This past Weekend I participated in the Kentucky Book Fair and it was a blast with Bobby and Emily joining me for a mini vacation. We arrived on Thursday and had dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse where I had a parmesan garlic chicken that was so delicious I almost cried.

The next morning we went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and just as we were seated, the fire alarm went off. Since we had no jackets and it was bitter cold, they allowed us to congregate in the lobby. It was like old home week as my author friends came down from their rooms.

I chatted with the ever entertaining Debbie Dadey as she put on her socks. I chatted with the ultra talented Johnette Downing. I met Johnette's illustrator the fabulous Christina Wald who designed the cutest pictures for Johnette's latest book, Macrooned on A Dessert Island. And I finally got to meet my longtime facebook friend and author, Laura Eckroat who also had to stop and put her shoes and socks on. While we waited and mingled, Debbie even managed to get a picture of a fireman holding her nephew's Flat Stanley.

Hanging with Debbie Dadey
 

Christina, Me, and Johnette

 

Laura and Me

Children's day was lot's of fun, and I even made some new author friends like Todd Shleuning and his wife Cheryl who were there with their book, The Misphits. While I handed out signed bookmarks to all the children who visited, Bobby and Emily went to visit his Aunt who lives two hours away. At the end of the day, Bobby and Emily hung out at the hotel as I attended the author meet and greet with Debbie and Laura.

We had a wonderful surprise as we dined on delicious appetizers, and that was the addition to our table of Kevin "Special K" Daley the former Globetrotter and current Motivational Speaker. He was down to earth, as friendly as a person can be, and there to sign his autobiography, I Never Stopped Smiling.

Kevin and Me

The next day at the regular book fair, I spent time in-between customers hanging out with one of my favorite illustrators, Mark Wayne Adams, one of my favorite Christian Romance authors, Virginia "Ginny" Smith, and Murder Mystery Man of the hour, Steve Demaree. I even managed to sneak a read of Laura's third book, Went Out To Get a Donut- Came Back With a Muffin, and I have to say that every book I read makes me love her even more. Her talent for writing beautiful picture books is astounding.

Mark and Me

 

Ginny and Me

 

Hanging With Steve
 



While I spent my last day at the fair hawking my own books and schmoozing with friends, Bobby and Emily went to the Great American Dollhouse Museum. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Bobby or Emily. When they got back, they could hardly wait to tell me of there own adventures. All in all I would have to say it was a great four days.

Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.