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I knew that BEA was extraordinary for many reasons; I felt something tremble in the air.  I didn't, however, expect to see Dangerous Neighbors listed in this PW article noting the show's "biggest" children's books by category.  Thanks to all of you who contributed to that buzz, who stood in line for that end-of-day signing, and who made me feel at home.

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I was out of the house by 4:30 AM, and the day unfurled at lightening speed (save for the trains, which were both on the rather too late and slow side).  In the first photo:  The Egmont lunch for authors, booksellers, and librarians, held on the upper floor of a garment-district art gallery.  In the second:  Egmont Publisher Elizabeth Law, the remarkable James Lecesne (about whom I will soon be writing far more), Laura Geringer (who edits both James and me), and yours truly (in pink, because who else would wear pink on an 18 hour day spent among crowds and on trains?).

A huge thank you to all of you who stood in that line for the end-of-day, end-of-convention signing— I looked up, and there you were, and I won't forget the gift of your patience and enthusiasm.  Thank you to all of those who found me and stopped to say hello.  Thank you to the impeccable and beautiful Mandy King (I will always be grateful for our time together, and for all that led up to it).  Thank you to Amy Rennert and Louise (you know why).  A lasting thank you to the Egmont team—Elizabeth Law, Doug Pocock, Mary Albi, Rub Guzman, Regina Griffin, Greg Ferguson, Nico Medina, and Alison Weiss—who put together such a show, and who have welcomed me to the family in ways that I have never been welcomed before. (Nico, please note that I am thanking you despite your refusal to wear 19th century garb in support of my 19th century book.)  Thank you, Laura, for being there throughout.

I came home to see my boys (a midnight rendezvous) and to attend to corporate work.  I'm back on that train in a few hours, to join book bloggers at a convention and to speak about author/blogger relationships.

The horses are down the street; I'll sneak into their world early Saturday.

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I'm headed into the Big Apple today (though not by way of clydesdales, sadly) to talk about the power of the Kelly Writers House program at Penn, to read with Kimberly Eisler, one of my truly talented students, and to witness the indomitable Al Filreis teach a poem (that should be something; hope he doesn't call on me).  Two days later, I'll head back down into Philadelphia to see my first Penn student, Moira Moody, say I do to the man she loves.  I'm banking on Dr. Filreis showing off some highly ecclesiastical moves at Moira's wedding. I'll take hip hop, too. Or even the cha cha.

By mid-week next week, I'll be spending the day at Chanticleer (the site of Ghosts in the Garden and Nothing but Ghosts)—teaching memoir to the aspiring writers of Agnes Irwin, thanks to the invitation of Julie Diana, who is not just the head librarian at Agnes Irwin, but the wife of the fabulous writer, Jay Kirk.  Thursday and Friday, back in New York, I'll spend some time with editor Laura Geringer and the glorious Egmont team; the book bloggers I have come to love; Amanda King, Gussie Lewis, and Jennifer Laughran, booksellers extraordinaires; and maybe even grab a few moments with Amy Rennert, my west-coast based agent with whom I often speak but whom I rarely see.

I am not, by nature, a sustainably social person, and so, when I return home next Friday evening, I'll be grateful that one of my very favorite events of the entire year—the Devon Horse Show—will have rolled into town.  We moved here in large part because the fairgrounds are just down the road, because these horses do trot by just after dawn, because I like few things more than walking through the shadows of stables, fitting my hand to a sweet mare's nose.  I like the sound of clop and whinny, the tinny music that accompanies balloon dart games and Ferris wheels.

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Here's another winning Egmont book! Can you tell I love their books? It's been thirty years since the Elisha plague has wiped out 97% of the male population. Now women are in positions of leadership and power. Kellan is one of the few males in this world. He feels isolated and misses his outcast father. Then rumors circulate that Elisha might reappear. Kellan sets out to find his father to warn him but along the way he stumbles on something even worse. Epitaph Road is one of those stories that keeps you on the edge of your seat, while you follow Kellan on the path to finding his father and the truths he discovers in his so-called perfect society. Read more of my review at YA Books Central.

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Twelve-year-old Emily struggles to support herself and her younger brother Will. One day, while on the way to work, she comes across a faery battle. Then everything changes. Not just for her but all of London too. The Invisible Order is a page turning tale with an assortment of characters that is sure to become a hit. Read more of my review at YA Books Central.

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There's a spark in the children's lit air and her name is Elizabeth Law (her title, by the way, is VP and Publisher, Egmont USA). She's being talked about and interviewed in many places and, from what I'm hearing from friends like Sherrie, Elizabeth's keynote address at SCBWI-LA was exquisite—empowering and enlightening. This is the same Elizabeth Law who stopped by, unexpectedly, to a book chat sponsored by My Friend Amy, on behalf of Nothing but Ghosts. Amy is a book blogger Elizabeth follows on Twitter. Nothing but Ghosts is a Harper title. I was typing away, trying to keep up with the chatter, when it occured to me that the Elizabeth Law whose name kept burbling up among the chat-room many was THE Elizabeth Law, of Egmont.

Imagine that.

Every single time I hear an Elizabeth Law story, I stop and remind myself how entirely lucky I am that my historical novel, Dangerous Neighbors, will be released by Egmont next fall. I don't just get to work with a phenomonal, brilliant editor—Laura Geringer—on this book. I get to work with a publisher who is out there on Twitter and Facebook and Blogs and Chatrooms, talking about books she loves, trends she sees, things she hopes for. Elizabeth Law is a galvanizer. It is peace-yielding to look ahead to this collaboration. I wish that I could have been in LA, at her keynote talk. More than that, though, I hope and believe that the daring and caring that Elizabeth brings to books will become a surge wave that works its way across an industry that desperately needs her kind of energy and faith.

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Lee: Biggest mistake writers make according to ELaw is following a trend.

Paula: Oh, she's sharing some great books that she loves that came out recently. "Hunger Games." "Wintergirls."

Lee: I'm adding them to my To-Read pile right now.

Paula: She's also talking about knowing your book's hook.

Lee: You've gotta be able to hook your book.

Paula: You're rhyming, aren't you?

Lee: Thank you for noticing.

Paula: She's giving a good pitch example - not 2 minutes long, but for Egmont's "Leaving the Bellweathers," she's saying it's "The Addams Family meets Cheaper by the dozen."

Lee: That's really interesting that those aren't book references - they're TV series and movies!

Paula: Cheaper by the Dozen was originally a book. Often, using TV and movies is an effective way of getting across a high-concept idea.

Lee: And I certainly have an idea of what tone is of "Leaving the Bellweathers" from that.

Paula: Oh, now she's saying how she relies on agents to screen for her. They're weaning out a whole level of stuff before it gets to them. You know, she could go on the road doing a one-woman show.

Lee: ELaw. On Twitter. @EgmontGal. Get her while she's HOT!

Paula: And we're finishing with a huge round of applause for ELaw!

Lee: She has a motto! "No Nonsense!"

Applause...


Posted by Paula Yoo and Lee Wind

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Lee: ELaw just said, Competition is stiff, so the writing has to be great. Oh, she reads on kindle - and just re-read "A Wrinkle In Time."

Paula: Is that a kindle in time?

Lee: You're Funny. Make that Punny.

Paula: Now here's a quote, "Man, I thought these books were so hot when I was a teenager..."

Lee: And she's saying that Now, for her to look back on them, the passion is there, but those books seem so chaste.

Paula: She's saying that the passion is the same, (even if we're a little more candid about it now.)

Lee: I love that she just admitted "I sort of am, kind of an eleven year old." That goes with my whole theory of we all write the age we arrested in our development. What age did you stop, Paula?

Paula: 15. No, actually, make it 12.

Lee: But wait a minute. You write picture books AND YA. Do you have two ages of arrested development?

Paula: That's my evil twin.

Lee: Oh, that explains it.

Paula: Stop - she's giving us some information now!

Lee: Well, let's go to a commercial break - we'll be right back for Elizabeth Law Color Commentary, Part 4

Disembodied Voice Over: Do you miss the moments of insight and laughter that actually attending an SCBWI conference can deliver to you? Do you follow our twitter feed, #SCBWI09, yet long for the one-on-one awkwardness of pitching ELaw while she's taking the up escalator? Are you reading this post with the hope that you'll get every single wonderful detail of being here, but you know there's 90 percent of the experience that can never be translated digitally?

Well then, get yourself to the next SCBWI conference. It's a career-changing, life-changing, tribal experience. And we hope to see you at the next one.

we now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.

Posted by Paula Yoo and Lee Wind

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Several years ago, Laura Geringer wrote a most extraordinary note, inviting me to consider writing for young adults. Despite years spent teaching children and a stint as the chair of the 2001 National Book Awards Young People's Literature jury, this was not something that I felt I knew how to do. Nonetheless, I loved Laura's mind from the first, I loved our conversations, and we kept talking. We talked for almost a year until we finally met in person—Laura asking me questions on a rainy Sunday morning to which some combination of my personal history and imagination responded. Undercover emerged under Laura's great care. House of Dance was next. Nothing but Ghosts and a short story for the just-released HarperTeen anthology No Such Thing as the Real World were subsequent. Finally, Laura bought the early pages of The Heart of Not a Size, the Juarez novel due out from HarperTeen next March (and carried so ably forward by the delightful Jill Santopolo).

Laura left HarperTeen in August of last year, but our friendship continued. Today I am so utterly happy to announce that I'll be working with Laura again on an historical novel that is currently titled Dangerous Neighbors. It's a book that I conceived of several years ago, when writing Flow, my autobiography of the Schuylkill River. It's a book that Amy Rennert, my agent, wholly believed in. It's a book that went through several iterations and will, no doubt, again, for Laura asks exquisite questions, she pushes authors far, she sees, and—more than anything—she believes in literature and complex stories, in fiction that pushes boundaries.

I have the chance to work with Laura again because she has formed an alliance with a genuinely interesting publishing house called Egmont USA, an outgrowth of a publishing house with a long European pedigree. In making her announcement about Laura today, Egmont USA publisher Elizabeth Law noted that "her excellent taste, creative ideas and deep relationships in the field will be a perfect complement to our fast growing children's list."

Yes. Yes. And Yes.

A brief description of Dangerous Neighbors:

It is the Centennial year in Philadelphia, and Katherine has lost her twin sister to an inconceivable accident. One wickedly hot September day at the height of exhibition madness, Katherine sets out to cut short the lonesome life she is no longer willing to live. This is the story of what happens.

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