Last weekend, I had an awesome time being a panelist at the Tweens Read Book Festival, held at South Houston High School in Pasadena. In all, more than 1700 tween readers showed up to hear keynotes by Jacqueline Woodson and Margaret Peterson Haddix, as well as any three of five panels of authors. For the complete list, click here.
My panel was called "Houston, We Have Problems," and featured six authors in a lively discussion of science fiction for tweens:
Greg Leitich Smith - Little Green Men at the Mercury Inn
Stu Gibbs - Space Case
Jennifer Brown - Life on Mars
Will Alexander - Ambassador
Jessica Brody - Unforgotten
Matt London - The 8th Continent
Check out some pictures:
 |
| The students gather for the opening keynote |
 |
| Jennifer Holm, Jennifer Ziegler, Varsha Bajaj |
 |
| Megan Frazer Blakemore, Kirby Larson, Jenni Holm, and me |
 |
| Me and Bruce Hale, with Jonathan Auxier (background) |
 |
| Authors gathered onstage for introductions |
 |
| Matt London, Jessica Brody, Jennifer Brown, and me |
 |
| Signing stock |
 |
| Natalie Lloyd, Varian Johnson, Jennifer Holm, Jennifer Ziegler, Varsha Bajaj |
 |
| Cynthia Leitich Smith and Jacqueline Woodson |
 |
| Megan Frazer Blakemore, a South Houston Trojan, and me |
Many thanks to all the organizers, sponsor, and volunteers, especially Blue Willow Books!
