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FRIDAY, JUNE 24

5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Veronica Roth (DIVERGENT)

SATURDAY, JUNE 25

9:00 am-9:30am
Thanhha Lai (INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN)
Carolyn Mackler (TANGLED)

9:30 am – 10:30 am
Alex Flinn (CLOAKED)
Jack Gantos (GUYS READ: FUNNY BUSINESS)

10:30 am – 11:00 am
Kelly Milner Halls (SAVING THE BAGHDAD ZOO)
Bobbie Pyron (A DOG’S WAY HOME)

11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Kadir Nelson (HEART AND SOUL posters)

11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Katherine Hannigan (TRUE…(SORT OF))

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Patrick Carman (DARK EDEN galleys)

12:30 pm – 1:00 pm
Katherine Hannigan (BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA)

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Dan Gutman (THE GENIUS FILES: MISSION UNSTOPPABLE)

SUNDAY, JUNE 26

9:00 am – 9:30 am
Bob Shea (I’M A SHARK)

9:30 am – 10:30 am
Christopher Myers (WE ARE AMERICA)

10:30 am – 11:30 am
Rita Williams-Garcia (Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Winner for ONE CRAZY SUMMER)

11:30 am – 12:30 pm
Kevin Henkes (JUNONIA; LITTLE WHITE RABBIT)

1:00 pm – 1:30 pm
Claudia Gray (FATEFUL)
Maureen Johnson (THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPE)

1:30 pm &

This time, Amy and Dan are in Russia searching for clues—a country that is rich in history.

I'm going to assume that it will be spring (wouldn't it have to be?) by the time the Philadelphia Book Festival rolls around on April 17th and 18th, so I'm thinking iris colors. I'm also inviting you to come meet me and two fantastic YA writers—Elizabeth Eulberg (The Lonely Hearts Club) and Patrick Carman (Skeleton Creek and Trackers)—on the Sunday, April 18th YA panel. Elizabeth, Patrick, and I will be on an outdoor stage that afternoon, 2 PM. Sun, I'm thinking. A sprinkling of clouds. No rain.

When I asked author Patrick Carman if he'd like to do an interview, he said sure, but due to being crazy-busy, would a phone interview work? I said yes (of course!) and had a great time chatting with Patrick about his innovative video-book series, the first of which includes Skeleton Creek and The Ghost in the Machine; his contribution to the interactive 39 Clues series; and more. You can find him online at www.patrickcarman.com.

I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I enjoyed talking with Mr. Carman!


Did you invent the idea of a video-book or had you heard of the concept elsewhere?

I don't know about inventing.... I'd never heard about it being done before. We started working on it about three years ago and, for my purposes, I came up with the idea of mixing the books and the videos together. So, I don't know if I was the first person or not, but for Skeleton Creek which we started on three years ago (and came out seven months ago) I think it was the first time that a project that told the story in those two formats had been done. Who knows, if you were to really dig around, maybe there's something else out there, I don't know.

Was your publisher on board with the idea right away, or were they skeptical about the whole video-book idea?

My editor is David Levithan at Scholastic, [and] when I came up with the idea I was sure there was no way he was going to want to do it. So I went in assuming it wasn't going to happen. I sent it to him, and he said, "Well, we're working on something else that this would be perfect to go along side of, but I can't tell you what the something else is." But Scholastic took it off the market the day after I showed it to them - it never got shown around besides that. Really surprised me. So it went in a day, and then it was later on, a couple of months later, that I found out--because it was all very secretive at that time--about The 39 Clues. He said, this is why we wanted Skeleton Creek, because we wanted something for a little bit older of kids, we wanted to do something else in what we call "21st century literacy" - in that vein, besides 39 Clues. The funny thing is, there was an email that went out to a very small group of people about 39 Clues when it was getting closer, and he didn't ask me if I wanted to do one, but as soon as I understood what it was, 20 seconds after I read it, I sent him an email and said, you have to let me do one of these. [laughs] I wasn't actually chosen to do a 39 Clues book, I sort of begged. I ended up being able to do one.

Oh, my double mocha was divine! The real whipped cream was so rich and stiff that it stayed afloat on the dark espresso sea as serenely as a sugar cloud.

The table was piled with books! We found each other by them, in fact. Who else would be carrying Hugo Cabret or Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! into a restaurant and waving them about?

The conversation was scintillating! Tales of book ordering frenzies after the ALA awards so wild they would win a bond trader's admiration. Stories of manuscripts being finished, started, revised, sold, dreamed about. Newbery and Caldecott winners passed from hand to hand. Confessions about what we had read and what we hadn't. Who loved what (and who didn't) and why. Cheeky ARCs for 2008 hobnobbing with seasoned 2007 titles.

Yes, folks, the DC Kidlit Brunch was everything I could've hoped for. If you live near the DC area, please come out next time. Email Caroline Hickey to be added to the A-List. (Hey, around here, we're all A-List.)

We ate French crepes. We signed each other's books. We talked about writing, and moving, and critique groups and author visits and bookstores. And we hatched a plan to start a DC/VA/MD Kid-Lit group. Yes, Caroline Hickey (author of Cassie was Here) and I had a very productive lunch yesterday. Here's her post, "D.C. Lobbies for Own Kidlit Drinks Nite," with info on how to contact her if you want to join in the Capital City fun.

And just in case you're wondering what the D.C. area has to offer in the way of kid-literary adventure:

What about a field trip to the Library of Congress? (Caroline's idea) Think they'd let a bunch of kidlit enthusiasts rummage around in the archives? Or trot out a few of their kidlit related treasures? Maybe not if we've had a few drinks beforehand, but if we promise to show up nice and orderly on a weekday morning?

I'd like to check out the new Arlington location of Busboys and Poets. The original location, on U Street in D.C. was named for Langston Hughes, who worked as a busboy at the nearby Wardman Park Hotel and left poems beside the dinner plate of another poet, Nicholas Lindsay. Most of the authors that visit seem to be decidedly non-kidlit, but hey, with as edgy as YA is becoming, we could probably pitch something to them. Or just hang out and eat. They've got peanut and banana sandwiches, if we wanna stand up for our youthful perspective. Think those would be good with a green apple martini? For pictures, see here.

The Lorton Arts Foundation is transforming a closed prison workhouse into a 55-acre cultural arts center. In 1917, the workhouse once held 170 women arrested for agitating for the right to vote; throughout the years, it housed other prisoners up until December of 2001. Now, it's the site of proposed arts programs that are heavy on the visual and performing arts, but I did see in their planning documents something called Letters and Lore, which promises workshops and author readings. Perhaps our newly formed D.C./VA/MD Kidlit group could come up with a rocking program? I'm game!

Go see Caroline at the Longstockings or comment here to join us!