Today is a very exciting day. Bridget Zinn's POISON has been released into the wild! Book birthdays (especially friend's book birthdays...) always make me feel like dancing and throwing piles of confetti and eating massive amounts of cupcakes, and this day is no exception.

I first met Bridget in the fall of 2008, and was instantly struck by her enthusiasm, sincerity and kindness. Bridget was a vegetarian, non-smoking, sunscreen wearing individual, who was shockingly diagnosed with colon cancer, right around the time that she was offered a book deal for POISON with Hyperion. Bridget passed away at 33 in 2011. You can read more about Bridget and her story here.

Bridget was an incredibly talented YA writer, blogger and librarian. POISON is a testament to her wit, talent and humor. Please, please, puh-leeze spread the word about this book, and buy a copy (or two, or ten...) It's ok, I'll wait.

A posse of Bridget's writer and illustrator friends (myself included) will be gathering at A Children's Place to sign POISON copies in honor of Bridget and celebrate this amazing book, Saturday, March 16th at 6pm.  (I'll be blogging more about POISON on March 20th, so stay tuned for a full report.)

If you're in the Portland area, please come celebrate Bridget with us. Or you can come just to see me do the special kind of deeply-embarassing-book-dance that I reserve for book launches and book announcements. (Oh dear, I've said too much.) Also, there will be cupcakes at the event. So I advise you come early if you don't want me to eat them all. (This is a very real possibility, people. You've been warned.)

This afternoon I'll be participating in an online chat (5:30 pm Pacific, 8:30pm Eastern) in honor of POISON and Bridget, along with a bunch of Bridget's writer and illustrator buddies. Come join us!