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Holly Black & Tony DiTerlizzi at Joseph-Beth (or How Long a 5-year-old Can Last at a Bookstore Event)...

Last night Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi's book tour for The Wyrm King, the 3rd book in their Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles series, took them to the Joseph-Beth Booksellers here in the Nati. I thought Holly was terrific when I saw her speak at the SCBWI conference in LA in August so I didn't want to miss the Joe-Beth appearance despite the fact that I didn't have a babysitter for the boy. But he's seen the Spiderwick movie previews and knows the bookstore has macaroni and cheese in the cafe, so he was in. (Note: The last bookstore event I brought him to was Holly Hobbie when he was 3 months old. See From the Editor in the 2006 CWIM.)

As I suspected, the event was crowded. Check out all the people as they wait for Holly and Tony to come in. (You can't see those who are standing in the aisle and between the bookcases in the back. There were lots of people.)


Holly and Tony were really charming, engaging and funny. This was truly one of the most enjoyable book signings I've attended. Their event included talk of cool mythical creatures (with visual aids and instructions to not Google "rat king"), live dragon drawing, impromptu diaper jokes, and prizes (including Tony's drawings). Here's Holly and Tony addressing the crowd of readers.


Here's Holly reading a little from The Wyrm King (enough to get us really interested by not give too much away).


Tony takes it in from the sidelines (and rests his drawing/signing hand).


And here's me with Tony and Holly, interupting them mid-autographing for a picture. (I knew the boy wouldn't have the patience for standing in line and it was getting close to his bed time, so I didn't get a book autographed myself, but they offered to pose with me anyway. Note the cool blown up Wyrm King cover in the background.)


And here's the boy, who fidgeted on my lap for 45 minutes and kept saying "This is not hilarious for me. I'm tired of being here. Is that a dragon?" And he picked his nose like it was his job.


Finally, the boy got to do what he loves to do at the bookstore: play with trains.


He also made it home with a copy of The Spiderwick Chronicles movie and one of Jon Scieszka's Truck Town books.

(And next week when I go see Sara Zarr when her tour stops in the Nati, I'm going by myself. She's in the Nati October 6th and 7th.)

Seen at My Local Bookseller: Lisa McMann & Cassandra Clare...

Last Friday night I caught one of the last few stops of the Lisa McMann and Cassandra Clare author tour when the pair appeared at Joseph-Beth Booksellers here in the Nati. (I'm a little tardy on my reporting--tough fitting in blogging this week. This little 'ol book we do, Writer's Market, has been taking up a lot of my time.)

I loved this bookstore event for a number of reasons. First, I'm a fan of Lisa McMann and I was happy to meet her in person and get an autographed copy of Fade which I just finished last night. Second, Cassandra Clare's urban fantasy trilogy sounds really cool and totally up my alley and now I'm going to read her books. Third, I'm happy to see that publishers are still setting up multiple-city, all-over-the-country authors tours. Also, this was the first author event I've been to since I signed on to Twitter and I really enjoyed tweeting throughout, posting pictures and allowing others to experience it with me. (So fun!)

The coolest thing about this event, however, was the audience. Teens. Lot of them.


Besides the packed rows of chairs, fans of the authors stood on benches behind shelves. By my count there were 100 or so people there for the signing.

It wasn't just fantastic that teens turned out to see authors on a Friday night. It was fantastic that they turned out with such enthusiasm. There were thoughtful questions. There was a squeal or two. There was singing! And they got stacks of books signed (like not just one of Cassie's books--all of them).

These girls are fans. They love their characters. They want more books about them. They are invested. It made me so happy.

And below are the happy (and no doubt warn-out from signing signing signing all that stock) authors, Lisa (second from left) and Cassie (in the middle) along with a few of the fab J-B staff members.


Follow Lisa on Twitter: http://twitter.com/lisa_mcmann
Follow Cassandra on Twitter: http://twitter.com/cassieclare