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Just stay home. Please.

Find something else to do.

Each year I do this event, which features more than 60 amazing children’s book authors and illustrators, and it’s always such a disappointment. For starters, check out some of the people who’ll be there, and you’ll understand why I’m so bummed:

Tony Abbott, Nora Raleigh Baskin, Nick Bruel, Bryan Collier, Katie Davis, Bruce Degen, Jean Craighead George, Charise Mericle Harper, Susan Jeffers, Peter Lerangis, Gail Carson Levine, Carolyn MacCullough, Rafe Martin, Wendy Mass, Matthew McElligott, Helen Perelman, Wendell Minor, Gloria Pinkney, Lizzy Rockwell, Todd Strasser, Mark Teague, Jean Van Leeuwen, Eric Velasquez, Sarah Weeks, Ed Young, and more.

Why so down-in-the-dumps you ask? Because I never get to talk to any of them. I never get a chance to meet the new (to me!) people, like Will Moses (Mary and Her Little Lamb), Lena Roy (Edges), Daniel Kirk (Library Mouse), Peter Brown (You Will Be My Friend!) . . .

. . . and Jerry Davis (Little Chicken’s Big Day). Who are these people? Might they become my new best pals? Um, not likely! Because they are sitting at tables forty feet away, surrounded by happy children, shopping grandparents, and strong-armed educators, hauling bags of books like Sherpa guides.

Best I can do is throw rocks at ‘em.

And, oh, hey, look over there, it’s Jean Craighead George. She’s only a freakin’ legend. I can’t throw rocks at Jean Craighead George. She’ll throw them back — and her arm is a bazooka.

Oh,  wait.  Here’s old friends like Mark Teague and Helen Perelman and Peter Lerangis. Can I talk to any of them? Can we hang out? Maybe shoot the breeze? Commiserate?

Nooooooo. I’m too busy signing books, meeting young readers, gabbing with families, prostrating myself before the cheerful & smiling hordes.

Writing is a solitary business, folks. And it’s frustrating for me to sit there at gorgeous Sunnyside . . .

. . . just feet away from my peerless peers, and never have a free minute to chat with them.

So my dream is for just one year, nobody comes. No book sales, no signings, no musicians, no storytellers, no-bah-dee. Just us authors, finally (finally!) enjoying a few moments when we can hang out and complain about the crappy jobs our publishers do with publicity and marketing. It’s how we bond. We bitch and moan about Kindles.

So this coming Sunday, clean the garage, watch football, wax the car. But if you insist on coming . . . click

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: August 10, 2010

Jumping jelly beans! Leaping licorice!

Thanks to author Helen Perelman, we have 5 signed copies of Candy Fairies: Caramel Moon to giveaway!

Don’t miss this giveaway. The Candy Fairies series truly is one of the sweetest (excuse the pun) chapter book collections for the younger set.

Reading level: Ages 6-9

Paperback: 128 pages

Book overview: Meet the Candy Fairies! This sweet new series is aimed at 6- 9 year olds (second grade being the sweet spot, but it does make a great read aloud to the 4-5 year old set.) The fairies live in Sugar Valley where jelly beans grow on vines, candy corn sprout on stalks, and chocolate eggs ripen in nests. With a touch of magic, the fairies create candy and live in Candy Kingdom under the kind and sweet ruler, Princess Lolli. The five fairies – Cocoa (chocolate), Melli (caramel), Raina (gummy), Berry (fruit) and Dash (mint) have delicious adventures (sometimes involving a salty troll who lives under the black licorice bridge.) The stories are about friendship, adventure, magic, and of course – candy!

Melli the Caramel Fairy is the star of book three. She can’t wait for the Caramel Moon Festival. The candy corn crops are all picked in the moonlight and there’s a big celebration. When Melli notices that there is something wrong in the fields, she needs her friends to help figure out who – or what – is trying to ruin the sweet treats. She will need to be clever as well as brave to save the candy corn.

About the author: Helen Perelman enjoys candy from all parts of Sugar Valley, but jelly beans, red licorice, and gummy fish are her favorites.  She worked in a children’s bookstore, and was a children’s book editor for many years…but sadly she never worked in a candy store. She now writes full time in New York City where she lives with her husband and two daughters. Visit her at www.Helenperelman.com. Follow her on Twitter or Friend the Candy Fairies on Facebook.

Other books in the series: Book 1 – Chocolate Dreams, Book 2 – Rainbow Swirl.

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