Author Visit: Kim Harrington

I was lucky enough to get the fabulously funny Kim Harrington to appear for our Teen Summer Reading Kick-off Program.

Here's the book table with all her fabulous books:

And the goodies table, because it's not an author visit without dessert

Kim talked about how she got ideas for her books and how she has an idea notebook now. She talked about characters - and now Clare might be her favorite because she wished that she always had a snarky comeback when she was being bullied, instead of walking away.

Kim shared foreign covers with her. Some are great and some are very strange, not making a whole lot of sense to me. Here's the UK copy -which looks awesome! The model on the cover has major attitude!

Kim talked about her middle grade trilogy, which is super cute. The two main girls are super nerdy and super proud of it, which is great. Kim, herself, is a HUGE Star Wars fan.  I'm loving the nerdy girl trend.

All in all, it was an evening full of bookish talk, lots of laughter, and left several readers eager to read more of Kim's work. Really, it was perfect.

And here are the two if us together - Don't you LOVE Kim's shirt? I do!

 

Kim was gracious enough to pose for a READ poster for the library. Here's what I came up with! Do you like it?

Review: Daughters Join the party

Emma, the last to know anything in her family, learns that her father will be running for President - on the day she gets kicked out of her boarding school. She was attending a summer session, but now her parents are scrambling to find her a school for the fall.

Her parents force her to attend the same school as her overachiever perfect brother - Remington. He's the golden boy of the family and the school.

Emma feels out of place next to him. Her family views her as a screw-up. She can't seem to do anything right. Luckily at school, she hangs out with Lizzie who introduces her to Hudson and Carina.

The three girls welcome Emma with open arms. Can Emma change people's opinion of her?

My Thoughts: I LOVED this series and I'm sad that this is the last book. I loved Emma's story. I loved her spunk, her outspokenness, and her daring attitude. I loved her determination and her spirit. I loved the romance, drama, and strong friendships in this series. I can't wait to read what Joanna Philbin writes next!

Cover Thoughts: Adorable - I love these covers and how they pop.

Source: My Library

Joanna Philbin came to RJ Julia's - a great independent bookstore not too far in CT. Here we are:


And here's the READ poster I made:

NELA

I've been away for the first bit of the week at the NELA conference in Burlington, VT.

I went to presentations on teen programs, learned about folk and fairy tales, presented on blogging, heard the wonderful T.A. Barron speak, learned about the digital divide, and got some new ideas for displays.

If you didn't get to go to NELA, you can see the presentations/handouts here. My handout with various blogs is here. I know there were some programs I missed due to scheduling conflicts, so I'm happy to be able to look through the presentations myself.

I was nervous talking, but it turned out great. I LOVED meeting my co-bloggers
Leila Roy’s Bookshelves of Doom
Andrea Graham’s blog, 4YA
Josie Leavitt, one of the bloggers at ShelfTalker at Publishers Weekly


Here's a write up of our presentation. Sounds like we did pretty good!

A few pictures:




Here's T.A. Barron and myself:

Tom's website

The READ poster I made of T.A. Barron