A Visit to Random House

On Monday I had the good fortune to accompany the Western CT YA Librarian Round Table to Random House. It's a crazy long travel day (6 hours total), but it was worth it! We got there a little bit early and had time to look around the lobby. They had bookcases on the two walls filled with books from the pasts century. Of course I just had to take pictures.

We then met Wendy Lamb who took the group of 13 librarians to her office, where we talked about book covers, the editing process, and we got to take a quick peek at a few manuscripts. We then chatted with Stephanie who talked with us about pictures books.

Did you know that an author and illustrator might never meet?
We got to see some art and take a look at the process of editing a picture book manuscript including art and the written world. F&G (Fold and Gather) is how pictures books are printed to take a look at color. It's ARC of the picture books.

We then took of tour of where all the magic happens.

They have a awesome wall for illustrators (when they moved - they moved the wall too)
Look, it's Babymouse!!!

It's Duck and Goose

Then we had lunch while chatting with several lovely editors/publishers/interns. We talked about book covers, social media and teens, e-readers vs print books, and of course upcoming books.

Here are the ones that I can't wait to read:

Beautiful and the Cursed (which I found an ARC in my goodie bag - there might have been squealing). Set in Paris - with gargoyles who are protectors. A missing brother. A Forbidden Romance.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library: This sounds super duper fun! Lots of puzzles. Kids overnight in the library. Tagged as a cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and A Night in the Museum.

Gated: Contemporary Dystopian - a gated community after 9/11. One girl meets a boy outside the compound and has to ask herself some tough questions.