A Grand Day Out*

Saturday afternoon, Carrie Jones, Maurissa Guibord, and I gathered at Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor, Maine, to talk, read aloud, and generally hobnob. We got a good crowd in the library's lovely, cozy conference room--hearteningly, there were kids there. Even more hearteningly, they were clearly readers, and smart ones. The future is in good hands.

My friend Alice Wilkinson drove over with me, and we had lunch first at a marvelous little bistro called 2 Cats, which this time of year serves breakfast until 1 p.m. I am always in the mood for breakfast, especially on those rare occasions when it involves lox. This one did. I was very happy.

Here is Alice, lining up shots as the audience jostles about setting up chairs. (She didn't take this picture while standing outside her physical body, in case you're wondering. I took it, because I thought the world should see Alice in action. )

Alice did take these. I moved out from behind the large conference tables to make sure she could photograph up my nose, which is becoming a theme of this blog.

At left I am reading like a grown-up. At right, I am guffawing like an idiot. I think I was talking about the glitter on the cover and how the cat continues to use it as a chin-scratching device.


Here (below) are Maurissa (left), Carrie and me sitting at our ease. Not sure if this is before or after the actual reading.

And here are some of the kind souls who bought our books and asked us to sign them. (I took this one, too, because it was a thrill to see such cheery faces on a bleak January afternoon.)



Deepest thanks to Debbie Taylor of Sherman's Books & Stationery in Bar Harbor and Mae Corrion of Jesup Memorial Library for organizing such a lovely event.

Bloggy Goodness! SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS got more online attention in recent days. Brenda Kahn at proseandkahn posted a review, and then made it even better in the comments at Heavy Medal on the School Library Journal site (second comment down). Pamela Hill was extremely kind at Mrs. Hill's Book Blog. Set me right up for a blissful Sunday.

Better still, it snowed again last night! And it's flurrying now! What an AWESOME winter. (I say that now. Wait until February.) (I sound like Eeyore. Sorry.)

*The title of this post is in Alice's honor, since she's a big Wallace & Gromit fan. As am I. As is any right-thinking human. Or dog.