Rochester Teen Book Festival

I will be at the Rochester Teen Book Festival on May 19. It will be a fun day of author interviews, panels, games & signings. Come join me and the other authors if you're in the area!

Where?
Nazareth College Main entrance at Shults Center 4245 East Avenue Rochester, NY 14618

When?
Saturday, May 19, 2012 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. The authors will arrive around 8:45 a.m. Come cheer for them and watch the parade!

Why?
Meet 31 authors!! The Seventh Annual Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival is FREE (thanks to our generous partners!) and open to everyone, but seating preference will be given to teen readers at all sessions! No registration is needed...just come and enjoy the day!

For more details, check out the TBF website HERE

Hope to see you there!

Heart Day

Happy Love Day! I've been masterminding a bit of a blog revamp, but in the meantime, I thought I'd repost one of my past valentine's day confessions:



In light of Valentine's Day, I feel it's time to come clean. I can no longer deny that I have a serious problem with monogamy. Yes, I admit, I am a book cheater...

It all started when I'd shift between the pages of Dr. Seuss and P.D. Eastman books carelessly... all the while, neither book knew about the other. Call me naive, but I didn't know two-timing was wrong back then. Soon enough two books weren't enough to satisfy my book cheating urges... I'd move on to three, four, or five at a time. Board books, picture books, coloring books - it didn't matter how I satisfied my compulsion - I wasn't picky.

Things progressed grimly during my elementary years when the Scholastic Book Club reinforced my book cheating addiction even more. I'd purchase piles of books at a time despite the incredulous stares and whispers of my fellow classmates.

But I confess, I didn't just book cheat in school... I would have late night trysts with the pages of Roald Dahl books... and move on seamlessly to Katherine Paterson, Madeleine L'Engle, Shel Silverstein, and Beverly Cleary...

Fortunately, my early years weren't completely devoid of book monogamy. My Judy Blume phase was a time I'm proud to say I went steady with a book. It was good while it lasted... But then Christopher Pike and R.L. Stine dragged me into the depths of cheating again by their wicked plots and twisted writing. After that, I was right back to my dirty old book cheating habits.

As I matured into young adulthood, my book cheating grew worse. Once in college, I began cheating on fiction with non-fiction... and I cheated on non-fiction pleasure reading with academic reading... and then academic reading with TABLOID MAGAZINES! Good grief, it's disgraceful to own up to!

However, I can't take all the blame for my tainted book moral compass. There are book pushers who drive me to cheat with their "books for purchase" ploys. Yes, I'm referring to bookstores.

But with the warped help of Amazon, I no longer worry about the awkward glances from book pushing clerks while I peruse the shelves of Borders and Barnes and Noble adorned with a fake mustache disguise. Amazon has been a book cheating middle-man, making it all the more easy to find books willing to help me cheat on my other books in the privacy of my own home.

And Amazon's enabling ways don't stop there... Most recently I've gone down a new technologically sick book cheating path by cheating on my real books with my Amazon Kindle books. Does the shame ever end?! For the love of books, I need HELP people!

So tell me, my friends of the blog world (if you're still actually reading this...), am I the only one suffering in the depths of book cheating torment? I beg you to come forward so we can work together toward book monogamy... or, on second thought, we could trade books and begin a polygamous book cult.

Happy heart day to all and to all a good night!

Gift Card Giveaway

Check out this fun giveaway on Natalie Zaman's blog: Whose Shoes Are Whose? I was with Natalie this past Saturday for YA-Palooza in Clinton, NJ... and my shoes make an appearance in her giveaway contest. I would post pictures from the event, but will have to wait until Natalie's giveaway is over (11/25/11) so that the answers aren't given away. Natalie is giving away a $100 gift card to Clinton Bookshop in Clinton, NJ. What a fab prize!!! Click the link above & enter! Good luck!

YA-Palooza!

Come see me, Alissa Grosso, Charlotte Bennardo, Natalie Zaman, Kathy McCullough and Kristi Cook tomorrow (11/12/11) from 1 pm to 3 pm at the Clinton Bookshop in Clinton, NJ (12 East Main St, Clinton, New Jersey 08809-1410 - 908-735-8811). There will be pizza, sweets, giveaways, prizes, book signings, reading... and lots of FUN! See all of the event details HERE.

Neshaminy Event Pictures

I participated in another group author signing this past Saturday (10/22) at the Neshaminy Mall Barnes & Noble in Bensalem, PA with the KidLit Authors Club. Here are some pictures from the event:


Front Row L to R: Alissa Grosso, Amy Holder, Jennifer R. Hubbard, Keri Mikulski
Back Row L to R: Cyn Balog, Ellen Jensen Abbott, Cynthia Chapman Willis


Authors Nancy Viau & Alison Ashley Formento


Keri Mikulski and Amy Holder (me!)


L to R: Amy Holder, Jennifer R Hubbard, Nancy Viau, Alison Ashley Formento, Cyn Balog, Alissa Grosso, Ellen Jensen Abbott

Neshaminy Mall Event

Do you live near Bensalem, PA? If so, the Barnes & Noble at the Neshaminy Mall will be hosting me and eight other KidLit Authors tomorrow (October 22nd from 1 to 4 pm) for a big signing event. We would love to meet you!!

Participating Authors:
Ellen Jensen Abbott
Cyn Balog
Alison Ashley Formento
Alissa Grosso
Amy Holder (me!)
Jennifer R. Hubbard
Keri Mikulski
Nancy Viau
Cynthia Chapman Willis

Store events page details HERE

Store address & phone: 300 Neshaminy Mall, Bensalem, PA 19020, 215-364-4235

More Event Pictures...

I've been keeping busy so far this fall with many fun signing and book festival events. I'm sharing some pictures from the last two that I participated in below:

Collingswood Book Festival - 10/1/2011

KidLit Authors Club YA Tent

L to R: Alissa Grosso, Keri Mikulski, Amy Holder (me!), Ellen Jensen Abbott, Cyn Balog

L to R: Ann Malaspina, Toni De Palma, Cynthia Chapman Willis, Irene Breznak, Alison Ashley Formento, Timothy Young

Authors Alissa Grosso & Keri Mikulski

Authors Ellen Jensen Abbott & Cyn Balog

Authors Margie Gelbwasser & Jennifer R. Hubbard

Authors Irene Breznak & Alison Ashley Formento

Author & Illustrator Timothy Young

Author Nancy Viau talking with young readers

KidLit Tent

Doylestown Bookshop Event - 9/23/2011

Doylestown Event Announcement

Doylestown Bookshop Shelf Display

Doylestown Bookshop Shelf Display #2

L to R: Cyn Balog, Alissa Grosso, Ellen Jensen Abbott, Jennifer R. Hubbard, Amy Holder (me!)

L to R: Amy Holder (me!), Alissa Grosso, Jennifer R. Hubbard, Ellen Jensen Abbott, Cyn Balog

That's it for now... Please check my News & Reviews page for more upcoming events. I'd love to meet you! :)