NCTE!

Well, I can now say that I spoke to a standing room only crowd. Not only SRO, but flowing out the room, sitting in the hallway kind of crowd!

Of course, these folks all came to hear Lois Lowry but I am willing to ride on her shirttails for a day or so. Not only is she a terrific writer, she is one heck of a nice person. I felt as if we'd know each other forever. Though we do have one little point of friction between us: she had the nerve to say her dog is cuter than mine. Alfy is a Tibetan Terrier, like a half-size English Shepherd. He is adorable; absolutely. But we all know that there is no dog on this earth cuter than Winston the Wonder Dog.

After our successful presentation, I snuck off for lunch with Gennifer Choldenko. We navigated the labyrinth of hallways at the Coronado Springs Convention Center (well, we didn't navigate them well -- we had to backtrack completely to find the restaurants) and talked shop over salads. She's got a new book coming out in February that I can't wait to read. If I score an ARC tomorrow, I'll let you know.

I wandered the floor after lunch, killing time until my Random House signing. I snagged hugs from Dr. Nancy Johnson and Mitali Perkins and too many other folks to name before sitting down to sign my very first ARC of The Friendship Doll!!! Oh, and I signed a copy or two of that other book I did for Delacorte. I think it's called Hattie Blue Sky or something like that. After my hour at the RH booth, I zoomed to Bloomsbury/Walker to sign Two Bobbies. Even though that book's been out a good while, it still has huge fans. One teacher told me how she linked the book to a unit on heroes, and included it on a bibliography she was doing to help author T.A. Barron and his Everyone a Hero project. After Walker, it was on to Scholastic to sign The Fences Between Us. The line went on forever! Okay, most of the folks were holding their precious copies of The Giver for Lois Lowry to sign, but it was still great fun. And during the shuttle ride back to the hotel, I learned about Lois' new book, coming out in March, illustrated by Eric Rohman, a friend from my one visit to Downers Grove, Illinois.

I swore I would not accumulate any books but SOMEHOW some books did find their way into my bag. I'm addicted. I can't help it.

Tomorrow I have a quieter day . . .maybe there will even be time to sneak over to Universal Studios to check out the Harry Potter exhibit.

(I had hoped to have pictures to show you but internet speeds/connection in Mickey's house is, well, kind of Mickey Mouse.)