A Very Nerdy Start

I started this week feeling very refreshed. I guess there were a couple reasons for that. Professionally I was refreshed after spending the weekend at the YA Literature Conference put on by Anderson's Bookshop. More on that later. Personally I was refreshed after getting two uninterrupted nights of sleep at the swanky (tv in the bathroom mirror swanky) Hotel Arista while attending this conference. My daughter's night terrors and my puppy's night potty breaks are definitely taking a toll on me so I really savored my two nights of sleep. 

Back to the YA Literature Conference. In short, AMAZING! Schmoozing with 29 YA authors was like a dream come true for me. I first found out about the conference when I noticed it on the tour schedule of one of my all time favorite authors, Andrew Smith. Side note: If you haven't read his book, Winger, you really must. When I found it was only a mere three hour drive from home, I knew I wanted to go.  

Highlights of the conference in no particular order:

• Finally got to meet Andrew in person (he had Skyped with my students before).
• During a hysterical lightning round of questions, Beth Revis acted out her pose for a YA cover by kissing Myra McEntire.
• Got oodles of books signed for our library.
• Got three copies of The Perks of Being a Wallflower personalized for super fan students (Thank you Stephen Chbosky).
• Getting personal contact information from authors so I can set up Skype visits for my students.
• Buying loads of books.
• Purchasing a couple nerdy library humor shirts for myself.

My nerdy week continued when I gave the students their copies of Perks. I literally made a student cry. Not many teachers get to actually say they made a student cry, but now I can. She was so overwhelmed and excited that she couldn't formulate words and then just broke out in tears before giving me a huge hug. Yup. Good Monday.

Tuesday brought me more word nerdery in the form of an ARC. I wasn't sure what I was opening but I did a huge happy dance when I found Reality Boy in the package. A.S. King is one of my favorite authors so it was a pretty intense jig that I performed. Yes, there were kids in the library when I jigged. Yes, the students here know I'm a nerd. My dance didn't even phase them. Happy dances really can't be contained.

That is definitely a very nerdy start to the week. And I mean that in a good way.