FUN AT F.A.M.E.

I was honored to be one of the authors presenting at the 40th annual F.A.M.E. (Florida Association for Media in Education) Conference this past weekend.

Imagine being in a room with over 600 media specialists.  For this book-loving nerd, it was a terrific experience!

I enjoyed reconnecting with old friends and making lots of new ones.  Finally got to meet the awesome Shannon McClintock Miller.  Her F.A.M.E. blog post is here.  Shannon gave the opening keynote:  "Be the Change You Want to See in the World."  It energized, inspired and featured a great photo of "Pig Day" -- a program she did in conjunction with the amazing Mr. Schu and his students.

Sharon Draper was presented with the Sunshine State Young Reader Award for 3-5 and 6-8 grades for her book, Out of My Mind.

Sharon is raising her hand to ask if she can use the bathroom.  Or to thank everyone.

My presentation the following days involved talking about male models and the essentials to pack when you run away from home at age five.  (Hint:  Books!)  It ended with a fun trivia contest with prizes.  Loved the energy from attendees.

Managed to snap one quick photo as attendees were coming in.

The book signings were a great opportunity to chat with uber-media specialists.  Amazing what they do for their students.  Most of the books I signed will be given as prizes for young readers in schools all over Florida.  This makes me very happy.

Blurry, but sincere. 

There were some crazy things going on . . .

The force was with me . . .

Thanks for the late night chat ANDREA BEATY and JAMES PONTI.  And the happy surprise hello -- HENRY COLE.

And HUGE THANKS to Andrea Parisi and Helen Zientek for inviting me and making sure I had a wonderful experience. 

What a FUNTASTIC weekend! 

Hope to see you all again next year.  Until then . . . see you at APRIL IS FOR AUTHORS!