Adventures in Aventura!

My last event of the season was a doozy!

It's not every day one gets to hang out with FLY GUY and call it "work."

Lisa Blair, president of the Miami-Dade Family Learning Partnership worked with Aventura Mall to create a SIX-hour event called The Book Shop.

We arrived the night before and were greeted by this in our hotel room . . .

A lovely gift basket, filled with all the essentials, including Sharpies, bottles of water and Mint Milano cookies.

When we went out to dinner, we found these signs all over the mall . . .

Riley Roam, Me and Janeen Mason near a sign, advertising the big event

And what an event it was!  There were books galore and authors -- Cheryl Holder, Lisa McCourt, Janeen Mason, Riley Roam, me and Lucia Gonzalez!

Lisa McCourt and Riley Roam

Janeen Mason and her assistant, Lin

And there were some real characters there, too . . .

Hi, Madeline!

And what's a book event without a giant dragon . . .

reading a giant book?!

The fun never stopped with the dynamic duo of PAGE TURNER ADVENTURES.  They emceed the entire event and provided stellar entertainment for over six hours!

They also performed THE GREAT PIZZA CONTEST . . .

One unsuspecting audience member wore a very interesting wig!

And the OLIVIA BEAN TRIVIA CONTEST . . .

I got to be scorekeeper and only cheated a little.  It was for the children!

 The best part was the endless stream of families, celebrating reading adventures together!

Thank you Lisa Blair, Miami-Dade Family Learning Partnership, Aventura Mall and MANY hard-working employees and volunteers for creating such a fun event and for allowing me to help celebrate a love for literature!  Thanks a million to my handsome hubby, who helped out in many ways throughout the event.

Happy summer reading, everyone!

Even you, Fly Guy . . .