Last School Visit and Book Signing of 2010

A big THANK YOU to librarian Karen Marchetto for inviting me to speak to the 6th grade students at Jupiter Middle School.

The day began with Hammy the Hamster appearing on their morning news.

I then proceeded to embarrass myself in front of more than 400 kids by telling them about my dork days of middle school, including the fact that I was a proud member of my school's ping pong club. Clearly, it would be impossible to out-dork me during those braces-wearing, pimple-erupting daze, er, days!

The evening after the school visit, I met great students, parents and teachers at Barnes & Noble, where I signed copies of How to Survive Middle School and As If Being 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother is Running for President!

One girl insisted her father buy her a copy of As If Being 12 3/4 . . . even though she'd already read it. Another girl asked me to recommend books I enjoyed when I was her age. Turns out, she'd already read and enjoyed Mr. Poppers Penguins, so I told her A Hundred Dresses might be another good choice.

I love meeting and chatting with young readers. It's one of my favorite parts of the job.

It's been a fun, busy year of school visits, book festivals and conferences and I look forward to even more in 2011, but for now . . .

I'm going to relish time to finish revisions for Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen. Can't wait till she makes her way into the world Spring 2012.

WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL CONTEST

Teachers, media specialists and librarians . . .

Win one of two personally autographed, hardback copies of HOW TO SURVIVE MIDDLE SCHOOL for your classroom or library.



Or win the GRAND PRIZE -- A SKYPE visit with the author up to 45-minutes ($200 value) plus a personally autographed, hardcover copy of HOW TO SURVIVE MIDDLE SCHOOL and an autographed, paperback copy of AS IF BEING 12 3/4 ISN'T BAD ENOUGH, MY MOTHER IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT! for your classroom or library.



To enter, share the title of your favorite middle grade or young adult novel in the comments section below. (I entered the first comment as an example.)

Annoying Rule:

1) One entry per person.


Annoying Request:

1) To reach as many teachers, librarians and media specialists as possible, please blog, tweet, FB, e-mail and send smoke signals about this contest.

HURRY! The contest expires at midnight E.S.T. Monday September 20th (which is my dad's 83rd birthday).

REMEMBER to check back a couple days after the contest ends to see who WON!

Book News to Use

1. WIN an autographed hardcover copy of HOW TO SURVIVE MIDDLE SCHOOL on GoodReads.

2. Guess what comes out in PAPERBACK May 25th? Right! AS IF BEING 12 3/4 ISN'T BAD ENOUGH, MY MOTHER IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT! (Did I hear someone say, "Now I can afford a class set."?)

3. To make room for those brand new paperback copies, Amazon is selling hardbacks of AS IF BEING . . . for the ridiculously low price of $6.40. (Did I hear someone say, "Hey, that would make a great birthday gift for that special tween in my life."?)

4. Don't forget -- There will be a hamster party/book signing/reading at Books & Books at 3 pm this Sunday!!!