ALA Convention Floor 2010: The Days of Wine and Swag Have Gone

When last we left our intrepid hero, she was spending five hours in a Washington D.C. emergency room rather than hanging out with, oh say, Karen Cushman at a Kidlit Drink Night.  So there was that.

The next day, however, I was determined to make up for lost time.  Alas, being determined and actually convincing your body to act like something rather than a wounded baby seal are two entirely different matters.  I fared better once I realized that I would last longer in this world if I put just a little pressure on the old right foot, and didn’t insist on launching myself through the air like some kind of crutch-wielding orangutan.

So it was on to the convention floor for fun and profit.  First up, I needed to grab my press badge, and while doing so who else did I see but Tom Angleberger, author of the widely (and justifiably) acclaimed The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.  Here Tom is, being interviewed by Barb Langridge of the Howard County Central Library and the television show Books Alive!

While waiting for them to finish I wandered about to my press room.  Outside of it I took a strange delight in this pile of little pamphlets.

Needless to say, I took one.

After exchanging words with Tom and Barb I stepped foot upon the conference floor, whereupon I had an amazing shock.  My general attitude when attending a conference floor, dear readers, is to be sneaky, quick, and sly.  I dart from publisher to publisher, attempting to mimic a dragonfly.  All iridescent flashes and leaps to the side.  However, I found that with my newfound encumbrances I was like nothing so much as those big machines in the second Star Wars movie.  You know the ones I mean (I really should have asked Mr. Angleberger while I was with him what they were called).  The resident Star Wars fan says that they are AT-ATs.  He’s not wrong.  They are also known as Walkers.

Whatever they’re called, they were I.  Clumping, clumsy, clanking, cantankerous.  Until, that is, I saw Laura Amy Schlitz.

Oh, we are getting a better look at that hat.

That’s the stuff.  Authors were in abundance this day, so I took a great deal of fun in snapping quicky pics of them.  These included . . .

Jim Arnosky

David Small

Kadir Nelson

Jacqueline Woodson

And Tony DiTerlizzi

A word about young Mr. DiTerlizzi. Simon & Schuster decided to play a clever game with the man.  I don’t seriously think that anyone would ever have to be lured into a DiTerlizzi signing, but to get folks in line for a copy of The Search for Wondla (Tony’s latest), Jon Anderson stationed himself behind a table covered in sweets.

The catch is that you’re only allowed a sweet if you get a book signed from Tony.  As if folks need the encouragement!  Jon and Justin Chandra, as far as I could tell, traded off the Good Cop / Bad Cop roles, keeping folks from just snatching up the tasty treats without going through the line first.

There are other delights and wonders to find on a conference floor.  The furniture, for one thing, is amazing.  Here, Susan Kusel (of the blog Wizards Wireless, PBS Booklights, and other wonders) models a particularly fine specimen I was admiring.

Roundabout this time my right ankle started singing an Irish sea ditty about a lass named Molly Malone.  So we decided to head on out.  On the way out of the ground floor I saw this group of folks staring at this screen showing the World Cup.

I thought that was kinda cute so I snapped a shot.  Then I went upstairs an encountered this folks doing the same thing.

Wow.

I leave you today with this vision.  The Cat fixes you with his impenetrable stare, daring you to make sense of the world as you know it today.

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