A Book Launch & A Teen Author Reading Night

This week was a week of some pretty fantastic events, so here I am to tell you guys all about them.

Tuesday marked the release date of Gayle Forman's Where She Went. I am ashamed to say that I do not own nor have read any of Gayle's books, which is a shame, because she's such a fantastic person! But that did not stop me from attending her book signing at a Barnes & Noble in Brooklyn along with Mitali from Alley of Books.

the fantastic Gayle Forman!

I have to say that this event was one of the most fun book signings I've ever been too. Part of it was because of the awesomeness that is Gayle, seeing lots of people I knew and meeting lots of new people, and, of course, the very yummy cupcakes (Sugar Sweet Sunshine bakery, here I come!).

Gayle and her bag of quarters

Gayle read a couple of chapters from Where She Went. She had to give a quarter to every child under the age of 14 for every f-bomb she dropped (only one, the kids kept track!), as that is her policy. Then there was a Q&A, and then the actual signing of the books.

Gayle Forman, Mitali, and me

Me and Frankie from First Novels Club (thanks to Janine for this picture)

I had a wonderful time running into people that I knew, namely Frankie from First Novels Club, author Marianna Baer, author Elizabeth Eulberg, and author Melissa Walker. I also had the distinct pleasure of meeting Genna from Reading, Writing, and the World of Words as well as another member of First Novels Club, Janine.

Then on Wednesday, I headed downtown to the Jefferson Market branch of the NYPL for the April Teen Author Reading Night. This is only my second time attending these (generally) monthly events of awesomeness organized by the one and only David Levithan, so I might be rather generalizing when I say that the Reading Nights just keep getting better!

L to R: Elizabeth Eulberg, Jen Calonita, Violet Haberdasher, Judy Blundell, E. Archer, Patrick Ryan, David Levithan
(and I apologize for the eternal suckiness of the quality of this picture)

The authors reading included Patrick Ryan, Eliot Schrefer/E. Archer, Judy Blundell, Violet Haberdasher, Jen Calonita, and Elizabeth Eulberg. David did his own Q&A with the authors before throwing it open to the audience. After a brief argument between Elizabeth and David over whether or not Elizabeth was allowed to tell anyone the name of her new book, all us lucky people in the audience were the first to learn the title. Get excited, it's called...Take a Bow.

Of course, I had a great time hanging out with Mitali from Alley of Books, chatting with authors Susane Colasanti, Melissa Walker, Elizabeth Eulberg, and Jen Calonita, and saying hi to my favorite (or at least one of my favorites!) publicist at Scholastic. I like the feeling of recognizing lots of people when I attend a book event! Makes me feel well connected or something.

Elizabeth Eulberg sporting the Pajants! (thanks to Mitali for this picture)

Susane Colasanti, Elizabeth Eulberg, Sarah Mlynowski...and the Pajants (thanks to Mitali for this picture)

Oh, and did I mention that Elizabeth was wearing the the Pajants? As in from the Twitterhood of the Butt Lifting Pajants? She even posed with Susane Colasanti and Sarah Mlynowski, other members of the Twitterhood.