BEA, TAC, ETC...

The first week of June was a crazy one in terms of book events and everything YA. On top of Book Expo America (BEA), I also found myself running around to Teen Author Carnival (TAC), various publisher events, and a book signing on top of that! If you're curious as to what went down, then join me as I try to remember every important thing that happened...

Book Expo America (BEA)

This was the main reason that week was such a hectic one. Books, bloggers, authors, oh my!

Things I did:

• the morning "swag run" or "swag sweep"
• only picked up the books I genuinely wanted to read (to the relief of my shelf space!)
• scored a book on cake pops
• modeled a lovely cockroach pin and barrette for author Claire Legrand, as well as persuaded others to do so as well
• waited in line for over an hour and a half to meet the HarperCollins Dark Days authors, especially Veronica Roth and Liz Norris
• accepted chocolate donations from author Lenore Appelhans and Sam of Living Little Women
• introduced author Courtney Sheinmel and Sam of Living Little Women, who are both graduates of Barnard College (my school!) 
• attended the awesome Apocalypsies event
• bemoaned my failure to bring my slingshot monkey in honor of author Eliot Schrefer's upcoming book featuring bonobo monkeys
• had a really good time!

People I saw:

• bloggers (in no particular order): Kelsey of Reading or Breathing, Rachel of Bookshelf Lust, Cialina of Muggle-Born.net, Tirzah of The Compulsive Reader, Brent of The Naughty Book Kitties, Lenore of Presenting Lenore, James of Book Chic Club, Erica of The Book Cellar, Renee of The Book Girl, Nicole of WORD for Teens, Genna of Reading, Writing & The World of Words, Sam of Living Little Women, Amy of The Pages of Brooks, Susan & Jessica of Wastepaper Prose, Frankie & Donna of First Novels Club, Charlee Vale, and more!
• authors (also in no particular order): Kody Keplinger, Claire Legrand, Cristin Terrill, Alecia Whitaker, Sarah Beth Durst, Jocelyn Davies, Gabrielle Zevin, Liz Norris, Sarah J. Maas, Bethany Griffin, Siobhan Vivian, Lenore Appelhans, Eliot Schrefer, Gina Damico, Courtney Sheinmel, Alison Cherry, Veronica Roth, and more!
• my favorite editors from Macmillan, Penguin, and Scholastic
• my favorite publicity and marketing people from Scholastic, Little, Brown, and Simon & Schuster
• basically everyone with whom I interned last summer at MacKids 

Teen Author Carnival (TAC)

Despite arriving a little late and having to leave rather early, TAC was still quite the event (from however little I experienced).

Is This Real Life? Or Is This Just Fantasy? panel

Things I did:

• attended the "Is This Real Life? Or Is This Just Fantasy" panel, pictured above, which included authors Barry Lyga, Tom Pollock, Hannah Harrington, Michelle Hodkin, Corinne Jackson, Rebecca Serle, Eliot Schrefer, Crissa-Jean Chappell, Kody Keplinger, Tiffany Schmidt, Fiona Paul, and Gretchen McNeil (who was the moderator) 
• congratulated Kody Keplinger for the release of her third novel, A Midsummer's Nightmare
• attended the first half of the "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger (Kick Ass Characters)" panel, which included authors Eliot Schrefer, Michelle Zink, Jeri Smith-Ready, Courtney Allison Moulton, Siobhan Vivian, Aimee Carter, Stacy Kramer, Valerie Thomas, Barry Lyga, Lauren Oliver, and Gretchen McNeil (who was also the moderator)

People I saw:

• bloggers (in no particular order): Kelsey of Reading or Breathing, Renee of The Book Girl, Charlee Vale, and more!
• authors (in no particular order): Claire Legrand, Alison Cherry, Kody Keplinger, Michael Northrop, and more!
• my favorite librarian ever, Marie

various publisher events

(Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Macmillan)

I was lucky enough this year to be invited to three awesome blogger events put on by publishers Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, and Macmillan. Sadly, I only have pictures from the Scholastic event (see below).

Things I did:

• left the Simon & Schuster blogger event early to catch a movie
• consumed lots of cookies and especially cotton candy at the Scholastic blogger event (yes, there is photographic evidence, but not here!)
• experienced the awesomeness of Reader's Theater performed by the most entertaining, energetic, and/or creative of authors at the Scholastic blogger event
• felt right at home at the Macmillan blogger breakfast (in the 10th floor conference room, with a gorgeous view)

People I saw:

• bloggers: James of Book Chic Club, Erica of The Book Cellar, Rachel of Bookshelf Lust, Tirzah of The Compulsive Reader, Brent of The Naughty Book Kitties, Mitali of Teen Author Carnival, Renee of The Book Girl, Susan & Jessica of Wastepaper Prose, and more!
• authors: Donna Cooner, Eliot Schrefer, Maggie Stiefvater, Siobhan Vivian, Lenore Appelhans, and more!
• my favorite editor and publicist at Scholastic, my favorite marketing lady at Simon & Schuster, and so many people with whom I used to work at Macmillan

book signing at Books of Wonder

Last, but not least, I did make it to one book signing amidst all the madness.

Holly Black, Victoria Schwab, Zoraida Cordova, Scott Tracey

Hannah Moskowitz (hidden behind the pillar), Karsten Knight, Leah Clifford

Things I did:

• almost collapsed from the exhaustion of having spent an entire day at BEA
• enjoyed the wonderful (at times) inappropriateness of certain discussions on this panel
• generously removed a cockroach pin from Frankie of First Novel Club's jacket, so she would no longer have to suffer from its proximity...

People I saw:

• bloggers Frankie of First Novels Club, Genna of Reading, Writing & the World of Words, and Charlee Vale
• my favorite Books of Wonder person, Adam

And with that, I conclude this recap post! If you're concerned about the lack of contest included, fear not. I'll be assembling an awesome prize pack of goodies after I'm done conquering ALA next week...