Melissa Thomson

I kept introducing myself as a writer and teacher, but really, my badge for ALA 2010 should have read MELISSA THOMSON: FANGIRL. Let’s be honest. I was there on a mission to meet some of my most favorite authors. AND I DID!

First, on Saturday afternoon, I met Laurie Halse Anderson. !!!!!!! But I was too nervous to ask her for a photo. So here I am with the copy of TWISTED that she signed for me:

Today I put my metaphorical big-girl pants on and decided to ask for pictures. (Yes, Mom, I said please. And thank you.) SO here is a picture of the amaaaaazing Jackie Urbanovic!

Then I had my picture taken with Mitali Perkins, the always-thoughtful and thought-provoking writer/blogger/Twitter-book-party-founder extraordinaaaaire!

She signed books for me!

Then I got books signed by YA superstars Francisco X. Stork and Natalie Standiford!

(Thumbs up for reading, you guys)

(I’m talking on the phone. In Robot. I’m saying, I can’t wait for Natalie Standiford’s new book!)

I also met Kate Messner, but I don’t have a picture of her OR her books! This is a travesty that shall be rectified.

Then I met Eloise Greenfield and George Ford! George Ford has illustrated many, many wonderful children’s books, including THE STORY OF RUBY BRIDGES, one of my all-time favorites. It was such an honor to meet him. And you guys, there is a Brainpop Jr. video about Eloise Greenfield. That’s a very big deal in my world. Very few people have their OWN Brainpop videos!! It’s like, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Ezra Jack Keats, and Eloise Greenfield. And a few others but not that many!!! This year my whole class memorized her poem “Things” for Poem in Your Pocket Day.

And then! Who should I meet but Deborah Heiligman! Her CHARLES AND EMMA won approximately 7.4 million awards this year. I can’t wait to share COOL DOG, SCHOOL DOG with the students at my school!

As you can tell, I am getting plenty of mileage out of my brand-new laptop’s built-in camera.

So there you have it. I am glad I was able to take photos of at least a few of the fabulous folks I encountered this weekend. And I’m glad no one took a picture of me eating my extra-saucy jerk chicken sandwich at a little table on the exhibit floor today. That was a horrific spectacle.

Happy Sunday!

Hello, blog. It’s been a while. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Even though the school year is over, my summer hasn’t officially started yet. I’m participating in a curriculum institute, where we’re working on writing new curriculum units for all subjects. It’s a pretty interesting opportunity to create changes I’ve wanted to see…and it’s a bit daunting to know that going forward, I can’t really complain about the curriculum, since I’ll be one of the teachers who wrote it.

Summer is going to pass quickly, because I finish the institute on June 30, and the day after that is JULY, and then you know what comes after July is AUGUST and that’s when we go back to school. So. The bulk of any writing I do is done in the summer, usually. This year,between travel plans and workshops and visitors, it looks like I’ll be doing my writing on July 1 and August 7. It’ll have to be Me : Drafting a YA Novel :: Jack Bauer : Saving the World.