On Tuesday I took my cousin, Evelyn, to her very first author signing! She was a little skeptical because, as she told me in the car, "Reading is....ok."
I firmly believe that no one dislikes reading, or thinks that it is merely "ok", these people just haven't found their perfect story yet. So, while we waited for the event to start, I grabbed a copy of Pip Barlett's Guide to Magical Creatures and told Evelyn to start reading. When Maggie and Jackson began speaking she was already 10 pages in and completely hooked.
By now I have been blogging for almost 4 full years and this was not my first author signing rodeo. It was my first Middle Grade/Children's event though and I really enjoyed how Jackson and Maggie tailored their presentation to the audience.
Each author told funny stories from their childhood involving animals and then, with the help of the audience, we got to create our very own made-up animal. This was a lot of fun because the kids really had free reign to create whatever they wanted and I was impressed by all of their fabulous suggestions!
After creature-creating. Jackson and Maggie did a brief Q&A. My favorite question was:
Question: How did you two (Jackson and Maggie) meet?
Paraphrased Answer: Maggie: I used to fight crime and I was cruising in my fancy/fast car when I saw Jackson and realized I need someone in the passenger seat because, as you know, cars have passengers seats and for weight reasons that's really the best way to go.
Jackson: I was a go-go dancer and Maggie showed up and I got in the passengers seat and we fought crime.
Maggie & Jackson: So, yeah, we met on the internet.
After the Q&A Jackson and Maggie sat down to sign books! I brought a stack of books from home and the authors were kind enough to sign all of them and a take a picture with my cousin and I.
I firmly believe that no one dislikes reading, or thinks that it is merely "ok", these people just haven't found their perfect story yet. So, while we waited for the event to start, I grabbed a copy of Pip Barlett's Guide to Magical Creatures and told Evelyn to start reading. When Maggie and Jackson began speaking she was already 10 pages in and completely hooked.
By now I have been blogging for almost 4 full years and this was not my first author signing rodeo. It was my first Middle Grade/Children's event though and I really enjoyed how Jackson and Maggie tailored their presentation to the audience.
Each author told funny stories from their childhood involving animals and then, with the help of the audience, we got to create our very own made-up animal. This was a lot of fun because the kids really had free reign to create whatever they wanted and I was impressed by all of their fabulous suggestions!
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| Maggie Drawing the Arctic Herring Penta |
Question: How did you two (Jackson and Maggie) meet?
Paraphrased Answer: Maggie: I used to fight crime and I was cruising in my fancy/fast car when I saw Jackson and realized I need someone in the passenger seat because, as you know, cars have passengers seats and for weight reasons that's really the best way to go.
Jackson: I was a go-go dancer and Maggie showed up and I got in the passengers seat and we fought crime.
Maggie & Jackson: So, yeah, we met on the internet.
After the Q&A Jackson and Maggie sat down to sign books! I brought a stack of books from home and the authors were kind enough to sign all of them and a take a picture with my cousin and I.
I also bought a copy of Pip Bartlett for them to sign, but my cousin was quick to snatch that up. It is now signed to her and in her bedroom in a place of honor.
Overall, this was a truly fun event and Evelyn is already hoping there is going to be a tour for Pip Bartlett 2!
Make sure you check out Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures!
Pip Barlett's Guide to Magical Creatures
Authors: Maggie Stiefvater & Jackson Pearce
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication Date: April 28, 2015
Synopsis:
From bestselling authors Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce comes an exciting new series full of magical creatures, whimsical adventures, and quirky illustrations.
Pip is a girl who can talk to magical creatures. Her aunt is a vet for magical creatures. And her new friend Tomas is allergic to most magical creatures. When things go amok—and they often go amok—Pip consults Jeffrey Higgleston’s Guide to Magical Creatures, a reference work that Pip finds herself constantly amending. Because dealing with magical creatures like unicorns, griffins, and fuzzles doesn’t just require book knowledge—it requires hands-on experience and thinking on your feet. For example, when fuzzles (which have an awful habit of bursting into flame when they’re agitated) invade your town, it’s not enough to know what the fuzzles are—Pip and Tomas also must trace the fuzzles’ agitation to its source, and in doing so, save the whole town.
This sounds like it was such an awesome blogging experience! Thank you for sharing it. :) I'd love to meet these lovely ladies!
ReplyDeleteKrystianna @ Downright Dystopian