Checkout Desk Upgrade

Beginning my third year in the middle school, just about everything is cleaned out and organized just the way we need it, so I've turned my attention to some of the things I don't usually notice.

The school banner strung up with paperclips and a brass rod?  Still hanging, but in a better spot with a much nicer looking set up.  Did that really take me three years to even notice?!

I saw an idea on Pinterest a few months ago and put it into motion last week.  I had a full day of no classes (shhhh!!!!) so this was a great project and it has an immediate "Wow!" factor whenever someone enters the library.

Thanks to my scrapbooking tool the Silhouette Cameo, I was able to cut out the letters for all these words.  I spent a lot of time just playing with fonts, sizes, and colors.  I only wish I had a "before" picture--I always forget to do that! The before was a plain wooden checkout desk that was totally blah.  I used black bulletin board paper for the background and either cardstock or regular copy paper for the letters.

It's mostly been adults who have noticed the change, or at least commented on it.  I'd like to think that the kids notice, too; they just don't say anything (typical middle schoolers!).

National Book Festival 2016

After the book festival moved indoors, I took a couple years off.  I just couldn't believe that it would be as good as when it was held on the National Mall.  What can I say...I was wrong! There is definitely something to be said for air conditioning, indoor bathrooms, tables and chairs, real food, and no weather worries.

Getting to the book festival, I felt like such a grown-up.  I took the train from my town to Union Station, got on the connector bus from there to the Convention Center, and took an Uber (my first!) from the Festival to a friend's house where we were having bookclub that night.

First of all, that convention center is HUGE! Somewhere there is an auditorium that holds 2,500, because that's where Stephen King spoke.  I didn't have a ticket to that event, so I didn't even look for it.  But it's there somewhere, as are lots of other rooms where authors spoke.

As usual, my focus was the author signing area, which was in the basement of the convention center.  Have I said yet how huge that place is?! There were 20+ lines for authors, and there was still plenty of room everywhere.

Here were some of my favorite moments:

My nephew poses with two books with similar titles. I met both authors!

Edwidge Danticat, author of Untwine.

Ali Benjamin, author of The Thing about Jellyfish

My nephew with Kwame Alexander.

My new favorite, Jason Reynolds.

Extreme close-up of Jason Reynolds.

me with Shannon Hale.

Raina Telgemeier, graphic novelist, signed over 1,800 books in 70 minutes!

Pam Munoz Ryan, author of Echo.