Wisconsin Book Festival

My day began early at the Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC) book sale at UW-Madison. What a fun time! They had many recent books for sale at an inexpensive price and a bunch of older quality literature for $1 a bag. It was a bit of heaven. I also bumped into fellow Nerdybookclub member Sarah @pageintraining while rummaging through the piles. 

Next on my agenda was an author and illustrator visit at a local public library. I got to meet W.H. Beck and Brian Lies as they talked about their new book Malcolm at Midnight. I already had it on my TBR list, but I'm eager to begin reading it now that I know more about it. Seeing the author and illustrator together was a special treat as we learned about how their individual efforts dovetailed and became one work. I have long been a fan of Brian's illustrations so really enjoyed hearing from him. It was also cool to find out that Beck is a school librarian too. I love making new connections!

Now that I am in my second year of NaNoWriMo, I have even more appreciation for what goes into the creation of a book and hearing about all of the steps in the process is fascinating to me. I am thankful that writers and illustrators take the time to answer our sometimes silly, sometimes wise, and sometimes nosy questions.

W.H. Beck and Brian Lies signing books.

I was lucky enough to get to stop for lunch with my son, but soon caught up with another author and met up with Sarah again at another library. Stacy DeKeyser was sharing her book The Brixen Witch.

Strangely enough, this book also features a rat. In fact, it features many rats in this retelling of The Pied Piper. I have long been a fan of fairy-tale retellings, I am looking forward to reading this one. Again, hearing about her writing process was fun for me. The more I write, the more I want to know about the  writing experiences of others.

She shared a bit about her upcoming book and even showed the rough draft of the first chapter. 

Though she has not yet done any Skype visits, Sarah and I found out that she is open to the idea and we may try to connect with her later in the school year. :)

It was a fantastic day even if it did wear me out so much that I slept until noon today. I am thankful that the Wisconsin Book Festival is open to anyone and the events are free. It was a fabulous day. Oh, and on my way to and from the festival, I listened to Brain Burps about Books podcasts from the one and only Katie Davis and that was the perfect beginning and conclusion for a book filled day.