Ace Reporting From a Librarian In the Field

You may all remember that last week there was a possibility that should it downpour on Saturday, June 10th, my dear sweet little library would be the rain location for authors Mo Willems, Chris Raschka, and Jane O'Connor. Well, as it happened, Saturday bloomed bright and brilliant with a clear blue sky and atmosphere resembling that of San Francisco. So no go. That was the bad news. The good news was that I wasn't working that day anyway (hee hee hee) so I got to high-tail it over to Bryant Park, located just behind the Arts and Humanities Library (or, for you non-NYC types, the library with the lions in front of it).

I got there with an oh-so-slight hangover due to some private room karaoke the night before (don't ask) and decided to settle in and see what I could see. And what I could see first and foremost was poor overblogged Mo Willems. I led, as I had promised Mother Reader, with a reference to her. Mr. Willems referred to me as The Fuse Woman (I've been called worse) and was very nice. I, however, am shy by nature and as soon as he released my hand I scuttled away to read a book until such time as the show began.

Now I'm going to allow you to guess whether or not this first person was Chris, Mo, or Jane. Ready?


Okay. Who is it?

Moving on, we have a unique event. Mr. Raschka, first and foremost, was very well behaved. Here's the score thus far:

Times I've seen Mr. Raschka publicly trounce my library: 1
Times I've seen Mr. Raschka NOT publicly trounce my library: 1

The score, thus far, is tied. However, this may have been because the authors at this event were a) Not rained out and in my library and b) Only reading their own books. My fears for the Caldecott speech Mr. Raschka is due to give have not been fully allayed. My message to Raschka? ALLAY THEM FORTHWITH!

Anywho, the unique event I alluded to. Well, Mr. R has a new book out by the name of Five For a Little One. It's very John Coltrane's Giant Steps (if you know what I mean). Anywho, this marked the very first time that Chris read this book aloud and in public. Here you can see him doing so.


Awesome stuff.

But now I'm torn. Poor Mo. I feel he's been just blogged to death lately. Who am I to perpetuate this continual fearsome trend? So instead of showing you a picture of Mo, I'll show you this guy:


That's William Earl Dodge. Best known, according to Mo, for winning New York City's much sought-after Longest Sideburns Award. Though, as Chris pointed out, Mo was definitely doing his part to challenge Will for the award.

What? You're not satisfied? Um... howzabout I tell you that my digital camera was extra sticky because of the aforementioned private karaoke the night before (continue not to ask)?

No?

Okay, fine. FINE! You vultures. Why can't we all let this poor man be? Why can't we just let him gather together millions of fans in relative peace and quiet? I know why I can't. I'm a children's literature blogger. That means reporting the tough issues. The stuff no one else can. So here he is, ladies & gents.


Aw, yeah. That's the stuff. See, the advantage of this picture is many. First of all, it really makes it look as if William Earl Dodge is about to take a header off his platform. Advantage number 2 is that the picture does not make Mo look as goofy as the rest of my shots did. Apparently my camera, sticky with rum, was slightly drunk that day. It took one look at Mr. Willems (pronounced repeatedly by the organizer of the event as "Williams") and thought, "Here's a fella I can make look goof-tastic". Advantage number 3 is that you can see that he's reading Leonardo the Terrible Monster, which he does beautifully. Had I been paying attention I would have also gotten a shot of Mr. W doing the Pigeon's yawn from Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late. Lackaday.

So there you go. Now to bide my time until another such event comes up. That means the ALA Conference. I'll keep you posted.