Laurie Halse Anderson!!!!!!!!!

OMG! I just got back from seeing Laurie Halse Anderson on her Forge tour and holy crap! It was AMAZING! Seriously, seeing Laurie is like being blessed by a guru--she is just so amazing, and inspiring and personable and...Gah! Love her!

Also I am MAJORLY loving the staff at Childrens Book World in Haverford, PA--this was my second night in a row with them--last night I was there to see David Levithan, Rachel Cohn, Matt De La Pena, E. Lockhart, and Sarah Mlynowksi. Indies Rule!

But anyway....LAURIE!

She's very dramatic when she talks!

So, I arrived at Children's Book World a few minutes before the signing, met up with FNC Sara bought my books--shiny new copies of Chains and Forge.

Frankie and Sara (we have a zillion shots like this)

AND I ran into my 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Staroba! EEEE! She recognized me immediately because apparently I don't look any different from how I looked when I was in 6th grade:-) I think that's a good sign.

The store was MOBBED! And that was because Mrs. Staroba was there with a bunch of 6th graders from MY middle school! EPIC!!! 

Also, I found Lucy, one of my favoritest people ever and her daughter Molly--Lucy is a librarian and also a bookseller at SCBWI events. She's also my adopted mom when I'm at conferences and makes sure the kitchen feeds my vegan food:-)

Lucy!

And here are the highlights from Laurie's talk:

-She started writing Chains because of research she was doing for Fever 1793--she discovered that Ben Franklin who she apparently had a mad historical crush on was actually a slave owner (before he saw the error of his ways). And she was shocked!

-This fact led her to realize she didn't fully understand her own history and culture--which is everyone's history in the U.S.

-There has been movie optioning interest in Chains, but Laurie is holding off until she completes the trilogy--she thinks its more interesting as a whole

-Her biggest author inspiration is Christopher Paul Curtis

-Laurie never took a creative writing class--she comes to her writing through stories

-Social Studies was her fave class in school

-She does an INSANE amount of research down to even walking in the snow without shoes, cooking rabbit that her husband shot in the backyard, and tasting gun powder. 

-Laurie feels historical can be as popular as fantasy because it appeals to kids in the same way--they are stories that deal with very harsh and real realities but that are kept at a safe distance--in another world (fantasy) in another time (historical).

So after the talk, I got to meet Jessica Tudor! Meeting Jessica tonight was really exciting because I got to meet her literally hours after she signed with her agent, Suzie Townsend--she was glowing a little:-) Congrats, Jessica!

And, epicness of epicness, we met The Steph Su!

And fellow book blogger Jamie!

The four of us spent the majority of the time hanging out in this corner while Laurie went through the line and finally it was our turn to see her--we went last.

Laurie was uber sweet and remembered meeting us last November when we actually saw her twice in one day at two different book stores. I'm beyond impressed that she knew which bookstore exactly she had met us at!

Then right after this picture was taken, Sara had some kind of spontaneous combustion where 4 books she'd just had signed by Laurie ended up flying into the air.

We were all in hysterics, and then got hugs from Laurie! I have such an author crush on her right now I can't even tell you. And what author signing post would be complete without...

Reader Porn!

She wrote this after I filled her in on my epic 10 copies of SPEAK giveaway for #SpeakLoudly

And this I have my fingers crossed for!

Thanks, Laurie!

And now...I must pass out. But it's a happy exhaustion:-)