Another cool night to be an author--meeting Avi

First of all, let me say that I don't recommend you take an active six-year-old to an author presentation. Really, what was I thinking? Well, I guess I was thinking she was invited so why not take her? They had a build-a-book activity going on for the kids and I really wasn't clear about the fact that afterward she would have to sit politely on a chair while Avi spoke.

But let me backtrack, because I'm skipping over the coolest part of the evening. When I got to the Arizona Natural History Museum where the build-a-book activity and Avi presentation was happening, all the 3-hour parking was taken so I had to park in a 1-hour parking space.

No, that isn't the cool part.

The cool part is that when I left my kids building books--with strict instructions for my older kids that they were to WATCH YOUR LITTLE SISTER AT ALL TIMES SO SHE DOESN'T TIP OVER THE REFRESHMENT TABLE, KNOCK OVER THE BOOKS, OR SCALE THE DINOSAURS BECAUSE I HAVE TO REPARK THE CAR, I walked out of the room and who did I see standing by the stairs waiting to give his presentation? Yup, Avi.

At first, I just walked by because I didn't want to bother him. I mean, I'm sure he's constantly bombarded with people telling him how much they love his books and most likely he hadn't gone into the room full of teachers and librarians because he wanted some private time.

But then I thought, private time is overrated. And maybe he's just shy. And when am I ever going to have the chance to talk to him again? I mean, I would probably kick myself for the rest of my life if I at least didn't say hello. Besides, most authors I've met, even the really famous ones, are down to earth, nice people.

So I walked back up the stairs and introduced myself, and we spent about ten minutes talking about writing and editors. (Yes, Tim, I told Avi you were a great editor.)

After that I had to hurry to go repark my car, retrieve my kids, (little sister was parked in front of a book case reading a book while her older siblings finished up their book projects--hello, would they have even noticed if she disappeared?) made a pit stop at the bathroom because little sister drank way too much lemonade and I didn't want her having get up in the middle of the presentation, and then were in time to find chairs in the back of the room.

Avi gives a great presentation, by the way. He does cool voices while he reads his books.

Little sister was fairly good--at least for her. This is because I bought her a new toy dog and told her she could only have it if she was good. If she wasn't, I was taking it away and she'd have to wait until her birthday to get it back. So she wasn't loud, although she kept lying down on her chair, and then on the floor, and managed to spill the contents of my purse on the ground. And she still had to get up to go to the bathroom after 45 minutes. (I knew I shouldn't have let her drink the lemonade.)

The plus side to having a wiggly six-year-old with you? The kind Scholastic lady told us we could go to the front of the very, very, long signing line. It was probably a wise choice. I don't think anyone would have liked to see what a bored, active six-year-old would do while her mother was waiting in line next to dinosaur replicas.

And here is a picture of Avi signing our books.