A thousand thanks to the incomparable indie bookseller
Aaron's Books and the town of Lititz, Pennsylvania, including the fabulous
Lititz Bed and Breakfast, for a weekend of hospitality and just plain fun. Here are some highlights:
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| Pennsylvanians must read their papers because many came in response to this article that ran last week in the Lancaster Times. |
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| The warm and welcoming children's area in Aaron's Bookstore. |
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| Cyn Balog, Holly Huxter, Josh Berk, Bookseller Sam Droke-Dickinson, and Laurel Snyder are ready for Lilitz-ians on the day of the Festival. |
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This lovely lady made my day. She picked up SECRET KEEPER and loved it so much that she raced through all of my books in a week. "I have piles of laundry in my house," she confessed. "I couldn't stop reading."
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| Author events are definitely not all work. The play started with the contents of a gift bag waiting at the lovely Lititz Bed and Breakfast (highly recommended, by the way). |
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| Oddly, all weekend long, I kept hoping to run into Matthew Cuthbert. Irrational, I know. I wasn't in PEI. But I was in a rural area abounding with hospitality for the alien and the stranger. That's why I was delighted to find this on my door. |
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| No matter where I travel, I like to find a quiet place to walk in the mornings. Lititz did not disappoint. |
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| The walk was needed, because this chocolatier prepared to fatten me and other visitors at the famous Wilbur Chocolate Factory. |
We also visited the oldest girls' school in the USA, Linden Hall School, where an astute audience of teens and adults interacted with Josh Berk, Laurel Snyder, and myself in a discussion about diversity in children's books. Last but not least, I gave a brief keynote at a dinner fundraiser for the local chapter of Reach Out and Read at the General Sutter Inn. Altogether fun and inspiring. Tomorrow I'll post highlights of the Brooklyn Book Festival, so stay tuned ... |
