More Fun Book Events

This past week found me at two more great book-related events. The first event was work-related. My employer, The National Association of College Stores (NACS) helps sponsor the Lorain County Young Authors program. This is the same program I participated in myself about 25 years ago - yee gads! Realizing that made me feel a little old this week!

Anyway, let's not harp on THAT point. This year's Lorain County Young Authors program hosted 900 students from throughout the county in grades two through six. The books the students wrote were displayed throughout the lobby of the Lorain County Community College Stocker Center. There was an array of topics and covers and genres. It was simply amazing. I took a special liking to Avon Lake's display. These students all wrote mysteries!



And I was thrilled to see students writing about literary devices, expressions, poetry. There were some books with heavy topics like leukemia and 9/11. Books about sports and pets and music. Just such an amazing selection. A couple titles that really jumped out at me...and tickled my funny bone were: THROW LIKE A GIRL...IF YOU CAN (a book about softball) and a mystery titled THE EVERLASTING DETENTION.



The covers and bindings were just as diverse. There were pre-made books, spiral bound books, books in three-ring binders, scrapbook style books, books covered in fabric. A particular favorite of mine was this book that made use of an old pair of jeans as the cover:



And these writers were all about details. They had publisher names, dedication pages, bio pages, hand drawn illustrations, computer crafted illustrations, photographs...It was such a nice feeling to be surrounded by this project that encourages children from an early age to appreciate books. No e-books were present at this affair!

The students were rewarded with a presentation first from author Louise Borden and then they were entertained with an opera performance of GREEN EGGS AND HAM. It was very cute, and this is a wonderful program for the students of Lorain County.

Saturday I was lucky enough to have the chance to meet Edgar-nominated author Craig McDonald. Corey over at The Drowning Machine has raved about McDonald's work so his books are on my TBR list. Then when I saw that he would be attending the Rocky River Library book festival, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go.




We chatted a little but as is par for the course with me, I was pretty awe-struck and at a loss for words. But Craig is very nice, and I found out that he, too, will be attending Bouchercon in October. So maybe I'll do better talking then! But regardless, I'm so happy I had the chance to meet him and have my books signed. As you can see from the photo, I was able to get both HEAD GAMES and TOROS AND TORSOS. I can't wait to dive in!

I hope you had an equally wonderful week and that the new week brings you more fun and lots of great reading!