Have any of you ever spoken at FAME (which is the Florida conference for librarians) or any other librarian conference? WHAT DO YOU TALK ABOUT??? Apparently I’ve been invited to speak there through Peachtree (which is interesting since it’s my Albert Whitman book that was on last year’s Sunshine State Award list)…when I received the invitation, I knew the “correct” answer was, “Yes! Absolutely! I would LOVE to speak…” But inside I was thinking, “Me? Are you sure you want ME?” I’m very comfortable with kids…I actually enjoy doing school visits, but grown-ups scare me a little. What do you say to grown-ups???
Speaking of Author Visits…
there are many right answers to your question. . .you need to pick the right one for you
I talk about why kids love reading, some good books and why they are good, how to make connections with the little ones and the older ones in terms of letting them read what THEY want and encouraging that, making it a bridge to having them read what YOU want them too
(Digging out the envelope I used to copy notes from the Peachtree publicity person…) The Peachtree publicity person suggested I talk about my writing or talk about why it’s important to have strong female characters in children’s literature. Your ideas are good, too. Good thing I have time to think about…I actually have a number of friends who are librarians…I’ll ask them, too…maybe I can find out what they DO/DON’T like to hear about from authors when they go to these conventions???