Oh. My. Goodness.

I just had one of the most amazing school author visits in the history of school, authors, or visits.

I was invited last year to come to Galindo Elementary in Austin, by the amazing uber-librarian, Diane Collier. They had something special planned for their spring author visit, she explained.
Every fourth and fifth grader in the school was going to get a free copy of the paperback of The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy, courtesy of donations from their PTA and the South Austin Rotary club.

Look, shiny new paperbacks!

I went in one day early to sign the books. Almost 200 of them. It took an hour and a half. I didn’t care, and my hand wasn’t sore. It was happy.

Happiness is signing books for hours. Yes it is!

When I got to the school the next morning, they had reserved my parking space.

The best part? This was the PRINCIPAL’S parking spot! I felt ridiculously fancy.

And when I walked into the library, I was overwhelmed. Two of the fifth grade English classes had read my book in advance, and done all sorts of art displays with them – on character, theme, comparisons to the original fairy tale and a movie version, and more.

There’s no witches? Darn.

I love this.

Also, Ms. Morrigan looks kind of like me in a bad mood.

This poster almost makes me love themes!

How cool is this?

Can you tell I have a librarian crush on this woman? 🙂

The librarian had decorated with candy and cards… and a present for me. 🙂

Note to self: write all future books about food.

Not that I needed a present. But, A PRESENT!!!

And then the kids arrived, dressed like their favorite characters from the book, and carrying pretend and real candy.

I wish I could show you pictures of the cute kids! But privacy, etc. Use your imaginations. 🙂

It was utterly amazing.

I wish every school could have a librarian, a PTA, a community like Galindo’s! Visiting there was a dream come true for me.

A dream full of books and wonderful librarians.

And the amazingness doesn’t stop there. Because, as you can see in this picture Diane sent me that she took the day after the event, the school got very quiet… because kids were reading, reading, reading.

A dream come true.

Thank you, Galindo Elementary, for letting me meet your dreamers!

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Guess what? Interview time is here! I had the pleasure of answering questions for a spot on the Operation Awesome blog, and here’s the link. Come on, you know you want to know my deep, dark secrets. Well, possibly not that dark. But important. 🙂 Check it out!