Rocky Point, Teen Author Festival, and I-Con

Been a busy little Sarah here...

Rocky Point Middle School

I did a school visit on the 12th at Rocky Point Middle School (in Long Island), and here is the first sight that greeted me when I walked into the school:

Amazing Wall Mural of ICE Cover Art

Is there anything more awesome than that? And to those of you who reply that an actual polar bear waiting to greet me would be more awesome, I say, "You are incorrect, sir." An actual polar bear would have eaten me.

This mural was surrounded by the three winners of the poster contest:

Sooooo cool.

The rest of the day was similarly awesome. I spoke with the 8th grade first, then the 6th grade, then the 7th grade, and I had lunch in the library with the book club, the winners of the poster contest, and several faculty members.

Thank you to everyone at Rocky Point Middle School, especially their fantastic library media specialist Cathy O'Connell and wonderful principal Scott O'Brien!

NYC Teen Author Festival

The NYC Teen Author Festival rocked.

On Friday, I participated in the symposium at the New York Public Library. After saying hello to the lions...


... I was part of the panel on "Genre and Adolescence" with Judy Blundell, Lauren McLaughlin, Diana Peterfreund, Sara Shepard, Maggie Stiefvater, and Robin Wasserman. I had a tremendously fun time.

I also learned a valuable lesson: when participating in such events, choose socks with care. Sitting on stage, without a table to hide behind, my ankles were very visible to the audience. On Friday, I had managed to dress like a grown up in every respect except my socks. My socks had these ridiculous fat Garfield-esque cats on them.

I'm so not good at this looking-like-a-grown-up thing.

On Sunday (wearing polar bear socks), I signed books along with 60+ other authors at Books of Wonder for the final event of the NYC Teen Author Festival. It was like a whole afternoon-long cocktail party (minus the cocktails but plus a slice of Coe Booth's birthday cake) with tons of fantastic and fascinating people to talk to. Here's a photo from the event, courtesy of author Courtney Sheinmel:

Courtney Sheinmel, Natalie Standiford, Me, Elizabeth Scott

Huge thank you to Books of Wonder, NYPL, and David Levithan, who organized the entire festival!

Upcoming Event: I-Con

Next weekend I'll be a program participant at I-Con, a science fiction and fantasy convention at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, NY. My schedule is:

Friday 3/26, 8pm - Reception - "Meet the Pros(e)"
Sunday 3/28, 12pm - Reading
Sunday 3/28, 2pm - Panel - "Varieties of Writing"

Hope to see you there!

2010 NYC Teen Author Festival

The 2010 NYC Teen Author Festival is this week!

Organized by the always-awesome David Levithan, the festival runs from March 15-21, features 70+ YA authors, and includes readings, panels, and signings all over New York City. You can see the full schedule here.

I'll be participating in two of the events:

FRIDAY, MARCH 19TH
NYC Teen Author Festival Symposium
New York Public Library (South Court, 42nd Street -- the one with the lions)
2:10 - 3:00 "Using Genre to Tell the True Story of Adolescence" with:
Judy Blundell
Sarah Beth Durst
Lauren McLaughlin
Diana Peterfreund
Sara Shepard
Maggie Stiefvater
Robin Wasserman

SUNDAY, MARCH 21ST
NYC Teen Author Festival Signing
Books of Wonder (18 West 18th Street)
2:00 - 5:45 Massive Book Signing
We will be signing in shifts. I'll be signing at 2:45 - 3:30 with:
Tom Dolby
Heather Duffy-Stone
Sarah Beth Durst
Elizabeth Eulberg
Gayle Forman
Aimee Friedman
Jenny Han
Alice Hoffman
Carla Jablonksi
Melissa Kantor
Kristen Kemp
Michelle Knudsen
Peter Lerangis
David Levithan

I'm very, very excited about this. The signing on Sunday is at one of my all-time favorite bookstores and will include more authors than you can shake a stick at. (Not that you should be shaking sticks at authors. That would be an odd thing to do.) And the panel discussion on Friday is at the main building of the New York Public Library.

When I found this out, I said to my husband, "It's at the one with the lions! Yay! I'm so excited! Lions!"

My husband said, "That's great!" He paused. "Wait. You're expecting the lions to talk, aren't you?"

"Of course not!" I said.

"Good," he said.

"I'm expecting them to sing."

Cover Art for ENCHANTED IVY!!!

Look, look, look!!!

Cover art for ENCHANTED IVY!!!

*flails*

I am very, very excited to share with you the cover for my next novel, ENCHANTED IVY, coming from Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books on October 12, 2010.


ENCHANTED IVY is a story about getting into college. You know, taking the campus tour, talking to the gargoyles, flirting with the were-tigers, riding the dragons... While visiting the campus of Princeton University, 16-year-old Lily discovers a secret gate to a magical realm and must race against time to save herself, her world, and any hope she has of college admission.

I am absolutely in love with this cover. Yep, head over heels with a jpeg. I can't stop staring at it. The art was created by the extremely talented Sam Weber. (You can see more of his work here.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to my editor and everyone at Simon & Schuster for giving my book this lovely cover. Snoopy dance of joy!!!

Sooooo..... Do ya like it?