Princeton Children's Book Festival 2008 Trip Report

Last Saturday, in revenge for my post about my hair, my curls destroyed my hairbrush. Utterly.

It was a crime of passion.

But I soldiered on, dragged the disintegrating bristles through my fuzz, and then trotted off to the Princeton Children's Book Festival.

I love the Princeton Children's Book Festival. You sit outside under a tent with 40+ other writers and talk to people about books. Awesome.

Here's me at my table:


One of the things that I love about this book festival is that the organizers (led by the fabulous Allison Santos) are organized. (You'd think this would be a standard feature of organizers, but not so much.) These librarians and volunteers think of everything.

For example, every author who wants one can have their own personal helper to, you know, help. In addition to helping me schlep candy from the car and tastefully arranging the requisite beware-the-Wild vines, my helper got me food! This gained her instant entry to my list of People Who Are Awesome.

I brought the vines; she brought the sandwiches.

Other people who are awesome were there too, including many, many awesome authors. For the festival, I was seated between the super-nice Linda Bozzo and Sally Cook and behind Dan Gutman. I also had a chance to talk a bit with Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead, both wonderful people and writers. And I got to meet the fabulous Donna Jo Napoli, whose books I adore, and many other writers at a lovely gathering afterward hosted by Margery Cuyler.

Rebecca Stead, Me, and Wendy Mass

Me and Linda Bozzo

And here's something completely unrelated but it made me smile so I wanted to share. I discovered this commercial the other day on Diana Peterfreund's blog, and I 100% agree with it (except for the line about arachnids).

Princeton Children's Book Festival 2008

This Saturday, I will be a participating author at the Princeton Children's Book Festival. I attended last year too and loved it. Allison Santos and the Princeton Public Library staff put on an awesome event.

I will be signing books at a table from noon to 5pm, and I'll be reading from Out of the Wild at 3:10pm in the Green Presentation Tent on the Plaza.

If you're interested in stopping by, here are the details:

September 13 (Saturday) from 12-5pm
Princeton Children's Book Festival 2008
Princeton Public Library
65 Witherspoon St., Princeton, NJ

There's a huge list of participating authors, including Michael Buckley, Margery Cuyler, Wendy Mass, Donna Jo Napoli, Rebecca Stead, and many other super-fabulous people.

And I'm gonna bring a bowl of candy!!

I'm really excited for this event. And not just because it was fun last year. Or because of the candy. I'm also excited because I get to see my alma mater again and feel all warm, fuzzy reminiscing feelings.

I remember people saying to me when I was in college, "This is the best time of your life!" I always thought that was the most depressing thing to say to someone. What? It's all downhill from here? And you are telling me this, why?

I can happily report that it's NOT true. At least, it's not true for me. The best time of my life (so far) is right now.

But I did really love college. And I do think it's a unique time in one's life. It's the very first time that you have the full freedom to choose what you do with your days. It's where who you were really begins to solidify into who you are.

It's also the time when you learn more about your hair.

This is a photo of me in my freshman year dorm room. As you can see, I'm sporting my poodle-do (my haircut in which I most resemble a prize-winning poodle).


All through high school, I had more of a sheep hair-do (picture a giant halo of sheep wool). This was the result of my always wanting to have long hair and my parents always wanting me to have short hair so instead I had hair stuck right in the middle. Middle-length might be fine on people with thin hair or straight hair, but on someone with incredibly thick, fuzzy hair? Yeah, no. Middle-length thick curly hair stands straight up. When I finally did cut my hair poodle-short for college, I turned out to be two inches shorter than I thought I was. Only after college did I let it grow long, ending years and years of hair-trauma.

Um, yeah, I definitely had some hair issues... Guess what I wrote my college admissions essay about -- my hair!! Seriously. It's something of a miracle that I got in.

Anyway, I will be in Princeton this Saturday, reminiscing about college, talking about books, eating candy, and trying to forget the hair-dos of my past. If you're in the area, please stop by the Princeton Public Library and say hi!

Princeton Children's Book Festival (Trip Report)

On Saturday, I was one of the participating authors at the Princeton Children's Book Festival. It was AWESOME.

I am happy to report that I did NOT head the wrong direction on the New Jersey Turnpike this time. This was the result of me repeating over and over for about three hours: "south and west, south and west, south and west, except for route 18 where you're briefly north... south and west, south and west."

Seriously, I'm like a sheep when I drive. I don't trust my own sense of direction. Whenever I see lots of people taking a particular exit, I start wondering if I should have taken that exit. Where are they going? What do they know that I don't know? What's wrong with the way I'm going? Maybe there's construction up ahead... or the road ends... or there's a wildebeest stampede...

Anyway, I made it to Princeton at precisely 11:30am. I greeted the awesomely-organized-and-nice librarians and volunteers who run the festival, as well as the wonderful Mary and Robert Brown from Books Bytes and Beyond who were selling books (including mine!) at the festival. I was then introduced to my assistant for the day, Sasha, who helped me set up my vines and lay out bookmarks and such.

All of this took about 28 minutes, which left me with exactly 2 minutes before the festival was scheduled to begin. Two minutes is just enough time to agonize over whether or not that's enough time to go get lunch. Of course, by the time you decide that is enough time, the two minutes are up. So no lunch for me. Probably should have asked my assistant to fetch me some food, but I didn't know if that was appropriate. I've never had an assistant before.

I was seated between two very awesome people. On one side of me was the wonderful Margery Cuyler, author of many fabulous picture books such as The Bumpy Little Pumpkin (just read it -- very sweet) and Skeleton Hiccups. On the other side of me was fellow Class of 2k7er Rose Kent, author of the very cool Kimchi & Calamari (which I can't wait to read -- isn't that a great title?).

For the next several hours, I proceeded to talk to anyone who was foolish enough to venture close to my table. Met lots of really great people, including one woman who had gotten a galley of Into the Wild at NY ComicCon and bought a hardcover at the festival anyway, for me to sign. How cool is that?!

Twice, I left my booth in the hands of Sasha so that I could meet other authors at the festival, specifically Michael Buckley and David Wiesner. Michael Buckley is the author of the bestselling Sisters Grimm series. I had such a nice time talking fairy tales with him. So great to meet him. He is really super sweet and very cool. And he bought a copy of Into the Wild, which grants him extra sweet-and-cool points.

David Wiesner is the multiple-Caldecott-winning author and artist of Flotsam, Tuesday, and others and is also super-sweet. My conversation with him went something like this:

Me: [gushing] Hi. I just wanted to tell you that I think your books are beautiful and brilliant.

David: You're Sarah Beth.

Me: [long pause in which I replay what I said to see if I'd said my name -- I hadn't] Yes.

David: I read your book. I really liked it.

Me: You read my book.

David: I was looking forward to meeting you.

Me: You read my book.

David: My kids had gotten it so I read it.

Me: You read my book.

David: I thought the image in the beginning with the Wild under her bed was especially great. I wish I'd thought of that first to paint it.

Me: [sound of jaw hitting pavement] You read my book.

Okay, maybe I was a wee bit more articulate than that, but seriously, I nearly did the Snoopy Dance of Joy right there. David Caldecott-Winning Wiesner read and liked my book!

Also very cool: I met and had a very nice conversation with Wendy Lamb (of Wendy Lamb Books). We chatted about Princeton (as she's been living in the area for the past few months). And she bought a copy of my book!

At 4pm, I did my reading in the Community Room of the Princeton Public Library. Several girls who had bought my book came to hear me read. I did the Little Red scene (chapter ten), which is my favorite scene to read since it gives a taste of the Wild without giving too much of the plot away. And I get to do Little Red's voice.

But the coolest thing of all was a moment that was repeated many times through the afternoon: a young girl (about the age that I was when I started writing) would come up and ask me to sign a copy of Into the Wild. I'd bring out my trusty purple pen and sign it. Then the girl would thank me, and I'd watch her walk away hugging my book. I could see myself in those girls so clearly. I was them.

The festival ended at 5pm. Allison Santos, the event organizer extraordinaire, gave each of the authors a Princeton Children's Book Festival T-shirt (which I'm wearing right now as I write this), and everyone packed up and headed home.

Okay, everyone else headed home. I headed for FOOD and then home, which brings me to my final bit of coolness for the day: mango muffins. Hands down, the yummiest muffin I've ever eaten.

And that was my Saturday. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Princeton Children's Book Festival

This Saturday, I'm off to the Festival. The King's Festival?!? To dance with the Prince?!?

No way! I don't have the shoes for it. And riding around in a giant gourd isn't all it's cracked up to be.


I'm off to the Princeton Children's Book Festival, at the Princeton Public Library, where I'll be one of the participating authors. From noon to 5pm, I'll be signing books at my table, which will be lovingly decorated with fake vines and bookmarks. And at 4pm, I'll be reading from Into the Wild in the library's community room. Here's the key info:

Saturday, September 15th from 12-5pm
Princeton Children's Book Festival - Reading at 4pm
Princeton Public Library
65 Witherspoon St, Princeton, NJ

I'm really looking forward to this. Back in May, I participated in the Princeton Teen Book Bash, and that was a lot of fun. Really well organized. Plus, I always get warm fuzzies when I visit the town of my alma mater, and I'm sure this trip will be no exception. And lots of awesome authors are going to be there, including (fellow Class of 2k7 member) Rose Kent, Michael Buckley, Trinka Hakes Noble, Tina Louise (Ginger from Gilligan's Island!!!), David Wiesner, Robin Friedman, and the list goes on...

So, if you're in New Jersey on Saturday, come say hi! I'll have a big bowl full of free candy... :)