Lisa Yee's Blog . . .

Behind-the-Scenes and On-the-Stage at the Children's Choice Book Awards

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:44:27 GMT

Did you have a wonderful Children's Book Week? I sure did!

Last week, Peepy and I flew to NYC to host the Children's Choice Book Awards -- 1,138,675 children and teens voted for their favorite books!

We consulted our fashion stylist(s) and both decided to wear gowns. My daughter created Peepy's gown out of an old skirt and gum wrappers . . .

Mine was vintage thrift store ($15!!!) . . .

(I brought two pairs of shoes.)

I also brought Colin Firth(s) as Mr. Darcy with me . . .

Why? Well, because he was in the short video that kicked off the show. (Son, who is only 15-years old, was the director/editor of the video!!! I'll be blogging a "making of" the video in a week-ish.)

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO including this soon-to-be-classic scene of me eating worms . . .

Colin, plus a backup Colin, was packed in my suitcase. JetBlue was doing random luggage checks. I was so afraid they'd go through my suitcase and find this . . .

The original venue for the Gala was shut down 48 hours before the show!!! Luckily, there are geniuses who cannot be discombobulated running the Children's Book Council, and a new place was found just in time!

We got there early and signed Children's Book Week posters . . .

Soon it was time for rehearsals . . .

Look! It's multiple-multiple-award-winning Tomie dePaola . . .

It was fun hanging out with uber bestsellng novelist Meg Cabot and Caldecott medalist Brian Selznick, who designed the posters . . .

Harlequin Romance Author/Newbery winner Katherine Applegate's daughter selected this lovely yellow purse for Peepy! (That's Katherine's husband, YA author Michael Grant, letting Peepy borrow his phone for an important call from her sylist) . . .

Brian Selznick as Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and I rehearsed going onto the stage after the opening video . . .

Whoa! It's Meg Cabot and Jon Sciezka, who hosted the first Children's Choice Book Awards Gala AND was our first National Ambassador of Young People's Literature . . .

And there's Henry Winkler with Jon . . .

This is what backstage looked like. See that cloth on the table? The crystal awards were hidden under it!

I was cold before the show, so Henry shared his jacket with me . . .

National Ambassador of Young People's Literature, Printz Award winner, four-time Caretta Scott King Honor Awards, two-time National Book Award Finalist -- well, you get the picture -- Walter Dean Myers, had met Peepy before, but Peepy insisted on another photo with him. Plus, she wanted to give him writing tips . . .

Here's everyone on stage, including Lois Lowry, getting directions and then rehearsing . . .

We did some interviews before the show began . . .

Can you guess whose shoes are whose?

(They include Meg Cabot, Lisa Yee, Henry Winkler and Jon Sciezka's.)

What about these shoes? Could they belong to my daughter and Brian Selznick???

After rehearsals, and before the show, the audience feasted and mingled. It was a who's who of children's literature at the event. Every major publishing house was represented. Yep! Lots of authors and agents and editors and publishers and paleontologists and illustrators (one of those things isn't true - maybe) . . .

Then the show began!

Because I am so short, I stood on a box. However, I am also a klutz, so that's why I gripped the podium throughout the evening.

When the presenters were speaking, and the winners were giving their speeches, I sat on a chair on the stage and had the best view!

Tomie dePaola kicked off the first award of the ending by presenting Kindergarter to Second Grade Book of the Year to Nighttime Ninja. Here's illustrator Ed Young accepting on his and author Barbara DaCosta's behalf. . .

Henry Winkler announced Nick Bruel's Bad Kitty For President as winner for Grades Three to Four . . .

Lois Lowry presented the award for Fifth and Sixth Grade Book of the Year to Rachel Renee Russell for Dork Diaries 4 . . .

Meg Cabot was up next, and in honor of her Princess Diaries books, I had hidden a crown under the podium to wear when I introduced her . . .

Then Meg announced Fault in Our Stars as Teen Book of the Year. Author John Green could not make the event since he and his wife are expecting a baby soon. So he said I could have the award. (Or maybe not.)

Katherine Applegate presented Author of the Year to Wimpy Kid's Jeff Kinney . . .

Brian Selznick presented Illustrator of the Year to Robin Preiss Glasser . . .

Walter Dean Myers presented Michele Norris with The Impact Award for championing children's literature and for creating NPR's Backseat Book Club . . .

What a wonderful evening!

YOU CAN WATCH THE ENTIRE AWARDS SHOW HERE!!!!

And all of this could not have happened without the marvelous Robin Adelson and her team at the Children's Book Council -- and Peepy and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy . . .

But wait . . . there was more. A lavish dessert party after. But that will be on my next blog, plus exploring New York, New York!

(Above: Newbery winner Lois Lowry parties with Peepy and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.)

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Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

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It's Children's Book Week!!!! Peepy in Pittsburgh!!! And More!!

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:30:11 GMT

Drumroll, please . . . IT'S CHILDREN'S BOOK WEEK!!!

So exciting!!!! I wish it were Children's Book Week 52 weeks of the year!

Tonight (I am blogging this on Monday morning) is the big Children's Choice Book Awards Gala, which I will be hosting. Squeeeee!!!

Son and I have been working on a video which will premiere there, plus I'll blog about all the behind-the-scenes happenings, and photos of the winners on my next blog.

In the meantime, since it's a all about books and children (then again, when isn't it on this blog?), last week I visited Pittsburgh, PA. It was an interesting flight. Here's my breakfast at the airport . . .

This dog sat in front of me, under his owner's chair. (They were both on vacation, he was not a comfort dog.) Then when I got out of the airport, my ride was waiting for me . . .

Oops. That wasn't my ride. This was! (That's Sara Brooke the librarian at The Ellis School.)

Just like in the movie THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, we crossed the bridge into Pittsburgh . . .

A scrumptious dinner and the friendly book lovers from Ellis were awaiting us . . .

Our room at the Inn on Negley was uber cozy . . .

The next morning it was off to school . . .

We spoke at two assemblies and, as always, Peepy made new friends . . .

Of course, everyone at this all-girls school knew who Peepy was. In fact, she was everywhere before she even showed up!!!

It was so cool to see all the signs they made for us . . .

As always, we checked out the library . . .

We signed lots of books . . . and one Peep . . .

I taught a writing workshop to the talented sixth graders . . .

Peepy loved the little houses . . .

Here's what The Ellis School had to say about my visit . . .

We had a late flight out the next day, which was fine with us because . . . we got to eat oh-so-delicious CHOCOLATE CHIP BANANA PANCAKES at Pamela's with our friend, author Jonathan Auxier . . .

Plus, we stumbled across a great indie bookstore!!! Here's Kards Unlimited, which has BOOKS (and cards) (and other cool stuff) . . .

And finally, I loved this comment I got regarding WARP SPEED . . .

Be sure to check out my next blog and find out all the behind the scenes scoop about the Children's Choice Book Awards, featuring these KidLit star presenters and the winners!!! (I'm hosting the Gala, so I'll have the best view in the house!)

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Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Famous Authors and Illustrators, Here (USC), There (NYC), and Everywhere . . .

Mon, 06 May 2013 08:11:05 GMT

Childen's Book Week is coming soon!

The Children's Choice Book Awards Gala will help kick off the week, and I am sooooooo excited to host the show in New York City. (Squeeeee!!!) Plus, I get to hobnot with the literati glitterati presenter -- in addition to Tomie DePaola, the presenters include, Lois Lowry . . .

Katherine Applegate . . .

Brian Selznick . . .

Meg Cabot . . .

Our National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Walter Dean Myers . . .

And Henry Winkler . . .

Plus, there will be lots more surprises in store. This is the final week of voting. You have until May 9th, so if you or your students, friends, family, haven't voted yet, CLICK HERE!!!

Speaking of books (that's rhetorical, because we are always speaking of books), here's more from the LA TIMES Festival of Books! So last blog, ALL THIS happened, and more. . .

And picking up where we left off, Lemony Snicket or Daniel Handler or neither or both, were on stage with Jon Klassen who played himself (as did Peepy) . . .

They were hysterical. I cannot begin to describe in words what they did, so you will just have to see them in person for yourself . . .

On Sunday to meet up with KidLit pals, like Linda Urban, Katherine Applegate and Gary Schmidt (who was clad in plaid when we saw him last), who were on a panel that also included Kathryn Fitzmaurice

Then it was off to sign books at the USC Civic Engagement booth . . .

We were so happy to run into Aaron Hartzler and have him sign our copy of RAPTURE PRACTICE . . .

Author Linda Urban had a reunion of sorts. A few years ago we were on a middle grade book panel together at the LA TIMES book fest! This time, we had had our own secret panel where we discussed geometry and global warming and other lofty things. Or maybe we talked books and writing and writing and more books . . .

Here's the Publisher's Weekly photo round-up of the book festival. Peepy made it in one photo, but I did not. Now that's all she talks about!

Pssst. Hey! Ever wonder about the difference between Middle Grade and Young Adult books? Well, National Book Award winner Jeanne Birdsall has sorted it all out for us in this marvelous HORN BOOK essay.

And not only can Jeannie write, but she can throw a mean right hook, too!!!!

CLICK HERE to find out about the chaos, above.

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Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

The LA TIMES Festival of Books and Awesome Authors and Illustrators

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 05:54:58 GMT

The LA TIMES Festival of Books started on a great note. Why? Because of this . . .

That's right. We had reserved parking!

Like last year, and the year before, the festival was held at my alma mater, USC. From the parking structure, we could see the dorm where I was a resident advisor . . .

Plus we saw this . . .

We had to get a closer look at the blue truck, and whoa, wow! GEEK OUT! It was a Library Store on wheels!!!

We wandered around a bit, and said hi to Tommy Trojan, and tried to ignore an improperly dressed big guy . . .

We also said "hi" to Stuck's Oliver Jeffers . . .

The we said "hi" to This Is Not My Hat's Jon Klassen . . .

Then we said "hi" to Oliver Jeffers and Jon Klassen . . .

Soon it was time for our reading and book signing at the USC Civic Engagement Booth . . .

I read from BOBBY THE BRAVE (SOMETIMES) . . .

Reading is Fundamental (RIF) was there and so were other reading fans!

Some of our fav indie bookstore and booksellers were at the fest, too! Like Kris from Once Upon a Time. Maureen was busy when I snuck up behind her and asked, "Er, do you know if there are any books here?" Hahahaha, snort!!! Teehee, sometimes I crack myself up. Um. You had to be there.

Dan Krall was signing at Once Upon a Time . . .

Rachel Howard from Scholastic Publicity got to see her favorite Peep. The last time we saw Rachel, it was at another book festival, here . . .

Over at Mrs. Nelson's Toy and Book Shop, we ran into Scott Speer and Sherri Smith . . .

Peepy was quite taken with the t-shirts after Amanda showed them to her . . .

Of course it made sense that SCIBA's Andrea Vuleta was hanging around the indie bookstores!

Shhh . . . here's where the secret bathrooms are. Only us alumni know about them . . .

Who's that? Why it's Loren Long and Otis, and Peepy, of course . . .

Did someone say "snack"? It was off the Green Room where all the authors were hanging out . . .

Fellow snackers included Suzanne Selfors and Tom Angleberger, who/whom we just saw in Chicago!

Wait! It's Dan Santat! What do these four have in common?

(Yes, the all love Peepy. And they are all wearing . . . socks! And hats.)

After we were snacked up, we went to listen to the Dan Santat Suzanne Selfors Annie Barrows Tom Angleberger panel . . .

Yay! We got to meet Ivy and Bean's Annie Barrows . . .

Later it was back to the Green Room where we ran into Ransom Riggs and Tahereh Mafi. Guess what we have in common? That's right, we are all represented by Writers House agent Jodi Reamer!

How does one end a great day at a great book festival? How about with a great meal at Versailles???

Oops. Not that one. This one.

Here we are with Dan Yaccarino, Tom and The Other Dan . . .

NEXT BLOG: More LA TIMES Festival of Books and an explanation of why Lemony Snicket is flailing . . .

THIS JUST IN . . . WARP SPEED has been nominated for the Sunshine State (that would be Florida, where I lived for 17 years) Young Readers Award!!!! And speaking of WARP SPEED, this week, Beth Gaudette from the Thomaston Public Library in Connecticut told me that their Mother Daughter Book Club read the book. In it, there's a scene where kids make clothes out of garbage bags, and that's what these talented girls did!!!

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Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Hello Hollow Hills, Hello Mr. Glick, and Hello New Peepy Page

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:02:11 GMT

Last blog we were n Dubai with these fine gents . . .

So then, once home, jet lag set in. I hadn't fully un-jet-lagged from Singapore, when I flew to Chicago to yuk it up, then in less than a week to Dubia, as seen here and here and here. However, I was cheered by these beautiful bowls I brought back with me . . .

I also burned some incense from the middle east, but I think I did it wrong. Luckily nothing caught on fire . . .

Despite all my travels across the continent and the world, I actually do do (oooh, you said "do do") school visits in my home state! What? You don't believe me? Well here's proof . . .

That's right, I was at Hollow Hills Fundamental School in Simi Valley, CA . . .

We set up in the multi-purpose room . . .

While I was checking the mic, Peepy did some exploring . . .

The assemblies went great . . .

Later, I did a writing workshop for some of the 6th graders. Here they are. Wait, here are some 6th graders, a bear, and teacher Holly Dye with me. Can you tell which is which?

After our visit, PTA mom Sonya Zavala presented with Peepy with a gift basket!!!

In other news, at her urging (insistence) Peepy has asked me to update her web page. Now you can see some of the fabulous place she's visited, like these . . .

(CLICK HERE to see more.)

So then, as some of you might know, I'm hosting the Children's Choice Book Awards Gala this year. (Squeeeee!!!) Now, here's the really awesome part, look at who the presenters are. I know!

To vote, CLICK HERE!!! (

In other news, this past week the Real Mr. Glick, from STANFORD WONG FLUNKS BIG-TIME, was substitute teaching in North Carolina. Here he is with Son . . .

He's doing a read aloud in a 7th grade class and what book does he read aloud from? You got it!

Real Mr. Glick read some of the passages about Fictional Mr. Glick, who is based on Real Mr. Glick! Here's what he told me . . .

Is that cool, or what? How surreal for the students!

NEXT BLOG: The Los Angeles Time Festival of Books! And the answer to what Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen are doing in this photo . . .

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Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Desert Safari Camel Time! Souk Shopping, and Good-Bye, Dubai . . .

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 05:41:05 GMT

So then, Peepy and I were HERE and HERE in Dubai, and now we are here in this final blog of the I WENT TO DUBAI AND HAD A GREAT TIME series . . .

(Above: The bus stops are air conditioned.)

One of my favorite things to do was exploring the backstreets where the locals hung out . . .

I slipped into a tiny restaurant that held about six tables. All were full, so the owner motioned for me to sit with this nice young man. He spoke English (slightly). I had what he had for lunch (they just brought it to me without me asking) . . .

After, I took the abra (small boat) across the creek to Deira. It costs about 28 cents for a ride. I loved the boats and I didn't fall into the water once!

The colors and sights and smells and sounds of people haggling were awesome. We visited the Silk Souk and the Spice Souk again . . .

This is the Gold Souk . . .

Everything closes from 1 - 4 pm . . .

Then we headed back for an entirely different shopping experience . . .

Above is the map for the largest mall in the middle east. We had been there briefly, once before. But we returned because Peepy and I heard there was a great bookstore there, and we are all about great bookstores. But first, we wandered around . . .

These women were watching people ice skate . . .

Look! We found the bookstore . . .

Hey, there's Absolutely Maybe . . .

The next day, my new friends from the American School of Dubai took me to the Blue Souk in Sharjah . . .

We all got some wonderful bargains!

Too soon, it was time for lunch and then the ride back to my hotel . . .

I had changed lodgings and was now at the Arabian Courtyard. Here's my room and the view . . .

With all the desert in Dubai, of course I had to go on a safari, right?

It was truly a marvelous experience. I rode in a 4-wheeler that was part of a 50 car caravan. It was a wild ride . . .

How wild was it? CLICK HERE to see my totally professional, hand-held steady cam video of me and Peepy in the front seat.

We learned about falcon, which are a huge part of the middle eastern culture . . .

The dunes were gorgeous and so was the sunset . . .

Yay! Camels!!!

Then there was a BBQ . . .

These are the lovely ladies from Australia that I sat with . . .

I opted for the flower pattern henna . . .

And here I am belly dancing. Or maybe it wasn't me?

All too soon, it was time to leave the desert.

On my last day in Dubai, I walked across the street from my hotel to visit the old fort that is now a museum. But first I had lunch. I couldn't read the menu, so I just pointed to a couple of words on page . . .

Because I bought a second suitcase, I needed to fill it up with one last shopping expedition . . .

Good-bye, Dubai! I had an incredible time!!!

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Going here? Then come see me at the USC Civic Engagement Booth #701 (in Argue Plaza near the Alumni House) on Saturday, 1 - 2 pm, as I read and sign FREE books. Plus, I'll be signing FREE books at a Meet and Greet, on Sunday, 12:45 - 1:45 pm!!!

Love books? Love kids books? Know a kid who loves books? It's time for the Children's Choice Book Awards!!! To vote, CLICK HERE!!! (BTW, look who's hosting the Gala.)

Pssst, to see the host(ess) of the this year's Gala, and the all-star presenters, or to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE!

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Snow Skiing in Dubai, Writing Workshops and Chocolate Hotels

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 07:17:35 GMT

When last we blogged, we were doing a school visit in Dubai, and sightseeing. Well, WE ARE STILL THERE!!!! (Blog-wise.)

I heard about the malls in Dubai, but they seemed like urban legends. A ski resort INSIDE? Pshaw! (Isn't "pshaw" a weird word? Does anyone really ever say that?")

Well, I had to go check out this ski resort in the desert. When I first hit the mall, I greeted by a familiar friend, Krispy Kreme! Next I had some grilled lamb at the fast food court, and then did more exploring of the Mall of the Emerites . . .

I was totally discombobulated to see Borders. I thought they had closed everywhere, but apparently not in Dubai . . .

And then we saw it. Behold the snow!!!

Back at ASD (American School of Dubai) I basked in the glory of their libraries!!!

I was so impressed by the students. Can you tell we had fun during our writing workshops?

In addition to elementary school, and a middle grade workshop, I taught a special workshop with these talented teens . . .

After school, the fun continued at dinner near the base of the tallest building in the world.

I had about an hour before, so I went to (a different) Dubai mall which was next door . . .

As dawn fell, I headed to the restaurant . . .

From the restaurant terrace, we had front row seats for the water show they did in honor of Peepy . . .

Our ASD workshops continued through the week with these amazing students . . .

In addition to writing about characters and learning about revision, some wrote to Peepy . . .

Look, we were official! Plus, it's the elementary school library staff with Harry Bliss and Moi . . .

Later, back at the tres chic Atlantis Resort, we dined outside, then headed inside to watch the artists craft the hotel OUT OF CHOCOLATE. Did I mention CHOCOLATE?

Inspired by the chocolate, we decided it was time for more souk shopping and sightseeing . . .

We had never seen an ATM machine for GOLD before . . .

See that hotel in the middle? It's the most expensive one in the world!

After doing even more shopping, we headed to a restaurant to meet up with our ASD teachers, librarians and administrators for a festive farewell gathering for the authors . . .

It was Natasha's birthday, too!!!

Here we are with librarians Carly and Natasha, and author/photographer Nic Bishop . . .

What a marvelous time we had at ASD . . .

NEXT BLOG: Lisa ventures into the desert and meets a camel.

===========================

Going here? Then come see me at the USC Civic Engagement Booth (in Argue Plaza near the Alumni House) on Saturday, 1 - 2 pm, as I read and sign FREE books. Plus, I'll be signing FREE books at a Meet and Greet, on Sunday, 12:45 - 1:45 pm!!!

Love books? Love kids books? Know a kid who loves books? It's time for the Children's Choice Book Awards!!! To vote, CLICK HERE!!!

Pssst, to see the host(ess) of the this year's Gala, and the all-star presenters, or to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE!

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Hello Dubai!!!! (It sounds funnier when you say it out loud.)

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 07:23:10 GMT

We hadn't yet recovered from out jet lag from Singapore, when we whooshed off to Chicago. And then, less than one week later, we were in the air again . . .

That package (above) that Peepy is holding contains a toothbrush and slippers. Why? Because Emirates Air gave it to us for our 16 hour flight to Dubai!

We checked into the uber super fancy Atlantis Resort . . .

From our balcony, this was the view . . .

Our room was lovely . . .

The next morning when we woke up and looked out, it was like, "Wow, there's water there!??!!!"

There was water everywhere in the desert. Even inside the hotel . . .

We saw this giant chocolate duck. Or maybe it was another kind of bird?

Here's the exterior of our hotel . . .

Outside, Peepy was careful to protect her delicate complexion by using sunscreen . . .

Inside was gorgeous . . .

Oh, look! Who's that? Why it's Harry Bliss, Angelina Jolie, ASA librarians Natasha Pollock and Carly Brown, and Nic Bishop discussing string theory, quantum mechanics, and our upcoming school visits . . .

Natasha and Carly are from the American School of Dubia. Harry is from Vermont and Nic is from New Zeland. (Nic won the "who flew furthest" contest with 21 hours in the air.)

Look! Wouldn't you know it. Peepy instantly made new friends . . .

(Yes, we know the above photo is dark, but we did it on purpose.)

The next day we headed to the American School of Dubai . . .

These students did a wonderful job introducing me during the assembly . . .

Here we are with the school mascot . . .

I spoke to some of the parents . . .

Then it was time fora swig ofcamel milk before heading to the theater to speak to the students . . .

Peepy and I spoke at two assemblies, as seen in these three photos . . .

And we also autographed our books . . .

After, we headed down to the old Creek area of Dubai to do some exploring . . .

Coffee anyone?

.

It was fun seeing the neighborhood . . .

We stopped for snacks. Harry had coffee. Peepy had lemon sorbet. Renee, a teacher from ASD, was our wonderful tour guide, had mint lemonade . . .

Then it was time to see more sights . . .

At dusk we split up and Renee and I continued our journey. It was soooooo wonderful to be with her since she knew all the side alleys and best shops . . .

We took an abra (a small boat) across the creek to Deira . . .

Oh wow, I fell in love with the Spice Souk and the Gold Souk . . .

Is this beautiful or what? (And the gold is pretty, too!)

We ended the day with a wonderful grilled dinner creekside . . .

The next morning, we had a great breakfast. Look at the fresh honey!

The library was our home base . . .

(Mo Willems had spoken at the school last year, hence Elephant. Also, Jack Gantos spoke the year before Mo.)

We taught three writing workshops on Day Two . . .

The students were so enthusiastic! We will have more on our school visit in our next blog. Plus, snow skiing in Dubai?

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Love books? Love kids books? Know a kid who loves books? It's time for the Children's Choice Book Awards!!! To vote, CLICK HERE!!!

Pssst, to see the host(ess) of the this year's Gala, and the all-star presenters, or to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE!

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Laughing Out Loud in the Heartland . . .

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 07:27:14 GMT

Even though I am here . . .

. . . my blog is here . . .

That's right. I am in Dubai!!!!

However, last week I was at Northern Illinois University for the Children's Literature Conference on Humor. And that's what we'll be blogging today. Ten years ago this October, my debut novel came out. When MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS won the Sid Fleischman Humor Award . . .

So BOOM! I was considered someone who writes funny stuff. (Although many people tell me that my books make them cry, too. I hope it's because there are poignant moments, and not that the books are stinky.)

Oops. Let's come back from our digression. Back to DeKalb, IL and to the Humor Conference! The night before was a cozy dinner with fellow speakers and the masterminds behind the literature conference . . .

As always, David Lubar misbehaved. Peepy has yet to forgive him for using her as a coaster . . .

Fellow speaker Tom Angleberger's flight was delayed. So I brought him some bread from the restaurant. He gave it some thought, then opted to eat the butter instead . . .

We were up early for the conference the next morning . . .

These were the keynote speakers. Well, not really. These are books. But they were written by the speakers . . .

Peepy was excited about breakfast. It's her favorite meal of the day, in addition to lunch and dinner . . .

While Peepy ate, and David Lubar looked over his speech, I took a picture of Carolyn Crimi for my website page featuring famous authors . . .

(To see Carolyn and 300 other fabulous authors/illustrators with their favorite Peep, CLICK HERE.)

Carolyn and David were terrific and we laughed so hard that we worked up an appetite for lunch. Look who we got to sit with! Yes, a table full of Lisa Yees!!!!

Soon it was Origami Yoda's Tom Angleberger's time on stage. The last time we saw Tom, he and his pal were playing with scissors . . .

It was at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Look who else was there last year - John Green! (John appears to be everywhere these days, so I thought I'd include him here, again.)

(Peepy and I will be at the festival again this year.)

Oops. STOP digressing. Okay, back to the literature conference. Tom spoke without scissors . . .

He even taught origami to the entire audience, plus this unassuming volunteer . . .

Before long, it was my turn to close the conference . . .

We waited backstage . . .

And then we went on. As you can see from this speaker's POV, everyone insisted on not sitting in a large clump . . .

I think the speech went well. I know I had a blast!

What's that? It's a short story I wrote for SCOPE magazine!!!

The killer first line was written by a student named Keya Roy. Hers was one of the thousands of entries and though there were lots of really great opening lines, something about hers called out to me. To read the story based on Keya's line, CLICK HERE.

NEXT BLOG:

===========================

Love books? Love kids books? Know a kid who loves books? It's time for the Children's Choice Book Awards!!! To vote, CLICK HERE!!!

Pssst, to see the host(ess) of the this year's Gala, and the all-star presenters, or to purchase tickets, CLICK HERE!

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

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I (Barely) Survived The Durian, and Other Foodie Adventures in Singapore . . .

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 06:25:08 GMT

My final Singapore blog features a food and fun!!!!

As you may recall, last blog we were visiting the bookstore of our dreams . . .

And the one before that, had us at speaking at the Stamford American International School . . .

When members of the Singapore Chapter of the SCBWI found out I was in town, one volunteered to show me and Peepy around! I met ex-patriot, Australian author Catherine Carvell on a gorgeous sunny morning . . .

She had told me to wear comfortable shoes, and I am glad I did. Behind all the buildings was a river!!! Who knew??? Well, besides Catherine and thousands of Singapore locals . . .

There were shops and restaurants along the river . . .

Catherine had never seen a geoduck clam before . . .

After a while, we hopped aboard our very own "bum boat" . . .

See that ship-shaped thing on the top of those three buildings? We were headed there, to the Marina Bay Sands . . .

Green space is at a premium. Can you see the trees growing in these buildings?

After the boat ride, we continued on foot to our destination. As always, Peepy made new friends . . .

This is the ArtScience Museum . . .

We took the elevator to the 57th-ish floor of the Marina Bay Sands. Woosh! We breezed right into Ku De Ta. Why did this chic nightspot let us right in? Because we write children's books!!! (Or maybe because we went in the daytime.) The coffee was $12 for a cup -- but it was worth every penny because of the incredible view ...

12,942ish people had told me that I HAD to try the black pepper crab. So next we headed to Dempsey Hill, an old military base that's now full of antique shops and restaurants . . .

OMG! It was the BEST crab I have had in my ENTIRE life!!!! Totally messy, but that's the price you pay for amazing!

Now, not all the food in Singapore is delicious. See this . . .

That's the dreaded Durian, the SMELLIEST FRUIT IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. It's not even allowed on public transportation or in hotels!!!!

Here's what National Geographic says of the Durian.

But I kept seeing it. And I thought, "How bad can it taste is it's everywhere?" So I saw a nice looking Durian stand. They had the fruit inside a crusty pastry shell, and I bought one . . .

It looked so pretty . . . but I bit into it and THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. IT WAS THE FOULEST THING I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. IT WAS AS IF A DEATH EATER HAD MADE IT. THE COMBINATION OF THE SMELL GOING UP MY NOSE AND THE DURIAN GOING DOWN MY THROAT MADE ME WANT TO VOMIT.

So, I ran to another stall and bought something that looked like donut holes, but they weren't, and ate the entire bag . . .

Luckily for me, the dreaded awful Durian was only one bite -- one horrible bite that I will never forget. However, the rest of the food in Singapore was wonderful, delicious, incredible. Why? Because of the hawker fare Singapore is famous for. So, to off set the dreaded Durian, I'll show pictures of incredibly delicious fare. These are from Lau Pa Sat . . .

Of course, the best dinner I had was at a little restaurant tucked away in a corner in Tang's on my last night. Why? Because it was with a group of Singapore SCBWI members, plus Australian author Jacqueline Harvey who was on a book tour!!!

(From left: Sumi Chandrasekharan, Kenneth Quek -- SCBWI Regional Advisior, Ian and Jacqueline Harvey, David Seow, Angelina Jolie, and Sarah, Mounsey, and Peepy (middle)

All too soon it was time to head home. But not before one final meal in the airport . . .

Thank you, Singapore for your wonderful hospitality!!!! (But not for the Durian.)

===========================

Books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then Vroman's will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

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Singapore's Chinatown + The Bookstore of My Dreams

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 07:38:19 GMT

Last blog, we were in Singapore talking to these students about writing ...

Not only was it great meeting everyone, but Peepy and I also had a chance to do some exploring. (Squeeee!!!) If you love books, you will love this BooksActually.

Ooooh, if I were a bookstore, this is who/what I'd want to be . . .

Look! Look! It's the owner, Kenny Leck!!!!

And it's not just books, it AMAZING RETRO STUFF and ORIGINAL ART!!!!

And here's handmade stationary and awesome writing tools!!!!

Want to see the BooksActually story? HERE it is.

BooksActually : The Documentary from booksactually on Vimeo.

On another afternoon, we visited Chinatown . . .

A while ago I wrote an American Girl book about a girl named Ivy Ling who lived in Chinatown, only it was in San Francisco . . .

In Singapore's Chinatown, I came across the SMELLIEST fruit in the world - the Durian. (In my next blog I will tell you how it tastes.) Plus, we were discombobulated by this odd package . . .

Then there were these sights . . .

This man carved my daughter's name in Chinese . . .

I bought tea here . . .

I am so glad I made it to the Chinatown Heritage Centre. The exhibits were enlightening, and it was sobering seeing the cramped "cubical living" spaces many families occupied . . .

Nearby, the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple Museum was gorgeous . . .

Next Blog: A Chinese American sees some Singapore sights with an Australian, plus a store devoted to picture books, plus plus food GLORIOUS food!!!

===========================

Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

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Singapore School Visit and More!

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 07:50:50 GMT

I do a lot of school visits, like this one about a mile from my house. However, my most recent visit was 8,774 miles away from home . . .

We had a day to try to adjust to the eighteen hour time difference. So we explored some, and ate some, then ate some more . . .

During the week we also visited this amazing little street . . .

(We'll go into more detail about it at the end of this blog.)

For the next three days, I was at the Stamford American International School in Singapore!

I did two assemblies for grades K - 5 . . .

At the end of the first day, there was a welcome party for Peepy and it involved cake!

The workshops were wonderful, and the students were soooooo enthusiastic . . .

I taught persuasive writing, and Peepy taught rocket science . . .

We had some yummy meals on campus . . .

Here are some more students!

Peepy was always sad when the workshops ended. However, she was cheered by lunch . . .

Look! It's the library . . .

As always, Peepy made new friends . . .

Peepy likes to sightsee and shop, so we took a taxi to Arab Street . . .

We had a hot and spicy fish dish to fuel us, and kept going . . .

Haji Lane was just around the corner. If you like indie boutiques, vintage and handmade clothes and jewelry, and one-of-a-kind items, this is the place for you (and me) (and Peepy) . . .

$2 got is us into the toy museum . . .

It sort of reminded me of my office. I dunno, what do you think?

NEXT BLOG: I found the bookstore of my dreams in Singapore . . .

===========================

Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

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Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Famous Authors/Illustrators Noshing, Last Bookstore Revisited, and Landing in Singapore

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:15:10 GMT

Last blog found us hanging out with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Garrett Reisman . . .

So it was a "wha . . .?" moment when the gigundo meteor hit Russa a couple days later. Here's an AP photo it heading to earth . . .

The next day an asteroid was scheduled to come "this close" to earth. So we went outside to try to see it. However, NASA said it would be difficult for the "untrained eye" to witness it. I dunno. Not only did we see ONE meteor, we saw TWO meteors!!!

(Legal: These meteors have not been confirmed my NASA, yet.)

So then, meteors aside, I'm on the road (again) right now. Or rather, I was recently in the air . . .

I landed in Singapore on Saturday . . .

Yes, I left my house on Friday and two days later, arrived at my Singapore hotel totally jet lagged. I'll be blogging about my adventures here, and my visit to the Stamford American International School. But in the meantime, before I left, I visited The Last Bookstore in the heart of downtown Los Angeles -- again.

You never know what you'll find there!

Even though Peepy and I have been there before, but we can't get enough of the place. Some of their zillion billion books are even color coded!

This last time, before buying books, we needed to get fortified. So we went to the Nickel Diner. (The food cost dollars more than a nickel, but it was worth saving your pennies for. Did those bad puns make cents to you?)

Yay, books!!! Speaking of books, can you find the famous author hiding in my office?

Here's a hint: It's one of these two. And it's the one with the GIANT burrito . . .

(That's Origami Yoda's very own Tom Angleberger on the left and Dan Santat on the right.)

In other eating news, Mo Willems was in town recently-ish. He and Marla Frazee had a grand time goofing off with Peepy . . .

Then Bob Boyle and Peepy got all serious as Tom Warburton, Dan Santat, and Tom Gammill chortled . . .

Here's the gang . . .

And lastly, here's a fan letter that I got recently. LOVE IT! This kid is going to go places!!!

===========================

Books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then Vroman's will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Hanging Out With Buzz Aldrin and Dining Under Endeavour

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:55:58 GMT

Before I begin, Peepy insisted I tell you her big news. That's right! She now has her own Facebook Fan Page.

Sigh. She's always been something of a diva, so we'll just have to see how this goes.

In other news, some of you know, I am something of a space geek. I taught myself how to speak Klingon. Sort of.

I even wrote a book called WARP SPEED, about a Star Trek geek who gets bullied. It's jammed packed with Star Trek and Star Wars. Oh, and Batman.

Here's a video about WARP SPEED.

So then, last year one of the highlights of my life was being selected to part of NASA's Social Media team covering the Endeavour's journey atop a 747 to Dryden Flight Research Center, and then onto Los Angeles. CLICK HERE and HERE to see those blogs.

Here's my video of the shuttle leaving for Los Angeles. I was 500 feet from the runway!!!

I couldn't get enough of the shuttle.

And NASA was amazing. They even went looking for me when I got lost in the desert . . .

I was on the road when Endeavour continued its journey through the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center. Luckily for me, my friend Mary Legallett was right there with it!

Mary is a product manager for Toyota, and their Tundra towed the shuttle. But we'll get to video proof of that later. What you need to know is that Mary drove one of the two trucks carrying the camera crew to make Toyota's commercial!!!

These photos are courtesy of Mary. Note night to day. She was with Endeavour for over 17 hours . . .

I normally don't like commercials, but I love this one. Here's the Tundra TOWING the shuttle . . .

To see behind-the-scenes of the Tundra pulling Endeavour, CLICK HERE. (It really is a cool mini-mini-documentary)

(Fun Fact: Mary and I went to USC together. Then later we both worked for Doyle Dane Bernbach, an advertising agency in LA!)

So then, when Mary invited me to a LA World Affairs Council dinner to hear Buzz Aldrin and dine UNDER the Endeavour at the California Science Center, I said, "YES! YES, OF COURSE I'LL GO!!!" And I did.

The Science Center was closed to the public. . . but open to us! Squeeeeee!!!

There was a HUGE photo of the Endeavour traveling to the Science Center. Though we couldn't find Waldo, we found Mary!!!

(Mary is pointing to her tiny self. To see Tiny Mary in the Tundra, you have to find her hand, then her finger.)

We admired the exhibit before going to the main event . . . seeing the shuttle again.

Dinner was served under the Endeavour. Every third bite, I'd look up to remind myself how awesome it was to be sitting under the shuttle! I mean (if I were taller) I could have touched it!

First Endeavour astronaut Garrett Reisman spoke . . .

Then Buzz Aldrin, American Icon and namesake of this fellow, spoke . . .

Then they sang a duet. (Actually, they answered questions.)

Here are some of the answers:

1. Buzz does not believe there is life in outer space.
2. Garrett believes there is life in outer space.
3. Buzz was the first man to pee in his pants on the moon. (Yes! He told us that.)
4. Garrett holds the record for peeing in six different urine containers in space.

Later, the astronauts got to admire the out of this world beauty of Peepy . . .

Garrett and Peepy had a staring contest. Even though the NASA astronaut lost, he was very gracious . . .

===========================

Books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then Vroman's will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Dot, Dot, Who Did The Dot?

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:15:04 GMT

Can you guess who this Asian kid is?

Yes! It's me. I'm Asian, or to be more specific, I am a Chinese American. You know that that means, right?

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!!!!

Happy Chinese New Year!!!! Here's hours of fun to help celebrate . . .

Are you done with your Dot to Dot? Because, there's lots more dots in store for you.

Oops. Wrong Dot. Here's what I'm talking about . . .

I first met Peter H. Reynolds by reading his marvelous book, THE DOT . . .

I've also had the fun of meeting Peter in person . . .

Plus, I've had a blast at The Blue Bunny, the marvelous indie bookstore owned by Peter and run by his twin, Paul, and Janet, Paul's wife (did you get all that?) . . .

So when T.J. Shay asked me to create a "Dot," I was like, "excuse me?" Then I saw the website.

Here are some "celebri-dots" created by famous authors, like Peter . . .

And Kathi Appelt, Deborah Underwood, Sarah Weeks, Jeff Kinney, and Sharon Creech (twice!) . . .

A dot? What would I create? That's when I realized that there were dots everywhere in my office!!!!

So, then. How could I incorporate my office into my dot? The it hit me!

Check out the website to see more Celebri-Dots or to create your own.

(Sort of) speaking of libraries (you can read THE DOT in the library), is this the cutest little library, or what? Came across it in my neighborhood. You can read more about the Free Little Library HERE! If you decided to make one yourself, send me a photo and I'll post it on the blog!

===========================

Books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then Vroman's will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Young Author's Week Visit and a Book Tree

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:51:50 GMT

I speak at schools all over the country -- and every now and then, I visit a school in my own backyard.

Monterey Hills Elementary is not too far from my house . . .

The school was celebrating their Young Author's Week, and since I'm a young author, I was invited to speak!

What was that? Oh. Okay. Um, I think that the "young authors" they were referring to were their own students.

So, we began setting up in the cafe-torium . . .

When, suddenly . . . BEEEEEEEEP, BEEEEEEEP, BEEEEEP. No, Peepy didn't light anything on fire. It was a fire drill!!!! BEEEEP . . .

We were totally impressed by how calm and collected everyone was . . .

One time, I was giving a presentation at a high school in the Chicago area, when BEEEEEEEP!!! Fire drill?

No! It was a real fire!!!!

Oops. Digression. Back to South Pasadena. I told the students that even though the many of my books are set in the fictional town of Rancho Rosetta, CA, it's really South Pasadena. Here's what they thought about that . . .

After, we visited the library. Super librarian Amy Blum and her furry friend presented us with CHOCOLATE!!!!

(How did she know that we love that stuff?)

Here's more of the library and some book lovers . . .

BTW, look! I get to play library at home . . .

Oops. That's another digression. Before we left Monterey Hills Elementary, Peepy got a gift all her own. These three played a concert just for her!

So how did we cap off our great afternoon? Here's how . . .

Hey! What's that? Why, it's the Children's Choice Book Awards . . . the only national book awards program where winning titles are selected by young readers of all ages. And who's hosting? CLICK HERE to find out. (Squeeeee!!!)

And finally, there's this. Look what I saw when visiting Art Center College of Design, near the Rose Bowl. Don't you want one of your own?

===========================

Books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then Vroman's will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Newbery? Caldecott? NY Times #1? National Book Award? Yep. They're All Here . . .

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:26:02 GMT

I'm back! In the last couple-ish of blogs, Peepy and I were in Scotland.

Here's an old shot of Peepy during an earlier visit. She was in Braveheart with Mel Gibson. However, her beauty detracted from him, so all her scenes were cut. Too bad. It would have been a better movie with her in it.

This week was a big one in the KitLit Universe. Yes! ALA Awards were announced. The winner of the Newbery is Katherine Applegate for THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN!!! Seen here with the one and only Peepy . . .

And the Caldecott goes to Jon Klassen for THIS IS NOT MY HAT. Here is he with this is not his BatPeep . . .

On the subject of people who can really draw, we went to see our pal Kazu Kibuishi the creator of AMULET, at Vroman's in Pasadena where I've had a couple of book launch parties . . .

He talked and drew a landscape the same time . . .

Here's his illustration . . .

Just kidding!!! I did that. Can you tell? (I wasn't able to get a good photo of Kazu's drawing.) However, you can see and even own one of his (see below) HERE.

Then, we went to get our Book #5 in the series signed by Jason Caffoe, the colorist for the series, and Kazu . . .

See those two little notebooks with Peepy? One's mine and one's Kazu's. We both store our ideas in them. Plus, Kazu shared some of his sketches . . .

And before we go, we just had to share this with uber fabulous video of this National Book Award winner . . .

YES! It's my dear friend Jeanne Birdsall's brilliant TEDx Talk. Here she discusses writing, childhood, and 6th grade love. And to think Jeannie started writing because a boy she once knew said . . . well, watch the video and find out for yourself. If you can't see it below, or by CLICK HERE.

===========================

Books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then Vroman's will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Scottish Highlands Highlights, Feeding the Hairy Coo & Museum Quality Photos

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 08:53:57 GMT

Wait, wha . . . ? You're still in Scotland? (Meaning, me. I'm still in Scotland.) Well, yeah. Duh. Time Machine!

The Downtown Abbey gang was in Scotland for the holidays, and so were we . . .

(Peepy and Lord Grantham, aka Hugh Bonneville, met for the first time, here.)

So then, Scotland-wise, I was HERE, and I was THERE. Now, I'm here and there . . .

Let's start with here with some museum-quality photos. Yes, we visited the National Museum of Scotland . . .

Oops. There was an accident, but everyone was okay . . .

While we were at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery we saw this painting of Professor Peter Higgs as in HIGGS Boson . . .

It was so cool to see it because in my upcoming Young Adult Novel, SEVEN DAYS DOWN, the main character's name is Higgs Boson Bing! (The book is about the last seven days of high school for a Harvard bound senior . . . and what happens when it's discovered that he cheated on his application.)

(Above: Not to brag, but that's my illustration IN THE MUSEUM. Um, anyone who wanted to draw was allowed to.)

Here's more of the museum . . .

The Museum of Childhood was full of awesome rare toys!

And now, let's visit way over there. We took a day trip to the famed Scottish Highlands. Our guide, repeatedly, repeatedly, said that the movie BRAVEHEART was an affront to the Scottish people and everything in it, including Mel Gibson, was all wrong . . .

So, here's the real deal . . .

It was great fun running around Doune Castle, the site of the filming of Monty Python and The Holy Grail.

Our guide even lent us some coconuts so we could pretend to be horses. (If this makes no sense to you, see the movie.)

Later, we went to the ness (a.k.a. "lake") . . .

But the highlight of the highlands was meeting the Hairy Coo. Them's a sort of Scottish cow. Aren't they cute?

Cows are my friends. In fact, in another lifetime, I co-wrote this video for our Dairy Farmers . . .

When our guide asked for volunteers to feed the Hairy Coo, I jumped up and down and cried, "Pick me! Pick me!"

Ah, what a wonderful time we had in Scotland. We'll be back!

===========================

Books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then Vroman's will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Scouting Scotland, Writing History, and a Peep at Edinburgh Castle

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 10:06:48 GMT

Um . . . lemme see. Where were we? Here's a hint . . .

That's right! In the city where J.K. Rowling wrote HARRY POTTER(S). You might recall that she was talking to Daughter, seen above.

So then, of course we had to visit Edinburgh Castle. Behold the magnificence. Yes, Peepy is stunning, and so is the castle . . .

Edinburgh was so enchanting. We were there for the Christmas and in honor of Peepy, the whole city was lit up!

Loved the historic buildings . . .

Of course, we had to stop several times a day for snacks and shopping . . .

A tradition of great literature lives on in Edinburgh. Here's the Writer's Museum . . .

(I must admit the mannequins of Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson sort of creeped me out -- especially since they talked.)

Next blog: More museums, the "Monty Python castle," Hairy Coo cows, and Higgs Boson.

In the meantime, can you guess who was the Western Washington SCBWI Person of the Week. Here's a HINT!

===========================

Oh, look! These books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then they will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

{C}Lisa Yee

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Edinburgh Adventures . . . In The Footsteps of J.K. Rowling

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 08:50:10 GMT

As you may have guessed from my last blog, I was in Edinburgh, Scotland!

Daughter was doing a semester at the University of Edinburgh. Here's her blog about Edinburgh, and here's her blog about books.

So then, Daughter is a HUGE Harry Potter fan. She made it a goal to meet Ms. Rowling, who lives in Edinburgh, as she did! When they met, Daughter told JK Rowling that because of the Harry Potter books, and an internship with Arthur Levine, it is her dream to work in children's publishing. Here's Ms. Rowling telling Daughter, "Good, we need people like you."

How did Daughter meet her literary idol? Well . . . she won a contest! The first dozen-ish to click into a literary society's website got to attend a webcast of Ms. Rowling talking about THE CASUAL VACANCY, her new novel, plus get a book (or two) autographed. So here's what I got for Christmas . . .

Years earlier, Son got to meet JK Rowling thanks, to Arthur Levine who's my editor and edited the HARRY POTTER series!

(That's Son's back in the photo.)

Being in the land where the Harry Potter books were penned, Daughter took me to The Elephant House were some of the books were written . . .

The women's restroom is famous for the messages people have left for JK Rowling . . .

Later, it was time for an-almost-midnight-tour of places that inspired the HARRY POTTER books . . .

Here's The Elephant House by night, plus another place she wrote . . .

This street is said to be the inspiration for Diagon Alley . . .

Thomas Riddell(s), father and son, lie in Greyfriar's graveyard. It is said the name was the inspiration for Tom Riddle a.k.a. LORD VOLDEMORT!!!

Professor McGonagall? Could this be who she was named for?

Greyfrier's is also famous for Greyfriar's Bobby. Pubs and statues and such honor this loyal dog . . .

And finally, we end our Harry Potter tour at this posh private school. It was the inspiration for Hogwarts . . .

Stay tuned for more adventures in Scotland, including the Highlands, Monty Python, a couple of castles, cheese toasties, and much more!!!!

In the meantime, back in the United States, Children's Book Council Diversity asked if I thought I was a diverse author. I said no. You can read why this interview with me.

I was also given a writing assignment. One of these paragraphs is tone deaf when it comes to cultural diversity. To find out which one, and why, click here and scroll down.

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Oh, look! These books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then they will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

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Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

2012 Highlights, Plus My Best Xmas Present

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 09:13:39 GMT

Some said the world was supposed to end on 12/21/12. I am so glad it didn't, because there's still lots I want to do. That said, I did manage to pack a whole lot into 2012. Let's go backward and take a look at some of the highlights. (Note: The stuff that's highlighted in a link goes to the blog about whatever I am blathering about.)

DECEMBER

Traveled to Edinburgh to visit Daughter who was attending the University for the semester. She's studying to be a children's book editor (!!!) and got me a signed copy of this for Christmas . . .

Yes! My very own autographed-by-J.K.-Rowling-copy of THE CASUAL VACANCY. Next week, I'll be blogging about how Daughter managed to get the book. But in the meantime, here's a photo of Peepy in front of her new house, formerly known as Edinburgh Castle . . .

Oh, but speaking of castles and that sort of stuff, in December, we also got to meet Downton Abbey's Lord Grantham . . .

NOVEMBER

Amish country and a conference in Pennsylvania were on the calendar for November. We had a lovely room with a view and also got to work on SEVEN DAYS DOWN, my next young adult novel for Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic . . .

(These red marks are notes to myself.)

OCTOBER

October was a busy, busy, busy month. We were at The Brooklyn Book Festival and The South Dakota Festival of Books, school visits in Texas, and more.

Behold, Jon Sciezka doing a guy thing as I moderated the Guys Read panel. Joseph Bruchac and Gordon Korman look on . . .

It was all very fun, but the jet lag got to me a bit. Here I am with fellow jet laggee (is that a word?) Sherman Alexie . . .

SEPTEMBER

As the space shuttle Endeavor made its way to Los Angeles aboard a modified 747, I was one of 40 people selected to cover the event for NASA. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime event as seen HERE and HERE and HERE . . .

Here's the video of the take off. We were 500 feet away . . .

AUGUST

Anyone up for a flash mob of kid lit folk? We were! August is always a great time because of the SCBWI Summer conference!

JULY

Ah, Comic Con. Yes, it's every bit as crazy as you've heard it is. Since we wrote a book called WARP SPEED, about a Star Trek geek who gets beat up, we were on a panel . . .

July was also the American Library Association Conference. We saw Newbery winner Jack Gantos. However, he misbehaved. Badly.

JUNE

Did someone say "radio"? Yes! That was me on Jarrett Krosoczka's show Sirrus Show THE JJK REPORT . . .

Here's a video of the radio . . .

MAY

We visited Kent State in May, plus were at the Los Angles Times Festival of Books, where we ran into old friend (as in we've known him for a while) John Green. Plus, we watched Lauren Myracle get arrested . . .

APRIL

Northampton, MA is like a children's book author/illustrator mecca. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks there and got to hang out with my dear friend, Jeannie Birdsall. We were on the radio together!

Peepy and I also had lunch with Mo Willems and Tony DiTerlizza . . .

We also got to visit Tony DiTerlizzi's lair and were so taken with it, and him, that we bought him this most awesome sweater . . .

MARCH

We learned the secrets of Scrivener from the creator of the program, plus found out that Austin, TX has great BBQ . . .

Visiting Vancouver was a blast. It was fun seeing Allen Say, again . . .

FEBRUARY

Jeremy Lin, the Chinese American basketball player, took the NBA by storm. Even people who didn't know what a basketball was, knew about Jeremy Lin. I wrote about him on this blog, and it was picked up by USA TODAY. Here's my dad, a three time varsity player in high school . . .

Speaking of Chinese American's, here's Ivy Ling. I wrote about for American Girl. Ivy had a cameo on the Simpsons . . .

And finally, JANUARY. As we have in the past, Peepy and I went to the Rose Parade, I (finally) updated my website, I tamed my internet addiction, and WARP SPEED got named to lots of lists!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!

NEXT BLOG: Exploring Edinburgh

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Oh, look! These books make lovely gifts for you or someone you know, or someone you may know sometime. If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's. Be sure to tell them that you'd like me to sign them, and include the name(s) of who the books should be made out to. Then they will mail it/them to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

HARRY POTTER from Before, Again, Plus a Casual JK Rowling Autograph!!!!!!!

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 18:48:11 GMT

Taking a blogging break this week, but still blogging. "How?" you ask? Simply. A rerun.

This is from a few years ago, but it's timely because it's about JK Rowling and I got a SIGNED COPY OF THE CASUAL VACANCY FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR!!!!!! Sqeeeeee!!!!

And here's the blog from before. It's so retro that some of the links no longer link . . .

Harry Potter is huge in our house. HUGE. Routinely, we've braved the midnight lines to snare copies of the books . . .

The sight of J.K. Rowling in the United States is as rare as a husband asking for directions, and both last took place in the year 2000. However, recently it was announced that Scholastic would sponsor a J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour. The New York audience would be made up of contest winners. New Orleans and Los Angeles would be school children selected this way.

When I heard that J.K. Rowling was coming to Los Angeles, I thought OMG!OMG!IHAVETOGO!IHAVETOGO!OMG!!! I mean, J.K. Rowling and I are like best friends, sort of. Well, we did hang out together, kind of, a little, almost. If you don't believe me, it's even been semi-documented here.

So, there is a certain bond between the two of us. After all, we are both authors, and . . .
1. We are both moms.
2. We are both richer than the Queen of England.
3. We were both discovered by the same marveloooous editor, Arthur Levine.
4. We are both interviewed by Inkygirl -- click here.
(Two of the above are not true, although one of us probably doesn't need overdraft protection and the other one of us is on Inkygirl's blog.)

Via begging, threats and bribes, I managed to snag an invite for myself and one family member. EEEeeeeeeEEeeeeEEEeeeek!!!! Eeeek! Eek! Erp.

(Above: Oops. To read ticket, simply hold your computer up in front of the bathroom mirror.)

The Sorting Hat selected Son to go . . .

We were arrived EARLY so as not to be late. (This was quite a feat since I got home from NYC to LA at 2 a.m.) Alas, once at the Kodak Theater we went to the wrong place. However, when we peered through the locked doors (they were made of glass) we witnessed J.K. Rowling's press conference. (Eek!) Then it was to the theater for us. We were THE FIRST people they let it and we had the place to ourselves for a bit. Then the school kids started filling the auditorium. 1,600 of them.

Once everyone settled down, there was a short film about Harry Potter Mania before J.K. Rowling strode onto the stage. On cue, the crowd leapt to their feet and went WILD. I wanted to cry. Hundreds of kids cheering, screaming, weeping . . . for an author. How cool is that?

Jo (as I am sure she would want me to call her) sat in a golden throne upholstered in red velvet (note to self: get throne for office) and read from BOOK SEVEN. It was wonderful hearing her interpretation of the voices, her cadence, her words. Soon it was time for questions from the audience. I wish I had taken notes, but I was too enthralled to move. Also, no photos were allowed in the theater, so I will have to draw from memory . . .

The questions were brilliant and so were her responses. Things that I can sorta recall because of my memory-loss-and-jet-lag-situation in no particular order -- She would rather write seven more Harry Potter books than be Queen. English teachers are wonderful. Lupin and Tonks were the hardest deaths for her. She didn't kill people off for the fun of it. Jo has to love a book/concept before writing it. She would like to slap Snape.

After her talk, it was time for autographs. Son got permission to get in line and brought his own book, the one he had Arthur Levine sign last summer. When it was his turn, Jo paused when she saw Arthur's inscription and then spoke to Son. Eeeek!!!

Afterward, I put Arthur in my fabulous sports car and we headed to lunch. Well, okay, we headed in the wrong direction, got lost, then headed to lunch . . .

. . . and Son headed back to school where he was heralded as a hero.

Later that day, being tired and jet lagged from this, I decided to take a nap. The TV was on and I heard a promo about a news segment on Jo's LA visit. I leapt up to tape it and who should I see? J.K. Rowling and SON-- together . . .

What a magical, marvelous day.

(Above: Here's a clip from British TV.)

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Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book o' mine, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Girl Scout's Lights, Camera, Action . . . Behind-the-Scenes and In My Office

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:51:36 GMT

Peepy and I are Girl Scouts fans.

And apparently, Girl Scouts are fans of Peep(y) . . .

When I was in Louisville, KY last year, I taught writing at the local Girl Scouts Headquarters . . .

I've also spoken to Girl Scouts in my neighborhood about what it's like to be an author . . .

And earlier this year, I was featured on the Girl Scout's "Studio" website . . .

Here's a video Son and I made for the Studio . . .

So, I was honored when Girl Scouts asked if I would be one of their Storytellers. It took me about .0002 seconds to say "yes!"

This supremely talented director Alexis Morante was sent to my house to film me in my office . . .

Oops. That's not my office. And that's not me. That's E.B. White. And that's his office. My office has a few more things in it.

Here's how the video shoot went . . .

Of course, it was all about Peepy . . .

It was such fun! And I even wrote an entire novel while Alexis was shooting me . . .

Okay, so maybe it wasn't quite an entire novel. But we needed footage of me at work!

Oh, hey! Since we're talking about videos, if you know a student who'd like to meet some authors, show them this . . .

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Oh, look! These books make lovely holiday gifts. If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Wait Wait . . . Lord Grantham Meets Peepy!!!

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:36:33 GMT

Okay, so where were illustrator/author Dan Santat and animator/author/illustrator Bob Boyle and Peepy heading?

Here are some hints . . .

If you guessed THE NORTH POLE!!! then you were wrong. If you guessed the Nokia Theater in downtown Los Angeles, you are right! We were there to see/listen to one of my favorite NPR shows, Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! (I've been before, as Ken Burns-like-ish documented HERE.)

But first, food.

That's author Michael Reisman (left) and Bob, with Dan and Moi . . .

The place was packed with over 5,000 people and one Peep. It was the largest indoor audience ever for the show! (One time the show was in the park and maybe a million or several thousands showed up for that.) Here we all are getting seated . . .

Look! We sat near our friends author Sara Wilson Etienne and visual effects dude Tony Etienne. . .

What did we all have in common? How about this . . .

That's Emily Ecton, author and associate producer of Wait Wait . . . Don't Tell Me! And the other photo is of Emily Fairlie, author. (Emily is so talented that she has TWO names.)

The show was onstage, and also on screen. Can you tell which is what?

Peter Sagal, the host, looks kinda weird here. A big screen and an small iPhone camera will do that to you . . .

Here's Emily in the middle . . .

Hugh Bonneville of Downtown Abbey was the special guest . . .

(He's the Lord in the front.)

After, we went down to the stage. That's comedian/panelist Paula Poundstone in red . . .

Finding it hard to spot her? Well, how's this . . .

(I love Paula. I recall going to one of her concerts eons ago. People brought her boxes of PopTarts.)

Then it was time for the NPR party! We got super special ALENT badges . . .

(My "T" started fading, but Truly, it was there.)

The party was full of chic people and delightful treats . . .

Wait! That's Peter Sagal, the host of the show!!!!

Wait wait! It's Carl Kasell, one of THE BEST voices in radio and in the world and other places. . .

The tall distinguished man is Hugh Bonneville . . .

Finding it hard to spot him? Well, how's this - here is with the great star, Maggie Smith!

And here he is with another great star . . .

(To hear Hugh Bonneville on Wait Wait, click HERE.

Look! It's Carl, again. This time with Bob . . .

Look some more! Here's Roy Blount Jr., another Wait Wait panelist who was not there, but who was HERE when I was there!

We had so much fun, we were the last to leave . . .

===========================

Oh, look! These books make lovely holiday gifts. If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

The Last Bookstore, Plus LA-ish (Indie) Bookstores!!!!

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:48:51 GMT

The next time you are in downtown Los Angeles, the first place you should visit is The Last Book Store.

"But Lisa," you ask. "Why, why should I go there?"

Well, THIS IS WHY!!!!! Yeah, a counter made of books . . .

But wait! There's more. The Last Bookstore is Southern California's largest indie bookstore. At this used book paradise, you can buy, sell or trade books.

The mezzanine level has over 100,000 books all priced at ONE DOLLAR each . . .

Ever wander through a tunnel of books?

Danger, Will Robinson! Here's the sci-fi room . . .

And this is my haul . . .

You never know what gems you may find at The Last Bookstore!!!!

And here are some other great indie bookstore in the LA area . . . Vroman's . . .

Here's the video that Dan Santat and I made for our WARP SPEED/BOBBY THE BRAVE book launch party at Vroman's . . .

Mrs. Nelson's . . .

Once Upon a Time . . .

Flintridge Bookstore & Coffeehouse . . .

Apostrophe . . .

Curious Cup . . .

San Marino Toy and Book Shoppe . . .

Little Junebugs . . .

Skylight Books . . .

Whale of a Tale . . .

To find a fabulous indie bookstore in your area, CLICK HERE.

What was that? Oh, who's the Queen of Quirky? Maybe IT'S ME!!! Click HERE. to see why.

Oh, and hey! 'Tis the season for PEPPERMINT MOCHA, my favorite!!!!

It's also holiday shopping season. So remember you indie bookstores!!!!

===========================

Oh, look! These books make lovely holiday gifts. If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee

Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!

Email:

Or you can click this for a RSS feed...