We had the opportunity to hear James Patterson on the opening afternoon talk about his experiences as a writer. He also expressed his appreciation for librarians, and I truly appreciated that! We visited the exhibit hall and met Kami Garcia, co-author of Beautiful Creatures. She has a new stand alone novel called Unbreakable, and I am excited to read it! We also were able to meet up with our amazing book vendor, Mackin, and their owners treated us to a lovely gathering. Dianne has helped me buy great books for our library over the past two years, and I am thankful to have such great support!
For our closing speaker, we got to hear Henry Winkler, better known as "The Fonz," talk about his childhood as a struggling reader. He has a book series about a character named Hank Zipzer who goes through many similar struggles that Mr. Winkler did as a young student. He read us part of the book and it was so neat to hear him read aloud after so many years of struggling.
I truly felt appreciated as a librarian, teacher, and educator. I am so blessed that my campus provided the opportunity for me to go. I didn't worry about the library at all because Ms. Ayala did a great job keeping the library in shape! I'm looking forward to next year's conference in Austin!