J ’n NJ

This is the view of the New Jersey shore from my hotel room:

(And that's the last time you'll see the words
Jersey and shore next to each other in this post.)

Last night, I went out to dinner with a bunch of New Jersey librarians (including the wonderful Ms. Liz B.) and authors Matt de la Peña and Elizabeth Scott. It was one of those Japanese restaurants where they cook everything at your table and make a show of it, tossing egg yolk high into the air and setting things on fire. It's awesome! I've seen Matt a few times over the past few months, and I just now realized that I never got a picture with him. Next time, Matt. Next time! But I did remember to grab a shot and a laugh with Ms. Scott:


So why was I hanging with librarians and authors in Jersey? I just attended the final day of the New Jersey Library Association conference, where I picked up the Garden State Book Award for teens in grades 9-12. I was the only author present for the awards luncheon, but Brian Selznick's mom and Jeff Kinney's editor gave hilarious speeches in their place.

During the lunch, I felt like I was part of a wedding party because we sat on the stage facing the rest of the attendees. Here's my view:

(You can't see Brian Selznick's mom, but she's seated beside me
to the right of the carrot cake, which was very yummy.)

After accepting my award, which came in a beautiful frame with a plaque and my book cover inside, I gave a li'l speechy thing.


The keynote speaker was Rachel Vail and I tried not to get the fan-jitters when I asked for her autograph, but then she asked me to sign a copy of Thirteen Reasons Why for her!


So I'm feeling kinda cool right now...