Was in Skokie yesterday in meetings for USBBY. Shared a cab back to the city which took 90 minutes. All with no AC. The cabbie could not find location of any of the reception hotels. He finally let me out of the cab and told me i was NEAR my destination (was not). I managed to flag another cab and made it to dinner with Candlewick (thanks, Sharon, Jenny, Jennifer, Kathleen). I hope I did not offend the folks who had to sit next to me. Dinner was the saving grace of the day. Kate DiCamillo's new book is fabulous (The Magician's Elephant) and conversation was more sparkling than the water I was chugging into my dehydrated body. Here are a few snapshots from the evening. They are a tad dark given the setting of the nifty private room complete with tufted red velvet walls and spotlights and old portraits. Very Moulin Rouge-ish.

HarperCollins was kind enough to invite me to breakfast this morning (thanks, Patti). The hotel was across the street from mine which meant NO CABS were involved. I sat next to YALSA Prez Elect Kim Patton and at the same table with Erin Downey. Spotted tons of YALSA folks including Bonnie Kunzel and Mary Arnold and Susan Fichtelburg and others whose names are escaping me (sorry). Talked to Thunderchikin and then....




Yep, Neil Gaiman arrived toward the end of the breakfast. Never have I seen so many librarians acting star struck (including me, notice I took a photo from afar *stalking*).

BTW, the word for ALA 09 is TRAGIC according to Kim Patton....hashtags ready

An interesting aside: one of the channels is showing BECAUSE OF WINN DIXIE now celebrating 10 year anniversary. Cool.