Good morning all. Started out to be a beautiful sunny day and then went to overcast and a bit chilly – I guess a good day to be at the library working on projects that the Friends are involved in.  Got to get in that weekly library dose!  😉

Continuing from where I left off yesterday, last Wednesday was the first official day of the Book Expo in Chicago.  It was a bit different from in past years as the expo floor did not open until 1:00 pm.  That left us with a lot of time to check things out.  Candace (Beth Fish Reads) and I had breakfast and met with Jill (Rhapsody in Books).  Always awesome to see her!   Then I headed to registration to pick up my badge:

OOOOH!  AHHHHH!  This is always a highlight as I collect these badges and have every year of the Expo that I attended as well as other book panels and bookish events I have been a part of.  Yes…. I know… I am letting my dorkiness show.

As the time drew near to the expo opener (lol…. had to say that)…. we all gathered in the hall.  I had a chance to see Jennifer from Jenn’s Bookshelves as we waited.  LOVE seeing the regular BEA group!  It was also interesting to watching the diehards scramble for a foothold in the entrance area while those of us who have “been there- done that” waited out of the crazy zone.

Even better…. there was another entrance apparently unspotted by this group that had no surge of people at all.  When the time came… we just walked in.  No limbs were harmed in the opening of the expo 🙂

I tend to mostly walk the floor alone.  I had no method to my madness.  Some people come with carefully laid out plans of whom to see and when and that has always been more than I usually do.  I like to walk the floor hitting the big name publishing areas first as they tend to have pretty amazing book drops for you to choose from and then I trickle my way through the expo watching for titles that catch my eye and publishing houses I need to connect or reconnect with.

By 4 pm, Candace and I met up to head back to our room with our treasures for the day and to get ready for the Audie Awards.   The Expo was open until 5:30 but we were done and I was happy to get out of the hustle of people and books for a while…. besides…. I did just fine with my book haul:

So that was the Expo day 1.  Later today we will move on to the amazing Audie Awards that Candace and I were lucky enough to attend that evening.

 

BEA BOOK NOTE!

The Littlest Bigfoot by jennifer weiner…

Setting: a boarding school

Compact Synopsis:  Twelve year old Alice Mayfield goes through life mostly unnoticed by her family and with no friends.  When she one day rescues Milly Maximus from drowning, Alice feels she has found the friend she always wanted.

One thing though…

Milly is a Bigfoot, part of a group of Bigfoots that live in the woods and fear people (“No-Furs”).  It is up to Alice to find a way to keep her new friend safe and keep her secrets.  It is also a time for both Alice and Milly to put faith in one another… faith they need to pull form deep inside.

The Draw:  Jennifer Weiner is an author I have enjoyed in the past with books such as Certain Girls, Good In Bed, The Next Best Thing, Best Friends Forever, and Fly Away Home (just to name a few that I have read.  So yes, to me…. author name recognition as well as this sounds like a pretty cute Middle Grade read!

 

• Age Range: 8 – 12 years

• Grade Level: 3 – 7

• Series: The Littlest Bigfoot (Book 1)

• Hardcover: 304 pages

• Publisher: Aladdin (September 13, 2016)