This gorgeous picture book took home the Caldecott Honor.

So much has been happening in the Austin Children’s lit scene that it’s hard to know where to begin. First off, our city swept the ALA awards. Liz Garton Scanlon and Marla Frazee took home a Caldecott Honor for All the World, Jacqueline Kelly got the Newbery Honor for The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, and Chris Barton was awarded the Siebert for The Day-Glo Brothers. Not bad for a day’s work!

Next up, Destination Publication, our Austin Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) conference that was held January 30th. I was thrilled–thrilled!–that my agent Andrea Cascardi came into town to speak about 13 things every writer should know about getting and working with an agent.

Andrea was joined on the all-star conference faculty by a host of well-known authors, agents, and editors, including Kirby Larson, author of Hattie Big Sky. Kirby gave a terrific talk about her journey to publication. I was reminded that even when we think we’re not writing, we’re collecting information from the world that will become our material later.

Fans are giddy now that Cynthia Leitich Smith's vampire romance thrills in paperback!

In other news, Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Eternal has gone paperback! This book is a must-read for vampire fans. But as I blogged in my post “Bitten and Smitten”, even non-vampire fans will soon be converted to the dark side. Eternal is the second in a series. Rumor has it that due to the incredible popularity of Tantalize and Eternal, Candlewick has asked for more books than originally planned, so stay tuned.

And finally, this past Saturday morning, the Austin chapter of SCBWI held its monthly meeting at our rocking independent bookseller, BookPeople. It was the first time in three years our Tim Crow could sit back and relax. After the outstanding job he’d done, he passed the reigns of resident advisor to the wonderful Debbie Gonzales.

Bethany Hegadus was the speaker at our meeting. Bethany is the author of Between Us Baxters and Truth with a Capital T which will be published by Delacorte Press in the fall. Bethany captivated us with a talk about plot structure and the six key scenes every manuscript should have.

Well, that’s all the news that’s fit to print. I’m so thankful to be part of this awesome children’s writing community.

So you know how sometimes you meet someone and you just instantly click? That’s how it was with me and Maya, my teen guide for the morning. We had breakfast together and talked about everything from middle school to books. I loved hanging out with her, and we could have talked all day except it was time for the keynote address from Libba Bray.

I hate when people say, “You had to be there.” So sorry, but you really had to be there, because I’m afraid I just can’t give over to you how fantastic this keynote was.

Libba talked about lots of things but what really got me was when she talked about what she was like as a teen and how teens are perceived by the world: frightening due to their excellent ability to call out any inauthenticity (more…)

I’m so looking forward to Saturday! It’s the first annual Austin Teen Book Festival. I’m on a panel with the Delacorte Dames and Dudes, my pals Varian Johnson, April Lurie, Margo Rabb, and Jenny Ziegler. Other panels include: “Zombie v. Vampire” with Heather Brewer, Carrie Jones, Daniel Waters, and Cynthia Leitich Smith; “Fantasy” with Libba Bray, Justine Larbalestier, Rick Yancey, and Lisa McMann; and “Real YA Voices” with Matt DelaPena, Deb Caletti, and Terra Elan McVoy.

I have to say, what I’m really excited about is hearing the local teen bands that will be entertaining us throughout the day! These include: Edison Chair, Austin School of Rock, the Carson Brock Group, Krash, and Homeskooled.

For lunch, pizza, hot dogs, root beer, ice cream, snow cones, and kettle corn will be served.

How awesome does that sound? Huge thanks to uberlibrarian Heather Schubert for putting all this together!

I just finished the first meeting of my new critique group. I’m sooo excited to be in the company of this talent. From left to right are author/illustrator Don Tate, nonfiction book writer Donna Bratton, picture book writer Carmen Oliver and me. I can’t wait to see all of their amazing stories in print!

This month it was my distinct honor to welcome Flat Stanley to Austin, Texas. For anyone not aware, Flat Stanley is the poor boy who was flattened by a bulletin board. At first his parents were rather bummed, but then they realized having a flat son had its perks. For one thing, they no longer had to buy him airline tickets–they could just mail him wherever he wanted to go.

My seven-year-old niece Sarah mailed Flat Stanley to me from Kentucky a few weeks ago with a letter warning me to show Flat Stanley a really good time. At the end of his visit, Flat Stanley wrote back to Sarah explaining how he hiked mountains and rubbed elbows with Austin’s literati:

From the Desk of Flat Stanley

Hi Sarah,

Thank you so much for sending me to Austin, Texas! To tell you the truth, I was afraid it might be super boring, but as it turned out, I had an amazing time.

Flat Stanley reaches the top of Mount Bonnell in Austin, Texas!

Your aunt, uncle, and five-year-old cousin took me on a hike at a place called Mount Bonnell. Your little cousin said, “Don’t worry, Flat Stanley. It’s only 106 steps to the top of the mountain. And from there you can get a great view of the city.”

Easy for him to say! He’s more than three feet tall. It took me 10,806 steps to get up to the top. I was huffing and puffing up a storm. But I did it! Everyone was proud of me. Your cousin said, “You did a great job!”

When I looked out across the Colorado River, the view was gorgeous. Plus, at the precipice, there was a little park. “Hey, this is cool,” I told your cousin. “But watch out for the cactuses.”

“You don’t say cactuses, Flat Stanley. The plural of cactus is cacti!” he said. As you can see, that kid’s pretty smart.

The one thing that little cousin of yours forgot to tell me was not to sit on one of those things. Ouch!

Well, after we came down from the mountain, I tended to my wounds. I was all sweaty so I took a shower and got dressed. Then it was time for a night out with Aunt Shana and her writer friends, the Delacorte Dames and Dudes. They all write books for teenagers.

Delacorte Dames and Dudes gather to welcome Flat Stanley to Austin.
From left to right, April Lurie, Shana Burg, Jenny Ziegler,
and Varian Johnson. Not pictured, Dame Margo Rabb.

We ate dinner together, while they droned on about their websites and blogs and trips to visit students in schools. It was pretty boring, but then April said, “Hey, Flat Stanley, have you ever thought about writing a book?”

That certainly perked me up! “How did you know?” I said. I think I blushed a little bit. “I have the whole story planned out in my mind.”

“I could just tell,” April said. “You know, Flat Stanley, if you want to be a writer, you better read a lot.”

“Really?” I said. “That’s sort of a problem, because I’ve got to travel all over the world. I don’t get a lot of time to read.”

“Oh, yeah, April’s right,” Aunt Shana said. “Reading is the most important thing a writer can do! But don’t worry, Flat Stanley, while you’re here in Austin, I’ll take you to a party to celebrate the release of a new book.”

“Cool!” I said. And it was cool. Super cool!

The next day we went to the bookstore where the author, Liz Garton Scanlon, read us her new book called All the World. At first I thought, “I can already read chapter books. I don’t read picture books anymore.” But then I heard Liz read the story and I was sucked right in!

Liz Garton Scanlon at her release party with Flat Stanley.explained to me that this is actually a book for people of all ages, including adults.

“The author is a poet,” Aunt Shana said. “That means she tries to discuss very complicated ideas with very few words. That’s why the book is short with pictures.”

“Ohhhh!” I said. And after I read the book myself, I knew what Aunt Shana meant. There was a whole lot to think about in those pages, especially for a guy like me who travels around the entire world.

At the end of the party, I stood in a really, really long line to get one of Liz’s books signed for you and me. I hope you like it!

Thanks again for sending me on such a life-changing trip.

Love,

Flat Stanley