a great time was had by all!

Flushing library asked me to do an event for their Teen Author Talk series, so this past Saturday I had the pleasure of going down to their library.  I was expecting a low turnout (like 2), but I was surprised to see about 20 teens there.  I loved every minute I spent there.  These were teens who were there because they wanted to be there - nobody forced them, nobody even asked them.  Fact is, they could have been home playing on their PS3 or Wii or on Facebook or any number of non-literary activities.  But they were there on their own.  And they were simply thrilled to listen to me! It was such a pleasure to be in their company, and to speak to them about the joys of reading, writing, and Crossing. Really, I was preaching to the choir.

It was such a wonderful time of back-and-forth discussion and sharing, I couldn't have asked for a better time.  A few of them had already read Crossing and hearing their thoughts and impressions of the book was priceless.  When one girl told me (shyly, eyes turned down) that she was so moved by the book that it had made her cry, it was the perfect kind of compliment.

An hour and a half breezed by in no time.  I was such a fan of these youth who so love books and seemed so interested in Crossing that I couldn't help but just give away all the copies of the book I had on me.  Check out the photos below, low res, but hi fun.  Favorite book event so far!