Category: Author Meet Ups

I want to thank Nikole at Scholastic Canada for sending me an ARC of Rose Sees Red to read and review (My review will be up this week.) and for telling me that Cecil was going to be in town on August 21st (Saturday).

I have to be honest and say that up until I got the book and email I have never heard of Cecil before. So when I heard that she was a local author I got pretty excited because I love to discover new (to me) and local authors.

After getting this email with the info about the when and where of the double book signing I quickly emailed the Montreal group to see who wanted to come with me. Avis said she wanted to go so we made a plan to meet up and go together.

Even though I live in Montreal I have to say I can actually count the number of times I have been down town on two hands and I have lived in Montreal for almost 13 years now. I live roughly 20 minutes from down town (and that is on a quiet day with no traffic) and where I live I am close to everything so why would I go downtown?

There are exceptions to that and this is one of them. The Friday before the event I went to goggle maps to figure out my route via public transit and which one would work the best as I was going to meet Avis at a metro (subway) station and we were going to walk Babar en Ville. One nice thing about our metro system is the underground city. This particular metro station you can access so much without going outside to brave the elements such as the rain. We came out and to the left was:

(Babar is a great indie bookstore for children, middle grade and young adult books.)

As we were waiting a bit outside, guess who I spotted going into Babar? The one and only Cecil. I didn’t say anything to her because she was talking with her parents (which I only found out when she introduced them at the signing.)

We went in shortly after and looked around. I have to say that Babar en ville is exactly like the Babar that we have here in the village. Very small and filled with great books. Thankfully I didn’t have any extra money on me because I am sure I would have bought so many great books.

Just before the reading and signing I bought these two (to get signed) plus a surprise..hmm could it be a possible goodie for the giveaway? Hmm you will have to wait and see.

I have been picking up Geektastic everytime I went into a bookstore but always ended up putting in back and seeing it here I knew this time I had to get it and Cecil was one of the people who editted it so what better reason to pick it up?

Cecil read her first children’s picture book Grandma’s Gloves. What a beautiful story and while she was reading it I couldn’t help but think of my grandma.

Then after that Cecil read a passage from her newest book Rose Sees Red. If you haven’t read it yet you should its a really great story set in NYC in the 80s. As I was reading it I thought about my trip to NYC.

There was a Q&A and it was so nice to hear more about Cecil and her books. Then it was time to get books signed and I got the two above books signed plus my ARC of Rose Sees Red. It was funny because I was in front of Cecil and she had asked if one of us (Avis and I) was Cindy and I said I was and she said she had replied to my tweet (I told her in a tweet that I was going to see her the next day). Here I thought I might have been in trouble. 🙂

Cecil was very gracious and let us take pictures. For some reason this is the only one I got of Cecil and I together and actually of the whole event.

I am sure Avis will post her picture and post because she had her picture taken as well with her camera.

After getting our books and pictures done we got to snack on some lovely yummy cupcakes (me) and tea (avis) that Babar supplied for us.

Thanks Babar En Ville for hosting this great event and thanks to Cecil for coming. I am so looking forward to reading more of your books.

I have to send out a huge thank you to Nikole at Scholastic books Canada for sending me an ARC of Rose Sees Red (my review is to come) and for letting me know that Cecil was going to be coming to town this weekend.

I actually found out that she was going to be doing a show tune singing and novel excerpt reading on Thursday August 19th right here in Montreal. I was unable to attend this event but I will get the chance to meet her Saturday August 21 at a double book signing for the following books:

ABOUT THE BOOK
A child who loses a beloved grandparent finds comfort in carrying on the activities they shared in this sweet, genuine look at a universal rite of passage.

Grandma is always on her knees in the dirt, with her gardening gloves on, talking to her roses and laughing with the birds-of-paradise. Her home brims with plants and blossoms, and on hot days, she waters her granddaughter, her “most special flower of all,” with the garden hose. But a day comes when Grandma is no longer there to care for the little girl, who feels sad and small and alone until she remembers all that her grandmother taught her – and all that she now has to teach. Full of light and life and the solace of green growing things, this moving and beautifully illustrated picture book explores a timeless bond with warmth and joy.

ABOUT THE BOOK
Rose has given up. She”s given up on friendship, on happiness, on life being anything other than black, black, black. Yrena wants out. She”s a dancer who doesn”t want to dance, a prisoner in her own home, a resident of New York who never gets to see the city. To Rose, Yrena has always been the Russian girl who lives next door, seen through the window but never spoken to. At least not until Yrena crashes into Rose”s room-and Rose”s life-and sets in motion a night in New York City that none of them will ever forget. From YA superstar Cecil Castellucci, this is the story of cold hearts and cold wars warmed by simple human connection and the liberty of being young and free in the early hours of a new day.

Check back for my review and photos and such from when I meet Cecil this weekend. I will be meeting up with Avis as she will be attending this event with me.

Last night, Chapters (Pointe-Claire) brought in three amazing Young Adult authors: Cassandra Clare, Holly Black and Scott Westerfeld.

I have to thank Linda for letting us know about this event. Unfortunately Linda couldn’t come to the event with Donna and I because she was studying for mid terms. Avis was going to come too but she had a prior commitment. Hopefully there will be an event where we will all be able to attend.

In case you don’t know who they are here is the books they have written:
Cassandra Clare the author of The Mortal Instruments: Book 1-City of Bones, Book 2-City of Ashes and Book 3- City of Glass.
http://cassandraclare.com/cms/home

Holly Black the author of Tithe, Valiant, Ironside, 5 book series of Spiderwick Chronicles, The Poison Eaters and Other Stories, Good Neighbors Bk 1 & 2 (graphic novels), Beyond the Spiderwick (another series) plus numerous other books.
http://www.blackholly.com/

Scott Westerfeld the author of Uglies, Extras, Peeps, Specials, Pretties, The Risen Empire, The Midnighters Series, Last Days, So Yesterday, Evolution’s Darling, Fine Prey, Polymorph, and his newest book Leviathan.
http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/

Scott started out the evening talking about Leviathan. He actually begin it with the trailer for Leviathan.

Has anyone else seen this trailer? I really need to read the book now.

He showed us a slide show and this is the US cover of Uglies on the left hand side and the other is I believe Japan’s version of it. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Then Scott spoke up the illustrations in Leviathan and that they were done by Keith Thompson. A Canadian! You can check out Keith’s website http://keiththompsonart.com/ . His work is truly amazing.

Sadly I couldn’t get many more pictures of everyone because of where we were standing. Every time I had a really good shot of them the girls in front of us would move just as I snapped the picture.

Holly and Cassandra spoke about renting a villa in Mexico and writing their books. The briefly talked about their upcoming books. Which sound really good.

The next part of the evening was Question and Answer period where they answered questions from the audience. Alot of the questions were centered around their books and if they would be turned into movies.

We also discovered that Scott’s wife is author Justine Larbalestier (Liar and How to ditch your Fairy) http://justinelarbalestier.com/

Did you know that Cassandra knows some french? Yes she does and admits she only knows a little bit but what she did speak she did it very well.

They wrapped up the Q&A and began to sign their books for everyone that was there. It was a long line of people. I know when we left the store at about 9:45pm (EST) there was still a little line left. It was really nice to see that they stayed to sign every one’s books.

Cassandra was the first author I got to talk to and we spoke about twitter (I spoke to her briefly that morning) blogging and books. She signed City of Bones and City of Ashes for me and she signed Linda’s copy of City of Bones.

The next author was Scott. We spoke briefly about his books and I admitted that I have yet to read them but I am planning on it now. Especially since seeing the trailer of Leviathan. He graciously signed my copy of Leviathan and Uglies. He was curious when I handed him Linda’s book and I explained that she was unable to come because of mid terms and he wanted to me to wish you good luck on them Linda.

Finally it was my turn to speak with Holly. She was so amazingly funny. We spoke about the books I had read The Good Neighbors (1 & 2) and how I was reading Spiderwick Chonicles to Michael. She hoped that Michael would enjoy them. I told her that after seeing her that I planned on reading her other books.

So after all the books were signed Donna and I went up to Starbucks for a much needed cold drink. After we were done our drinks we briefly walked around and looked at books. I can honestly tell you that I walked out of the store without buying a single book.

This is a picture of all the signed books. Thank you Donna for getting all the Spiderwick Chronicles signed for me.

Okay I have a riddle for you all and perhaps you will know the answer to it. “What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do?” The reason I am asking is because this morning when I looked through all the books Holly had put that in my copy of Tithe.

I managed to get this card today when I went to chapters and last night I managed to snag these three buttons. I was so excited to get them because yesterday afternoon Simon Pulse tweeted about them. Don’t the buttons look cute?

I also was given these by Holly and Cassandra.

Holly Black’s White Cat is her newest upcoming novel and this is only chapter one of it. The book is scheduled to be released May 2010. I am so excited and can’t wait to read it. I also found that that Holly is working with Scott’s wife Justine Larbalestier on a book called Zombies vs Unicorns and that is coming out in September 2010.

Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices is her newest upcoming novel and this is only chapter one of it. I am not sure when this is going to be released. She is also coming out with The Clockwork Angel and that will be released in September 2010.

It was another fun author meet up.

I have to thank Debbie at Chapters for taking the pictures of me with the authors. Donna for getting the Spiderwick Chronicles signed for me. Simon and Schuster & Chapters for the buttons and bringing Cassandra, Holly and Scott to Pointe Claire. Thank you Cassandra, Holly and Scott for coming to Pointe Claire and signing all our books. It was a pleasure to meet you and to get the chance to speak with you. Thank You to Linda for letting us know that they were coming to Pointe Claire.