5 Reasons I'm Excited to Attend #AASL17

1. This is my first time at attend AASL. And since I totally love librarians, I am excited to make some new friends!

2. It's in Phoenix, where the air is warm and dry -- which is a nice change for this for this Deep-South-humidity gal!

3. After hours and days and years, I will finally get to meet, in person, my Poetic Pal and Forever Friend, the irrepressible Charles Waters!

4. I'm honored to be included in the "Mirror, Mirror: Reading All Readers" panel, along with Charles, of course, and Carole Boston Weatherford (who is moderating), and authors Bill Konigsberg, Ellen Oh, and Icy Smith. I can tell already this is going to be a rich discussion. So so grateful to Lerner for making this happen!

5. Delivering CAN I TOUCH YOUR HAIR? to the world! The book doesn't actually release until January 1, 2018, so this feels a bit like getting one of those late ultrasounds, when baby is pressing against the lungs, and you are just DYING to meet him... and really, the pressing is getting uncomfortable already. (This could be just me... this time 21 years ago I had a soon-to-be 10 pounder making me short of breath!)

Hope to see you there! I'll share a full report on the blog next week. :)