Badger State recap, Part 1: The Wisconsin Book Festival

I've spent the last week in southern Wisconsin, visiting Mom & Dad, eating too much, and meeting a whole slew of kids and librarians.

First up was the Wisconsin Book Festival, in Madison.

A pretty city on a pretty day.

The Festival hosted my visit with kids and their parents at the Middleton Public Library:

Thanks to the library's generous Friends, every kid in attendance received a signed book.
How cool is that??

I also met up with some writing friends who live nearby, and who I don't get to see often enough:

author Pam Beres and me

author Georgia Beaverson and me

It was a special treat to see Brian Farrey, my editor at Flux, and author of The Vengekeep Prophecies, just released this month:

Just a coupla midgrade fantasy authors showing off their new books.

Best of all, I got to meet some awesome librarians: Crystal Brunelle from Northern Hills Elementary School in Onalaska, WI; and Sarah W, who blogs at PageInTraining.

It was all made possible by Middleton librarian super-hero Amanda Struckmeyer, who really knows how to make an author feel welcome. Thank you, Amanda!!

Thanks also to the Wisconsin Book Festival and the Wisconsin Humanities Council for hosting all the events around Madison.

I finished the day in the company of authors Brian Lies, W.H. Beck, Georgia Beaverson, and good-sport spouses. And of course, my sister Steph, who never missed a beat because she is the person we all  want to reach: a well-spoken and thoughtful reader.

There were pints of beer and plates of fried cheese curds, too. Because, after all, this is Wisconsin.