The Graduation Party

Last weekend, I went to my hometown to visit my parents. My dad is a retired high school math teacher who still coaches tennis at the local high school. Saturday afternoon, we came inside the house after enjoying some sun by the pool and there was a message on the answering machine. It was from one of the graduating teenage boys on the tennis team. The message went somewhat like this, “I’m calling from my graduation party and I really hope you can make it. I told my mom to send you an invitation and I hope she found your address – if she didn’t I’m sorry, but I’m really hoping you can come. Mr. Nelson (the other coach) is here and a bunch of the guys from the team. We’d really love to see you.” And the message went on with an address, etc. My dad never received an invitation, but immediately took a shower and got into his car to attend the party. Personally, I was really impressed that an 18 year old boy would care enough to call his tennis coach to make sure he attended his graduation party. That’s the thing about teenagers, just when you think they don’t care, they throw you a curve ball. Even though it may be challenging, continue to be coaches and mentors – it really does make a difference.

ALA Newbery Dinner

As promised, here are some photos from our ALA Newbery Dinner table!

Left to right: Gay Patrice (Dallas ISD), Gloria Miller (Charlotte-Mecklenberg ISD), Diane Chen, Kathy Baxter, and author Caroline Arnold

Gay Patrice, Gloria Miller, Kathleen Baxter, Nick Sykora (Capstone Publishers' nonfiction distributor sales manager), Maureen Hatteberg (Capstone Publishers' marketing/communications director)

Deanna Spears (Book Wholesalers, Inc.), Sarah Johnson (Perma-Bound), Jennfer Allen (Perma-Bound)

PLA Recap

PLA was a huge success for us. We started things off with a bang on Tuesday, at the Guys Read preconference with the National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature, Jon Sczieska. We sponsored the refreshments at this event and gave away our popular Stone Arch Books bags, filled with Capstone Publishers books and catalogs. Michael and Maryellen were able to attend. They learned a lot (more about Guys Read here!) and even talked to Jon about our books and the Guys Read mission.

On Wednesday, the show and exhibits opened. Special guest Jake Maddox, in his football uniform, was at our booth, signing posters and taking pictures with librarians.

Jake Maddox takes a break with a good book on opening night of PLA.

SAB Editorial Director Michael Dahl gets in on the fun on PLA's opening night.

Thursday was another busy day in the booth. We kicked it off with author signings. Michael Dahl signed copies of the Library of Doom books, and Donnie Lemke signed copies of Gulliver’s Travels (a Junior Library Guild pick). We talked to a ton of great librarians.
By that evening, everyone was pretty tired, but we kept it going with a Capstone Publishers open house at our Bloomington offices.

Maryellen Coughlan Gregoire, SAB Director of Product Planning and Public Relations, sets up the snacks at the Capstone Publishers open house.

A magic show, cooking demonstration, another author signing, and more—about 80 attendees enjoyed food and merriment. Stone Arch set up a display giving the attendees a peek at how graphic novels were made. The display was a big hit. Our offices never looked so good, or so clean! It was great fun to give librarians a behind-the-scenes look at the offices of a book publisher.

SAB senior editor and author of Gulliver’s Travels Donnie Lemke, with librarian fans, at the Capstone Publishers open house.

Finally, on Friday Blake Hoena signed copies of Eek and Ack: The Puzzling Pluto Plot. We talked with more librarians from Hawaii to Alaska to Long Island. Later, when we announced that we’d be giving away all the books in our booth at 3 p.m., craziness ensued! The shelves were empty in minutes. We also gave away tons of our Jake Maddox and Library of Doom posters. We tore down the booth and spent the weekend recovering!

The staff at the SAB booth on opening night.
From left to right: Carla, Michaela, Donnie, Michael,
Maryellen, Jake Maddox, Heather, and Joan.

If you were in Minneapolis for PLA, how was your conference?

Next, we’re on to Texas for TLA!