Library YA Author Panel Rocks!

YA Authors with Library Club members

Our Young Adult (YA) Author Panel on Wednesday was a great success! We hosted three wonderful authors – Robin Benway, Gretchen McNeil, and 2010 Costa Graduate Emily Wibberley. They all shared interesting and helpful tips about writing during the panel and were so willing to visit with our students, teachers, and community members before and afterwards. As a school librarian, authors are my rock stars. I am always star struck when I meet an author, and, over and over again, I am surprised and delighted that most of them treat me as a friend and colleague. Our three visiting authors were all incredibly friendly to everyone.

I was also very proud of our library club members who organized the event, and especially of Colette for leading the effort and moderating. We got rave reviews from the attendees, and a number of people purchased books from {pages} bookstore and got them signed. If you missed the event, I’m pleased that we were able to tape it using Google Hangouts On Air. Here is the recording:

Here are photos I uploaded to Flickr from the event:

Here is my tweet commentary during the event:

Many thanks to our authors for coming, our library club for organizing, {pages} for providing books for sale, and to everyone who attended. Don’t forget to buy or get copies of the authors books from the library. I’m also looking forward to new titles by all three authors in June:

  • Robin Benway’s Emmy & Oliver 
  • Gretchen McNeil’s Get Dirty, the sequel to Get Even
  • Emily Wibberley’s sequel to Sacrificed

 

YA Author Panel April 22

YA Panel FlyerThe Mira Costa Library Club is pleased to announce a Young Adult Author Panel and Book Signing on Wednesday, April 22 from 3:30pm-5:00pm in the Library. Students, teachers, and community members are all invited. So, please, mark you calendar! Here’s the line up of authors:

  • Emily Wibberley. Debut Author Wibberley is one of Costa’s own! She is a Mira Costa graduate and recently graduated from Princeton University. Sacrificed, the first book in her planned The Last Oracle series, tells the story of Clio, a very  reluctant 15-year-old Oracle.
  • Gretchen McNeil. McNeil has authored several popular YA books. Her latest is Get Even, the first book in the Don’t Get Mad series, about an unlikely partnership of four very different girls who form a secret society, DGM (Don’t Get Mad) to expose and seek revenge on bullies at their school.
  • Robin Benway. Benway’s latest book, Going Rogue, is the second featuring teenaged spy and safecracker Maggie Silver. Her next book, Emmy & Oliver, is coming out this June.

Books will be available for purchase from {pages} a bookstore, our local Manhattan Beach independent book seller, during the event. To assure getting the books you want, you can order copies in advance at this link.

Many thanks to Library Club member Colette Grubman for initiating this activity and inviting the authors.

Event Flyer

Len Vlahos Author Visit Review

len vlahosWe were delighted to have Author Len Vlahos visit our library February 25. His first book, The Scar Boys, was just published in January. He inspired our students and staff attending the assemblies Periods 5 and 6 with his love of music and his message of how it can transform lives. He also entertained us with one of his songs and invited students to come up and share their musical talents with us. And, we got to enjoy some incredible talent! Thanks to all the students who volunteered.

Vlahos also read the opening of his book, in which Harbinger (Harry) Jones starts a college admissions essay sharing some of his personal history, explaining “I played guitar in the greatest punk rock band you’ve never hear of.” The entire book is a continuation of this essay, explaining how he became scarred in an accident when he was very young making him a pariah due to his disfigurement, how he and his friend form a punk rock band; and what happens when a girl joins the band. Here is a video I recorded of the first session using Google+ Hangouts:

Visit our Flickr page for some photos from the visit.

To learn more about Len Vlahos, visit his website and his Flickr page.

Here is a link to his Scar Boys YouTube Channel

To enter his contest, visit this page on his website.

Many thanks to Len Vlahos for visiting us and to {pages} Bookstore for arranging it. Please come to the library to borrow copies of The Scar Boys, or visit {pages} to purchase a copy.

Author D.J. MacHale Visit December 4

DJ MacHale Read PosterSYLO

The Mira Costa Library is delighted to welcome D.J. MacHale, a local, acclaimed author, to our school on December 4, 2013. Mr. MacHale will be speaking at three sessions in the library, sharing about his craft. Mr. MacHale’s books include the 10-book Pendragon series, the Morpheus Road trilogy, and his newest title, SYLO, the first book of a trilogy, just released last June. Students will have the opportunity to sign up to attend one of the sessions on a lottery basis, and all students who have read one or more of his books before the visit will be guaranteed a spot in one of the sessions. Some teachers will also be signing up to bring their entire classes for these session.

The library has copies of his books to borrow, but I encourage you to also purchase one or more of his books to enjoy and keep. All students who purchase books will have the opportunity to meet Mr. MacHale and have their books signed during Period 6 of the visit day. We have arranged with {pages} bookstore, a local Manhattan Beach independent book vendor, to order his titles, and a portion of your purchases will also benefit our library. Please print and complete order form to order books as soon as possible so that you will have ample time to read before Mr. MacHale’s visit. You can also order online at this link: http://bit.ly/machalebooks

For more information, contact Jane Lofton, Teacher Librarian.

SCIBA Authors Dinner

SCIBA Dinner 2012 Books
Mrs. Lofton with her books from the SCIBA Dinner

Last Saturday I was delighted to attend the annual SCIBA (Southern California Independent Booksellers Association Children’s Book and Literacy Dinner, along with MBUSD Library Media Specialists Julie Jones, Heidi Snively, and Debby Kalenik. Here we are:MBUSD Group at SCIBA Dinner

This event features speeches by several great authors, an author at each table, and free books and book signings. Speakers this year included Michael Grant, Aaron Karo, Jennifer Nielsen, Lisa Loeb, and Cornelia Funke. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Author Lisa McMann and getting a copy of her newest book, Dead to You, for our library. Here I am with her: I came away with a wonderful assortment of other new books and pre-publication advanced reader copies to share with students. I also got another opportunity to see and visit with Andrea Cremer, who visited us at Mira Costa in January, and Margot Ferris, bookseller from our local {pages} the bookstore, who has been so terrific working with Mira Costa.

Come by the library to borrow one of our new books soon!