Register now for the NYPL Book Fest

If you live in or around New York, you should definitely consider registering for Book Fest 2008, co-sponsored by the New York Public Library and School Library Journal. It's set for November 1, 2008, at the Celeste Bartos Forum in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue It's a day of presentations and discussions all about children's and YA literature. Authors will appear! This year, they include Brian Jacques, Walter Dean Myers, Ibitsam Barakat, and Jeanette Winter.

I have to admit, I have a special interest in the Book Fest this year because I have the extreme honor of serving as one of eleven book discussion group leaders. Everyone who registers for the Book Fest chooses a discussion group and for an hour, everyone at the fest breaks up into small groups to discuss a collection of books along a theme. My theme is "Ripped from the Headlines" and the books my group (Young Adult III) will discuss are Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway, Boy Toy by Barry Lyga, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers, and All We Know of Heaven by Jacquelyn Mitchard.

It's $65 but that includes breakfast, lunch, and a sherry reception, so it's worth every penny. Register here: Book Fest 2008. And sign up for Young Adult III.