Hello from Philadelphia – the city of brotherly love and sisterly affection. I am here to give a recap of my two days so far.

Day 1 – Thursday, November 19, 2009

I started out my day at the National Writing Project annual meeting and went to see Teri Lesesne in the afternoon over at NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English).  I tweeted the during Teri’s presentation about new HOT books for teens.  She gave an excellent presentation about the importance of creating readers by taking them from book to book to book.  She calls it a Reading Ladder.  Reading Ladder is also the title of her new book that will be coming out soon.

If you go back and look at my tweets, you’ll be able to see ALL of the books she mentioned, along with the link to Amazon so you can see the cover and read a description.  Here is the link for the Twitter search that will get you to the right posts.  You might have to scroll down a while, but just look for the posts by kperry and you’ll be good.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Started the morning at the National Writing Project General Session where I had the pleasure of listening to Billy Collins.  He served two terms as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003.  What a hoot!  He is a funny guy and listening to him read his poetry aloud was an amazing experience.  I was able to get a copy of his book signed before I left, along with a photo op.  Oh, I tweeted during Billy Collins’ speech too.  Here is the link.

After I was finished standing in the LONG line to see Billy Collins, I rushed over to the Philadelphia Convention Center, picked up my name badge, and headed into the exhibits.  I met Kathryn Lasky and Becca Fitzpatrick.  I even got to have my picture taken with Becca. Look, her arm is even around me!!!

Now, I picked up several good books, but here are pictures of the best!

WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON by John Green and David Levithan
THE LINE by Teri Hall
INCARCERON by Catherine Fisher

THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES by Carrie Ryan
HOURGLASS by Claudia Gray
DARKLIGHT by Lesley Livingston

SLEEPLESS by Cyn Balog
THE SECRET YEAR by Jennifer Hubbard
CAPTIVATE by Carrie Jones

THE ETERNAL SMILE by Gene Luen Yang (he is just the cutest guy ever!)
ELEVENTH GRADE BURNS by Heather Brewer
THE RETURNERS by Gemma Malley

BIRTHMARKED by Caragh O’Brien
HEIST SOCIETY by Ally Carter
That is about it for today.  I’m going to put my feet up for a little while and then meet some friends for dinner. I don’t know where yet – I just hope it isn’t too far away because my feet hurt from all the walking.  My friend and I got turned around last night and ended up walking A LOT farther than we needed to in order to get to last night’s pizzeria.  She is on probation as far as giving directions goes!

Check back tomorrow for NCTE Day 3 Recap.

OH!!! Don’t forget to sign up for the big NCTE contest I have going on right now.  You only have until next Tuesday to enter.