Starstruck

An interactive evening with
Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman

I have been going to author readings and signings for many, many years.  Sometimes they are at big festivals and sometimes they are at bookstores.  Sometimes the authors are not very well known, and some I borderline obsess over.  (Yes, I have seen Kate DiCamillo 4 times, and I am very ok with that.)

You would think after all these events I would finally get over my childhood giddiness when I meet them.  Nope.  It is always the same.  I sit in the audience listening to them talk about their stories, the process, the joy.  I hear people ask questions, sometimes great, sometimes...well...embarrassing.  And then I get in line with my books to be signed clutched under my arm.  I creep closer while folks in line around me talk about the author, other books, etc.  Then, I get to the front.  And the whole time I am thinking what I would say to this person.  What could I possibly say to let them know how much I appreciate their work?  How their stories have changed my life and the life of other people I know.  (Have YOU read The Hunger Games yet!??)

So for a good 5 minutes in line I try to think of something.  I always go through the same routine -   wondering what to say as I make my way through the line, and then ultimately deciding on nothing.  I just stand there.  All my emotions are bottled up and I want to gush but I don't want to make a complete fool out of myself.  It's just like when you finally get up the nerve to talk face to face with that person you have a crush on and then when you get there you all of a sudden feel sick to your stomach and you run away to the bathroom.  The first time I met an author, Robert Fulghum who wrote All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, I had that moment.  All I knew is that I didn't want to say anything stupid.  As he signed my book, me standing in silence, mouth suddenly dry from fright, I blurted out, "OHMYGODIJUSTLOVEYOUSOMUCH!"  Yep.  Stupid.  I walked away with my head hanging, knowing of all the things I could have said, that was about the worst.

Kadir Nelson, he likes my hat. *Gush*

Only once in my life did I have something to say.  A few years back I met Kadir Nelson, author of lots of amazing things, including Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans which won the Coretta Scott King Award this year.  As he signed my book he told me he liked my hat.  So I told him to go to Salmagundi in Jamaica Plain, MA.  Go figure that is when I knew what to say.

Well, tonight I saw Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman at Vroman's in Pasadena.  Spectacular.  I have never laughed so much at an author event.  One of my favorite parts of the evening was when Handler (you all know he is Lemony Snicket, right?) described how he and Maira first started working together.  He had just written the manuscript for 13 Words and he took her out to a fancy restaurant.  He gave her the manuscript and then ran to the bathroom and hid as she read it.  "Everyone has had one of those moments," he said. Ha!  Imagine, I knew exactly how he felt. "Maybe I will tell him that!" I thought to myself. Of course, what did I say when I finally made my way through the line? "OHMYGOSH my students will never believe I met you!  Can I get my picture with you?"  Ugh.  Some things will never change.

They said yes!