Awesome Book Event! SCBWI Book Fair!

On Saturday I had the opportunity to meet several fabulous YA authors at a fun Book Fair event featuring the Oregon chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).  There were seventeen local authors and illustrators in attendance, including Lisa Schroeder, L.K. Madigan, Suzanne Young, Emily Whitman, and Anne Osterlund.  It was a wonderful event hosted by Barnes & Noble, and they will be giving a portion of the Book Fair proceeds to the SCBWI Oregon (who will be donating those proceeds to a charitable cause).*  

Great books + supporting local authors + benefiting a charitable cause = a perfect event!  :)

I bought so many awesome books, and I seriously can't wait to read & review them all!  I will also be giving away two signed books and a couple of signed bookmarks and postcards in the next few weeks, so keep an eye out for more information about those fun contests soon!  In the meantime, here is a quick summary of five YA authors' Book Fair presentations - Lisa Schroeder, L.K. Madigan, Suzanne Young, Emily Whitman, and Anne Osterlund:

Lisa Schroeder spoke briefly about her three YA novels (I Heart You, You Haunt Me, Far From You, & Chasing Brooklyn), and she read an excerpt from It's Raining Cupcakes, her lovely new middle-grade novel.  It's Raining Cupcakes is about twelve year old Isabel, who feels trapped in her small town life, assisting her family with the opening of their own little cupcake shop.  A baking contest which will earn the winner an exciting trip to New York City seems like it could provide the perfect adventure for Isabel, but winning the contest while competing against her best friend and helping her family stay in business when a big corporate bakery moves to town could prove to be extremely challenging.  To learn more about Lisa Schroeder's books, please check out her website and blog.


It's Raining Cupcakes
To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

  

I Heart You, You Haunt Me
To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Far From You

To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Chasing Brooklyn

To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

L.K. Madigan read an excerpt from her debut novel, Flash Burnout, which recently won the prestigious 2010 William C. Morris Award.  Flash Burnout's protagonist is a fifteen-year-old boy who finds himself challenged by juggling a close friendship with one girl and his first serious romantic relationship with another.  To learn more about Flash Burnout & L.K. Madigan's upcoming YA novel, The Mermaid's Mirror, please check out her website and blog.

Flash Burnout

To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

The Mermaid's Mirror (which will be released on October 4th) is available to pre-order here.

Suzanne Young read a very funny excerpt from her debut novel, The Naughty List, which is the first in a trilogy of books about a group of high school  cheerleaders who secretly run a well-organized investigative surveillance team to help their classmates catch cheating boyfriends red-handed.  Suzanne also mentioned the two upcoming books in that series, So Many Boys (due in June) and A Good Boy is Hard to Find (due in November), as well as her stand-alone novel, A Need So Beautiful, which is due out next summer.  For more information about The Naughty List and Suzanne Young's upcoming novels, please check out her blog.

The Naughty List

To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

You can pre-order So Many Boys (6/10/10) here and A Good Boy is Hard to Find (11/25/10) here.

Emily Whitman discussed the Greek myth of Persephone & Hades that inspired her debut novel, Radiant Darkness.  Unlike in the traditional tale, Emily's version of Persephone is not a helpless victim but a sheltered young woman who falls in love with Hades and willingly chooses to accompany him to the Underworld.  But Persephone's over-protective mother, the Earth Goddess Demeter, still wants her to return home and is willing to cause drought and famine until she gets her way.  Will Persephone stay in the Underworld with the ultimate bad boy or will she return home to placate her over-bearing mother and revitalize the earth?  To learn more about Radiant Darkness, please visit Emily Whitman's website and facebook page.

Radiant Darkness

To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Anne Osterlund discussed Aurelia and Academy 7 and briefly mentioned Exile, her upcoming sequel to Aurelia.  She also read the prologue of Academy 7, which is a romantic science-fiction/fantasy novel set at a prestigious school where an intelligent, young fugitive finds herself competing against a clever, rebellious boy who turns out to be the youngest son of the Alliance's most powerful leader.  Their academic competitiveness gradually leads to friendship and eventually to  romance, but they are each keeping secrets that could have serious political ramifications and together they will uncover a secret even bigger than either of them could have predicted.  To learn more about Academy 7 or Anne Osterlund's Aurelia series, please visit her website.  

Academy 7

To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

Aurelia

To buy this book:  B & N | IndieBound | The Book Depository | Powell's | Amazon

To add this book to your:  Goodreads | Shelfari | Library Thing | Visual Bookshelf

* If you are interested in purchasing these books (or any other books Barnes & Noble sells) anytime between now and Thursday (3/18/10), you can enter "Bookfair ID 10136901" during checkout and Barnes & Noble will pass along a portion of the proceeds to the Oregon chapter of the SCBWI (who will be donating the Book Fair proceeds to charity).