A beautiful day in Long Branch!

A Tuesday, on which I post something completely unrelated to children's literature ...

Today I attended the annual NJLA Conference in Long Branch, NJ.  It was uncommonly warm day at the beachfront Ocean Place Resort.  But despite the beautiful beach day, all the action was inside at the conference.

I attended several worthwhile sessions, but here's my main takeaway for the day - author Adriana Trigiani rocks!

I am a children's librarian with a penchant for reading nonfiction.  When looking for a book to read, one of Adriana Trigiani's would probably not be my first choice - at least not before today.

But let me tell you, Adriana Trigiani is flat-out funny!  She was today's keynote speaker, and she brought down the house!  To say that she's a warm, personable, intelligent, best-selling author seems to just scratch the surface. She paid homage to librarians (her mother is one), to her friends, her hometown, her mentors.  She gave away her impressive jewelry (really, she did!). She shared the intimate details of the half-frozen bag of peaches in her purse. She had the audience in stitches! I could have listened to her all day. 

Check out her website to see Adriana and all of her books, including the Valentine series, The Big Stone Gap series, and more. 

Kudos to the NJLA conference committee and thanks to Adriana for a great speech.