BEA Recap and Book Fort Photos!

3/4ths of the FNC managed to make it up to BEA this year.  It was a first for all of us, and what a crazy adventure it was!  I'd been to Comic-Con, so I sort of knew what to expect, but it definitely was overwhelming at times.  To sum it up: books, books, and more books!

(Seriously, there's a reason we were able to make a BEA Book Fort! And we even snuck some fort pics in the recap for a closer look at what we brought home!)

Guardian of the Book Fort!

Frankie was lucky enough to make it up on Monday for Teen Author Carnival, which she'll be talking about tomorrow.  I headed up after work on Monday, and our adventures began...

MONDAY:

7:30pm--I arrive at my friend's house.  We get Mexican, yay!

9:00pm--Frankie takes the train to meet us at my friend's house.  Her phone (holding the directions to aforementioned house) freezes, and she gets lost in a town that only has one traffic signal ;) (Note from Frankie--this was my LEAST favorite part of the trip. Also thank goodness for Irish bartenders.)

11:30pm--We crash for the night, ready to charge full-force into BEA tomorrow!

TUESDAY:

5:30am--Wake up call!  I really wanted to get tickets for some authors, which they start handing out at 6:45am, so we were up bright and early.

6:00am--Leave for BEA, empty rolling suitcases in hand!

Click me to see a larger version!

6:45am--Arrive at BEA!  I score tickets for Julianne Moore, Mo Willems, Brian Selznick, and Colin Meloy.  Frankie goes upstairs to get into line to enter BEA...which is already forming, 2 hours before they open the doors!

8:00am--At the Children's Author Breakfast, I listen to Julianne Moore moderate a panel that included Kevin Henkes, Sarah Dessen and Brian Selznick, with special guest Katherine Paterson. I paid to sit at one of the round tables, so I get a free bagel and OJ, score!

This is also where I receive a copy of What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen, Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, Junonia and Little White Rabbit by Kevin Henkes, plus a sample chapter from Katherine Paterson's new book and some Freckleface Strawberry art (Julianne Moore's picture book series).

The view from inside the fort!

9:45am--I meet back up with Frankie. The next 3 hours consist of coming together, splitting back up, and waiting in a LOT of lines. I quickly learn the best way to pick up ARCs is just to wander through publisher's booths: I grab Maggie Stiefvater's Scorpio Races and Forever, among others.  My free tote bag quickly fills up and I lose feeling in my shoulder.

1:00pm--Our eyes are on Shatter Me!  We camp out and manage to grab signed copies--Tahereh Mafi was super nice--and then it's off to Penguin, where we wait in line to see Richelle Mead and get signed copies of Bloodlines.  I also hit up Brian Selznick, Mo Willems, Marla Frazee and Meg Wolitzer and Rachel Vincent. Awesome!

All the pretty books!

4:00pm--End of the day!  My cell phone is dead from tweeting using the terrible service in the Javits Center, but I manage to find Frankie by telepathy (Note from Frankie--this is true!).  We meet up with Jeri Smith-Ready and Dawn Metcalf while we try to fit all our books into our duffel bags.

WEDNESDAY:

5:30am--Up early again!  My love for Mo Willems knows no boundaries, including normal amounts of sleep. We pack up and head off for BEA.

6:45am--I grab tickets for Mo Willems, Rick Riordan and Scott Westerfeld.  Then it's time to camp out in line until 9am. I'm headed to Sourcebooks, where they're giving away "Authors are my Rock Stars" t-shirts. (Note from Donna--I want one!)

9:00am--We're off!  There's someone actually telling people not to run into the exhibit area...and there are actually people not listening! I get sucked into the mob that travels from HarperCollins to Penguin to Bloomsbury and eventually Simon and Schuster.  It's 9:07, and I already have a bag filled with books!  I find Frankie, and we get in line for Lauren Oliver's signing of Delirium and Liesel and Po.

It turns out that Wednesday is even busier than Tuesday!  We go from signing to signing, including Ally Condie, Laini Taylor, Julia Kagawa, Melissa Marr, Maggie Stiefvater, Maile Meloy, Rick Riordan, Mo Willems, Sara Shepard and Marie Lu, plus surprise giveaways of ARCs of Sara Zarr's new book, How to Save a Life, and Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler's The Future of Us.

4:00pm--We are POOPED!  We cab it back to the hotel we're staying at for the night, check-in and drop our books. We head off to meet Maggie Stiefvater for dinner. Relaxation!

7:30pm--Donna arrives, yay!  The four of us go soak up some Daniel Radcliffe rays and watch him in How to Succeed in Business (Without Really Trying). Damn, that boy can dance!

10:00pm--Party in our hotel room. Ok...chatting and giggles in our hotel room.

12:00am--We woke up at 5:30! Pass. Out.

THURSDAY: 

(narrated by Donna, as Sara was away most of the day)

4:30am--Sara wakes up to drive back to Philly... to go to work! Teaching children all day! What a trooper.

7:30am--Wake up time! Frankie loves me for letting her sleep past 6am. Check out of hotel.

9:15am--Arrive at Javits via fancy BEA shuttle. Discover we're already too late for the Maureen Johnson signing.  :(

9:16am--Frankie gets in line for the Melissa Marr signing for Darkest Mercy and Enthralled. Yay Melissa!

10:00am--I sneak over to Ellen Hopkins' signing for Perfect.


10:30am--All the signings! We split up and get autographed copies of Family, Shut Out (Yay Kody!), Sirenz, Undercurrent, Frost,  and Ten Things We Did (and Probably Shouldn't Have) (love Sarah Mlynowski!).

12:30pm--Javits wandering! Blogger networking! Books books books!

1:00pm--Lunchtime! We find a delightful Thai place a few blocks from Javits. Sunshine! Cute men in navy whites! Fresh air!

2:00pm--Mosey on back to Javits.

3:00pm--We intend to head to the Book Blogger Convention Reception, but then we randomly end up having a hilarious conversation with Maureen Johnson and Andrew Schaffer in the Javits food court area, and oh it was so lovely to give our aching feet a rest...

Donna in the fort!

4:00pm--Drop off our bags of books with the rest of our luggage and head to Scholastic's This is Teen event with Maggie Stiefvater, Libba Bray, and Meg Cabot (squeeeee!). (And Sara takes the train back from Philadelphia to attend. That's dedication!) But we'll recap that awesomeness on Friday!

THE END!

PS - Besides getting copies of incredible books and meeting some of our favorite authors (and soon-to-be favorites!), the best part of BEA was meeting SO MANY BOOK BLOGGERS after tweeting and reading each other's blogs for years! (A highlight for me was meeting Kristi of The Story Siren, chatting with Alea of Pop Culture Junkie, and hanging out with the fabulous ladies of Forever YA!) Check out Frankie's BEA recap on her blog for a TON of blogger photos, too!

PPS - Don't forget to click HERE for a chance to win one of two BEA prize packs -- Bloodlines, Undercurrent, and The Shadowing: Hunted!

PPPS - We want to hear about your NYC adventures -- link to your BEA recap in the comments!

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