Lisa Yee's Blog

Wow, it's been a looooong time since my last blog. I would have blogged sooner, and I don't want to make any excuses, but aliens abducted me and I was orbiting Mars and the view was so pretty, plus there was a lot happening on my desk, and I got distracted.



And then Newbery and Prinz committee member and kidlit scholar Rob Bittner visited from Canada and distracted me with food . . .



So okay, let's see what Peepy and I have been up to. Yes! We visited the Twin Cities to keynote at the Minnesota SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators). It began with a faculty dinner . . .



Then this the next day . . .



It's always fun seeing author Bruce Hale and Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic Associate Editor Emily Clement and discussing math and metrics and stuff . . .



Why, lookit -- there's the ever popular picture booker, Kelly Light!



My writing workshop students were muttering bitterly to themselves because I made them write and write, and then write even more. And more. And more* . . .


*They did a fabulous job!!!!

Hello? Excuse me, but where do children's literature types hang out in the Twin Cities? Apparently at local favorite haunt Psycho Suzi's . . .



Ah hem. Someone was given Minnesota swag!



If you like books (and who doesn't???), you MUST visit the Kerlan Collection at the University of MN. This children's literature and research collection is curated by the amazing Lisa Von Drasek a.k.a. ALVD . . .



Here you'll find, thousands of original papers from some of the biggest names in children's literature. Plus, my papers are there, too . . .



We interrupt this blog to bring you yet another Dan Santat lunch. This time we are celebrating the publication of BOBBY VS. GIRLS (ACCIDENTALLY) in China . . .



And now back to your regularly scheduled Kerlan update . . .



My dear friend, and fellow Sid Fleishman Humor Award Winner David LaRochelle was with me at The Kerlan . . .



Here's more . . .



Paula Danzinger blurbed my first novel!!!



Later, it was lunch with David, author Cheryl Blackford and Lisa Lisa . . .



After, David and I visited the famed Red Balloon children's bookstore, talked to bears, and then had a tasty snack . . .



On another day, it was food 'n' fun with children's lit scholar and professor Sarah Park Dahlen . . .



Sarah asked what I'd like to see and I said, "The library! Children's books! Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy!" And so we did (two of the three). Here's the Minneapolis Central Library . . .



Then it was time for a Wild Rumpus and ice cream!!!!



Back in Southern California a gaggle of authors and illustrators met for dinner to impress Australian author Rachel "R.A." Spratt, who misbehaved and put Peepy in peril . . .



After dinner it was time for lunch with authors Susan Patron, Amy Goldman Koss and Ann Whitford Paul . . .



What's that?!!! Why, it's Kelly Milner Hall's newest book, GHOSTLY EVIDENCE. And look who has a story in it!!!



Close to home, we visited Clairbourn School and super librarian, Anita Knight. Here we are with author/illustrators Dan Santat (I think he's stalking me) and Salina Yoon . . .


(The Lisa Yee Lego was made with a 3D printer!!!)

I spoke to the middle school students . . .



Then before or after or later there was lunch with author Michael Reisman . . .



Speaking of postcards for my upcoming YA novel, THE KIDNEY HYPOTHETICAL or how to ruin your life if seven days, there are these . . .



What's that? Oh, a (yet another) literary lunch with Dan Santat and a literary dinner with my agent, Jodi Reamer . . .



What? What's that? Lunch with someone other than Dan? Yes! It's author Amy Goldman Koss!!!



This year I judged the PEN USA awards (along with Amy) and attended the fancy schmancy awards ceremony in 90210 . . .



Oh yeah, the Girls are all here. Lena Dunham with celebrity Peepy and Moi . . .



There's Amy Poehler. She gave the Lifetime Achievement Award to me!!! Oops. I meant Norman Lear . . .



That's John Cusak on stage (not sure why he was there) . . .



Look!!! It's PEN winner Margarita Engle who wrote the magnificent THE LIGHTNING DREAMER, CUBA'S GREATEST ABOLITIONIST. The book made me weep, and it made my heart sing. GO READ IT!!!!



What's that? Why it's literary PEN swag . . .



Yoo hoo! It's Children's/YA judges, Amy Goldman Koss, with Margarita and Moi . . .



(Insert a clever transition of your choice here)

Suddenly, it was time for the . . . Hollywood Children's Book Fair!!!!



Beautiful and brilliant Book Fair producer Anji Williams presented me with this!!!



And there's author(s) Cecil Castellucci and Scott Bly and Kristen Kittcher. . .



We emoted on the stage, reading from MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS with author Scott Bly playing Stanford Wong . . .



What's that? Another Dan Santat lunch?



Google, gaggle, gobble . . . yes!!! I took part in the International Reading Associations VERY FIRST Google Hangout (to spice things up, the events that appear in this blog are not in chronological order) . . .



Whoop! I hopped a plane and headed to Texas -- Austin, to exact, for YALSA!!! And look who I ran into, author/professional YoYo-er Jonathan Auxier and Rob Bittner . . .



I got carried away with YA author Andrew Smith, and was reunited with other YA-ers Malindo Lo, Sara Zarr and Justina Chen, and oooooh, spooky author RL Stine and Scholastic's non-spooky Lizette Serrano . . .



Now, here's the haps. Jonathan Auxier saw me in my Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly costume . . .

(Above: Me and animator/author/illustrator Bob Boyle with Dan Santat)

He bet me that if appeared on our YA panel dressed as Holly, he would sing all his comments to the tune of Moon River.



And I did, and he did!!!

Here's proof . . .



The view from the stage . . .



And here are the other panel members . . .



Oops, got carried away by Andrew Smith again . . .



And it's Audrey with Kelly Milner Halls and Bruce Coville, and Chris Barton . . .



Finally, it was time to head home. (Austin was my last trip of 2014.) Who better way to share airport BBQ with than RL Stine?



And finally, finally, someone (ME!!!) helped NPR select the Best Children's/YA Book of 2014 . . .



Here are the best of the best. And to see which ones were my picks go here for picture books/kids books and here for YA, and roll your curser over the titles to see who picked what, and why the book was selected!

For example:





HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!!


(I LOVE this photo of me and a fan at the Hollywood Children's Book Fest)

===========================

What's that? Yes! If you'd like an autographed book (they make great holiday presents!), order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!



Email:




Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

It seems like I was just home from Laramie, WY and studying the stars, when it was time to hit the road again.

This time, it was off to the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Summer Conference, hence to be known at the SCBWISCXYZ.

The SCBWI is the largest group of children's book writers and illustrators in the world, with over 22,000 members. I've been going to the conference for 14ish years, starting from before I was published. Now I attend as a Board Member and faculty. (I know! I can't believe it either.)

The night before the conference kicks off there's a faculty dinner. It's always fun to mingle and mash, although poor Peepy kept getting photobombed. Yes, she is that popular.



Jay Asher and Cecil Yung, and Ilene Cooper and Julie Straus-Gabel, jumped into Peepy's shot . . .


Sara Rutenberg looked refreshed as the conference first got underway . . .


Aaron Becker finally got his photo taken with his favorite Peep . . .


But then, wanting more, he photobombed her with Megan McDonald and agent Jen Rofe, and then Arthur Levine and Martha Brokenbough did, too . . .


The next day was the March of the Faculty, where we went on stage and introduced ourselves to the 12 million-ish conference attendees . . .


Opening keynoter Meg Rosoff was AMAZING . . .


Agent Andrea Penfold baked cookies for Peepy, and Golden Kite winner Tim Federle paid his repsect(s) to her . . .


Then Peepy was photobombed AGAIN, this time by Tim, Newbery winner Linda Sue Park and Jen, AND Newbery winner Susan Patron, Sonya Sones and SCBWI Queen, Lin Oliver . . .


Speaking of Lin, she did a marvelous job (as always) hosting the conference, along with Stephen Mooser (hidden) . . .


Perks of Being a Wallflower author/director Stephen Chobosky couldn't wait to meet Peepy, and then jumped into her shot with Jay Asher . . .


I had a book for Stephen to sign, but didn't feel like trudging all the way up to my room to get it. So I asked him to sign a slip of paper, and he did . . .


Not to brag, but I have the best students. If you don't believe me, look . . .


Every year for the past 246 years, my editor, Arthur Levine and I have a conference lunch . . .


The food fest continued with dinner with Linda Sue Park (looking small because we hadn't added water yet) and her editor Dinah Stevenson . . .


We love looking at the illustrator portfolios. While the judging took place, EB Lewis photobombed Peepy, while Arthur photobombed EB . . .


Of course, Marla Frazee and others industry insiders had to join in . . .


At the grand gala there was plenty of food and fun . . .


Lobby photobombing looks like this -- with Sara Etienne, Ken Min, Michael Reisman and Bob Boyle, Salina Yoon, Jen Rofe, Jamie Weiss Chilton and more . . .


Later, during the multi-day conference, Peepy was still being photobombed wherever she went. Like from Newbery-er Cynthia Kadohata, and Ed Massesa, and who's that? Oh, JUDY BLUME (!!!) . . .




It continued with Ruth Bradshaw and Dan Santat, and Stephen Mooser . . .


More? Yes. Paul O. Zelinsky, Eugene Yelchin and Laurent Linn . . .


Oh hello, it's three Asian American authors, one Peep, this blogger, and two Newbery winners . . .


After the conference, there was a SCBWI Board of Advisors meeting. Want to know what goes on behind closed doors? This . . .

(That's right. Ellen Hopkins.)

New board member, Laurie Halse Anderson, misbehaved, too . . .

Judy Blume couldn't stop photobombing, and editor Bonnie Bader was just getting started . . .


It was all too much for Sara Rutenberg . . .


And at last, Peter Brown, who had been stalking Peepy throughout the entire conference, finally got his photo taken with her . . .


The stress of all the photobombs made Peepy wish for calm. So we headed to Hawaii just in time for two hurricanes . . .


Anticipating everything being closed, we stocked up on food . . .


The hurricanes turned into storms, which later turned into beautiful weather . . .


Still, the stocking up on food continued like poke and grilled garlic shrimp, and bbq, and . . .


We visited the Palace and ground, twice . . .


There was this . . .


Look! It's the Hawaii State Library!!!! (We LOVE libraries. Aloha, Suzanne!)



Aloha, beaches!!!





The food fest continued . . .


Mmmmmm . . . shave ice!!! In my American Girl books, Kanani's family owns a shave ice/bakery/candy store!






Yes, I walked on lava, plus got to see the #1 Hawaiian Monk Seal expert in the world, Dr. Charles Littnan --- We met when I wrote about the monk seals in the Kanani books . . .
. . .


Um, more food . . .


More beach . . .


More fun . . .


Aloha also means good-bye . . .



However, soon it was time to go home, do laundry, and then head back to New York . . .



Why were we there? For Scholastic Teacher Week, of course! We were on a diversity panel. Peepy met a friend in the Green Room before we went on, and I got to reconnect with panelists Varian Johnson and Sharon Robinson, and moderator Cheryl Klein (with Peepy) . . .



We were joined by by Sonia Manzano, Maria from Sesame Street!




There was a book signing, and Scholastic Store General Manager Michael Strouse arranged for the Teacher Week bags to match my dress . . .



After, it was lunch with my agent, Jodi Reamer. Dan Santat couldn't join us, but the series he illustrated did . . .


Of course, we had to eat, right?



Later, it was off to see Cabaret . . .


After, Alan Cumming, who starred in the show, along with Michelle Williams, insisted on having his photo taken with Peepy . . .


We ended our NY jaunt with a trip to Juniors. I couldn't decide on the cheesecake or chocolate cake, so I got both . . .


Then it was back home to collapse.

Speaking of collapsing, I was going to add hot links to everyone's names and such. However, the last time I did it (and it took HOURS) for whatever reason the links didn't work. So this time, I'm not doing it to see if maybe they will work magically.

===========================

Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!



Email:




Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Whoa! How did it get to be July already? Didn't we just have June blog?



Recently, National Public Radio asked me to come up with books involving travel for their Summer "Book Your Trip" series . . .



You can read my recommendations and others HERE. (Click on the transportation icons to read about books that have that mode of transportation as part of its storyline.)

LOOK! Here are some of the books I wrote about . . .



Some of you may remember when I did this by accident . . .


(I accidentally replaced ALL the blank spaces in my novel with the word "long." And then, in a panic, I hit "save.)

Well, brilliant young thespian Finn Davis did a reading of it -- and it's ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS!!!!

You can LISTEN HERE. (I couldn't figure out how to embed audio, so I made a video of his recording, and my piggy friend, Kevin Bacon, helped me.)

Because St. Louis is awesome, Peepy and I went back specifically to visit TWO amazing places. The first was the newly renovated St. Louis Public Library.



The last time I was at the library, it was for the Read It Forward program, and Absolutely Maybe was the featured book! Here's a look back . . .



This time, I was totally discombobulated because when I entered the Teen Room, I saw a giant poster of one of my books!



Of course, Peepy wanted to talk to Nathan Schubert who works in the Teen Lounge . . .



Look! The illustrator of my Bobby books, my lunch pal Dan Santat did this . . .



And here's more library . . .





Now, if you visit St. Louis, Ted Drewes has the most awesome frozen custard, isn't that right, Katie Wools? (I had a "concrete" of lemon custard mixed with pineapple and Heath Bar.)



On our way to our second YOU-HAVE-TO-VISIT-THIS-PLACE, we passed a hat shop . . .



Then it was time for CITY MUSEUM!!!



It's an old shoelace factory, and they still manufacture them . . .



I've been there twice before as seen here and here . . .



But wanted to go back again. Here's why . . .



So many salvaged and saved parts of St. Louis have retired here . . .





Bugs!!! Robots!!!!



Carny stuff!!! Kitsch stuff!!!



Ooooh, you can make things . . .



This awesome City Museum art-person is also a member of the League of Lady Arm Wrestlers. How cool is that?



If you like exploring and climbing, you can hike up and then go down a TEN STORY SLIDE IN THE DARK . . .



And climb/crawl up wire tunnels up to the sky where the airplanes fly and giant bugs live . . .



See? What did I say? Awesome, isn't it?

Later, we ventured over to The Loop . . .



We bought art from a vending machine for $5. (The last time I bought vending machine art was HERE where I also had the best BBQ of my life). We also admired the cake(s) that are all over and decorated for the city's 250th birthday and had a local root beer . . .



Dinner was at Chuck Berry's Blueberry Hill. He was jealous of Peepy . . .



This was dessert . . .



And so was this . . .


(The iron burn in the carpet was already in the hotel room. The GOOEY BUTTER CAKE was not. However, the burn mark remains. The Gooey Buttercake is now gone.)

Now, lest you think my life is all fun and games, I have oodles of important meetings I must attend. For example, my agent, Jodi Reamer, and I have an Annual Summit at an undisclosed location . . .



Here's proof of prior Annual Summits, here and here and here and . . . well you get it.

This time, as always, we discussed work, and did math, and refused to fun since we are all business. . .



We also eat and take selfies, for business reasons, of course . . .



Who did I eat those scallops with? (Besides my agent?) Why, Julie Strauss-Gabel, that's who. Julie is John Green's editor and I'm only mentioning that because of shameless name dropping . . .


(Here's a way back interview I did with John Green before he became John Green.)

But back to food. Here's a lovely shot of Julie, Jodi and me before we had a slug-fest over the chocolate cake in the pink princess treasure chest . . .



Speaking of eating, Mo Willems was in town via Paris where he currently resides. Peepy's been to Paris, too. Here she is on the set of Hugo . . .



Oops. Digression. Back to Mo. He was heading to ALA. However, between flights he met Bob Boyle and Tom Warburton and Moi for sushi . . .



Speaking of character development (pretend we were), here's a short video of me babbling about how I create my characters for my books. CLICK HERE.


Look! Leigh Bardugo had a book launch party for Ruin and Rising<.a> at one of my fave indies, The Last Bookstore.Check this out.

And here's the party!



There was a hobnob of authors present. Here's me and Victoria Forester, and me and Michael Reisman, and me and Lissa Price . . .



And finally, a tearful farewell to Scholastic's own John Mason, director of library and educational marketing. I first met John in 2003 when my novel Millicent Min, Girl Genius debuted, and he was with me through the publication of all eight of my Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic novels. Happy retirement, John. You will be missed . . .



===========================

Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!



Email:




Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Want an agent? Want to know how I got my Writers House agent, Jodi Reamer . . .



Here's how.



So then, not long ago I was in NY . . .



Of course, one of the places "Peepy I visited was the New York Public Library . . .



Luckily, Peepy did not get lost this time. Instead, we marveled over THE ABCs of IT: WHY CHILDREN'S BOOK MATTER exhibit . . .



Here's what we saw . . .



We interrupt this tour to bring you our newest pillow. It's Alice in Wonderland. I know! I got it here.



And now back to the NY Public Library . . .


You should go. Hurry. It ends September 26, 2014.

Last month we celebrated the 95th Birthday of Children's Book Week . . .



Last year, I was honored to host the Awards Gala, as blogged here.


(Above: With Henry Winkler)

This year, our National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, Kate DiCamillo hosted. Here's a video I made to help celebrate. BTW, that dragon head on my head was custom made for me by a fan!


Then a couple weeks ago I visited Northampton, MA, where oodles of children's book people work their magic. Don't believe me? Here's proof of residency . . .

National Book Award winner, the beautiful and talented Jeanne Birdsall . . .



Pssst ... fun fact. Jeanne moonlights as my body guard. Yes! She is the captan of Team Yee, and a couple-ish years ago, when a sketchy person tried to get to Peepy, she intervened and saved us!



TED Talk sensation, author/illustrator Jarrett Krozsocka and I work out on the stair machine . . .



If you haven't seen Jarrett's Ted Talk yet, you must. Here it is.

Bestselling author Angela DiTerlizzi (practically) made this Very Hungry Caterpillar susho for me . . .



Newbery Honoree Grace Lin shows me how to take selfies . . .



Author/gallery owner and Northampton Poet Laureate Richard Michelson offers to give me all the Dr. Suess art for free . . .



Wonderful YA/MG author Ellen Wittlinger and I eat breakfast for lunch . . .



Later, I stopped by the Montague Bookmill. Love that place! For you booklovers, here are more photos from my last visit.jeann



Then it was off to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Artwhy ch . . .



Oh, and lest you think I only eat with authors on the East Coast, not true. Look . . . here I am having lunch with international bestseller Lissa Price . . .



And this year's Thurber House Children's Writer-in-Residence Kristen Kittscher . . .



Look! It's Newbery Committeer Rob Bittner (he's my Guardian Angel), with Nathan Pachal and overly way too too prolific author Andrew Smith . . .



Fib much? It's sushi time with THE 14 FIBS OF GREGORY K. author, Greg Pincus!



Even though California Bookstore Day was last month, I think it should be everyday, don't you? Here's Moi with Once Upon A Time owner Maureen Palacios . . .



A few days ago, I saw the play Death of an Author . . . and survived!



Oops! If you missed the book launch party for Dan Santat's THE ADVENTURES OF BEEKLE, don't despair, you can still get the book at your local bookstore!



And finally, some sad news. My American Girl doll Ivy Ling will be retired. The good news is that you will still be able to get the book, GOOD LUCK, IVY from American Girl.



(BTW, I am aware that I am wore the same dress to the play and to the book launch and in the photo above. It's not like I don't have anything else to wear, but I don't have anything else to wear.)

===========================

Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!



Email:




Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

It started with THIS. A call to the public to post why we need diverse books. So I did this and posted it on Twitter and Facebook . . .



Then some of my Facebook friends asked me a question. And I posted that, too.



I was heartened to see how passionately people felt about this subject, and how many shared their thoughts. And now, here are mine . . .

As one of my editors, Cheryl Klein, noted in the Facebook comments, I have written outside my race multiple times in my novels Absolutely Maybe, Warp Speed, and others. Hell, I have written outside my religion, my sex, my sexual orientation, my political beliefs, my geographical upbringing, my height. Why? Because I am an artist, not a autobiographist (is that a word?).

I am not an Asian author. I am an author who is Asian. There is a difference.

I believe that it is every artist's right to determine what they create and not have that dictated to them. I've heard that I've let readers down because my books were not "Asian enough." WTF? One critic wrote that I had missed the mark because my middle school characters did not discuss race. Um. No.

Being Asian doesn't make you an expert on all things Asian, any more than researching does. I've written three books for American Girl featuring Asian Americans. Each time, we also consulted with experts on things like Chinese school (because even though I am Chinese, I never went to one).

You have to get it right -- whether you are writing about your race or someone else's. This also goes for religion, sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ownership of particular breed of dog, everything. There is nothing more insulting to a reader than if a writer gets things wrong. You will instantly lose your credibility, and your readers will abandon you, and some people will think you are stupid.

It is arrogant to think that just because you sympathize with someone or something, that makes you an expert.

Don't automatically assume you know exactly how someone else feels. Because you don't, any more than I would know exactly how a LGBTQ kid or a Holocaust survivor feels.

Do not presume -- but do dare to imagine.

And then talk to people. Talk to people who know more than you do about your subject. Talk to them in person. On the phone. Through emails and letters. Googling is not enough.

As for needing/wanting more authors who are POC (and by the way, I hate that phrase - People of Color, but I suppose it's not as bad as what it really means -- PWANW a.k.a. People Who Are Not White) yes. Yes, we need them. Yes.

Why? Because there is an innate knowledge that one can gain from experience, from living a life one writes about. But more than that, look at this. Look at this again. And again. This upsets me . . .



When I was growing up, there were no Asian American authors I knew of. I had no role models. There were no books about people like me, a third generation Chinese American girl growing up in the suburbs. The most famous Asian American I knew of was Connie Chung, and she wasn't a writer. So, yes, we do need more POC authors, and more LGBTQ authors, and more diverse authors.

That's not to say that one cannot write outside their race/ethnicity, but it is to say that the numbers of POC authors are dismal. We need to encourage publishers, book buyers, readers, to be less exclusive and more inclusive.

Phew. This has been a long rambling rant, and I've probably contradicted myself several times over. If so, it's because I am still trying to figure things out.

So, can a person write outside their race/ethnicity?

Yes.

Do we need more POC authors?

Yes.

And I done with my rant about race and writing?

Yes. For now.

=========================================================================================================



Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!



Email:




Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of staying at Thurber House, where humorist/author James Thurber spent part of his youth.



It was a homecoming of sorts for me, having been the 2007 Thurber House Children's Writer-in-Residence. It was so wonderful to see my old friends (as in I've known them for seven years) Pat Shannon and Meg Brown . . .



I stayed in the attic apartment, and since Pat had gifted me with a pack of purple marshmallow Peeps, it was only fitting that I blow them up in the microwave -- with an assist from James Thurber and Peepy . . .



But first, this. Near Thurber House, in the Germantown section for Columbus, OH, is a most marvelous used/new bookstore, The Book Loft.


And here's Thurber House . . .





Here are some of the authors who have visited Thurber House . . .



Now, in honor of Easter Peeps and Spring and whatnot, there's this . . .



Want to see a video of Peeps being blown up in the microwave? Here's one!



===========================

Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!



Email:




Or you can click this for a RSS feed...

I was in New York recently, and so was my pal and BOBBY illustrator Dan Santat. Our mutual Writers House agent, Jodi Reamer, has dined with us on many occasions . . .



Only this time would be different. Yes! Jodi set up a mega meat challenge -- The Reamer Rib-Off.

Dan vs. Alec Shane (Jodi's assistant and junior agent). I was there as a celebrity judge. Well, okay, I was there as a judge. Also in attendance as referee was editor Connie Hsu, who just left Little Brown and is now at Roaring Brook. What we witnessed was nothing short of amazing (and gross). So I thought that pictures would tell the story better than words . . .




(Alec Shane)


(Dan Santat)





At one point the chefs and staff at Blue Smoke came out to cheer the carnivores on . . .



It kept going . . .



Dan won with a total of TWENTY THREE ribs. Alec weighed in at NINTEEN . . .





There were prizes . . . .



And like a true champion, when the Reamer Rib-Off was over, Dan had dessert . . .


===========================

Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!



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So then, when last we blogged this was going on . . .



Since then, lots has been happening, only we've been . . .

1) Too busy
2) Too lazy
3) Too sleepy
4) Too, too

and therefore, have fallen off the blog wagon.

However, we're back!

Okay, why? What's up, you ask, or I ask, or someone asks. Well, here's the haps . . .

Recently, Peepy and flew into San Jose . . .



And visited Christa McAuliffe School . . .



Principal Rick Yee (no relation to Moi that I know of), was a good sport. Plus, I tricked him. And he read the part of Stanford Wong onstage with me as we acted out a library/food scene from Millicent Min, Girl Genius . . .



I had such a blast and it's fair to say that Peepy did too . . .



The weather was FREEZING back in Los Angeles. Well, it was in the 60s. So when I met up with my American Girl editor, Jennifer Hirsch, to hike up to the Griffith Park Observatory, I wore a coat. She's from Wisconsin, so to her the weather was lovely . . .



It's aways great visiting the Observatory, and part of Absolutely Maybe takes place there!

On Read Across America Day, Peepy and I headed over to Temple City's Emperor Elementary were we were warmly welcomed . . .



My parents had joined me that evening, and I was so glad because uber librarian Tim Rodriguez surprised me with a Congressional Recognition!!!



Who's that at the Women's Business Summit? Why, it's me (Peepy's sleeping) and Pasadena Advertising's Suzanne Marks. I discussed social media and math. But only one of those.



Recently, I chaperoned the South Pasadena High School Academic Decathlon Team to California State Finals in Sacramento. They took 7th place out of over 500 teams. Not bad for a school who attended their first competition just last year.

While in Sacramento, I got to do some sightseeing in Locke, the historical Chinatown area . . .



And back home, food-wise, this happened . . .


Speaking of Daylight Savings Time (I have still not recovered from it), these illustrators have adjusted nicely and are able to stay awake when sharing a meal with me . . .



But not these guys . . .


(That's Dan Santat, and that's Bob Boyle.)

And this is Bob Boyle and Dan Santat and me starring in an Oscar-caliber mini-movie-documentary-about-Bob-Boyle!!!

Look! Who's that? Why, it's me being a dragon or a reader or an author or someone.


Why? Because voting is starting for the Children's Choice Book Awards!!! (I'll post the video I did for this year's Children's Book Week, later.)

In the meantime . . . CLICK HERE NOW!!!! and be part of Children's Book Week!!!



===========================

Oh, look! If you'd like an autographed book, order from Vroman's, tell them who you'd like me to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








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Wheeeeee!!!!

Well, hello welcome to our annual End-of-Year-Blog-Round-Up!!!!.



Before we begin rounding up (er, technically, wouldn't it be rounding down?) the year, here are a couple of TOTALLY AWESOME things that happened in December:

Firstly, NRP. That's right. National Public Radio. My favorite radio station.



I was sooooo thrilled when they (they being NPR) asked me to come up with a list of my favorite children's books of 2013.



I was especially thrilled because I LOVE NPR. I've even been on it before! Here's uber librarian Nancy Pearl naming her favorite first lines . . . and guess whose book is among them? (Hint: Millicent Min, Girl Genius).


(Above: That's Nancy Pearl and me. Um. I hadn't changed my PhotoBooth photo thingy setting and thought I was taking a single photo, not four. Then I figured it out.)

So anyway, it was really, really, really hard to pick my favs of the year because there were so many. But ultimately, I chose books that gave me that oomph feeling when I read them. Here are a few of my favorites of 2013 . . .



Here's NPR's blog where the book selectors, including Moi, explain how we made our picks.

And here are the Best Books of 2013. To see/read about my choices, roll your arrow-thing over the book covers on this link.



Oh! Oh! Talking about great books, I also went to my pal Marla Frazee's book launch at Vroman's for God Got A Dog . . .



In other December fun-tastic stuff, I was invited by Qlovi and the Children's Book Council to participate in an INCREDIBLE reading event. Here are the Qlovi people. (I know! They are so smart, young and attractive. These are REAL people, not models, although they could be models.)



Anyway, a dozen authors were selected to read and talk with 12,731,890 (more or maybe a little more or a little less) students from all around the United States LIVE via Google+ Hangout.





Okay, so I was a bit nervous as you can imagine. Not about taking live to 12,284,193 students, but about the whole internet camera computer thing. As you know, I have the power to bring down the interwebs . . .



So the kind Qlovi folk sent me a really nice video camera . . .



And after several tests, I realized the best position for it was on top of Lucky Charms . . .



But I am so used to looking at my Mac Photo Booth camera, I had to give myself a reminder to look at the Lucky Charms camera when I was on talking . . .



It was sooooooo fun! I didn't break the interwebs. No one got hurt. And I made lots of new friends all over the United States. I read from Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time . . .



Here are some of kids I spoke to . . .



And now . . . the round-up/down of 2013. It was a really busy year, so it was hard to pick just one blog per month. But here we go . . .


January's blog pick covered our visit to Scotland where we hung out where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter, met the Harry Coo, and explored Monty Python territory!




One of February's blogs was a follow up to our space shuttle Endeavor adventures. Peepy got to hang out with astronauts!



March saw our visit to Singapore and it's glorious sights, a spectacular bookstore, and food, food, food!!!!



April's blog" chronicled our trip to Dubai and a desert safari . . .



May was a celebration for Children's Book Week, and we were honored to host the Children's Choice Book Awards. This blog takes you behind-the-scenes with a who's who in children's literature . . .



In June we met up with our editor and agent in NYC, plus hung out with a Rolling Stone writer to explore good eats in Queens . . .



July was a lazy month, and we revisited the best prank ever played on us . . .




August witnessed the annual collision of authors and agent editors . . .



In September we snuck into Amulet creator Kazu Kibuishi's studio . . .



October was a mix of Einstein, math, donuts, friends and a new newspaper . . .



November took us to Orlando and St. Louis and an incredible museum . . .



December (go back to top)

WISHING ALL OF YOU A FABULOUS 2014!!!!!!

===========================

Would you like to receive Lisa's sporadic blogs via email? If so, email Lisa by CLICKING HERE and say, "Blog me!"

Check out Lisa's online newspaper, STET. It's your daily dose of books and bad dogs and outer space stuff!!! CLICK HERE for STET.

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








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Yes, it's that time of year again! November's Super Fancy and Thankful November Blog!!!



So then, let's be bold (lazy) work without an outline, shall we? First up, but not necessarily in chronological order, I went to St. Louis to speak/teach at the Missouri SCBWI. However, we got purposely sidetracked and ended up at the most marvelous City Museum!



The museum is a defunct shoelace factory that was artfully re-imagined . . .



Speaking of artists, here's my lunch pal, author/illustrator (and draw-er of my Bobby books) Dan Santat crawling gracefully through one of the many tunnels and tubes at City Museum . . .



And here we are swinging from ropes, participating in the ball pit, and enjoying a peaceful train ride . . .



Then there was this . . .





There's even a ferris wheel on the top of the building . . . oh! Look what I spy. Why, it's Katie Wools, illustrator and Lisa/Dan wrangler . . .



So then, since we had a dinner to attend, we ate GOOEY BUTTER CAKE. Nom nom nom, this local favorite isawesomelywildlygood!!!!



Hello? Who's that? Why, it's Delacorte executive editor Krista Marino and author Matt de la Pena at dinner, wondering where their GOOEY BUTTER CAKE is . . .



The next day, it was off to the conference. Boom! Boom! Boom! There was a high school marching band competition happening at the same time. Same place.



But did that bother my students? Nope. They looked so happy . . . until I made them revise and revise and revise and revise. Well, I was teaching a class in revision, after all.



What's that? Lunch. Dan made a lemon bar chocolate brownie sandwich. Yum.



Soon it was time for my closing keynote speech. Awww, all these people raised their hands when I asked, "Who would give me 70% of the payout if you won the lottery?"



The next day, I taught a master class on how to write Bad Guys and Bullies. However, this Nice Gal, Rodeen Literary Management agent, Lori Kilkelly, brought me . . . MY VERY OWN GOOEY BUTTER CAKE!!!!



Sigh. Because I refused to share, my students reacted badly . . .



Later, it was deep dish pizza at Pi Pizzeria with Dan and Katie and Krista and author Jody Feldman and Moi . . .



Later, we checked out Chuck Berry's Blueberry Hill which looked sort of like my office . . .



Before the airport, we hit (as in pigged out) Ted Drewes for frozen custard . . .



When it came time to head home, we saw a TV celeb -- the man with the baseball cap. Hint: One of the dads from Modern Family, the one who sells real estate, Phil.



Back in Los Angelese, it was all about Marvels & Monsters: Unmasking Asian Images in U.S. Comics, 1942-1986 . . .



We admired the graffiti in the LA Arts District . . .



And we so totally admired our Mexican Chocolate Pie from The Pie Hole . . .



That's not the only great food we had in November. Look, it's a bunch of authors and illustrators having brunch (you know who you are) . . .



Hey! Did you get your Harry Potter postage stamps yet? I did, They're really cool, but controversial . . .



What? Yes, that's right! We also visited Orlando, Florida for the FAME conference. Scholastic Book Fairs sponsored our visit . . .



I gave a couple of presentations . . .



. . . while Peepy and teacher Mike Cohen disagreed over what to eat for lunch -- salad or GOOEY BUTTER CAKE . . .



And then last weekend, I got to attend my pal Ann Whitford Paul's book party at local indie Skylight Books. Here's Ann with 'Twas The Late Night Before Christmas illustrator, Nancy Hayashi . . .



HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!!


(The lovely fruitful turkey created by editor Elizabeth Law's mom, Betty.)


===========================

Autographed books make delightful holiday gifts. You can order yours from Vroman's and tell them who you'd like Lisa Yee to sign it to, and they will mail it to you!"





Check out Lisa's online newspaper, STET. It's your daily dose of books and bad dogs and outer space stuff!!! CLICK HERE for STET.

Disclaimer: No proofreaders were harmed (or even used) in the creation of this blog.

Want to check out Lisa's NEW AND IMPROVED website? Simply CLICK HERE.

Interested in having Lisa speak at your school, library or conference? CLICK HERE for more information.

Lisa Yee








Subscribe to Lisa Yee's Blog and get her fresh baked blogs e-mailed to you!



Email:




Or you can click this for a RSS feed...