John Green, author of the young adult novels An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, and the soon to be released Paper Towns was here in Minnesota.
Not only was here here in Minnesota, but here at our local library today, about the same time Kyra had a birthday party to attend. Here’s how it went.
Andrew and I dropped Kyra off at the party, which was being held at one of those inflatable jump places. This was a new place that opened up right across the road from an already established inflatable jump place. So, if you venture into this part of town, all your jumping needs are pretty much taken care of.
We made it back to the library with about ten minutes to spare. We wandered into the teen section where we met up with some very excited girls who were also looking for John Green. Turned out he was scheduled for the meeting room on the first floor, so we all headed down there.
I stood in line to buy some books to be autographed. The big surprise? Penguin sent a bunch of his soon-to-be-released book, Paper Towns, for the signing. Oh, sure. Some people might have an advance reader copy, but we have the real thing, and it’s signed.
Anyway, we lucked out and got our books right before John started to speak. He read from Paper Towns and then spoke, then took questions. Oh, and he did his happy dance. But with the last question, it was time to pick up Kyra. I loaded down Andrew with our books. He was nervous and told me to hurry.
I raced out. On the drive, I realized I should’ve told him to give up his #50 spot in the book signing (yes, they were handing out numbers) and just stand at the back of the line. I so wanted to get a picture of John signing a book for Andrew. Instead, when Kyra and I returned to the library, Andrew was waiting outside, books in hand.
We went back in anyway. Kyra wanted books she could read herself and Andrew wanted a snack. We ate, then ventured down to the meeting room. John was still there with just the library staff. I explained how I missed the signing and could I please get a picture of Andrew and John together?
Well, I could:
It’s clear: John is made of awesome. In this photo, Andrew is also made of awesome, but with a dash of ‘tude thrown in.
John is incredibly gracious, so it’s no surprise that he let us take the photo. The real surprise? Minutes prior, Andrew inhaled two hot dogs, each with about six packets of ketchup. While wearing a white shirt. But dude, check it: not a single stain.
Whew.
Oh, and Darcy? Look what’s coming your way this week.
Writing Wrongs 
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Did you know that Mr. Green once wrote on his blog that he will NEVER refuse to read first novels? What do you think — should we ask him to read GGG?
And you (and Andrew of the non-ketchup-ed shirt, of course) are TOTALLY MADE OF AWESOME!!!!!
Yes, you guys should ask him to read GGG!!! ABSOLUTELY.
What a great experience.
We had a similar experience with Johnathan Rand (I can never remember how to spell his first name). He was also all kinds of awesome. He said that one of his fave activities is hanging out with kids at his book talks, and he certainly made good on that. He’s got a tremendous sense of humor, so if he ever comes to MN or IN, you guys should GO!