It was decided that instead of staying at a hotel, I was going to drive to PLA each day.  On Thursday I lucked out and John Pfeifer and Dave Lubahn were also going to PLA.  John drove. We knew we were in the right place when we saw all the canvas bookbags, a sure sign of a group of librarians.  The first person we saw was SherriG from St. Charles Public Library.  She showed us where to register.  After deciding where we would meet at the end of the day, we split up.  After figuring out Mezzanine Level was one floor down, I went to Author’s Readers Theatre.  Avi, Pam Munoz Ryan, Sarah Weeks and Brian Selznick all took parts in reading each others books.  It is very interesting listening to an author read his or her own work.  Oggie Cooder by Sarah Weeks is a book I’m going to have to read.  It sounded like a funny, entertaining book when the authors read it aloud.  The authors read books by each other and with each other, and the books came alive. 

From there, I went through the exhibits.  Wow!  Within an hour, I had a bag full of pre-pubs and pens. (A friend of my parents is trying to get into Guinness World Records for the most pens; she has over 200,000, so I had to get pens.)  I had talked to many vendors, some I chose and some who chose me.  I must have looked like I would listen to their talk. (I made eye contact.) 

On the way to the Children’s Author Luncheon with Pat Mora and Raul Colon, I was again talking to SherriG, when I heard “DARLA LAGER!”  I turned around and there was Cathy Tuttrup, my best friend from library school.  We hadn’t seen or talked with each other in years. We lost track of each other, she is at her third different library and I am at my second.  She is now an adult services librarian in Brookfield, Wisconsin. We talked for a while, exchanged email addresses and made plans to meet Friday.  The lunch was good, both Pat Mora and Raul Colon were interesting.  I sat at a table with no one I knew.  It was funny, there were three librarians from North Carolina, two from Kentucky and one from California, and they were talking about how cold it was, it was heading toward 40 degrees, that’s not cold.  I guess it’s all in perspective. 

After lunch I went to Science Quest.  The presenters did science experiments with volunteers from the audience. I got many ideas.  It made me want to do more things like this.  Their website: http://www.library.carr.org/aha/ has many ideas and lesson plans. 

The final program of the day for me was Dealing with Teens…Virtually.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it.  However, I did get this… “Radical Trust: If you put it out there, it will come back to you!” and three rules for a teen room… “Respect yourself.  Respect others.  Respect the space.”