Fanhood finds friendship!

Although today was quite a busy day in the library--3 classes occupying the space at times--it was really what happened after dismissal that made it for me.

Mr. Reischer and I had a perfect Skype meeting with the incomparable Sarah Weeks this afternoon. I have been a fan of hers since I read "Oggie Cooder" back in 2009!  I have lead multiple book groups with several of her books, including "Oggie" and "Pie."  I finally met her at the NYLA-SSL conference last month and we just clicked!  After today, it's even better!  Mr. Reischer loved her, too!  Hooray!  We are planning a year long build up of events and projects based on Sarah's books, with special appearances by Sarah from time to time.  When she visits in May I guarantee you I will be calling my red carpet people!  Of course, there will be lots of other fabulous surprises, too!  You just wait!

I'm sure this was a great meeting for Sarah, too.  But her day was incredibly fabulous, not because of a couple of teachers from upstate NY but because they announced who would be starring in the film version of her book, "So B. It"  Check it out--Talitha Bateman and Alfre Woodard!  This was just made public a few hours ago. WOW!  It's looking like we ONLY host RED CARPET folks at Castleton Elementary now.

It was a Sarah Weeks kind of day for me all around, though.  For one 4th grade class, Ms. Malone and I began talking about character traits.  I read Sarah's book, "Woof: A Love Story" and the students had to come up with character traits for the protagonist, who happens to be a dog.  The lesson went really well and I was so happy to be able to share a Sarah book!

We are all about @AuthorWeeks these days! Look! 4th graders learned about character traits using "Woof A Love Story" pic.twitter.com/2TE388nlsH

— Ms.Rattner (@C_ESLibrary) May 28, 2015

RED CARPET Guys walking

One of my favorite places to be in my free time is NYC.  I grew up in Queens and it always feels like going home to me.  My mom, daughter and I went down there yesterday with the intention of seeing "Giselle" at American Ballet Theatre in Lincoln Center but we did so much more.

We love to walk all around the city.  On April 26 NYT Magazine had a special issue called, "Walking New York."  Here's a cool graphic by Christoph Niemann  from his "Abstract Sunday" column.  That was us in the Village.

The Megabus drops you off in midtown and we always like to go to brunch in the Village.  Yesterday we chose Friend of a Farmer in Grammercy Park.  It's a big place with outdoor dining and two floors upstairs.  There's french press coffee, fruit and vegetable drinks and yummy omelets.  Nothing too unique but a nice atmosphere especially if a red carpet guy is two tables away from you.  Nothing like seeing NEIL PATRICK HARRIS eating brunch with his family!  That was CRAZY!  After I calmed down, my daughter reminded me that this should not be anything unusual for me, since I had just been with an award winner less than two weeks ago!  How could I forget!  Actually the NEWBERY and TONYS are my top favorite awards and yes, KWAME and NEIL are both RED CARPET guys!

After brunch we walked from Grammercy Park to the East Village to get some ice cream.  Then we headed back uptown to Lincoln Center.  On the way, I caught this sign in the window of The Strand Bookstore, "Keep Calm and Kill Zombies."  LIBRARY GIRL was our keynote at our New York Library Association Section of School Librarian's conference this past April and man, was she inspiring!  She told us to be ZOMBIE FIGHTERS!  So I stopped in my tracks, grabbed my daughter's camera and took this picture!

We had to give up midtown to catch a cab because the crowds were just too unbelievable.  This way we made it in time without stress.  As the song from A Chorus Line goes, "Everything was beautiful at the ballet."

Then we walked back to the Megabus from Lincoln Center to 34th and 12th.  Not a stroll.  We made it to the bus with 3 minutes to spare. It was a totally fun and awesome day!

Look at that sky!  It could not have been a more beautiful day!

  (Photo credit TCiverolo)