Authors in the Afternoon

**Editorial Note: I read over this after I published it, and it pretty much reads like a middle school report.  Deal with it. :)**

Thanks to a last minute tip from a friend, we learned that Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce would be appearing at a local bookstore on Saturday.  MPO is the author of the Magic Treehouse book series, and NPB co-authors the accompanying research guides (the Magic Treehouse books chronicle the fictional adventures of Jack and Annie as they travel in space and time, exploring world history and culture; the research guides provide factual information to accompany the stories).  Hi-Hat really likes this series, and I think he has made his way through all of them. 

Hi-Hat and I spent most of our afternoon on Saturday at the bookstore.  I'm glad we got there early so we could find a place to sit for the authors' talk.  We were about an hour early, and by the time the talk started there was standing room only in the store.  They were literally airlifting small children onto square foot patches of carpet.  Kudos to the bookstore for hosting a VERY organized event.  And their staff never seemed to lose their cool (which is no small feat, given my recent experience in hosting more than a dozen children in one location.  More on that later...).

reading an excerpt from their latest book

The authors were very engaging and involved the kids in their presentation.  They talked about how the series came about.  Hi-Hat was very interested to learn that MPO tried seven different versions of the book before landing on the Magic Treehouse.  I think he would like to get his hands on those 7 unpublished manuscripts!  Then they talked about upcoming adventures for Jack and Annie and gave the kids opportunity to vote for ideas they liked best.

Hi-Hat voting for an adventure with Abraham Lincoln, as president, not as a boy (he needs a haircut - Hi-Hat, not Lincoln)

After the talk we had a little while to wait before it would be our turn to meet with the authors and have our books signed.  So Hi-Hat and I had a snack lunch date at Whole Foods.  I had never been in Whole Foods before.  Wow!  I'm going to have to go back when it's not mobbed with children also on snack lunch dates with their parents.  Looked intriguing... Hi-Hat picked chocolate covered dried cherries, yogurt pretzels, a tub of watermelon and home-made whoopie pies (doggone samples by the register!!!).  He was also really interested in the Art-O-Mat, a little converted old-fashioned cigarette dispenser that now dispenses small works of original artwork.  HOW cool is that?  He decided to wait and bring Fancy back since he thought she would really like to give it a try. Sweetie pie (eating whoopie pies).

It really didn't take too long for our ticket letter to be called up.  Of course, we were in line for the restroom at the time and Hi-Hat was one away from the throne.  Luckily, I had struck up conversation with the woman ahead of us as her son was wearing an Upward basketball uniform.  We were chatting about basketball and horseback riding (which I know nothing about), and she was gracious enough to let Hi-Hat ahead of her in line so he could quickly make his way over to the book signing. 

Here he is with his "T" ticket

Meeting Mary Pope Osborne and Natalie Pope Boyce

Not sure what they were laughing about - he said it was when they were comparing their favorite Magic Treehouse books

I think this was when he asked her to recommend her own favorite series from when she was a child (Little House on the Prairie)

All in all, I think it was a thrilling afternoon for my avid reader, and I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with my boy!