My First Experience at ALA Annual Conference

Since ALA was right down the road this year, I decided I had to go and check it out.  My friend Monique is a publicist with  New World Library and it was great to see her in action!  Monique hooked me up with PARENTING WITH PRESENCE which I am really excited to read!!!

I then ventured further onto the exhibit floor.  I was overwhelmed!!! It was hard to know where to begin.  I was excited to check out a lot of the children's book publishers.  I also had Penguin and Random House on my radar.

My first stop was with Mighty Media Kids. Their books are adorable!!! I had never heard of their Monster and Me series and was delighted to pick up a copy of MONSTER NEEDS YOUR VOTE:

This little gem comes out in August.  I will post a review closer to that date. Love the button!!!

I almost fell over when I saw Merry Makers booth!  All my favorite children's book characters in plush form!!!  Their Fall line is so adorable! They gave me a backpack charm of Bad Kitty which looks just like our new mischievous kitten.

The ladies at the booth brought Amy Krouse Rosenthal's UNI THE UNICORN to my attention. Not sure how I missed that one! Their plush version of the unicorn comes out this Fall!


There was a big push going on for CIRCUS MIRANDUS but I missed getting a copy. Definitely looks intriguing!

I was also happy to see that there THE DAY THE CRAYONS CAME HOME will be coming out in August!

Philip C. and Erin Stead books are absolute "must buy" books for me and I was THRILLED to see they will have a new release in October.

I was very very selective about galleys.  I only ended up with four but I very pleased with my haul.  Especially the new Bohjalian!!!

If I hadn't been so overwhelmed, I probably would have picked up more.  Still, I had a lot of fun!