Where in the World Was Mrs. Shaum Last Week?

...in St. Louis at one of her favorite events of the year for teachers and book lovers: The NCTE conference and ALAN workshop...

...leading a roundtable session with her favorite YA author, Jason Reynolds

...and also getting to be part of the same session with authors
Angie Thomas
Julie Murphy
Laurie Halse Anderson
A.S. King
M.T. Anderson
Matt de la Pena
and of course, Jason Reynolds

...hanging out with author Gae Polisner

...having dinner with beloved author Andrew Clements (Thank you Random House for this incredible honor!)

....meeting debut and soon-to-be beloved author Nic Stone

...building a book fort at the ALAN workshop (all 500 attendees go home with a box of 40+ books!)

...getting to hear Jason Reynolds again... because the world cannot hear enough Jason Reynolds (photo credit: @pamelahkirkland on Instagram )

...presenting an author panel with Martha Brockenbrough, Winifred Conkling, and Cynthia and Sanford Levinson called "History is Alive"

...meeting Detroit native Shaka Senghour

...being part of the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award committee, which chose Jeff Zentner's beautiful book, The Serpent King, as the winner

...having dinner with the Walden Award Committee along with the winner and 2 honor authors (thank you Penguin Random House for this wonderful evening!)

...getting to sit between TWO of those authors at dinner (Bonnie-Sue Hitchcok and Jeff Zentner)

...bringing home ALL of these wonderful books back to school to share with YOU, my beloved students*

*The student to guess closest to the correct number of books in this picture by Friday December 1, will win an advance reader copy and a tote bag from my adventures at ALAN and NCTE! (If there is a tie or multiple ties, I will pick a name from a hat)

I had a great time in St. Louis, but I'm glad to be back in the library where I belong. :)

For more photos and videos from NCTE and ALAN, check out the Cabrini Library Instagram account.