Ok first off, and I know this is going to sound ridiculous. How many of you knew that the publishing firm HB Fenn was actually run by a Mr. Harold Fenn? Seriously, when he introduced himself to me on Tuesday and thanked me for coming I almost fell over from shock.
Tuesday morning I got up at the ungodly hour of 6:00am (yes, I know, I know), to make sure that I got to Tara's house by 7:00am so that we could get on the Go Train headed to Toronto by 7:15am. There was a time when I didn't think that 6:00am was that early. Of course, that time was a looong time ago. And so I didn't actually get up at six, nor was I at Tara's by seven, and as for the train? Well we took the 7:30 train.
None of that matters though! We were still on time. We arrived at Union Station and I pulled my map out of my bag and we examined it trying to decide how we'd get to our final destination feeling incredibly like tourists the entire time. This may actually be an apt description of me. I am so incredibly suburban, it's kind of funny. Tara, however, is a little bit more into the city lifestyle. Why? Beats the hell out of me, afterall she lives and works in the suburbs too.
Oh, since I haven't already explained this. The reason we were getting up so damned early to get downtown was to attend the HB Fenn fall preview. Now you're laughing, aren't you? Well shut up, we're book people and therefore events like this are exciting for us. We got to meet Mitch Albom. Who not only talked for ages with everyone as he signed their books, but also did a bit of a speech and a reading afterwards during the presentation. And also Dennis Lee. Who is apparently some sort of icon in the world of Childrens books.
Please, if you're now looking at me like I have two heads, yes, I know he wrote Aligator Pie. But that doesn't mean I've actually read the book, does it? Sure I know the rhyme. Who doesn't? Anyway, he signed copies of his book The Cat and the Wizard, and had a birthday so we all got cake! Yummy cake at that! He has a new book coming out in time for Christmas called So Cool Which is a poetry book for teenagers. The poems are funny, in fact some of them seem to be downright hysterical. I can't wait to read it myself actually.
Anyway, my point in all of this is just that it was a great time. I enjoyed meeting the two authors, loved all the food they fed us. And really really appreciated getting to see what the new books will be for the Christmas season. I know that sounds incredibly dorky. But, that's what I do. So it's good to be able to tell people to expect something new in a few weeks. And I think people appreciate knowing this stuff too. Today a little girl came through the cash with an Abby Hayes book, so I asked her sort of casually if she ever watched that show That's So Raven. I don't know why I asked her really, but the Abby Hayes thing made me figure she probably did. And in fact it turns out that OMG it's her favourite show! So she was quite happy to hear that they were going to put out a series of books not unlike the Lizzie Maguire books that are available now.
And I just think that's a little bit cool.
So thank you HB Fenn for throwing such an interesting event. Thank you Mr. Fenn for making me realize that not all publishing houses are run by a boardroom full of people. Thank you Mitch Albom for making me think about people like your uncle Eddie. And Thank you Dennis Lee for having a birthday so we could all eat cake :)
Posted by Michelle at September 1, 2004 10:01 AM