Brush with Greatness, Part 3
SOME PIG
I realize that it's not on the same level as meeting the brave and amazing citizenry of New Orleans or shaking the hand of a librarian who survived a cage match with all that our federal government has to offer (at least for its own citizens), but I met IAN FREAKIN' FALCONER at the ALA Annual Conference. And we talked. For like, minutes. Uh-huh. Yeah, those of you who are particularly well-read and really, really cool know exactly of whom I speak. The guy who created Olivia. Although I'm an academic librarian, I'm a bit of a children's lit. groupie and Olivia is always one of my first recommendations when parents ask me what to read to their 3-7 year old girl or boy. My husband and I read the first Olivia to both our nephews when they were younger, and our very sassy niece is known as "O-Vivian" among her closest family members. I was so excited that I did the two most obnoxious things possible: 1) I took his picture (which will be uploaded on to my personal blog tonight) and 2) I immediately phoned my sister, husband, and mother from the floor of the exhibit hall to
Mr. Falconer was at ALA to sign copies of the latest Olivia installment, Olivia Forms a Band, and I found him to be as every bit as kind and unpretentious as you would hope. Despite the long line of fellow fans queuing behind me, he and his gracious editor took the time to chat a little and commented on my daughter's name, "Eleanor." Any reader of The Pig knows that Olivia has a poster of Mrs. Roosevelt above her bed in the first book.
Oh, yeah. Mr. Falconer's illustrations have also appeared in The New Yorker. Whatever.
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