Ever read a book that made you grin from ear to ear and sigh when you had to stop reading for any reason? I've read lots of those in my day, let me tell you, and lately, I find that I am reading more of them.
What's different now from when I read those books when I was a kid is social media. When I was a kid, I knew authors wrote books. I knew there was a person named Judy Blume who thought up the stories that kept me reading under the covers with a flashlight night after night. But I never thought I would have a chance to SAY something to Judy Blume. I knew I could write her a letter and send it to her publisher, but I never knew if I would get an answer back. NOW, though, NOW there is this thing called Twitter, and authors... REAL LIVE AUTHORS are there... and when you tweet them MANY WILL ANSWER YOU BACK! It's crazy! I love it!
The other difference is now I know where to find authors in real life... I can go to bookstore events and meet and talk to them and get my books signed. Like here:
Yes, that's Maggie Stiefvater and me at the ALAN cocktail party. And you know what? When I meet my favorite YA authors, like Maggie or Libba Bray, or Beth Revis, or many of the others, I go totally fan-girly. I get completely excited and feel like I'm 13 again. I'm just so in awe of these people who can spin stories and completely captivate me for hours on end.
I know I am an adult, and I know that authors are people just like me, but I just can't help getting excited when I meet them. Besides... it makes me feel young.
And that, my dear readers, is priceless.
(This post was inspired by my reading of Book Love by Penny Kittle.)
I absolutely love the accessibility of authors on Twitter too. I love that some of them will even reply to other tweets of mine that are not even related to their books. I am total fan-girl at author events too. Yeah for these amazing opportunities!
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you. If I ever see John Green, you might need to pick me up off the floor. :)
ReplyDeleteI hadn't really thought about the difference social media has made in reading (even though I witness it constantly). Interesting. I wonder what a difference this might make for kids who might otherwise "sit the fence" about reading. I guess it's an important consideration in connecting kids with authors through social media.
ReplyDeleteMindi, I'm always struck by how much you love books when I stop by your blog. Your students are quite lucky!
Cathy
I love that we are all connected as teachers with our geekdom for reading! ;)
ReplyDelete