My feet are sore (even though they warned me to wear comfortable shoes) and I have a headache (probably from not drinking enough water), but I have to say I’m on cloud nine after the fantastic day I had today at Book Expo America!! This is week 7 for me as a First Book-er. I’ve been raving to all of my friends and family about my great new job where I get to “blog”, “wiki”, and “blast” and best of all…give books to kids!

Today I got to be a part of my first First Book event, Book Expo America. We started the day hauling boxes and various materials over to the convention center. Then we finished setting up our booth and commenced an assembly line to put together all of our “Literacy & Justice For All” ballot boxes. We did this amongst a flurry of exhibitors all engaged in similar activities. We saw some people on the street unloading a pile of tubas. I’d love to know where those ended up.

The real fun for me today came when I got to sit at our First Book table outside of the Children’s Book Pavilion. Even though the exhibit halls hadn’t officially opened, there were a lot of people moving about and our table was already attracting a lot of attention. Our “Do you remember the magic of your first book?” banner led to one man calling out as he walked by, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” and giving us a big thumbs up. I had many opportunities to tell the First Book story and see faces light up and ask “How can I help?” and “How can I be a part of this?”

This experience really hit home for me how amazing it is to be a part of the First Book family. It’s only week 7 but already I can’t imagine life any other way. I plan to be back at our table again on Friday. I hope many of you will stop by and share the magic of your first book and place your votes for literacy. For now, I think I’ll go get some needed rest!