If you haven’t read already, we had an amazing presence at BEA this year. I want to thank everyone, everyone, who helps make First Book such a success at what we do.

I setup a small web cam at our booth this year to try to capture some of the activity that goes into making BEA work. The software I used bogged down after awhile — it starts with one picture every 5 seconds (2.5 minutes per second of video) and slows down to 1 picture every minute or two (causing the video to speed up a bit.) Also, the camera fell over once or twice, so you may notice that it shifts or jumps once or twice.

And in case you missed them, here are some more videos of interviews with chilrdens’ authors that we conducted all weekend long:

Joshua Prince – “I Saw an Ant on the Railroad Track”
Kirsten Miller – “Kiki Striker”
Dave McPhail – “When Sheep Sleep”
Michael Buckely – “The Sisters Grimm”
James Patterson – “Maximum Ride”
E.D. Baker – “The Frog Princess”
Walter Dean Myers – “The Harlem Hellfighters”
William Boniface – “The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy”
Erica Perl – “Chicken Bedtime is Really Early”

Superopolis is the home of the character Ordinary Boy, but today the man who captured his story – William Boniface – joined First Book to talk with us for a while. Mr. Boniface gave both directions to Superopolis and his insights on his book The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy amidst a conversation about his own aspirations for reading, his inspirations, and his work.

Check out the interview below…

This morning I had the opportunity to interview children’s author, E.D. Baker, before she was signing copies of The Frog Princess series at First Book’s booth. This interview was Ms. Baker’s first video interview, and she was really excited to tell us more about her series as well as her thought process behind her writing.

The Frog Princess series is based on the “frog prince” story, but with a unique twist. Ms. Baker told me about how she spends a lot of time thinking about the idea and theme before she even begins writing. She then tries to focus in on creating the world and the characters in her stories. It was great to get an inside look on the writing process, from the author herself.

Ms. Baker is a former teacher, but she said that her true passion is writing. She told me that rather than writing to win awards, she is driven to write books that kids really want to read. Be sure to watch the whole interview by clicking below.

Yesterday, we hosted a book signing with Michael Buckley at our booth at Book Expo America. His book, Sisters Grimm, has been very popular at BEA – people are still asking about it at the booth!

We were able to interview Michael and he did a great job – check out the video below…

We were able to interview author Kirsten Miller at Book Expo America – thanks Kirsten for doing the interview!

Video is posted below and a transciption is forthcoming…