BEA Recap!

World, I got to go to BEA this year! *cue manic laughing* And since I loved it so much, I wanted to share my excitement with the rest of you and tell you about the fun things I did - I promise I won't go rambling off on everything, though, because so many recaps have been posted already. I already posted a vlog on all the books I got  (which you can check out here), so this will just be a compilation of the fun stuff I did in NYC.

I got to NYC Tuesday morning, and spent the day just walking around the city. I also went to Books of Wonder, NYC's famous independent children's bookseller, where I ended up buying a whole stack of signed books, which means I already had a bunch of books before the convention even started. Oops!

Wednesday was the BEA Bloggers Conference. There's been a bunch of posts about the shortcomings of the conference, and I do at least partly agree with them - some of the speakers and panels weren't the best. But honestly, I didn't even care about any of that because I was just overwhelmed by being with so many bookish people at once. I'd never met another book blogger before, so being in a room full of them was pretty crazy, and I had a great time talking to everyone about bookish things. That night, I went to the Teen Author Carnival, a discussion panel and signing featuring Elizabeth Scott, David Levithan, Susane Colasanti, Jennifer E Smith, and Leila Sales, among others. I got there late, sadly, so I didn't get to see all of it, but the part of the panel discussions I did see were great!

On Thursday, actual Book Expo America started. And for a first-time BEA attendee, it was crazy. I'd read a lot of stuff about BEA before coming there, so I sort of knew what to expect, but it was still an overwhelming experience. I spent most of the day walking around in awe of the craziness and the sheer amount of bookish people in one place. I also went to signings by Jennifer Castle (who knew who I was!!) and Susane Colasanti, which was awesome. That night, I went to a panel and signing featuring a bunch of authors, the only one I was really excited about being Sarah Dessen - that's right, I got to meet Sarah Dessen. BEA experience complete.

Me awkwardly posing with Sarah Dessen

On Friday, I knew what to expect, but there were way more signings I wanted to go to, so things felt even crazier. I went to the HarlequinTeen event, which means I got to meet Katie McGarry and Elizabeth Scott (who knew who I was and broke the no-hugs-in-the-signing-line rule for me!). I also went to signings for Anna Jarzab, Leila Sales, Simone Elkeles, Jenny Han, and Siobhan Vivian, which was really exciting. And in one of those lines, I stood behind Elizabeth Scott, so I got to chat with her some more, and now these exist:

Elizabeth Scott making her famous zombie face at me

Elizabeth Scott and me being semi-normal

Friday after the conference, I went to the Blogger Picnic, which was, like, the best idea ever - I had so much fun meeting other bloggers! Here's me with Hannah from The Girl in a Cafe and Shelver's Anonymous.

Add the bridge in Central Park after the Blogger Picnic

Saturday was the last day of BEA, and it was a little bit less crazy. I went to signings by Cat Patrick and Suzanne Young, Laurie Boyle Crompton, and Jessica Verdi, so that was fun, but then I left pretty early and decided to be antisocial that afternoon and walked around the city by myself - which is great, too; I just love walking around NYC.

I stayed an extra day after the conference, so on Sunday, I met up with Hannah to do touristy things. We went to Staten Island, where we walked around and went to a tiny, random museum, which was really cool. Then we came back to Manhattan and ate at Joe's Pizza, which is probably the best pizza either of us has ever had. And right next to the pizza place is a Popsicle Bar, where we had fun combining popsicles with toppings and fun stuff. We had a great time exploring New York City together!

And on Monday, sadly, it was time to fly back home...

But all in all, I had an amazing time. It was a fun, albeit overwhelming, experience, and I really hope I can be a part of it again next year!