LIVE FROM BOOK EXPO 2017: A Day at BookCon

For the last two years, I have been privileged to serve as an onsite correspondent for Armchair BookExpo. I've gone to Chicago and New York. I've met oodles and oodles of authors and I've seen oodles and oodles of wonderful new books.

For a variety of reasons, Armchair BookExpo is no more.

And for one (HUGE!) reason, I am not at BookExpo this year....I am in Italy celebrating the the retirement of my husband and me as well as our 40th wedding anniversary.

But there's no reason I can't visit Italy and go to BookExpo at the same time....isn't that the wonder of the written word?

So let’s take a look back at my past visits to BookExpo. Let's go to the 2017 BookExpo, held in New York City:

LIVE FROM BOOK EXPO: A Day at BookCon

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz here for the last time. I spent my final day in NYC at BookExpo's sister event, BookCon.

BookCon was a yee-haw finale to my time here in New York. BookCon is generally a younger crowd than BookExpo, with huge numbers of children and teens and their parents. There aren't many giveaways at BookCon, but they have amazing book sales.

So here is my day at BookCon....

DRESS

People were a bit more formal at BookCon, I noticed.

Made quite the effort.

 Some did well with a bookish theme. Don't you love the skirt and shoes?

Children did well, too.

Babies, even.

Some had a distinctive sense of style.

GAMES

There were lots of interactive games and other activities at BookCon.

 Candlewick had a Where's Waldo scavenger hunt going on. Found you at last, Waldo!

Quarto Publishing had a table where kids could design and mail their own postcards.

Scholastic had a green screen for Clifford and Dog Man.

It's always fun to spin-and-win.

 A couple of publishers encouraged BookCon-ners to write and tweet.

AUTHORS

Mercy alive,were there authors at BookCon!

There was Rainbow Rowell.

The amazing Margaret Atwood.

Big Bang's Mayim Bialik.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid's Jeff Kinney with a fan. Touching.

Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey with a fan. So touching.

There were huge lines for all of these great authors.

Some of us got plain tuckered-out.

There's so much more I wish I could show you, including Kami Garcia, Laini Taylor, Sarah Dessen, Maggie Stiefvater, and Nicola Yoon.

But I have to get up at 3 am to catch a plane home to Houston. I must tell you that I have loved getting to share BookExpo and BookCon with you. If I were you, I'd start a jar of pennies today to save up for 2018. I hope to see you there!