Guess Who's Back On Book Tour!

Spoiler alert: it's me!

You know, when I was on my book tour this spring, I really didn’t think about how soon January was, and then January suddenly zoomed on the horizon—losing a parent and opening a new bookstore will do that to you. Truth be told, January seemed so far away for so long, and my brain and heart were so occupied, I really didn’t start to think about my tour for Very Good Hats until about a week ago. My husband helped me (ok, he did the whole thing) make a slideshow, I wrote to some friends and asked them to join the party, and my publisher brandished a very packed schedule of school and library visits. And that is how I find myself writing this from the children’s room of a library somewhere in Mt. Airy, Maryland. If you too find yourself in Mt. Airy, you should probably come to the library on the following Saturdays. I love to read with furry friends.

But let’s rewind!

My tour started in Doylestown, PA, where I had the absolute pleasure of wearing this taco hat procured by librarian extraordinare Robbin. What makes a librarian extraordinare, you ask, when all librarians are already so good? I’ll tell you. Robbin gave me enough food for a dozen adult humans. Robbin gave me my own key to the grownup bathroom. Robbin had me sign her special author quilt. Robbin baked brownies.

They painted me a sign. A sign! Painted just for me!

Robbin tried to send me home with a Tupperware full of brownies and fruit salad, but she also told me that her students and colleagues would have whatever was left over, so I just took one brownie for the road. It was delicious.

Before I get ahead of myself, let me talk to you about my slideshow. My friend Adam Rubin told me that the children would want to see pictures of me as a kid, and pictures of cats in hats. These two aren’t in the slideshow but they probably should be.

1991, cool hat, someone else’s leather jacket, landline.

I found Brunnhilde on Instagram, and I love her.

I love librarians. This is my new friend Kristen, the librarian at Poly Prep. It’s also the building that used to house my summer camp reunions, and so picture me literally exactly the same but wearing more macrame bracelets.

It turns out that doing school visits is just doing stand up comedy for small children. I can tell you how many pets every single one of these kids has, because they all told me. (There is A LOT of heckling.)

Pub day! My booksellers did the most amazing job. Look at those hats! Hanging from the ceiling! It’s so wonderful. One of my booksellers said that Paul Rudd stood outside and looked at the hats for a long time yesterday and I like to think that that means that Paul Rudd and I are going to make a buddy comedy that is all about hats. Call me, Paul!

The crew from the International School of Brooklyn was so wonderful, and helped me wrangle a whole crew of pre-schoolers. Pre-schoolers are like hecklers only very, very drunk.

My bookseller and kid lit event savant Kristina wins every prize available for this soup hat.

But my assistant Crystal and my mom tie for second place.

This is the Avengers I want. Adam Rubin, Sophie Blackall, Ruth Chan, and Brian Floca—the kindest, funniest, bestest in the business. Brian and Sophie drew things, Adam and Ruth told stories, my friend Natalka brought margaritas from her excellent bar, Elsa—all in all, truly, a perfect event.

This is a very accurate representation of our family chaos. With marg.

More tomorrow, friends!