This photo, courtesy of Rick Riordan, was taken from a private school auditorium in Wellesley, MA where my friend Kim (blogger at Book Munchies) and I attended an author panel with Mega-Awesome children’s authors: Rick Riordan, Eoin Colfer, Ridley Pearson, and Jonathan Stroud! Yes, it was quite the super-star panel. It was great to hear a little bit about each of the authors’ insights into some of their characters and the inspirations behind their amazing books.
For those of you who are unaware (perhaps you’ve been hiding from children’s lit for the last decade or so), Rick Riordan is the author of 2 series starring Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and the Heroes of Olympus) as well as a third series called the Kane Chronicles. There have currently been 2 movie adaptations of the first 2 Percy Jackson books. You can count me as a total Fangirl of Percy and his friends!
Along with the photo, he had this to say on his Tumblr page:
rrriordan:
Thanks, Wellesley, for a great event yesterday! Follow @disneypublishing for more pix and updates.
Eoin Colfer (a man with an enchanting Irish accent and dark sense of humor) wrote the excellent Artemis Fowl series about a delightfully criminal young man who is an evil genius. He has now begun a new series W.A.R.P. beginning with The Reluctant Assassin. Colfer admitted that he likes the bad guys the best. I think we can all understand their appeal.
Ridley Pearson is one of the co-authors (along with Dave Barry) of the fantastic Peter and the Starcatchers series, as well as the author of The Kingdom Keepers series, where 5 young teens must protect the Disney Parks from the vicious Overtakers (whom you might recognize as dastardly Disney villains!) The final book in the series, book 7: The Insider was just released! For those of you crying “NOOOOOOO!” in your hearts, I have a feeling we might not have heard the last of these guys…
Ridley Pearson was awesome at the event. He and a couple of the other authors stuck around to take photos and answer questions afterwards. Here’s one of myself, Ridley Pearson, and Kim (on the left)!
Jonathan Stroud was the 4th and final author, who may be best known for his Bartimaeus trilogy, a tale told by the titular character who is a powerful djinni. He is full of wit, snark, and sarcasm, and the stories are rife with mayhem and adventure. Stroud’s latest series, Lockwood & Co., is quickly rising in popularity as well and focuses on a London that is overrun with ghosts. A small company of kids (sort of a twisted Ghostbusters crew) fight to rid people of their poltergeist problems. It’s one of the most unique stories I’ve heard in a long time! Stroud had a great deal of wit (and a lovely British accent) that we would have happily stuck around to listen to for much, much longer. As it was, he was nice enough to let us grab a photo after the event too (on the right)!
I’d love to extend my thanks to all of the authors for coming out to share your books and your thoughts with us all! It is very much appreciated!
The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings
The Roaming Librarian 