ALA, part 2

Some 20,000 librarians, publishers and writers

descended on Anaheim, CA, 

for the annual American Library Association conference

June 21-26, 2012.

This was a crazy, good time to celebrate books

and to meet twitter/blog/facebook followers

and librarians

and colleagues

 

(Judy Zuckerman)

(Katy Horning, Emily Kokie)

(Randy and Karen Hesse)

(me, Ed Spicer, Katherine Applegate)

(Joanna Cotler, Susan Katz, Kate Jackson, Lisa von Drasek)

(Newbery winner Jack Gantos and daughter Mabel)

Such a week!

Such good folk!

Wish I had been able to take more photos

. . .

next time 

. . . 

xx

How'd you get that Twitter Name?

Time for an Explanation

"Why do you use ciaobellacreech as your Twitter screen name?"

twitter.com/ciaobellacreech

It sounds a bit vain, doesn't it? (Translation = 'Hello, beautiful Creech.' But wait! I have an explanation.  

When I signed up for Twitter and was asked to provide a screen name, I chose, simply, my own name, Sharon Creech, but was promptly informed that that was already taken. What? Really?  (Turns out there are several Sharon and Sherri Creeches around.)

I had just returned from a year in southern Switzerland, where the language is Italian, and every day when I walked through the local village, people would call out (to me and to other girls and women), "Ciao, bella!"  

Ciao, bella!  Ciao, bella!  Ciao, bella!  Such a cheery refrain bouncing off the mountainsides.

And so, when Twitter told me I couldn't use my own name, the first thing that popped into my head was 'Ciao, bella!'

Ciaobellacreech.

I've since learned that Ciao Bella is also a lingerie chain . . . and somewhere I saw it as the name of an ice cream shop.

So.  There you go.

Ciao, bella!