CBC Radio Book Club, Edmonton

At long last, I can tell my ELEVEN followers about my 24 hour trip to Edmonton! (yes, you read right - I have broken the 10 mark. I must have almost as many blog followers as Ashton Kutcher has Twitter followers!).

First, I was picked up at the airport by Jacqueline Janelle, the CBC radio producer. And she didn't come alone. She brought her delightful kids, Cameron and Janelle. I really enjoyed talking to them on the drive in to the hotel. Cameron is in 6th grade and Janelle is in 9th grade (at the school I was to visit the next day - but they swore up and down there was no nepotism involved!). These aren't ordinary kids. They are extraordinary. Among other things, they both have their own radio shows! Seriously. When I was their age, I was hurrying home from school so I could laze in my favourite orange beanbag chair and watch "General Hospital."

Their shows are at the University of Alberta radio station. Here's a link to Cameron's blog. Janelle, I'm sorry, I don't have your link.

Anyway, the CEEB put me up in a nice hotel, and the following morning off we went to Oliver School. Gail Brierley is their awesome principal, and she greeted us there. Here are some photos from the book club.

I started with reading the first chapter of the book

Then CBC host Peter Brown asked me a few questions


Then the kids got to ask questions.

And boy, did they have a lot of questions! They were so prepared, some of the older classes had even done "Word Nerd" charts!

I'm sorry that we probably only got through about 2/3 of their questions. These were a smart group of kids, ranging from Grade 4 to Grade 9. I so enjoyed answering their questions. In fact, one day, if you have 45 minutes to kill, here's a link to the entire video-taped interview. I can't believe how often I say "um" and "uh." That's the beauty of radio, they edit all that stuff out and make you sound smarter than you are - but the full video reveals all.

After the hour-long reading/interview/Q and A, I had my photo taken with the kids. I'll tell you - this is the only time a young adult author gets a wee taste of what it would feel like to be a rock star.

Yep - they even asked for my autograph.

So, I just want to say thanks to Jacqueline, Peter and Chris and the rest of the gang at CBC Radio Edmonton, and Gail and the staff at Oliver School, and especially to the kids, who won this visit thanks to their great cheer for the CBC radio contest. You can find their cheer on this link.