My first book signing… May 13, 2009

…with my two sons.  Last week, I had the honor of attending a book signing with Rick Riordan, author of my beloved Percy Jackson series.  Not only was it special to hear from the man who wove Greek mythology into the modern world and crafted a hero with dyslexia and ADHD, but I was accompanied by my very own Eins and Zwei. 

Mind you, Eins is 8 and Zwei just turned 6.  Eins has read the books, but Zwei only knows our love of the stories.  They both had a full day of school, a Campfire scouts meeting, and a ride through traffic with road work.  We arrived at 6pm, looking for food and a ticket for the signing.  We purchased our books and were assigned the letter J… 50 folks per signing group, one group per letter.  We grabbed food and searched for a table at which to eat.  Of course, with that many people, there were no free tables.  Fortunately, a nice family took pity on my tray balancing and invited us to share their table since they were done eating.  We knelt around the table eating our teriyaki.

Mr. Riordan spoke for a bit about “The Lightning Thief” movie due out in February 2010 (yay!), about the origin of the Percy stories, and his future projects.  He took questions from the audience.  Then the signing began.  Eins, Zwei, and I walked around the mall where the bookstore was located.  We got some ice cream.  We bought Zwei a book to read.  We snuggled together on a bench, noses buried in books.  Around us, a sea of no, not monsters, but readers were similarly immersed.  The really cool thing though, this was a crowd that you’d imagine to see glassy-eyed in front of a video game, or hanging out with skateboards instead of poring over the pages of a book.

Eventually, it was time for our group.  We lined up at the time when Eins and Zwei are usually jammified and teethbrushing.  We edged closer, and as we approached, I watched the boys marvel at the author who warmly greeted each fan, answering questions, chatting, and thanking everyone.  I watched the nervous excitement and shyness as Eins slid his book forward.  I watched Zwei trace his fingers over the penned name carefully.  I wondered what Zwei’s experience will be when he goes to read these in a few years… will he remember this meeting?

And we drove home, around 9:10pm, with two signed copies of the 5th and final Percy Jackson book.  Eins announced he’d be bringing it in for sharing to class.  Zwei announced that he’d be writing a book someday because he wants to have a book signing, too.