Storyteller diamonds

You can easily find ready-made shirts with "Princess" and "Diva" rhinestone-sprinkled on shirts. If you go to ALA, you can get a shirt that twinkles "READ." However, if you want to proclaim to the world what a spectacular (yet humble) storyteller you really are, you have to go out of your way to special order your shiny gear:



My one other storyteller item is a coffee-cup Bede persuaded a coworker to give him in the early days of our courtship:



By the way, even though I've raised my rates, I'm still cheaper than the clown.

Library Swag

Today was my first day at the ALA Midwinter Conference. I was really lucky, and serendipitiously met up with old friends from grad school and the New York library scene. (Hey friends! I hope you'll make it to the blog over the next week.) I haven't seen Fuse yet, but I am hoping she can tear herself away from the task of judging the next Newbery award and attend the School Library Journal cocktail party tomorrow night.

In the meantime, I scored a lot of library-related swag: pens, posters, pins that light up, tote-bags, and even a few non-traditional items like a scented candle, a manicuring set, and a real faux-gold frog lapel pin. My favorite item thus far was not free. I bought a Banned-Book bracelet at one of the booths:



Bracelets designed by Carolyn Forsman