Novels about the Cottingley fairies and Nobuo Fujita

In 2018, two nonfiction picture books I wrote were published, Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real and Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story.

I recently read two novels inspired, respectively, by those two true stories (the actual stories, not my versions of them):

The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor (2017) was inspired by the Cottingley fairies incident, which started in 1917 in Yorkshire, England and maintained an air of wistful intrigue until a new revelation in the 1980s (and, to some, even still). 

The Hummingbird by Stephen P. Kiernan (2015) was inspired by Japanese naval pilot Nobuo Fujita's historic bombing of Oregon in 1942 (and the unexpected and touching relationship that developed after).

These two true stories have almost nothing in common other than the fact that I have written about both (well, and that both feature figures who fly).

Yet interestingly at least to me, the novels echo each other in multiple ways. 

Both alternate between the historical story and a present-day story that has a teased-out connection to it. 

The historical stories-within-a-story are told via similar devices: in Secret, an unpublished memoir; in Hummingbird, an unpublished (and possibly discredited) nonfiction manuscript.

Both take certain liberties with the nonfiction aspects, and must, understandably, include dialogue and thoughts that are imagined, if based on extensive research.

In both, themes from the past (of course) have impact on the main characters in the present.

In both, the main character of the contemporary segments is female, and her struggles involve love.

Of smaller significance, both novels are published by the HarperCollins imprint William Morrow. 

Of no significance, I'm not formally reviewing either here but will say that if you're interested in either real-life component, the corresponding novel is worth reading.

“Booklist” interview features quirky questions

Kathleen McBroom kindly interviewed me for the 9/19 issue of Booklist.

Most of her questions are ones I haven’t gotten before (which I appreciate!):

• In another interview, you referred to some negative feedback you received when you first pitched the idea for Thirty Minutes over Oregon, a story about friendship and forgiveness. What were the objections?
• In your author’s note for Thirty Minutes over Oregon, you end with a question about the Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita: “He went from fighting to uniting. Which took more courage?” Have you ever gotten any feedback from kids about this, either in letters or during school visits?
• The thing I like best about your books is how you spark inquiry in kids through revealing tiny morsels of information that have been overlooked. How did your interest in these types of forgotten facts begin?
• While we’re talking about research and inquiry, I was struck by something you included in your author’s note for Fairy Spell. You wrote, “Having the internet doesn’t mean you can kick back and think less. On the contrary, it forces you to think more.” Would you care to elaborate on that?
• You are always profoundly respectful of the people in your books. You never say anything really damning about Bob Kane; you stress your belief that Frances and Elsie, the girls from Fairy Spell, had no intent to perpetuate a nationwide hoax; you very effectively explain how well-educated adults fell for the fairy photos ruse; and you portray Nobuo Fujita from Thirty Minutes over Oregon as a truly remorseful person who was willing to apologize for his wartime actions. Why is it important for you to portray these characters so sympathetically to young audiences?
• Your brief bio from Fairy Spell says that “he believes in a number of things that haven’t yet been proven.” I’m not sure if you wrote this or not, but it makes me wonder—with a philosophy like that, might you have any concerns about being taken in by some fantastic claim someday, like your fellow writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who championed the fairy photos?

Thank you, Kathleen and Booklist!

Texas Library Association Conference 2019

From 4/15-18/19, I was an honored guest and Featured Speaker at the legendary Texas Library Association Conference, this year held in Austin.

I was invited by the conference itself and not sent by one of my publishers, which means I was scheduled to speak but not scheduled to sign—and I didn’t realize this till a day after I got there. Therefore, it was too late to slot me in to sign books, which disappointed a number of attendees (not to mention myself). No matter—they can still get the books!

The night before the festivities began, I explored the neighborhood around my hotel, where I found three things that made me feel at home: a bar named for the chupacabra (a southern U.S./Central America thing), a bar named for bats (an Austin thing), and a donut shop—in particular, a grape-flavored donut. You rarely see grape desserts and never have I ever seen a grape donut.

Special points for naming the donut after a semi-forgotten Hanna-Barbera character.

On 4/15, strong winds stranded a number of guests in their respective airports/hometowns, one of whom was my pal Tom Angleberger. At 8:45 pm, I was recruited to pinch hit for Tom in an author vs. author game show starting at 9 p.m. hosted by a puppet. (You read that right. Again, this conference is legendary.) 

My team consisted of Chris Barton, Jo Whittemore, Andrew Smith, Stacy McAnulty, and myself. We competed against Jennifer Ziegler, Lesa Cline-Ransome, Carmen Oliver, Shelley Johannes, and Jeff Anderson. 

The three-part challenge started with Pictionary, for which I had to draw as many idioms as my team could guess in two minutes, followed by story-in-round, concluding with (hard!) literary trivia. Trivia is usually one of my things but almost all of these questions stumped me. (Who knew Neil Gaiman’s first book was about Duran Duran? Well, someone on the other team…)

We did win, but it was so close.

On 4/17 at 8:30 am (which seemed early to me but doesn’t faze librarians), I gave the first of my two featured talks, this one on Bill Finger. My second was scheduled for the next day, at 10:30 am, which was close to the end of the conference (and after the exhibit hall would be closed), so I feared few would show up. However, I had at least double the audience for a talk on Thirty Minutes Over Oregon; my angle to discuss the book was empathy, and that also described the crowd. They were very kind to me and my story.

At that talk, a woman who had attended my talk the day before gifted me a bat-themed thank you for an enjoyable presentation.

One night, with Tom Angleberger (who was able to fly in earlier that day), I visited one of the city’s bridges from which thousands of bats famously emerge nightly to the thrill of hundreds of onlookers.

Except that night, they didn’t. (Well, four did.)

I was under the impression that this happened without fail soon after sunset every evening, and the large crowd gathered there gave me no reason to think otherwise. 

Alas, now I have to try again, and I don’t know when I will be back. 

The other disappointment of TLA also had to do with something that flies. As I’ve been doing since Nerd Camp last summer, I hid several fairies on site. (Rather they hid themselves.) Whoever found one and tweeted me a photo of it would win a copy of Fairy Spell. 

But no one did.

I may be disappointed but I am not surprised. 

Fairies are notoriously hide to find. And as Frances says in the book (i.e. in life), maybe it's too hot for them here...

“Thirty Minutes Over Oregon” and “Fairy Spell” on Bank Street best of 2019 list

I’m honored to report that both of my 2018 books made the Bank Street College of Education list of the Best Children’s Books of the Year (ages 9-12).

Thank you times two!

"Thirty Minutes Over Oregon" and "Fairy Spell" on CCBC Choices 2019 list

The Cooperative Children's Book Center of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison annually compiles a list of their most recommended titles of the year; it's called CCBC Choices.

For 2018, the list comprises 258 books, two of which happen to be mine: Fairy Spell and Thirty Minutes Over Oregon.

Thank you, CCBC, and congrats to all others on the list!

2019 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List

My two 2018 picture books made the 2019 Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading List, one of them by unanimous committee vote.

Guess which?

Thank you!

Double whammy from the Book Mommy

The Book Mommy reviewed my two latest books within a week of each other. I learned of this via her two kind tweets:

Fairy Spell: "My fav telling of the Cottingley Fairies hoax (or was it?) to date. Astounding & marvelous, a story where the kids hold all the cards."

Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: "Absolutely fascinating, largely unknown WW2 story, which showcases the very best of humanity. A must for 7-10."

Excerpts from the reviews themselves:

Fairy Spell: 

"My eight year old, having mostly outgrown her belief in, if not her affection for, fairies, hung on every word. She has since re-read it on her own and even asked that I purchase a copy for her classroom. It's a book which tests your belief in magic on nearly every page. … what really went on down at the beck is both astounding and marvelous: astounding because the girls exhibited cleverness well beyond their years, and marvelous because they kept it a secret for so long. (Talk about empowering the child!)"

Thirty Minutes Over Oregon:

"Showcases the very best of our two countries. Indeed, it showcases the very best of humanity. I can scarcely read these pages without tearing up. … I can't help but hope that books like Thirty Minutes Over Oregon might help our children's generation think about what can be gained from letting our heart, not our politics, fly the plane."

Picture books taking flight

By chance, all five of my picture books to date feature a central figure who flies:

• Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman—Superman (duh)
• Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman—Batman (not self-sustained; via Batplane, Batcopter, Batwing, being ejected out of a giant toaster, etc.)
• Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real—fairies (duh)
• Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story—Nobuo Fujita, the pilot of the subtitle
• The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra—the chupacabra (not traditionally described as being winged but our cute little version is)

Superman by Ross MacDonald

Batman by Ty Templeton

fairy photographed by Elsie Wright

Nobuo Fujita by Melissa Iwai

chupacabra by Ana Aranda

Related, I went skydiving in 1996:

Number of named characters in my illustrated nonfiction

At some point during the revision stage of Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real, I realized it was longer than my other picture book nonfiction. (I probably did compare word counts, though I don't remember the results.) 

Then I realized it was longer partly because that story required more named characters—meaning characters important enough to my telling that I should refer them to by name rather than connection (i.e. "Jerry's father," in Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman) or title. Generally speaking, if a character appears only once, s/he need not be identified by name.

Not including fictional characters like Batman or historical figures mentioned but not an active character in the story, like Edgar Allan Poe in Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman and President Kennedy in Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story, this is how many named characters my illustrated nonfiction books include:

• Boys of Steel—two (Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster)
• Bill the Boy Wonder—eight (Bill Finger, Bob Kane, Vin Sullivan, Jerry Robinson, Portia Finger, Fred Finger, Julius Schwartz, Jerry Bails)
• Thirty Minutes Over Oregon—four (Nobuo, Ayako, Yoshi, and Yoriko Fujita)
• Fairy Spell—eight (Frances Griffiths, Elsie Wright, Polly Wright, Arthur Wright, Arthur Conan Doyle, Edward Gardner, Harold Snelling, Fred Gettings)

So at eight, Fairy Spell has the same number as Bill the Boy Wonder, but at one point it had eleven. During rewrites, three disappeared—much like fairies themselves are prone to do. 

"FairyTale: A True Story" interview: Florence Hoath (Elsie)

Both my 2018 book Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real and the 1997 film FairyTale: A True Story are based on the Cottingley fairies incident of 1917 England.

Florence Hoath, the actress who played Elsie in the film, kindly agreed to an interview. As of this writing, Lizzie Earl, who played Frances, Elsie's younger cousin and partner-in-gnome, declined my request, but if she changes her mind, I will add in her answers here.

Florence and Lizzie

How old were you when you appeared in FairyTale?

Gosh, it was quite a long time ago now but I must have been about twelve years old. I had appeared in a few films and TV shows before FairyTale but none quite as high profile. 

Where were you living at the time? 

I lived at home with my family in Chiswick, which is in West London. (I do not have a Yorkshire accent so I had to have some voice coaching for the film.)

How were you cast?

I remember the casting process being quite long. I had to go through several rounds of auditions before getting the part. I'm afraid that I don't remember the early stages but I do remember one particular casting further down the line. I think it must have been the final audition as there were about twelve young girls and we all spent the day together chatting, asking questions, and playing around. The director and the casting agents were there, too, and were watching how we behaved, presumably to see what type of characters we all were. In spite of having quite a bit of previous acting experience, I was actually quite a shy child and I tended not to stand out when put in a group, so I remember thinking that I probably wouldn't get through to the next stage. Looking back on it now, I can see that the character I played was quite a shy girl, too, and that may have been one of the reasons that they picked me. 

Do you remember what your reaction was when you were cast?

Thrilled! It really is the best feeling in the world when you get an acting job—some things never change. It is such a difficult industry to succeed in and there is so much competition. I don't think I realized at the time just how lucky I was, but I was certainly very happy and excited about the whole thing. 

Do you remember if you'd heard of the Cottingley fairies before being cast?

It is not a story that I had heard before, but my parents had and the director took the time to explain it to us before filming. We saw the original photographs and were told how much of a big deal it was at the time—how two young girls literally fooled the world into believing in fairies. Throughout filming I got more of a sense of what that must have been like for two young girls—to be thrust into the limelight like that must have been very overwhelming.

How long was the shoot?

I believe that I was filming for around 16 weeks. However, most of the filming took place after Lizzie and I had finished because of all the special effects. I think they were filming with the fairies for another few months after we had wrapped. 

How did you feel being a part of the movie?

It was all just so exciting. It really is the best job in the world. When you are working, you get to dress up and pretend to be someone else for a while. I got to take time off school, which I thought was brilliant, and I got to hang around with fun adults all day. 

What was the hardest part of the shoot?

I don't think any of it was particularly hard. I had to learn a lot of lines which was sometimes a bit tricky and I had to wear a wig which itched a bit…but really, it was just a brilliant experience. 

Any funny stories from the shoot?

I'm so sorry, I don't really remember.

I do have a little fact that might be of interest—when we were first cast, the film was called One Golden Afternoon. I remember having a chat with the director, Charles Sturridge. He asked Lizzie and me what we thought it should be called. We gave a few ideas but surprisingly FairyTale wasn't one of ours…

Also, during filming, they were casting for Spice World—I was a huge Spice Girls fan and didn't get to go to the casting. I remember being very upset about that. Looking back, I definitely got the better film, but there was certainly lots of tears at not being able to meet my idols. 

Anything go wrong on the shoot?

Again, it was such a while ago now that I can't really recall. I do remember that the fairies' house was very, very fragile and took weeks to make. Lizzie and I had to carry it around at one point and I'm sure the props department were watching us like hawks. 

What did you think of the movie?

I don't really like watching myself but I thought the movie was great! There were some really brilliant actors and actresses in it and the story really was very interesting. 

What did your parents think of it?

They loved it. They were probably a little biased but they really did think it was great. I think it is a film that appeals to both adults and children. They knew the story already and I think they were interested to see a film about it also. 

What did your friends think of it?

My friends thought it was cool. I got teased a little about making a film about fairies, but it was all in good humor and I never took it seriously. It was not intended to be unkind. 

Did you attend the premiere, and if so, what do you remember about it?

I did. I remember there being a few screenings of the film along with a premiere. We went to Bradford in Yorkshire and met the mayor, travelling around in an open-top bus and standing for photos at the town hall. We also went to LA and New York for premieres and press junkets/interviews. It was all so exciting and we were made to feel like superstars.

Were you ever in touch with the families of Frances or Elsie?

I think that they were involved in the telling of the story and we may have met one of them at the beginning. I seem to remember being shown some photographs.

Frances's daughter Christine Lynch with 

Florence (left) and Lizzie (far right)

premiere notes by Christine Lynch

Did the movie ever affect your dating life in any way (i.e. when you first told boy/girlfriends you were in it)?

Whenever someone asks what I do and we end up talking about acting, FairyTale tends to get the biggest response. I get lots of "Oh my God, I loved that film!" It does tend to be girls more than boys and usually people of my age or above, but it does seem to be a really well-loved film. I don't think it has ever affected my dating life apart from it being something interesting to talk about when you are first getting to know someone. 

Did you receive fan mail? If so, do you still have any of it?

I do still receive fan mail but not that much from fans of FairyTale. I did a couple of episodes of Doctor Who and the fans of that show are brilliant! It is always lovely to get letters from people who like your work and I do keep it all. 

Were you ever recognized in public? How often and when last? Any stories about that?

I do get recognized in public occasionally but not as much as I used to. Funnily enough, the thing that I used to get recognized for the most for was a commercial campaign that I did when I was about 16. People sometimes used to shout at me in the street, which was a little embarrassing. To be honest, nowadays I get more "Do I know you from somewhere?" or "You've got a really familiar face." I wore a wig in FairyTale and had a different accent, so perhaps that was why I didn't get recognized as much. 

Funny story; I got recognized by two Chinese ladies when I was at Disney World in Florida. They came up to me and I wasn't quite sure what they were saying. It sounded like "maple." It turns out they recognized me from an episode of Miss Marple called "The Body in the Library"—I was the body, so for the most part I was playing a dead person. I was very impressed that they recognized me from that!

Did you appear in other movies after that?

I did, yes. I appeared in several other films, commercials, period dramas, TV shows, and a soap. 

Did you keep in touch with Lizzie Earl (Frances), and if so, when were you last in touch?

Unfortunately, we did not keep in touch. Please do give her my regards if you speak to her! It would be lovely to chat to her sometime and compare stories. 

If you went to college, where and what did you study?

I didn't go to college. I was lucky enough to be offered enough work to keep me busy. 

What are you doing these days?

I am currently writing a book! Like many actors and actresses I have had numerous other jobs including bar work and office work. I sold property in London for a high-end company for a few years, but decided that I'd rather be doing something creative so have written my first-ever book. It's a novel for young adults and is about a girl who has a very unusual ability…

Florence in her garden with Fairy Spell...

and fairies?

Where do you live?

I live in South West London, near Richmond.

If you are/were married, what was your future spouse's reaction when s/he learned you were in this movie?

I am married to an actor. He has never seen the film but does remember it coming out. I think his family were more excited than he was!

Kids?

I do not have any kids…yet. 

When was the last time you saw the movie? How do you grade your performance?

I haven't seen it in quite a long time, certainly not from start to finish anyway. It pops on the TV from time to time and I'll get a few messages from friends and family letting me know that I'm on the telly. I'm happy with the way that it turned out but I can't help but be a little critical of myself. I do wonder, if I could go back and do things differently, would I? I don't know, I think at the time I did the best that I could do, but I was a kid. I turned up, learnt my lines, and tried to feel what Elsie would be feeling in that moment. As a child I think everything is much simpler. I didn't overanalyze anything or try my performance ten different ways to see what worked best. I just tried to be as natural as possible and hoped that the director liked it. 

Do you believe in anything that hasn't yet been proven by science (including fairies)?

I'd like to believe and I try to keep an open mind. If someone tells me that they have seen a ghost, or felt a presence that they are not able to explain, then who am I to say that it's not true? I believe that there are a lot of things that cannot be explained and I'd like to think that maybe there is something more out there. With regards to fairies…I think it's important for kids to believe in magic. As a child I created whole worlds in my back garden and my imagination allowed me to believe in all sorts of wonderful things—I wouldn't have had it any other way. 

What did you think when you first heard from me?

Maybe he could give me some tips on how to get published! No, honestly, I am pleased that there are people out there still interested in the story. That people still want to know about Elsie and Frances and what they did, and that it may now be told to another generation. I sometimes think about my time making FairyTale and what a wonderful experience it was, but I don't really get a chance to talk about it often. It is nice to relive some of the memories. 

Has anyone else ever interviewed about this? If so, when and for what publication?

When the film came out, we did quite a few interviews, both TV and editorial. I remember us having a big spread in Tatler magazine. We got to do a photo shoot, too. I felt very grown up. I remember seeing one of the photos when it came out and they'd printed one of me in black and white wearing John Lennon-type sunglasses—it was by far the coolest I'd ever been in my opinion. It probably still is…

How do you look back on the experience?

With a smile. I'm grateful that I got picked to play the part and got the opportunity to be involved in the film. It is an experience that I will never forget and a story that I can tell for the rest of my life.

how I inscribed Fairy Spell for Florence; 

illustrated by Eliza Wheeler

Missed two anniversaries by one year

My two nonfiction picture books out this year are one year late for notable anniversaries.

Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real is the story of two girls (you got that already) who, over three years, took five photographs of what they claimed were real fairies. The first photo (which became the most famous) was taken in 1917.

We just missed the 100th anniversary.

Thirty Minutes Over Oregon: A Japanese Pilot's World War II Story recounts the first (and still-only) time an enemy country successfully bombed the United States mainland. Actually, Japan did it twice in three weeks, both in September 1942. (It was the Japanese response to the Doolittle Raid of April 1942.) 

We just missed the 75th anniversary.

But considering neither of these events is well known, it's no great marketing sin.

Finding fairies at a birthday party

Some moons ago, my wife and I threw our daughter a fairy-themed fifth birthday party. 

The invite had eight clumsy lines of verse. The first four:

Our little girl is turning five
Or fünf as Germans say [my wife is German]
And creatures even littler
Will be coming out to play

Our little girl was not especially into fairies, but I was; the year before, I'd begun work on the book that would (a decade later) be Fairy Spell: How Two Girls Convinced the World That Fairies Are Real.

The birthday festivities took place at a park down the street from where we lived. One of the activities we ran (and the highlight for me): find fairies. 

Like Elsie in Fairy Spell (and in real life), I prepared paper fairies. In fact, I used hers. She drew them; I merely printed them out. Before the kids arrived, I hid the fairies in the lightly wooded area near the field where we'd serve cupcakes. They were numbered so I'd have a quick way to know if the kids found them all.

The last four lines from the invite:

The book is dedicated to her.

Nerd Camp 2018

I've considered every camp I've attended to be nerd camp, simply because I was there. Exhibit 1: me at camp in 1987, carrying around my Walkman...and journal.

Now I have finally experienced Nerd Camp In Caps. (Photos below. All Walkman-free.) 

The annual summer gathering, now in its sixth year, draws educators, authors, school administrators, and other book lovers/literary thought leaders to Parma, MI, for two high-energy days (this year, July 9 and 10) to learn from each other and celebrate the art, the craft, and the indispensable value of books. People come from far and wide. I even bumped into a teacher from an international school I spoke at in Malaysia!

For several years, author friends (hello Jenni Holm and Erica Perl) have urged me to go and I'm so glad this year brought me the chance to take that advice.

I speak at a lot of literacy/literary conferences, and the DNA of most overlaps: enthusiasm for reading, desire to gain new understanding from allies in the field, respect for and belief in children, long lines for mediocre food. But ask any Nerd Camp nerd (I otherwise avoid labels but Nerd Camp attendees embrace this one for this event) what makes Nerd Camp special and you'll likely get a response couching the event in near-sacred terms. The high school that hosts Nerd Camp is physically big enough to fit the 1,600 or so attendees, yet the love on site is bursting out through the cracks. 

The reasons for that love will vary from person to person, but one is universal: this is an event built from scratch by educators/child advocates, starting with Colby and Alaina Sharp (alas, I did not meet Alaina), and continuing right through the event itself because everyone has an equal chance to participate by pitching sessions on day 2. Many if not most attendees (educator and author alike) come on their own dime so they are vested. And I did not make it to any food trucks but hear good grub was to be gotten.

It's a camp of class acts. I came already knowing a good number of the attending speakers and teachers too numerous to list. It was an honor to meet—indeed present with—many more. The graphic novel panel that kicked off day 1 was a delight and the subsequent seven-minute Nerd Talks were capsule supernovas of inspiration. Everyone was so polished; many spoke truth to power in ways that felt new. (An important metric for me: if I'm getting a message I've already internalized, am I getting it in a different way?) After camp, the nerds scattered recharged and recommitted to being our best selves to help others do the same. An army of awareness. A sea of support. 

Naturally one does not get to hear or meet every presenter at an event of this scope, but experiencing even a fraction of it is enriching. Among the meaningful professional moments and realizations in my small corner of Nerd Camp:

• having another opportunity to listen to Donalyn Miller synthesize best practices for promoting literacy with her trademark blend of knowledge, accessibility, and humor
• becoming a fan of people I'd not met before including the dynamic Chad Everett and the compelling Sara Ahmed
• bearing witness to the humble generosity of Dav Pilkey and John Schu 
• sitting in on one of Jonathan Auxier's intriguing talks during Nerd Camp Jr. (when the audience was kids); his room was on the other side of the building from my room and I had only a half-hour window, but he made it totally worth the sprint 

I had lovely conversations (some for the first time in person, some for the first time ever, some for longer than two minutes!) with Travis Jonker, Elissa Brent Weissman, Jarrett Lerner, Jess Keating, Carter Higgins, Lindsey Anderson, Josh Funk, Don Miller, Tim Miller, Jim Bailey, Terry Thompson, Story Mamas Courtney and Kimberly, Debbie Freedman. Not enough time with others including Jen Vincent, Therese Hubbell, Courtney Doyle, Becky Calzada, Molly O'Neill, Pernille Ripp, Michelle Holstine, Andrea McEvoy, Hena Khan, Laura Shovan, Stephanie Stinemetz, Emma Ledbetter. 

Special shoutout to my carpool Minh Lê, Lauren Castillo, and Alison Morris. We didn't get into as much road trip trouble as I was hoping, but it was a blast nonetheless and maybe sandwiches should not be that big. Great to meet you along the way, Natasha Smith and Seantele Foreman.

Another special shoutout to Sarah Albee for e-introducing me to Andrea Childes months ago. Bummed I did not see Sarah more than in passing.

An extra-sized shoutout to Pam Warren for being such a great helper...and under such hot conditions! However, you were warmer than the room.

Great fun to talk pop culture and more serious subjects with Jarrett Krosoczka. Pure bliss to meet the glowing soul Debbie Ridpath Ohi. Huge treat to see Raúl the Third again so soon after first hanging out with him in March.

It was an absolute pleasure to get to know the gentleman's gentleman James Ponti, who kindly came back from Nerd Camp to unstrand me from the hotel and whose compassion and strength equals his quick wit. Same with Judd Winick, a name I've known for years; so nice to finally shake your hand and talk a bit of (comics) shop.

Thank you to Laurie Keller and Andrea Childes for agreeing to panel with me. You were both such team players. It was a privilege to revisit and break down hilarious books for an hour with you. Plus it was a boost to our immune systems!

Another tip of the hat to the fellow storytellers of my research panel/improv troupe: James, Kat Zhang, Stuart Gibbs, Sarah Mlynowski, and surprise guest/old pal Nathan Hale. You're all well-spoken and funny and I'm both friend and fan. I've done tons of panels and the chemistry on this one—patchworked together a mere hour earlier—was stellar. What a lively audience, too.

If I have left out anyone with whom I shared a nerdy word, I apologize. But please know that while my brain/memory sometimes lapses, my heart doesn't. 

There were a handful of people I was hoping to meet—I even made a (partial) list—but didn't. Yet another reason to return.

Thank you again to Colby, Alaina, Donalyn, Jess, and all others who made it possible for me—for all of us—to be there.

Glimpses:

 My carpool crew Alison Morris, Lauren Castillo, and Minh Lê flew 
into a different terminal than I did. (This photo would've been funnier 

ten minutes earlier when I was among many drivers 

holding similar signs.)

We stopped in Ann Arbor en route to visit Literati bookstore and eat.
We laughed at the sun spotlight targeting just my head.

 On day 1, Molly O'Neill made our carpool into a fab five.

 I hid four fairies around Nerd Camp.

Find one, find me, win a book.

 My day 1 panel on the educational value of funny picture books 

drew a great crowd and here you see why: creator Laurie Keller 

and teacher Andrea Childes. As far as I can recall,

this was my first time sharing a panel with both an author

and an educator. The different perspectives in part

informed by different job titles made this all the more

interesting for me and, I think, the turnout.

 My day 2 research panel: Nathan Hale, Kat Zhang, 

Stuart Gibbs, James Ponti, me, Sarah Mlynowski.

We were even kind of color-coordinated (except for me).

 Reunion with Lindsey Anderson and Nathan Hale,

both of whom I met when we three and James Barry did
a progam at the 2013 Southern Festival of Books.

 Debbie Ridpath Ohi. I'm holding a book illustrated by

her good friend Eliza Wheeler.

 Middle school teacher Paul Bach, who reached out 

to me a few days earlier to tell me he's used both

my Bill Finger book and TED Talk to great effect 

in his classroom. He clearly has great taste in T-shirts.

(As you saw in the research panel photo above,

it inspired my outfit for day 2.)

 At first I thought this photo was a hallucination or Photoshop prank, 

but turns out that on Monday night, we did did indeed go to 

Denny's at 1:30 a.m. A Nerd Camp tradition, I learned.
(clockwise starting with the closest to the camera:
Don Miller, Terry Thompson, me, Laura Given,
Donalyn Miller, Molly O'Neill, John Schu, Travis Jonker,
Jarrett Lerner, Josh Funk, Minh Lê)

The Nerd Camp equivalent of fairy dust is now everywhere...