ALA CONVENTION, DAY 1

Beignets at Cafe Du Monde

Breakfast was at the well-known and ever-popular Cafe Du Monde this morning. Three scrumptious beignets, café au lait, and 1,000 calories later, we were heading to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center to set up our booth with all our books, flyers, posters, and booth paraphenalia. 

Lunch at the Court of Two Sisters

The convention didn't officially start till 5:30 pm., so after arranging our booth, we had time for a leisurely lunch at the Court of Two Sisters. It's one of my favorite restaurants in New Orleans, not because of the food, but because of the setting. The tables on the enclosed patio courtyard are draped with white tablecloths and nicely shaded by green umbrellas. A jazz band plays in the background. The buffet encompasses your standard breakfast fare like eggs, bacon, hash, and grits to freshly roasted sliced turkey and beef to the cajun favorites of shrimp creole, gumbo, and jambalaya. And if you're brave enough to try crawdads (also known as craw or crayfish) for the first time, it comes with personal instruction by your waiter on how to eat them. We listened with rapt attention as the waiter at the next table explained the hows of effective crawdad consumption. Mostly, it involves ripping the little guys head off with your teeth, then sucking the juice from its innards. One woman at that table exclaimed, "You mean I have to put my mouth on his head?" 
    "Yes, Ma'am," the waiter replied politely. 


This may not be the best food in town, but it's rare to find a place with better biscuits. They just melt in your mouth!

Setting up the Goosebottom Books booth

The convention hall is huge. Goosebottom Books was all the way at one end in the small press section. On our right was the Maggie McNair booth, a series of three children's picture books self-published by its author Sheila Booth-Alberstadt, a mother of six. 
On our left was another self-published author who wrote a book about a werewolf on a college campus. Yet another self-published author—actually a father and daughter team, Ryan and Anna McKinley—offered their book, The Pirate Bride. They couldn't be at the convention, so the table was manned by a family friend.


The opening of the ALA saw a stream of excited librarians and attendees eager to check out available literary titles at this year's convention. We received much interest and many compliments about the look and design of our books. The Dastardly Dame series drew some "oohs" and "aahs" and a few chuckles, and "I love its". All in all, a good start!