This morning I was talking to a colleague who said, “I’ll be at BookExpo the rest of the week so we can follow up on this after I–” At which point I cut her off with a semi-squealy “Me too!”

Because indeed, friends, I will be attending BookExpo America (BEA) in New York City this week. If you’re wondering, “Amy, how come you get to go to the largest annual trade book fair in the country?” the answer is this: I happened to have the privilege of editing Auma’s Long Run, a powerful forthcoming middle-grade novel that will be featured on the show’s Middle Grade Book Buzz editor and author panels. I’ll be riding the coattails of this scrappy little-book-that-could all the way to the Javits Center.

This is the story of 13-year-old Auma, a hardworking student and gifted runner  who can’t outrun the devastation of a new disease–AIDS–that’s ravaging her small Kenyan village in the 1980s.

I have SO MANY things to say about Auma’s Long Run. (But I’m saving them for the panel, which will be at 11:00 a.m. in room Room 1E 12/13/14. Eucabeth will be at the author panel on the Uptown Stage at 2:00 p.m. She’ll also be signing free ARCs from 1:00-1:30 p.m. at table 6 in the author signing area.)

Meanwhile this is my to-do list:

• Frantically eat large portions of salad that I foolishly made over the weekend and that will not survive until my return this Saturday.
• Practice speech for Editors’ Buzz Panel (11 a.m. on Friday).
• Print boarding pass because I am 200 years old and having my boarding pass on my phone stresses me out.
• Get excited to finally meet author Eucabeth Odhiambo in person!
• Review lists of galleys and catalogs I’m supposed to grab for colleagues.
• Wonder why I put so many carrots in this salad. Dutifully consume them as fuel for the approaching adventure!