Wish Me Luck with American Airlines.

And now I go away AGAIN for a grand Midwestern tour of Minnesota (hi Carleton friends!), Missouri (hi family!), and Chicago (hi Harry Potter fans!). I should be packing, but bah! Packing! Some fun things instead:

• A Publishers Weekly article on my beloved Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, including quotage from me. The anime of this book will be coming to [adult swim] at the end of August, and it looks awesome, so read the novel now if you want to be ready!
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard -- a new translation by Hermione Granger, with commentary by Albus Dumbledore and an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling -- will be published December 4!
  
• Pictures of my trip to California.
• Pictures of an adventure right here at home.
• The trailer for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, one of my favorite YA novels ever.
• The New York Carleton Club team will once again have a team for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. If you'd like to join, click here and search for "New York Carleton Club" (you don't have to be a Carl yourself); if you'd like to donate to my run, click here. Both very much appreciated!
• I will be appearing at the AJC Decatur Book Festival in Atlanta from August 29-31, including a workshop on writing children's books on Friday afternoon. Keep an eye on that website for more details.
  
• Is a woman who named her son "Weather'By Dot Com Chanel Fourcast" legally in the wrong? Yes.
  
• In honor of my return to the Midwest and in memory of my high school prom, where this* was a big hit:
  
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Books I'm taking with me on this trip: Friday's Child by Georgette Heyer and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (to finish it finally!) by Junot Diaz.

* New Yorkers: It's an allusion to Garth Brooks's song "Friends in Low Places." And if you'll pardon me, I'm now going to step on down to the Ohhhh-asis . . . after I finish packing.