Today something very exciting happened to me! I got the chance to meet a real children's book writer and illustrator! (If any of you know me at all, you know my dream is to write/illustrate children's books.)

SU is hosting its annual (who knew?) "Children's Literature Festival." Most of the illustrators were people I had never heard of before, and this year it seemed like most of the books were about "Global Warming" and other "green" nonsense. I said, "I'm not going to support those polluters of young people's minds!"

However, I did want to hear one illustrator speak, David Wiesner. The SU email said: "At 1 p.m., Wiesner, the only three-time winner of the Caldecott Medal for distinguished American picture books (including Tuesday and Flotsam) explores the art of visual storytelling." When I read that last week I said, "heck yes I'm going to go to that."

I thought it had happened yesterday and I had missed it. But while I was walking out of class at Caruther's today, I saw a book table set up, and I was like, "I wonder if anything is going on today." It was 12:53. I walked back to my work, and pulled up the email to see what was going on. It was now a minute or so after 1. The email said "David Wiesner speaking at 1" and I panicked. What the heck? I was just there! Should I show up late? Oh no! Should I show up at all?

I decided to go for it because I'd probably regret it if I didn't. Also, I had nothing better to do. I grabbed my purse before I went because I might need money to buy a book or something. "Maybe he'll sign a book for me!?!!" I thought happily. But I didn't really expect him to. That seemed too impossibly wonderful to actually happen.

I ran to Caruther's and arrived 9 minutes late, but all I missed was the introduction. I didn't miss any of Mr. Wiesner's speech. I didn't really know anything about him, couldn't have told you anything he had written, and didn't own any of his books. His presentation was excellent.

Mr. Wiesner was soft-spoken, tall and thin, and had very little hair on the top of his head. He had a friendly, if not somewhat endearingly nerdy appearance, and a shy smile. Wikipedia says he was born in 1956; I would have guessed late 40s. He didn't seem entirely comfortable when he first began to speak, but once he got in to talking about his art, he quickly became very engaging and interesting.

David Macaulay writes of Mr. Wiesner, "There are three things about David Wiesner that stand out in my mind. The first is his imagination. The second is his skill. The third is his reserve. Actually, there is a fourth—the speed with which number three disappears when the conversation turns to the process that employs numbers one and two. David’s passion for making pictures–particularly pictures that tell stories—is clearly evident not only in his books but also in the enthusiasm and sincerity with which he animatedly describes their creation."

David Wiesner's picture books are mostly written without any dialog. His website calls him a "Wordless Author." He tells the whole story completely in pictures, and it is beautiful.

He started his speech by showing us some examples of things that had inspired him to pursue art when he was young, and artwork that had helped inspire his wordless style. Two of his inspirations were comic books (he showed pictures of the Fantastic Four, and a panel from Nick Fury), and Edward Gorey. Both Gorey and comic books contain artwork that I love, and immediately I felt that Mr. Wiesner was a kindred spirit.

His speech was only an hour long, but I'm sure I could have listened for at least another two hours. He showed many pictures from his books, and explained the process he goes through to get to the finished work of art. He showed sketches and rough drafts, the original story ideas, pencil drawings and the finished products. He talked about letters that he's gotten from children who have written their own stories after they read his, and he talked about how one class even made a play out of one of his books. He showed pictures for all these things.

He talked a little about his life. He is the youngest of five children. As he was showing us some of the finished pages of books, he would talk about some of the elements, and the things he had been thinking. In one page he'd talk about the borders, he'd point out a hidden picture or secret message. In his book, "Flotsam," for instance, he has a picture of a child holding a picture of a child holding a picture of a child... and so on. Most of the children were someone he knew: his wife, his son, his daughter, his son's best friend, his brother, et cetera. He painted a picture of himself twice in the book "Tuesday." His wife is the reporter.

Things like that, fascinating little real things. I loved it. I can't tell you everything he said, but it was amazing and inspiring. I want more than ever to be a children's book illustrator!

After his speech, I went to the table and bought a copy of his book, "Tuesday." He was signing books, so I waited in line to get him to autograph it. HE AUTOGRAPHED MY BOOK!!! It really says "To Sarah"!!!! I can't read his autograph at all, but it's beautiful, too. I had to go back to my work to get my schoolbooks, and other people were in line, so I didn't really have a chance to tell him how wonderful I thought his speech was.

I thought maybe if I hurried back he would still be there, but he wasn't. It was okay, though. I went to my accounting class and it was so dull. I kept spacing out and didn't hear a thing the teacher said. I got a test back and I got a B, which would have usually upset me, but I didn't care because in my bookbag I had a new book that said "to Sarah" and I'm going to be an illustrated when I grow up anyway so it doesn't matter.

When I got out of class (conveniently also located in Caruthers) I saw Mr. Wiesner standing by the door, waiting for someone or something apparently. Usually I don't walk up to strangers and strike up a conversation, but heck, you only live once. I told him that I had come to his presentation and I thought it was great; I'm sure I acted like a total idiot. I've never met an illustrator before so I didn't know what to say. I wished that I had had time to think of something clever to say. He seemed very shy in person, and said, "Thank you."

Anyway, David Wiesner is one of my new heroes. And that's the story of the exciting thing that happened to me.

David Wiesner as he drew himself in his book, "Tuesday." (He was younger in 1999.)