Our Readers Meet Rick Riordan
Some of our current and former Bulldog Readers had the opportunity of their lives on Sunday, when they met the author Rick Riordan, author of the Percy Jackson and the new Heroes of Olympus series! He has over 30 million books in print and his books have been translated into over 37 languages in 36 countries.
- Elizabeth, Julia and Bridget attend the book signing event in Olympia.
“The gods may live on Mt. Olympus, but they vacation in Olympia,” declares the tagline of the winning proposal by the Tumwater Timberland Library.
Rick Riordan’s visit to Olympia was part of a week long tour promoting the second book, Son of Neptune, launch in the Heroes of Olympus series. He only made seven stops in the US and Canada on his book tour.
Hundreds of proposals were submitted to Disney Publishing Worldwide for the Olympia Week contest. The proposal title “Poseidon’s Fish Market” developed and written by Joella Peterson, was chosen for its creative ideas in planning activities to celebrate the series and love of reading.
Riordan arrived by yacht and then spoke to his audience before signing books. The audience members could participate in any of the activity booths available while they waited for their time to meet Mr. Riordan.
Rick Riordan's arrival to Olympia, WA.
Elizabeth, Julia and Bridget were able to make it down to Olympia to be part of this amazing day. They got their books signed and one for our library too!
It's book signing time! That one is going in the library!
On Monday, I had a chance to get Julia’s thoughts about here experience meeting Mr. Riordan.
How did you find out about Rick Riordan’s visit to Olympia?
How I found out about Rick Riordan’s visit to Olympia was from one of my best friends, Elizabeth. Her aunt, Linda, works at the Tumwater Timberlake Library; the library that sponsored this event. The event was held at the Port of Olympia and was called Poseidon’s Fish Market.
How did you get the tickets?
My mom and dad drove us to Tumwater Library a week ago where we got the tickets. I was kind of let down when I was told I was the 750th person to get their book, but at the event, I got my books signed within an hour!
What was it like? Tell us about the experience there? Lots of people? Did you listen to him talk?
The event was crowded. At first, I was one of about a hundred people. In the next 45 minutes, I was probably one of two thousand people. In was fun in the beginning though. Elizabeth was working at the Fish Facts and Barnacle Bubbles station and I helped her with the crosswords and word searches that kids got to fill out. The prizes for completing the word search was either a poster of The Son of Neptune or a golden drachma key chain. Other booths were about fishing, face-painting, and information about the sea’s environment. When Rick Riordan arrived by yacht, I got pictures of him coming off the boat, he and his family were waving from the boat. He got off, answered questions about his latest book and then went to his book-signing booth.
What were the best parts of the experience?
The best parts about “Poseidon’s Fish Market” were Rick Riordan arriving, because the crowd suddenly went quiet when they saw him and then the kids and parents started screaming their guts out. Also, finding out about the books he’s planning to write in the future. The third book in the Kane Chronicles is coming out in May 2012 and then Rick Riordan is planning to write a series about Norse mythology after he completes the Heroes of Olympus series.
Bridget also filmed Rick Riordan’s entire talk in Olympia! If you wish you had been there, but couldn’t go, here is the next best thing!
If you want to learn more about Rick Riordan and his books, visit his website www.rickriordan.com Many thanks to Bridget, Julia, and their parents, Elizabeth and to the Timberland Regional Library for sharing their photos, film, and background information for this blog post. ************
We now have two copies of Son of Neptune in our Bulldog Library. Stop by and put a reserve slip in to reserve your place in line to read it!Have you ever been to a book signing?
Who would you like to meet?
Please leave us a comment and let us know!
| Print article | This entry was posted by Mrs. Hembree on October 11, 2011 at 5:40 pm, and is filed under Announcements, Author Visits, Fantasy, Library News. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site. |
about 1 year ago
Dear Mrs Hembree,
What a wonderful day for one of you Bulldog readers and her family.
I have never been to a book signing event for when I lived in the country we would just read our books and that was it.
However in saying this the one perosn who I would love to meet would have to be Men Fox.
She is my all time favourite I just love how she writes these amazing books for children and adults ha ha!
Have you heard of her. I will often sit down with Bianca and re read Possum Magic.
From your friend down under,
AA.
about 1 year ago
Dear Mrs.Hembree,
Luck that one student got to meet the author of Perry Jackson.So how is your dog. I have an idea that is fun to play with. So we have a Yugioh cards tournament that starts at the library and when is there 2 players left they duel until they loose life points. Life points are when you start a duel and the life points about 4,00o and then when a opponent lose all the life points the other opponent wins the game the prizes. So if you want to and there is rules that you have to learn. So think about it. OK?
Your buddy Alex.
about 1 year ago
Dear Alex,
I have to admit, I am not a huge Yugioh person. I don’t really know much about the cards or the games. I think we have a school rule about not bringing the cards to school tho. Kids have brought them in the past and then arguments start or cards get stolen, which isn’t very much fun for anybody.
I think I will stick to reading! It keeps me out of arguments!
From,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
To mrs. Hembree,
This looks like fun
The kids who got to meet Rick Riordan are lucky it was nise of them to take pictures.
I have just started my first Rick Riordan ever!! It’s called The 39 Clues book 1. I have met the author Mo Willems who wrote Knuffle Bunny.
If I cold meet any author in the world it wold be Brian Selznic who wrote Wonder Struck and Hugo Cabret.
Love Josa
about 1 year ago
Dear Josa,
Isn’t it fun that Rick Riordan wrote the first 39 Clues book? However, something different happens in the series. Different authors write each book and keep the same story going. I don’t know how they did that.
I agree it must have been fabulous to meet Rick Riordan! He’s like a rock star in the book world!
So you would like to meet Brian Selznick? I admire his work so much and I can see how he would be someone you would want to meet. If you could ask him any question, what would it be?
Wondering,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
I have read all the Percy Jackson books and I find them full of adventure and mystery. I love these books and I will always enjoy reading them! I also have some other books Rick Riordan wrote such as the, Red Pyramid and the Throne of Fire, The Lost Hero, and the 39 Clues! Have fun reading them!
about 1 year ago
Dear Mia,
Thank you for your awesome comment about the Percy Jackson books! They are a great choice for people who like intrigue and mystery and a fast moving novel! I can’t even keep them in the library for more than a few days before they are checked out again.
What other types of books do you like?
From,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
What a fun event…it’s always great to meet someone you admire. I can’t believe how many popular books Rick Riordan has written!
Thank you for sharing the photos and story.
about 1 year ago
Dear Judy,
Thank you so much for commenting on the Rick Riordan post! I think Bridget did a top notch job taking all the photos and especially the film of him speaking! I think if I met someone I admired that much, I would shake the camera too much for the photos to come out good!
Who would you like to meet?
From,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
Dear Mrs. Hembree
I wold like to ask Brian Selznick what his favorite book was when he was little and is he very excited to see the Hugo movie. I cant wait.
Josa
about 1 year ago
Mrs. Hembree,
I’m with Josa on this one and would LOVE to meet Brian Selnick! I’d be too awestruck – or should I say “Wonderstruck” to ask him any questions! I’d like to know who you’d like to meet….
Judy (Josa’s Mom)
about 1 year ago
Dear Judy,
I was afraid you and Josa would ask me which author I would like to meet. I am so glad I had the chance to meet Matt Holm, author of Babymouse. I loved meeting Ann Leal, author of A Finders Keepers Place. I think for a kids author I would like to meet Mo Willems. I think he would be very funny in person. When I was a young girl, I would have liked to have met PD Eastman, because my favorite book was Go Dog Go!
Mostly, I love meeting any author because I admire their skill! Definitely Brian Selznick would be at the top of the list!
From,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
Dear Mrs. Hembree,
What a very special experience! It’s not every day that you get to meet such a well known person. I have never been to a book signing before, but I imagine that there would be a lot of waiting. It sounds like a wise idea to set up stations with activities for people to participate in while they wait. Thank you for sharing your interview with Julia. I was able to paint a picture in my mind from her words about just what it would’ve been like to be there.
If I could choose a few authors to meet, they would be Mo Willems, Doreen Cronin, and Judy Schachner. Skippyjon Jones is a Moore family favorite, dude!
Happy reading!
Mrs. Moore
about 1 year ago
Dear Mrs Moore,
Thanks for commenting on our blog! It’s great to hear from you again! Bridget and Julia made it sound like it was a pretty awesom day! They brought back puzzles and activities for me to see!
I told Josa I would love to meet Mo Willems! Doreen Cronin is a good choice too! I love her Click, Clack Moo books!
I wonder what your students think about Rick Riordan!
From,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
Dear Mrs Hembree,
How lucky that your Bulldog reader got to meet a famous author.
I would love to do that one day for as yet I have not. Must put that on my must do list.
The author I would like to meet is Jim Benton. I love reading his books “Dear Dumb Diary” because it feels like he is writing this book all about me.
Mrs Hembree have you ever read his books?
Sorry for not writing sooner but have been trying to get back into the swing of school
From your friend,
BB.
about 1 year ago
Dear BB,
I am so glad you found some moments to comment on our post! It’s such a busy time for everyone, so I completely understand!
I really liked listening to the video of Rick Riordan speaking to the group in Olympia. He talked about how he became an author. Those stories are always interesting to me. Different authors become writers in so many various ways.
Meeting Jim Benton would be a fun choice! His books are very popular here too! Do you think he would be as funny in person as in real life? do you ever wonder how a grown man can write books that are about girl diaries? Maybe he has daughters!
I hope you enjoy your weekend!
Your Seattle friend,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
@ Mrs Hembree,
Thank you for replying back to me.
I forgot to mention in my comment I would also like to meet Geronimo Stiltion becasue he likes going on adventures with his family.
Interesting question.
I have a feeling he would be funny in person. No I really do not wonder how a grown man can write books that are about girls. I agree maybe Jim Benton has his own daughters and that is why he writes such fun books about girls.
Another book I am reading right now is Dork Diaries about a girl called Nikki and she thinks she is a dork.
Happy reading Mrs Hembree.
Also Mrs Hembree I really like your photo of you in the right hand corner.
From your pal,
Bianca.
about 1 year ago
Hi BB,
If you came to our school, you would fit right in with the girls here because they like the same books as you! Dork Diaries and the Dear Dumb Diary series are really popular. We just got book #3 of Dork Diaries and I have a long list of people who want to check it out!
It sounds like you enjoy funny or humorous books. Have you tried the fairly new series about Clementine? She is a girl who doesn’t make many good decisions. She’s a bit like an older Junie B. Jones.
I’m playing around with the widgets on my blog, so thanks for noticing the changes. I’m forever wanting to change this or fix that! I recently read that visitors like to see what a blog is about quickly. I thought a widget in the sidebar would solve that issue.
Do you have any other recommendations for my sidebar?
Your reading friend,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
@ Mrs Hembree,
Thank you for replying back to me again.
I, think everyone would love you Mrs Hembree becasue you would be the best librarian teacher ever. I think you are just awesome!
I wish I had all the Dork Diarie books becasue they are so funny.
I am reading the 2nd one it is called Party Time.
I have not read Clementine but will make a point of looking out for this book Mrs Hembree thanks for the suggestion.
Here is my suggestion and that is don’t put to many widgets on your blog as your fellow bloggers may get a bit confussed with to many widgets.
Anyway Mrs Hembree I really do feel your blog looks great just the way it is.
From,
Bianca.
about 1 year ago
Bridget and her family had a great spot for seeing Rick Riordan! And I’m so glad she took video to share with the rest of us! My daughter and I went to see him when he was at Third Place Books several years ago – we could hear him but we were so far away we couldn’t really see him.
His students must have loved having him as their middle school teacher – he was great to listen to. I’m glad his son suggested he write down his stories because I love that so many kids are interested in reading his books.
about 1 year ago
Dear Mr. Robertson,
I am so glad Bridget took the video of Rick Riordan. First of all, I found out I had been pronouncing his name wrong! RI-or-DAN is the correct pronunciation! I also enjoyed watching the video because I had the chance to found out his author story. I agree with you! His students were so lucky to have him as a teacher!
I was also surprised by how humble and funny he is. He might be a ROCK STAR in the book world, but he’s really a regular person with a great imagination and sense of humor!
From,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
My daughter Julia has been leaving Rick Riordan books on my bed for many months telling me how good they are. Finally over the summer I read The Red Pyramid and am now reading The Throne of Fire. I’m amazed and amused by Mr. Riordan’s great imagination and non-stop action. Sometimes I stop reading for a moment and wonder how does he come up with this stuff.
From,
Marion (Julia & Bridget’s Mom)
A new but true Rick Riordan fan
about 1 year ago
Dear Marion,
I am reluctant to admit this terrible fact, but I haven’t had a chance to read one of Rick Riordan’s books. Everytime I want to start the series, someone checks out book one. Then I start something else that’s new and get distracted.I haven’t really worried about it because I don’t have to see his books. They sell themselves or our students sell them for me! Now after listening to his talk, I am more motivated to try again.
Lightning Thief here I come!
From,
Mrs. Hembree
about 1 year ago
Dear Elizabeth, Julia, and Bridget,
The book signing event must have been really cool because Rick Riordan is my favorite author. My favorite book is The Son of Neptune.
Before that it was The Lost Hero.
From, Taylor
about 8 months ago
Thank you to everyone who commented about our story and Mrs. Hembree for interviewing me about this event. I hope that you all enjoyed reading about our experience in Olympia as much as I enjoyed being there. I hope you all continue reading Rick Riordan’s books, and in my case, rereading them over again.
Thank you so much!
Julia