The Oakville librarians were very kind and concerned that my young readers would mob me, their guest author, the reward for a day of a book trivia contest known as Battle of the Books.

Let me say I LOVE Battle of the Books.  I’ve sat in as a guest timer and also acted as a author speaker at Milton, Burlington, and Oakville Public Libraries for these competitions. I love them because I hear questions about not only my own books but my colleague friends’. I see the love of writing in the competitors’ eyes and hear it in their enthusiasm.

Often to guess the right author, the students chant the surnames of my friends in alphabetical order. What a hoot!

Getting mobbed afterwards is a pleasure!  I bring bookmarks and postcards and autograph them as well as team t-shirts or other souvenirs of the day.

Compare the experience to the bookstore signing which often feels like setting up a lemonade stand in the middle of a Moccaccino shop.  Here I use the same bookmarks and postcards and call out to passerbys who in this case were on their way to buy American Girl doll accessories or ice coffees of various varieties.

Alone in a sea of consumption.

I did meet some keen book lovers as well a girl with dead eyes who complained about her bodyguards and a man who said he was famous, but not on this earth.  He drew his signature in graphics spelling out “I am Maha.” Don’t get me wrong, I like meeting them all.

But, please let my readers mob me!