you remind me of the hero.

Listening To: Another is Waiting by The Avett Brothers
Just FYI: I downloaded the Beautiful Mess app for pictures, and I'm having way too much fun with it. As you will see. 

This weekend I managed to sneak over to Nashville for The Southern Festival of Books. I wasn’t 100% sure I’d be able to attend until the very last minute. And then, finally! I zoomed toward Music City with an absurdly giddy smile on my face. 

I also wore an absurdly loud pair of shoes. So if you were in the Nashville Public Library on Saturday and wondered, “Who let a Clydesdale loose in the halls?” ... my apologies. My heels were straight-up-clompity-clomp-noise. But I had to run to make an event on time. 

Specifically: I ran to hear Kathi Appelt and TA Barron, both great luminaries of middle grade literature, discuss their new books! My word, what a treat. I’ll write more about Kathi Appelt in a separate post. I adore her work, and I’d looked forward to hearing her for so long. If you ever get to hear her chat about her books, please do! She’s so lovely. 

I waited until this event to buy her new novel, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp. I missed her signing, but the swankified people at Parnassus put some signed copies out in the bookstore tent. Yay!!!

Both Kathy Appelt and TA Barron have such a sophisticated whimsy about them. They were both excited about their stories, and excited to share their inspiration with readers. And they were so kind and fun. They gave fab presentations. 

I could write about their session at length, but I would rather share what happened in the Q&A portion of their session that nearly made me cry. 

Most of the attendees for this particular session were adults, but there were a few younger readers in attendance as well. And one adorable little girl raised her hand and asked, quite excitedly, in the sweetest voice: 

“Mr. Barron, which one of your books should I read first?” 

The girl's words were arrow-shaped, apparently, because they connected directly with my heart. 

I think this is why: I so vividly remember what it was like to be a little girl in love with books. I mean, I still know how to hide my heart in the pages of a story. I still know what it’s like to read for hours and not realize any time has slipped by at all. I know the rush of total, indescribable happiness that comes when you open a new book. When you fall for a character. When you whisper dialogue out loud because it so begs to be said. Storylove is an impossibly, wonderfully addictive thing. I still feel it. All book-lovers do. But ... I don’t know that I’ll ever feel it as profoundly as I did when I was that age. And for some reason, when she asked her smart, sweet question, I had ... a moment. Can you relate? Just a sweet, sappy moment of booklove. (That's been happening a lot lately.) 

But that wasn’t even the best part. 

The best part was when the very articulate, elegant, whimsical, mega-bajillion-bestselling-T.A. Barron walked to the edge of the stage - so that he could talk directly to this very discerning young reader - smiled, and said: “I am so glad you asked.” 

He paused for a moment. Propped his chin in his hand, considering her question so carefully. And then he replied: 

“You know ... you remind me of the hero in this novel. Why don’t you start there?” 

I forgot to write down which novel he mentioned, but that doesn't matter so much. Here's what I loved:  

Can you imagine - at age 10 or 11 or 12 ... 
... at the age when you are the best at hiding your heart inside the pages of a book,
... at the age when you are still brave enough to daydream, and wonder, and wear your heart on your sleeve ...

Can you imagine an author saying to you, “You remind me of the hero in this book.” 

???

The girl beamed. 

I’ve been thinking about the exchange all weekend, because it symbolizes one of my most favorite aspects of middle grade lit - both reading it and writing it. (Disclaimer: please know: even in the future someday, even if I get to share 100 stories, I’m certain I will never, ever be capable of the kind of book-magic of which I am about to speak. I am so blessed to be able to be any part of that world at all. I pinch myself everyday. But I know I’m not capable of that level of wonderment.)

There is a sneaky, double-sided kind of magic hidden in the best books, I think. Many stories have unlikely heroes. And for 200 pages or so, it’s not uncommon for a reader to live the hero’s journey vicariously.  But I believe the best books - and I know I’m biased, but I see this in middle grade books all the time - do not end at The End. Some stories offer up one final observation when you reach the finale. Quite subtly, in a whisper of pages so fluttery-soft only the most sensitive heart can understand, they all say: 

You remind me of the hero in this book. 

You were hero on the page. You are the hero in the story you get to live. 

And those are the books you still hug years later when you pull them off your shelf, aren't they? Just to remember. Just to hold them against your heart for a while. What a gift. 

“So Matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. These books gave Matilda a hopeful and comforting message: You are not alone.” - Roald Dahl

Question: which hero in a book would you most like to be like? (Or maybe I should phrase it this way: who is your literary doppelganger?) I'll stick my answer in the comments, too. I hope you're having a happy October! :)