I am writing from the window seat of my hotel room in Miami, where I have a fabulous view of the Biscayne Bay. If one is going to be tethered to her laptop, this is not a bad spot to be held captive. As always, when I am at the Miami Book Fair, it’s nonstop action. I flew in Wednesday, and on the way to my hotel I stopped by a wonderful yarn shop that Barbara, one of our readers, had told me about --- The Knitting Garden in Coral Gables. I still am in intel-gathering mode for a yarn store/bookstore project that I want to do. The store was just as fabulous as she said it would be. The owners, Anne and Virginia, were so warm and welcoming. When they heard I was in town for the Fair, they mentioned that one of their customers had been a hostess at the Nora Ephron event on Monday night, and then they gave me a full lowdown on it --- sounds like it was a really fun evening. Dave Barry was on stage with Nora, so you can imagine how much laughter there was in THAT room. Oh, and the hostess they were referencing was our reader Barbara, thus taking this entire store visit full circle.

As I write these words, Carol is in Miami for this year’s Miami Book Fair International. As you no doubt know, this is one of the largest book fairs in the country, and one of the most prestigious and exciting as well. It’s also the home of the wonderful School of Comics, which GraphicNovelReporter is proud to be a sponsor of. As the fair has grown, it’s been so heartening to see how comics have been embraced not only for their cultural impact but also as solid resources of immense value to teachers and librarians. There were two days of School of Comics events specifically geared toward educators and librarians, as well as the general comics reading public. Carol reported in that yesterday morning there was a standing room only crowd and the enthusaism of the audience was palpable during the education sessions. Beyond this there is an entire track of graphic novel and comics programming and a number of events for kids. The response to these events has been fantastic. If you are in the area, be sure to look for Carol over the weekend and feel free to introduce yourself if you get a chance.