May 3, 2010 - Based on the symptoms, here's the diagnosis

May is a very busy month. Just this week, I have my school's Spring Concert, my own children's Spring Concert, and the regional Heritage/History Fair. I'm also busy preparing for our local area Forest of Reading celebration and my presentation at the Atlantic Provinces Library Association's annual conference. My topic is "A Prescription for Twilight Fever" and I was chatting with a fellow teacher and Twilight fan about how to approach the "symptoms" section of my presentation. I want to convey the powerful hold this series has on people without making me look like a complete loony bin. I'm not sure that'll be possible! I realized that as I drove madly to our neighbourhood bookstore, minutes before closing time, to pick up the latest Charlaine Harris book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Could I have waited until tomorrow? Probably, since I have marking and another book I'm already reading. Yet, I just couldn't wait until it was in my possession. I guess it's the same way those young readers that will assemble at Harbourfront in Toronto for the Silver Birch Awards will scream and holler and cheer for their favourite authors like if they are rock stars. If you have any ideas for things I can use to describe "symptoms" of people affected by books they love, please reply to this blog post and I'll try to include them in my presentation.