Out of Nowhere (well it was planned), Maria Padian, author of OUT OF NOWHERE, was a guest at the UNLV YA Lit Summit (so Happy)

I was still doing coursework when Maria Padian's Out of Nowhere YA Novel was published and, at the time, it was one of the few books written that had a theme of refugee youth. It balanced nice with Mary Pipher's book, The Middle of Everywhere, in which she documented the increase of refugee location to new, urban settings across the United States - movement beyond the major cities. As a result, Syracuse, New York and Portland, Maine, began to see numbers arriving, including families from Somalia. 

What I loved about the book, however, was that she featured a White male high school student who, as a result of punishment, has to do community service where he ends up learning more about and working with Somali families. He grows close to one young woman, which is good for his education, but then causes turbulence for her and her Muslim culture. It was a well-researched book, well-plotted, and interesting. I read it and passed it on to all the boys.

That's why it seemed out-of-nowhere yesterday that she was in the house. I looked at the conference schedule but missed that she was a featured keynote. It's been on my bucket list to meet her and thank her, so yesterday provided the opportunity. She was a wonderful speaker, and I hope to type up her talk for my own research purposes once they are posted after the conference. 

The day was long...beginning at 11 a.m. EST and ending about 11 p.m. EST (the result of meeting Steve Bickmore's doctoral student Morgan Jackson and bonding over race, YA texts, teaching, and higher education - the passion was contagious and we talked books late into the night).

Wola...today is day three and I need to get groceries and walk Karal before it begins again. She was wonderful yesterday at I was on for the majority of the day and she seemed to respect that she should self-entertain. She badly wanted to jump in my lap, throw ball, and go do something, but she seemed to know it was unlikely to happen. 

And these temperatures? Bring me Canadian air any day. This is the June weather I love, even when it is supposed to be overcast and rainy all day.