I’ve been a published kid-lit author since 2012, but I’m a late bloomer and a slow learner and an all-around dolt, so the first kid-lit book festival I’ve ever participated in was this past Saturday.

It was the Chesapeake Children’s Book Festival and it was awesome.

And I never would have signed on if fellow author and Facebook buddy Tim Young hadn’t invited me to apply. I’d never met Tim in person, but I knew he wrote a book that featured a capybara, so he was clearly a man of good character.

Only later did I realize that Tim is the reason why the Chesapeake Children’s Book Festival exists in the first place. He founded it. And the guy knows how to found a fine festival.

In the end I sold a bunch of books, became buddies with some wonderful authors and had a marvelous time.

Here are my five takeaways from the event:

1. I’ve never been to a kid-lit festival, but I knew enough to dress for success. I thought I was pretty clever to don a t-shirt of a capybara dressed as a pirate—until I met Phaea Crede who plugged her book Super Pizza and Kid Kale by dressing in a full-body pepperoni pizza onesie with matching headgear. It was amazing.

But that was only the beginning of Phaea’s amazingness; at about halfway through the festival, when Phaea’s onesie got too warm, she removed it to reveal an oddly tasteful pepperoni pizza dress underneath. If I admire anything more than Phaea’s writing, it’s her commitment to pizza-based activewear.

2. The festival organizers from the Talbot County Library had a marvelous way to drum up interest in the event. If a child signed up for the library’s summer reading program, he or she would receive a voucher for a free book. (Authors who received vouchers get reimbursed by the library.) All day long, kids slowly walked up and down the aisles holding their vouchers like Wonka Golden Tickets, meticulously weighing their every option before handing it over to The Chosen Author.

Lemme tell you, getting a voucher from a kid was a far greater honor than making a cash or credit card sale from a mom or dad. A voucher was 100% the kid’s decision. It mattered. (And I got a bunch of ’em! Yay!)

3. This festival marked the grand public debut of my Penguin stuffie! (In case you don’t know, Penguin is red because in Pirate & Penguin, Pirate paints Penguin to make the bird look more like a parrot.) It was sewn by Dahlia Walker, my son’s lovely and talented girlfriend. (Marry that girl, boy! She’s a keeper!)

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love that bird. Penguin was also loved by the kids, one of whom attempted a birdnapping, which was quickly thwarted by yours truly. And, yes, I’m pressing charges! I don’t care if you’re in kindergarten, kid, you’re a thief and you’re goin’ to the hoosegow!

4. One part of the festival I was especially looking forward to had nothing to do with chatting with kids or selling books: I wanted to meet Nancy Tandon. I’ve known Nancy since 2012 when she appeared out of the ether with an offer to plug my first book, Sarah Gives Thanks, on her blog. I was grateful for the offer and Nancy and I have been bloggy pals ever since. But in all of the years since our first email chat, we’ve never met in person. Well, she was at the festival, plugging her own books, The Ghost of Spruce Point and The Way I Say It. I was kind of giddy about it.

I am pleased (but not surprised) to report that Nancy is happy, peppy, and about as lovely a person as I could’ve ever hoped to meet. And (also no surprise) she’s an incredible writer.

5. At the festival, my table was next to Mary Quattlebaum, a fantastic writer for National Geographic and the author of her own pirate picture book, Pirate Vs. Pirate. It was such a pleasure to chat with her. But it was even more of a pleasure to chat with her husband, Chris, who, over the course of the festival, became my marketing wingman. He would read my books and fall into boisterous hysterics. Then, with great enthusiasm, he would encourage everyone within earshot to buy my wares.

“He’s great!” “This is hilarious!” “Look at this book! It’s so funny!”

Chris singlehandedly sold every copy of Everybody’s Favorite Book (and made sure to buy his own copy). Mary, to her incredible credit, did not mind her husband’s divided loyalties in the least. She seemed to encourage them. And that, I think, is a big reason why I love writing kid-lit so much. Kid-lit authors understand more than any other writer that a rising tide raises all boats. We support and root for each other. We’re like-minded. We naturally become fast friends.

Wow, what a great day.