Last December, I attended a meeting of the “Reading is Fun Club” in Morris Plains, NJ., and my memories of the event were published here on January 4th, 2018. The club was inspired by Jeff Kinney’s book, “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days,” and started by 4th grader Kiera Swartz, whose invitation to my granddaughter, Imani Crosby, to attend a meeting of the club captured my interest. I read Kinney’s book and attended the delightful meeting of 4th graders with my granddaughter. So, it was with great joy that I read on the front page of this publication that the author of the successful series of children’s books was going to be lecturing at the library on March 15th. I saw an opportunity to be a hero to my granddaughter.
“Youbettergoearlybecausethesethingsgetcrowded” machine-gunned Paula Nicewanger when I told her that I was attending the lecture. Paula’s rapid-fire comment, when played back at 33 RPM, was, “Go early: it gets crowded.” The Indianapolis Public Library’s McFadden Memorial Lecture was to be held at the Central Library on E. St. Clair Street, in Indianapolis. I made it there one hour before the 7:00 p.m. start and parked in the garage. On the elevator up to the lecture floor, I absently noted a wash of small humans, with a smaller contingent of larger ones. I found the lecture hall, and entered, where I was greeted by a sea of 7 million kids, with about 12 adults bobbing atop the waves. Undaunted by the superior numbers, I purchased two books, and found a seat in the second row back, stage left. A bright new, just-sprung-forward sun burned my eyeballs and teamed with a metal stanchion to obscure my view of Kinney on the stage. The hosts did provide the attendees with large TV screens that had Kinney projected on them, and his engaging personality was richly displayed and interesting story amusingly told. After the lecture, Kinney took questions from some of the 7 million kids in the audience, and once he had repeated the answers a few times, we were all charged with lining up to get our books autographed.
I have lived through lines loaded with kids; I am a survivor of the Disneys, both -Land and -World. I have lined up at Worlds from Holiday to Sea, so I can say with assurance that the 7 million children who wound around, down and up the aisles and stairs of the Central Library — all of whom preceded me in line — was the greatest mass of adoring fans an author could hope to see. And alas: A mass too great for me. I had hoped to get Jeff Kinney’s autograph on his latest book for my granddaughter and her friend, for after all, Kiera was inspired to start her “Reading Is Fun Club” after reading Kinney’s book. (Kinney, by the way, said in the Q & A session that sometimes he does not remember what he wrote, so I had a helpful note in each book to refer to the club.) But after I surveyed the serpentine lines of eager, wiggling kids, I tapped out.
I mailed Jeff Kinney’s new book to Kiera and Imani, with a note from me and three pictures of the author that I had taken from the big screen. I am now going to write to Kinney and beg him for an autographed picture — acknowledging the NJ chapter of the “Reading Is Fun Club,” of course — so that I can be a hero to my granddaughter, for whom I swam a sea of 7 million kids.