Thank You, Mr. Pauling

Dear Mr. Pauling and class,

Mountains from the plane

Thank you very much for sending me to Las Vegas on a book mission. My flight to Las Vegas was an un-eventful flight. My dad walked me through security and dropped me off at the gate. He left after I had boarded the plane. Then I had a fun 5 hour flight to Vegas. I first read my book Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan for two hours. Then I played on my iTouch for about 1 hour. I then continued to read for a hour than played on my iTouch (you get the picture). I took pictures of the desert and of the mountains I flew over. When I landed we took a taxi to the MGM Grand which is the hotel we were staying in. 

Chihuly glass at the Bellagio

When I arrived, Mom and I walked through the casino to get to the elevator (the casino was literally right next to the lobby).The air smelled of smoke, because they allowed people to smoke in the casino. We took the elevator to the 22nd floor. We walked to our room which was full of books because of our 3 other roommates/friends also attending the conference. We dropped off our stuff went to take a walk with a friend of my mom’s (Sara K.) to the Bellagio. We saw this huge firework like water display outside the Bellagio. Inside we saw the Chihuly glass. Then we saw this amazing garden that was made for the fall season. We then walked back to our hotel room. That night we went to the Wolfgang Puck restaurant in the hotel, but I was so tired I barely ate the pizza I ordered.

with Matt de la Pena author of Mexican WhitBoy

I did not get to dance or learn the can-can as Sidney thought I should but, I got Ninja Weenie by David Lubar (a funny book I think you will like). I had fun as many of you said I would and aside from the art in the lobby of the Bellagio, I also saw the Cirque de Soliel show LOVE which is all Beetles music. I am not yet old enough to gamble but even if I was I would have not, Joseph. I spent most of my money on books. I saw Alan Sitomer whom I met last year, Matt De La Pena, Scott Westerfield, and many more authors. Sorry Mary Linares there were not any Twilight books at the conference, but there were other good ones I tucked in your box. The best part about the line dilemma, Bryan, is that during the first session I was able to be first in line for one of four authors. Bryan you have nothing to fear there are many adventure books. We carried about 200 lbs of books counting the ones that we bought before we met the authors. Sorry, Jacob but I think I got a lot of books. I am pretty sure more than half of your books are signed—not every author of every book in the ALAN book box was there.

Me & Alan Sitomer, author of The Downside of Being Up

For all the readers in your class, I love to read. I have even started to write a little bit about books on my blog Squirrely’s Books & Games (http://squirrleys.blogspot.com). I am going to try and write about the conference this week. On the way home I read Scott Westerfeld’s Levithan. It’s good. It’s about a boy that is technically next in line for the throne of the Austrian-Hungarian empire and war. I’m not quite finished with it yet. I read the seventh book in the Diary of the Wimpy Kid series—that’s a fast read—this one is about Gregory finding a date for the Valentine’s day dance. He fails, unfortunately and his friend dates the girl. I went to my first dance this year, but I didn’t look for a girl to go with. If you don’t like to read, all you have to do is find a good book and there are some good ones in this box, I am sure.


Happy Thanksgiving!
Collin (a.k.a. Squirrely)