2016 Moonbeam Children's Book Award Ceremony!

Wow! Hello, everyone! Right now, I'm in Traverse City, Michigan and I just got back from the 2016 Moonbeam Award ceremony! It was AWESOME! I met so many amazing authors. I also got a certificate and a medal!

That's me giving my speech.

So, for the speech, I wanted to make sure I remembered what to say, so I wrote notes on my hand. It was funny! During the speech, I was a bit nervous, so I looked down at my hand and said, "One second, I wrote notes on my hand." And everyone laughed. They even took a picture! (Not this picture, I took this just now.)

It was awesome. All the other authors presented and I talked with them. We had a really good time!

Oh, and I was telling Amy how I still have homework to do. Then, I jokingly said, "I could get Jim's signature saying that I don't have to do my math homework! Ha, that would be totally awesome!"

I actually asked him! He wrote a note!!

So, I don't have to do my math homework! Score!

All of the authors talked together for a while and we talked and laughed with them. Then, my family and I went to a restaurant. The song 'Thriller' was playing so, of course, we danced to it!

The people there were super nice and we had a lot of fun. I learned a lot of cool facts about Michigan. For example, it is the cherry capital of North America. Traverse City is really beautiful. I'm so happy that I got this opportunity to be here! Also, this is my FIRST OFFICIAL BUSINESS TRIP!!! How cool is that?! I've always wanted to dramatically say, "It's...work-related!" Now I can!

Thank you so much to everyone who made this award possible, especially my readers. Receiving this award has shown me that no matter how old you are, you can make a difference in the world. You've inspired me even more to continue writing my books and sharing more stories. Thank you so much!