When I told friends that I was going to Las Vegas for a library conference, they looked at me sideways and asked "Why?" Wasn't it the end of June and bound to be ungodly hot? Do librarians like gambling? I just shook my head and told them that we go where it will be cheap—after all, we go to Chicago in January and New Orleans in June. My experience was, yes, the hotels were cheap, but that's where it stopped. Food was pricey, and because of the long bus routes and high temps (109°F) and the huge expanse of land that is Las Vegas, I spent a small fortune on cab fare. But forget about all that... the title says highlights, so that's what you're going to get. The exhibits grand opening on Friday evening was the usual smash and grab for prizes, galleys, and merch that our tribe loves to amass, with many attendees sporting several swollen tote bags full of swag. Friday morning I treated myself to a Macmillan breakfast featuring their children's and YA titles, with author superstars Josie Angelini, Nick Bruel, Ann M. Martin, Yuyi Morales, and Eugene Yelchin scattered at tables around the room. Attendees were sent on their way with an awesome Fierce Reads tote bag stuff with new and forthcoming titles. Score! Next stop was to attend the RUSA CODES presentation "Turning Books Into a Cool New Tool: RA Marketing in the Age of Maker Spaces," presented by Duncan Smith of NoveList and Tina Thomas of Edmonton Public Library, winner of the John Cotton Dana Award and Library Journal's Library of the Year 2014. Reader's advisory is an evergreen topic, and Thomas's input on marketing this service to patrons was a great complement to Smith's overview of the results of Library Journal's February 1 piece on the state of RA, based on a RUSA CODES survey. Then it was time to hit the exhibits, where traffic on the floor was brisk, with lots of swerving made necessary by the near constant book signings going on. I visited lots of audio publishers, and am delighted to say that the new cases for CDs are light years better than those flimsy white plastic clamshells, and talked to the folks at Findaway about their new Playaway bookpacks for kids. I also stopped by the mobile apps pavilion and got updates from Polaris and Capira Technologies on their latest developments. After working with Kate McNair on our teen reviews since late last year, I finally got to meet the ringleader of Johnson County Library's Young Adult Advisory Councils in person at ALA. We converged at the Sourcebooks booth to meet New York Times bestselling author Suzanne Brockmann and her daughter Melanie Brockmann who have joined forces on the October release YA title, Night Sky. Though their signing was scheduled to start at 2:30, the lines had begun wrapping around the floor much earlier. McNair will be interviewing the duo for a The Debut column in SLJTeen October 1. So keep an eye open for that, and check out the galley offer in this issue's Seen and Heard column. More aisle wandering ensued, and then it was happy hour. I headed up north to old Las Vegas to attend the launch party of Self-E, a collaboration between Library Journal and BiblioBoard, an ebook discovery service connecting self-published authors with public libraries and their patrons. It was an interesting mix of academic publishers, public librarians, and vendors, all curious about this new initiative. I saw colleagues from my toddler librarian days, when I dabbled in academic libraries, scholarly content, and integrated library systems,and the connections between them—as complicated as the web that pulls together public and school libraries, striving to coordinate on shared resources, technology, and demographic. The closest I came to gambling at ALA was entering a drawing to win original art at the Chronicle Books cocktail party held at the Flamingo Hotel on Saturday evening. And it paid off! I won a signed lithograph by Michael Arndt, author and illustrator of Cat Says Meow. Rubbing shoulders with authors Molly Idle, Colleen Gleason, Lizi Boyd and K. A. Holt was pretty awesome too, as are their new releases. After grabbing dinner with a special someone that I only get to see at library conferences, I headed back to old Las Vegas for a cocktail reception hosted by Candlewick, featuring Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen talking about their upcoming book, Sam and Dave Dig a Hole. The Ogden Scullery makes an exemplary Manhattan; that's all that needs to be said. Though these grown men may not think of themselves as adorable, they are, and the book will be gobbled up by your picture book lovers with glee. There was even a surprise appearance by Daniel Handler. More on him later.... Sunday morning I was back at the Las Vegas Convention Center to attend the HarperCollins Adult/Adult Books 4 Teens breakfast, which was basically a brainwashing by Virginia Stanley and her colleagues. The fall 2014 list looks promising, which includes Stay with Me, from YA favorite Jennifer Armentrout writing as J. Lynn. The raffle prizes? A Vegas showgirl feathered headdress and copy of Liberace Extravaganza!, the only book on the market authorized and endorsed by the Liberace Foundation. Many of the title presentations were accented with sound effects provided by Stanley, such as pogo stick/mattress springs and a wailing siren. Back to the show floor for more wandering and celebrity sightings before heading out for Abrams's Lucky Lunch, featuring authors Jon Scieszka, Tom Angleberger, Rebecca Petruck,  Jonathan Auxier, Lauren Myracle, Corrine Duyvis,  Joanne Rocklin, and Kate A. Boorman. Each author took a turn to talk about their new titles, and I was brought to tears twice. The first time was during Petruck's description of how 4-H kids must confront the truth about what happens to their animals at the end of the State Fair, one of the themes in her title Steering Toward Normal, and the second time during Myracle's read-aloud of yolo, featuring fellow authors Auxier and Scieszka as college coeds. You haven't lived until you've seen Scieszka act out the emoticons for sad and winking. The Pop Top Stage at ALA is always a great stop, and Sunday afternoon was no exception. I attended a panel featuring author Daniel Kraus, narrator Kirby Heybourne, and producer Kelly Gildea who discussed the creation of Scowler as an audiobook. Moderated by Cheryl Herman (Random/Books on Tape), the discussion explored the collaboration necessary to move a printed book to the audio format, the challenges of matching words to sounds, and the long hours involved in getting it all wrapped up. Heybourne treated the audience to a reading, including the insectlike vocalization of character Scowler's strange language. I picked up a copy of the audiobook at a signing which followed the panel and started listening to it right away—it is absolutely creep-tastic! This is the third year that I've chaired the Sullivan Award for Public Library Administrators Supporting Services to Children committee, and this year's ALA awards ceremony was huge, thanks to the crafty planning that placed Lois Lowry and Jeff Bridges in the room as part of the President's Program. It wonderful to see Luis Herrera, director of San Francisco Public Library, pick up his Sullivan award, and I cheered loudly as high school friend Jen Bryant and illustrator Melissa Sweet received the Schneider Family Book Award for their title A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin. The final award presented was the Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity, and Daniel Handler brought the house down with his antics, co-opting Mo Willems to help him find the "odd, symbolic object" part of the prize. Then it was off to Venice—well, the Venetian Hotel, actually—for a wonderful dinner with many fine library colleagues and authors, courtesy of Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. Our table was graced by the presence of author Jessica Brody, who was there to talk about Unforgotten, the second title in her Unremembered trilogy. What a surprise to find out she lives part time in Colorado, and even frequents the James H. LaRue Library in Douglas County, where I work. The other authors working the room were Angelini, Caragh O’Brien, and Mary Pearson, each one giving a booktalk on their forthcoming releases. Monday was my quiet day, working on SLJTeen and assessing the piles of books and stack of business cards I had acquired during ALA Annual 2014. My friends in publishing had just completed their marathon which began with TxLA in San Antonio in April through May with IRA in New Orleans and BEA in New York. Now summer officially begins, for them and me.