John Green at Malaprop's Bookstore

Printz Award-winning--and now bestselling--young adult author John Green was in Asheville today to sign books at Malaprop's Bookstore, and the family and I drove down to see him and get our books signed.

John and I first met at a Penguin authors reception at ALA a few years back, and we've run into each other on the circuit every now and then and gone on to become better friends online. And because this was one of his more low-key events--that is, he wasn't up on a stage with his brother Hank in front of an audience of hundreds of Nerdfighters--I actually got to chat with him for a minute.

He even brought cookies. Or perhaps his mom brought those. His parents live just outside Asheville, which is why he was here during Thanksgiving weekend.

John signed his new book Paper Towns, as well as hardback first editions of both Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines--both bought before, I might add proudly, the Printz medals they would later win. John assures me that my copy of Alaska is worth $40--an assertion I will soon put to the test on eBay. (Kidding.)

Smile like you mean it, Jo! When you're a teenager you'll win big points for this picture. Great seeing you, John--catch you next time!

PAPER TOWNS GIVEAWAY! My acquisition of a new, signed hardback of John's latest, Paper Towns, means I can replace the Paper Towns advance reader copy I picked up at a convention earlier this year. But I'm not throwing it out--I'm giving it away! To enter, just post a comment to this blog post! I'll choose randomly from the posters and arrange to send the winner this free signed galley! Contest deadline: Saturday, December 6, 2008.