Fablehaven Release Party

The glorious Fablehaven release party happened on March 23rd, nearly a week ago. For the record, it is not entirely my fault I am so late on posting it. There was an issue with involving a dirty rotten rat who stole my USB cable. It is still not located. I had to resort to the well-I-suppose-you-could-use-this-one that my husband found in some secret electronic stash in our bedroom. And...I really do have 5 small to midlin' children. Anyway....

Welcome to Fablehaven 5!!! (Cue really cool music.)

I was not at all sure we could attend this, but my whim took over, the stars aligned (meaning two "babysitters" were found last minute) and we went. We = me, my husband, my baby, my two oldest children, and our teenage helper friend.

We did have to wait in a line, but it moved quickly and was hardly painful. We climbed 3 million steps to sit in the last available seating - the nose bleed section. No problem. We could see the whole stage. The excitement was palpable.

Such a huge crowd! And oh you should have heard the cheering. Brandon Mull is a superstar! And Shannon Hale, who hosted, is not too shabby either! :)

There was a super funny show put on by D.C. Comedy - a movie preview called Sense and Senseless Violence. Pop culture referenced:

1. Harry Potter
2. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson got the biggest roar of applause!)
3. Pride and Prejudice (the love-interest was Edward Darcy)
4. Sense and Sensiblity
5. Twilight
6. Pirates of the Carribean
7. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (He got stuck in the Quiet Box)
8. The Hunger Games (Katniss thought things should be decided by a fight to the death :)
9. the Matrix
10. Fablehaven (of course)
11. Avatar

Hilarious.

Later it was discovered that Brandon Mull couldn't come out of the magickal knapsack because Shannon Hale (aka Creepy Stalker) had hidden the knapsack in her locker and put a rock on it. She was put in the Quiet Box. Good stuff! The kids ate it up. 

There was a little ballet performance, some dancing satyrs, and an appearance by the illustrator of the Fablehaven series, Brandon Dorman. There were also some announcements from Brandon Mull: yes, this really was the LAST Fablehaven, the sequel to The Candy Shop Wars would be coming soon, and he is writing a new fantasy series about some kids that get transported to a world with no superheroes because the badguys are taking 'em out called the Beyonders.

A Funny Sequence of Events:

1. Early in the show, handfuls upon handfuls of glow sticks were thrown into the audience, but none reached the top of the nosebleeds where we were. 
2. My 8 year old son took this very hard. 
3. Later, when Brandon Mull was asking the powers that be if there were any other questions he was supposed to be answering, my little boy held up his hand and bounced around like Mr. Mull was going to see and call on him. 
4. On the way out a random kid handed 4 glow sticks off to my kids and their evening was made blissfully complete.
5. While walking to the car I remembered to ask what the Boy wanted to ask so badly.
6. "If we could have a glow stick!" he answered.
7. :)))

 Picture of my cute baby (who also waved at strangers and clapped a lot) covering his ears with my hands. It was loud.

Well, if you haven't read this amazing series...what are you waiting for!!! It is awesome. LoveLoveLove it!