Tuesday Brandon Mull newest book Beyonders came out. On the day of the book release he has a launch party. I know you have heard me talk about it before, but this year I had decided to take the boys to the library and skip the Tuesday late night. Trevor would not have that. Since we have gone for the last couple of years he convinced me we should just go for it. The first year we went we were only on book 3 of Fablehaven and it was the launch for book 4. It was crazy fun. They had Utah Ute Ballet Dancers (fairy tribute) some teen sing group, and DC Comedy. They are the comedy group that Brandon belonged to while he attended BYU. Hilarious. Plus, they had this guy from LA who could all the voices AND sound effects for Star Wars. He did all the voices and sound effects in quick succesion to tell the classic Star Wars movies 4,5,& 6. Awesome. Shannon Hale helped with the introduction and she is a comedian also( other than the writer of many children's books) The other fun part was we sat behind this row of 7 boys. When Brandon Mull announced Candy Shop Wars might be made into a movie they literally jumped out of their seats and started cheering and giving high-fives. So we stood in line for hours but totally worth it. Plus, they had everyone dressed up as Fablehaven characters. Trevor got his picture taken with Muriel (Brandons mom I think). They throw out glow sticks and the stage is set up in detail from the books. The pond, the frog, the quiet box, and you get the idea right? Year two was crowd crazy. We got there 1 hour+ early only to be standing in a long line outside the building. We held hands when the doors opened for fear of our lives and ended up sitting in the balcony. Great show again. They had this guy MC and there was a countdown to when Brandon would come out. So this guys counts down with the crowd and then runs to the back only to return with a t-shirt in his own handwriting that reads I am Brandon Mull. Funny. Brandon Mull came out of the quiet box for this one. The comedy group always does a skit about what guys do when girls aren't there. This years was how much they hated High School Musical and then when the girls say they are going shopping the guys break out into singing the main song with a dance routine. Clever. More comedy, more characters and the stage looked great. We stood in a longer line but worth it. The great thing about a party like this is the people.
Now to this year. We got there even earlier this year to beat the crowds and boy did we. We were #62 in the line which of course ended up with hundreds of people in line. We stood by nice people as always. They handed out Beyonders book bags and bookmarks and we WAITED. We got great seats like we did the first year we went. The stage was set up as kings throneroom with the blind king sitting center stage. Shannon Hale was the MC this time around. His wife Mary came on the set to deliver his dinner but couldn't find him so over the course of the show Shannon eats all of his dinner and claims he is a no-show. The comedy group did their spoofs on Twilight, Hunger Games, Percy Jackson and Harry Potter. The two skits "What do guys do when girls aren't around" were hilarious. The first was this lightsaber turned Harry Potter magic duel. The second was a singing and dance rountine to Justin Bieber. Brandon Mull was the blind king sitting in costume on the stage the whole time. He gave a wonderful presentation about reading, imagination, writing, creativity, and an emotional tribute to his grandparents in the audience. Since we were in the first signing group we got to say hello and get our books signed earlier rather than later. If I would have known how organized this one was going to be I would have filled my van with friends. As you have guessed, the launch party is always worth it. See you next year.
Now to the safe travel part of the week. Eric flew to Oregan to visit three different girls camps that are being considered for purchase. He was there Wed through Friday. The funny part of the trip was that they had visited all the camps and had their discussion about each one and were about to call it a day (just in time to see the entire BYU game) when one of the guys said lets just give a quick recap to so&so. UH...this took a long time and Eric got back in time to see the last two minutes of the game. It wasn't really the kind of funny story you would laugh at unless you heard Eric tell it himself. Thank goodness back at home the game was taped for him. Friday he flew safely home to us. Yippee!
On Thursday night it wasn't great during the going to bed routine. Tyler lost his priviledge to go to the Brandon Mull party on Friday. Eric was consoling me from afar and told me I should forgive him and take him. On Friday morning I told the boys that Eric loved them but had called too late to talk to them AND that he had said I should forgive you Tyler. "Mom, I prayed all night that you would forget about last night and just take me." Well, it worked because Tyler did go to the party and he loved it. When he saw Brandon Mull and he started chanting his name. Since Tyler was sitting near to center where Brandon Mull had to set up his media presentation he leaned over and said "Brandon Mull, your first book is cool." Then later during the question and answer part Tyler went up to the microphone and siad "Brandon Mull, why did you write your books?" He did a wonderful job explaining how ideas formulate into writing, etc. "And also, I have another question, when is the next book coming out" The next book comes out March 2012. Tyler got his book signed and also asked him for his phone number which thankfully Brandon replied he needed to keep private. We were thrilled to have friends with us and to see the Richards & Jack.
On Saturday I had to pick up film at Costco for Tyler's student of week poster and Brandon Mull was doing another book signing. Eric teased, ''This week is all things Brandon Mull, aren't you going to that signing too."
No. No I am not.
