I loved Vietnamerica by G.B. Tran, and so did Mark Long and Nate Powell, co-author and artist of The Silence of our Friends, so they made today's awesome guest book talk.

This week in the Unshelved Book Club you'll find books about company towns, zombie armageddon, the Deepwater Horizon spill, seven hungry little bears, two friends from New Jersey, a girl named Elizabeth, a boy destined to become a thugh (who is saved by a librarian, kinda), and a robot and an alien trying to do the alien's homework.

Let's talk about C2E2, the Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo, April 13-15.

As you might infer from the name, it's a convention devoted to the nerdy arts, put on by ReedPop, the fun folks who bring you PAX, NYCC, and Celebration. This will be its third year, as well as its biggest and (one hopes) best.

Comic conventions are a great opportunity to meet the publishers and creators of comics and graphic novels, and discover real gems before anyone else. The first half of Friday is reserved for professionals, who get discounted admission (between $0 and $10 if you register now) and access to great programming, including Gene and myself performing our talk A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Library at 10:30. Librarians count as professionals. Register here.

Not a professional? Sorry you can't see our talk, but we still hope to see you during the main show, where we'll have a table and a small supply of books and merchandise. Register here.

Congratulations to this week's sponsor Listening Library, audiobook publisher of a number of recent award winners and honorees, including the Odyssey, Printz, Alex, Margaret A. Edwards, ALSC, YALSA, Batchelder, & Schneider.

Click through for a complete list of award-winning titles, and enter to win one of 50 award-winning audiobooks for your school or library.

This week in the Unshelved Book Club you'll find books about a blood libel, road rage, the last druid, a fake romance between two TV stars, counting, a low-class girl with unexpected and dangerous gifts, a time traveler, and Watergate.

We're happy to announce that, for the fifth year running, we'll be part of the fun at BookExpo America, June 4-6. Gene and I will debuting our newest talk How to Ban a Book, a funny and helpful take on the serious subject of intellectual freedom. We also plan to do a few signings, and generally make trouble. More details soon. Hope to see you in New York!

Fast forward to April 2013, when Gene will be delivering the keynote to the joint Washington Library Association/Oregon Library Association conference in Vancouver, WA. I think this is the first time Gene will be giving a talk without me. Will he burst into tears onstage? There's only one way to find out.

(As you can see from our talks & appearances page we already have three talks booked for Spring 2013. If you are interested in hiring us for this Fall, this is the time to let us know!)

Feb 20 morning Spartanburg, SC
Spartanburg Public Library Staff Day (staff only)
Keynote (Gene & Bill)

Feb 20 7pm Columbia, SC
USC LISSA event
Program (Gene & Bill)

Mar 13-17 Philadelphia, PA
Public Library Association
Booth (Gene & Bill)

Mar 30-April 1 Seattle, WA
Emerald City Comic Con
Booth (Gene & Bill)

April 13-15 Chicago, IL
Chicago Comic Entertainment Expo
Booth & Talk (Gene & Bill)