Part 5 (Nashville, TN): Parnassus Books (I met Mary Todd Lincoln!), Battle Ground Academy, Julia Green Elementary and a celebrity sighting

BOOK TOUR NAVIGATION: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3  - Part 4  - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Back to main Sea Monkey & Bob Bonus Page

Thanks to Ginger Nalley and Stephanie Appel at Parnassus Books for their help with my visits to Battle Ground Academy and Julia Green Elementary in Tennessee. This was my longest day on my book tour but I had so much fun at the bookstore and schools that the energy carried me through to when I arrived at the hotel near midnight (my body time; there was a timezone change).

At Parnassus Books with Stephanie and Cat . Ginger's in the background on the computer and my escort Sherry is in the back on the right.

At Parnassus, I was honored to meet the famous Mary Todd Lincoln (she has her own Instagram account!), the First Lady Of Adorable and official shop dog. She checked over Sea Monkey & Bob:

and then settled into officemode (e.g. Ginger Nalley's dog sling):

Love their children's book section! Including these tiny chairs:

First stop: Battle Ground Academy in Franklin, TN. The school was founded in 1889 and was named for its original location during the Battle Of Franklin in the U.S. Civil War.

Thanks to librarian Sara Williams and Ginger Nalley for their help with this event!

Afterward, art teacher Amy Crosby showed me some of the student art, including these fantastic Sea Monkey & Bob drawings:

Here's a group photo we took in Amy's art room:

From L to R: Amy Crosby, ?? (sorry, I didn't write down her name), me, Sara Williams, Ginger Nalley (Parnassus events mgr)

Next stop was Julia Green Elementary. Thanks to librarian Sarah Parnell and Stephanie Appell from Parnassus for their help with this event! I had a ton of fun.

Thanks also to my Nashville media escort, Sherry Meyers:

Sherry was not only super-organized, but she also was incredibly knowledgeable about the area and volunteered all kinds of interesting history and insights. When we discovered we had a bit of time cushion before one school, Sherry took me on a short drive through a beautiful forested area. 

Also, I had discovered the previous night that I had accidentally take one of the computer dongles from Silver Ridge Elementary with me. Thanks to Sherry and to Laura Deutsch of Books & Books for getting the dongle back to Silver Ridge for me! Sherry sent the dongle to Silver Ridge via Fedex (Laura said we could use B&B's Fedex number). I know I had to pack up in a hurry from Silver Ridge BUT that was no excuse; I should have checked more carefully. I was extra careful the rest of the trip!

Thanks again to Parnassus Books for organizing my visits to Battle Ground Academy and Julia Green Elementary!

Side note:

I saw Peter Frampton at the airport when I arrived in Nashville, TN! Ok, so maybe I wouldn't have recognized him had it not been for my driver, Steve Rempis. In addition to working for Music Express (the car service that Simon & Schuster uses - not the same thing as a media escort), Steve is the guitarist for Incognito Cartel - he gave me one of their CDs! Of all my Music Express drivers, Steve was the most fun. :-) You may also recognize Steve from when he was on the tv show Tiny House Nation.

***** Continued in Part 6 (Jackson, MS): Lemuria Books, Rouse Elementary, Madison Avenue Elementary plus Southern comfort food.