Twittergirls: Laurie Halse Anderson on Tour

Despite the serious subject matter of her newest novel—teenage anorexia—Wintergirls (Viking, Mar.), there was plenty of fun during National Book Award finalist Laurie Halse Anderson’s recent two-week U.S. book tour, which wrapped up this past weekend. During the tour, Anderson provided her fans with updates from the road via her Twitter stream. Here are some of the highlights (and some of her tweets).

At BookPeople in Austin, Anderson thanks a fan who responded to her “serious” popcorn “withdrawal” tweets by bringing popcorn to the event (Anderson had unsuccessfully tried to satisfy her craving at the Dallas airport, with her followers on Twitter suggesting possible sources). “Popcorn is now making happy in my tummy, along with a rather massive plate of mashed potatoes,” she posted on Twitter.

Anderson is a fan of more than just popcorn: here, she shares her love of Converse sneakers with a teenage fan, also at BookPeople.

Members of the Eva Perry Mock Printz Club (a book group from Eva Perry Regional Library in Apex, N.C., which meets throughout the year to discuss possible contenders for the Michael L. Printz Award) thumb through some of Anderson’s books at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh. “They won the MAE Award for YA Programming and are signing my sneakers now!” Anderson twittered (she’s referring to the 2009 YALSA MAE Award for Best Literature Program for Teens). In addition to the above cities, Anderson also made stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Houston, Oxford, Miss., St. Louis, Atlanta and Vero Beach and Miami, Fla.  As one of her final tour tweets, Anderson sent out a thank-you to all of her “Twitter followers who helped make this tour so much fun!”