Furthermore is the newest novel by bestselling author Tahereh Mafi. It's a cute middle school fantasy book. It follows the story of young Alice Alexis Queensmeadow as she explores the land of Furthermore in hopes of finding her missing father. Simultaneously it explores important themes of friendship and individuality.

It was released on August 30th, while I was traveling in New York. As soon as I heard I got myself a ticket to the launch event hosted by Books of Wonder at the New York Public Library. When the day of the event finally came, I stumbled in wild-eyed and nervous, not knowing anyone there. Within minutes I felt comfortable. Something about being surrounded by people who are like you makes it easy to strike up a conversation, and thus I spent the time before Tahereh showed up chatting with other fans.

The event was so well planned it was amazing! I got there quite early and thus got a good spot in the line to get your cop of Furthermore personalized. Unlike other similar events I've been to you were assigned a number and they only had 10 people line up at a time. Thus you didn't have to spend the entire event waiting in line and miss all the other organized activities. Beyond the autographing portion, there was an interview with Tahereh moderated by her husband and fellow author Ransom Riggs! The couple was so cute and I loved their chemistry. Beyond that, there was a lot of merch that was given out as well as an airbrush tattoo station. Finally, they were selling copies of all of Tahereh's and Ransom's books all signed, but Ransom wasn't personalizing any during the event. Overall it was a lot of fun and I'm extremely happy that I happened to be in town while it happened!

-Laura