Such fun hanging out with the terrific kids at Dudley Elementary, designing Mad Scientist Academy stories and talking about books.

On rare occasions I have been known to show up at the wrong school for an author visit. That’s why I was especially flattered and relieved to find this sign waiting for me when I arrived at Eagle Elementary last week. What a warm welcome to a wonderful day!

During my recent visit to the schools of Birdville, TX, one of the nicest surprises was all the different classroom doors decorated based on the books I’ve written. Each one was a masterpiece. Here’s a small sample:

And at West Birdville Elementary I was surprised with the most amazing box of cookies, each one hand-decorated and painted with characters from my books by Christy Knapp Alexander. They were literally too beautiful to eat. (Of course, I ate them. And they were delicious.)

At today’s author visit at Genesee Elementary the teachers teachers dressed up in costumes inspired by my books: Dr. Cosmic was there, the Fright Brothers, some pirates, some aliens, even some bugs. What a fun day.

A couple pictures from my last school visit of the year, back in June, at Boght Hills Elementary. What a nice way to end the year.

Hanging out with some terrific readers at Thiells Elementary…

Had the pleasure to return to Richfield Springs on Friday for another visit (last one in 2009) and it was every bit as fantastic as I remembered. I arrived to find the presentation room filled end to end with hundreds fantastic book-related projects that the kids worked on during the weeks leading up to the visit.

Here are just a few samples, where the kids imagined new Benjamin Franklinstein-style titles: Henry Corn Meets George Carwashington and Jackie Robotson Attacks Duke Scarington. I would totally read both of those.

In case you’ve ever been curious about what goes on at an author visit, I think these photos from my recent visit to Allen Creek Elementary in Pittsford, NY should explain it pretty well.