I visited Division Street Elementary School in Saratoga yesterday, where the kids had done some really funny pictures of what Backbeard’s costume might have looked like had he been shopping for clothes in other parts of the world. Here are just a few of my favorites:
Hawaii...
Just finished a grand day at Slingerlands Elementary. It’s a wonderful school, and the teachers and students all made me feel right at home. (Thanks especially to Mrs. Collen for being such a wonderful host.)
One project the Slingerlands kids worked on was to write a pages recommending ideas for what my next book should be. They were, by and large, genius. Here are a few of my favorites.
The next book should be about…
…the pig’s F.B.I. motorcycle.
…two jelly beans that talk and almost get eaten
…a special seed that can turn into a tree that can move and can change into anything.
…dinosaurs vs. Backbeard.
(and my favorite)
…Backbeard sells donuts.
Back to Farnsworth Middle School to do another series of presentations with Larry Tuxbury about Benjamin Franklinstein. Larry’s a language arts teacher at Farnsworth, and we’ve been working together on writing the book for the past couple years. It’s finally just about complete (due this September from Putnam) and we were able to share the whole process of writing and illustrating with the students.
In spite of the fact that we presented on the three days before Christmas vacation, everything went great. The kids had terrific questions, and Larry was on his best behavior. To top it all off, they fed us the most amazing sandwiches for lunch. A grand way to end 2009!
People ask me all the time where I get the ideas for my books, and I don’t have a good answer. A good idea isn’t something that can be conjured up at a moment’s notice. It has to be stumbled upon.
Here’s an example: Last week I woke up in my hotel in Corning, NY, half asleep, one eye pinned shut by the pillow, and noticed this unusual knob on middle of the wall. It was old, no doubt left over from a previous incarnation of the hotel, and it was labeled the McQuay Seasonmaker. What a beautiful name! And what possibilities it suggested!
Needless to say, I didn’t turn the knob, or you, and the entire east coast, would have noticed. But what if I had?
Now there’s a good idea for a story.
I was in Corning to visit two schools, H. Gregg Elementary and Kent Phillips Elementary. It was a great trip, and my two hosts, Mrs. Robarge and Mrs. Wukovitz, took terrific care of me while I was there. The kids were amazing, well-prepared and full of good questions, and the walls of the school were lined with really fun artwork. There were digital paintings, a line of pinch-pots each containing precisely thirteen miniature beans, and drawings and paintings inspired by Andy Warhol and Wayne Thiebaud.
It was an absolute treat from beginning to end, and I thank everyone, especially Mrs. Robarge and Mrs. Wukovitz, for all the hard work they put in to make it happen.
I’ll be giving two free talks at libraries in the upstate New York area this month. If you’re free, swing by and say hello!
Aug 13, 2pm
The Canajoharie Library
2 Erie Blvd. , Canajoharie NY
Aug 18, 7pm
The Easton Library
1074 State Route 40, Greenwich, NY
Blodgett Elementary is certainly one of the smaller schools I’ve visited in a while. It’s a new school, formed in a hurry when a large charter school in Schenectady closed recently. As a consequence, everyone at the school is brand new, and it doesn’t even show up on my GPS.
I found it anyway (although the big cross on the side of the building, left over from its days as a parochial school, threw me for a moment). I’m glad I did. They’re clearly having a lot of fun at Blodgett. For example, check out this cool Uncle Frank’s Pit construction built around Frank, the custodian’s room.
Blodgett was filled with great artwork and writing projects, all capped off with something I have never, ever seen or heard before: A live performance of a Backbeard rap by members of the sixth grade class. Click the link below to check it out.
Here’s something I didn’t know: In Texas, schoolkids say the pledge to both the U.S. and the Texas flag, one of only six states to do so. (It’s an urban legend that Texas is the only state that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag, though. They all can, if they follow the rules.)
I spent the week visiting schools in Allen Texas, and it was great fun. Read on for just a few of the highlights…
After my presentations at Weedsport Elementary this week, I was presented with a homemade, three-page map of the school and three loyal guides to help me visit all the classrooms. Good thing they were there. Otherwise, I might still be wandering the halls, trying to find my way home.
Along the way we found no shortage of crazy bugs, treasure maps, and even a life-sized skeleton guarding a map of pirate jokes. (Sample: What did the pirate say at the golf course? “I may tee!”)
Next, I visited the Weedsport Free Library, where the Junior Friends of the Library were hosting a special author’s dinner. There was even some impromptu theatre after the meals, when everyone began singing a crazy musical about hats. Great fun.
Finally, some samples of that terrific Weedsport art. Thanks, everyone!
Had a really enjoyable visit to Menands Elementary last week. We did four presentations back to back, but I was having so much fun they just flew by. For lunch, some of the teachers put together this awesome Lion’s Share book cake.
However, when they served me my piece, this was what I got. I found myself simultaneously flattered and creeped out. What to do? Eat my own head? I felt like I was in an Escher drawing, or maybe one of those serpents that eats its own tail.
In the end, I decided to pass the problem on to my wife. But by the time I got the piece home, much of my face had melted off the side, making me look extra creepy. Didn’t matter. Free cake! She devoured my head without a second thought. Now I’m sleeping with one eye open.
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, Menands Elementary! Awesome school, with tons of awesome artwork. My thanks to all the parents who came out to the evening program, and all the teachers and volunteers who put the day together.
Here are a few samples of some life-sized pirates by the artists at Menands:
So often author visits on the last day before vacation can be a chore, but not Westmere Elementary. It was the perfect combination of a cozy library and kids who were engaged and enthusiastic. The only odd part – and I really hate to even bring this up – were their strange, round, paper plate-like faces. But they seemed happy. What a great visit.
I had a funny experience between presentations. I was sitting in the back of the library signing books, and when I looked up I noticed these two sitting side by side on the shelf. Maybe I’m just oversaturated with news about the recession, but these titles seem to encapsulate the current economic conditions pretty well. I had to laugh.
Visited the small town of Richfield Springs last week, a former tourist destination in the days when a good vacation meant a long soak in the sulphur springs. It was also the onetime home of illustrator Ellen Hattie Clapsaddle, an iconic illustrator of nineteenth-century postcards.
I met some modern-day pirate illustrators at Richmond Springs Central School, where they were celebrating pirate day. We talked about hairy pirates, and I admired their hand-made pirate hats. I have to say, for pirates, they were an exceptionally well-behaved, well-read bunch. They draw really well, too.
I love visiting schools, especially when the trip takes me somewhere I wouldn’t have otherwise ended up. Last week, for example, I found myself in Springfield, Illinois for the IRC convention, just blocks from Abraham Lincoln’s old house:
And just yesterday, driving through Ashland, NY, I passed what appeared to be the Partridge Family bus:
So it’s been a big week. I did a little digging and discovered that, alas, the bus in Ashland is only a replica, but it was impressive nonetheless. In a way, though, I wish I hadn’t looked it up. There was something satisfying about imagining a final, unaired episode of the show in which Mrs. Partridge and Reuben Kincade retire to a sleepy upstate, NY town and happily fade away.
I was on my way down to Roxbury Central Schools, and my visit there was my favorite kind. RCS, a K-12 school, is in a beautiful old WPA building. I presented in the library (which was among the most impressive school libraries I’ve seen) and the kids were absolutely terrific. It makes such a difference when the students are prepared for the visit and really know the books.
But here’s the best part. They put together a “meet the author” dessert reception and scheduled it before lunch. These are people after my own heart, and the cookies were out of this world.
My thanks to everyone at Roxbury (and especially Mrs. Johnson) for a wonderful day.
This week I was in Hagerstown, MD, visiting four schools. Hagerstown is the birthplace of the Bookmobile, which began began over a hundred years ago and was actually a horse-drawn wagon driven by the library’s custodian.
It was a great week, and the kids were fantastic. At every school they were prepared and pumped for the visit. Even the teachers got into the spirit (check out Mrs. Jordan’s clothes above – a Backbeard-caliber ensemble if ever there was one.)
One of the nicest surprises came on the last day of the visit, at Lincolnshire Elementary. The kids prepared a full-blown production of Bean Thirteen, and it was incredible.
View a video clip from the play
Afterward, they presented me with a quilt made from illustrations the kids drew from scenes in my books. It was an amazing way to end the week. Thanks to everyone in Hagerstown who worked so hard to make this visit a success.
(Click below to see some of the great artwork created by the Hagerstown students.)
This week, I visited Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland, where my friend Larry teaches. We’re writing a book together about the reanimated corpse of Benjamin Franklin, and we though this was something the middle school students should know about.
It was great fun. We talked about writing, re-writing, revising, editing, first and second drafts, and trashing it all and starting all over again. Later, while Larry was tending to his classroom duties, I doodled Benjamin Franklinstein on the whiteboard.
Everyone at Farnsworth was very nice, even though they have to work with Larry every day.
I love living near Albany, but sometimes, the winters can wear me down. When the temperature falls and the days get short, I start to long for warmer climes, like the balmy tropics of southern Canada.
How do they stay warm up there? I can tell you one way. They eat poutine, a dish invented in Quebec in the late 1950’s. It’s made of french fries covered in gravy and topped with cheese curds. It tastes much better than it sounds, and after you eat it you want to sleep until spring.
I was in Quebec to speak at the Eastern States Literacy and Technology Symposium and visit some schools. The kids were great, and everyone made me feel right at home. At Ayer’s Cliff, they built their own version of the wall from Edwin’s clothing shop. (Edwin is the tailor who sells Backbeard his outfit.)
It was a wonderful trip, and my thanks go out to Wendy King for all her work setting up the visit and chauffeuring me all over the place on Thursday. Take it from me, Quebec in February is not to be missed.
I’ll leave you with some terrific artwork from the kids at Ayer’s Cliff…
