Jerzy Drozd & I recorded two episodes of the Saturday Supercast podcast dedicated to Halloween cartoons and specials. We gush about the Garfield & Peanuts Halloween specials and check out halloween themed episodes of Kim Possible, Transformers Animated, & My Little Pony Friendship is Magic! We reflect on past costumes nostalgia, sincere pumpkin patches, and of course lots of CANDY! CANDY! CANDY Not to mention audio clips from the shows!
Time to dig through the cobwebs and get ready for Halloween. Here’s a re-link to my halloween mix-cd to help set the ghoulish party mood.
I was trilled and honored to be a guest at the Tweens Read festival in Houston, Texas this past weekend, hosted by Blue Willow Books.
All the authors were greeted by homemade cupcakes featuring their most recent books! How can you top a Teen Boat cupcake?
How about a cafeteria filled with kids who love books coming out on a Saturday afternoon to meet and listen to a bunch of authors?
Heather Brewer (The Slayer Chronicles) gave an amazing and empowering keynote speech to the entire crowd before they separated into specific tracks based on different themes.
I was on the graphic novel track with Rachel Renee Russell (Dork Diaries), Raina Telgemeier (Drama), and Amy Ignatow (Popularity Papers)
The four of us participated in a special graphic novel luncheon with a group of kids who were selected based on their comics-making enthusiasm! Got to have some great conversations and check out some their artwork and stories in progress.
The presentations went so quickly because the kids all had so many great questions!
And the end of the day we signed books for all the amazing fans!
Thanks to the organizers of this amazing book festival and all the wonderful people who came out for it!
Here’s a link to some pictures from the Comics Quickfire! event at NYCC with Gregg Schigiel, Ryan Sias, Mark Siegel, John Green, Laura Lee Gulledge & more!
Comics Quickfire! at NYCC 2012
I’ll be at the New York Comic Con at the Jacob Javits Center this weekend. Here is where to find me:
SATURDAY
3:30-4:30PM Signing at First Second Comics booth #1214
5:15PM – 6:15PM Comics Quickfire! on the Variant Stage
A fast-paced game show where volunteers are paired off with (or against) professional cartoonists in a series of fun-filled drawing challenges! Audience members will provide suggestions and add to the creation of totally improvised epic drawings! Featuring hosts Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), Gregg Schigiel (Spongebob Comics), with Ryan Sias (Zoe & Robot), Mark Siegel (Sailor Twain), John Green (Teen Boat), Laura Lee Gulledge (Page By Paige) & more! Great for all ages!
SUNDAY
3:30-4:30PM Signing at First Second Comics booth #1214
It’s back to school season, and I’m celebrating with free bookmarks and a special Skype visit contest!
Any teachers or librarians who email me at yaytime (at) gmail (dot) com with a complete mailing address will be sent 30 free Astronaut Academy bookmarks!
ASTRONAUT ACADEMY VISIT SKYPE CONTEST
Schools or libraries can also enter to win a free 20-minute skype visit from me! I’ll talk about writing, drawing, & making comics, answer questions, and even do a quick drawing (that I’ll personalize and send to your school). I’ll randomly choose 1 winner for each month from October 2012 to June 2013! Deadline for entries is the first of every month.
What do you need to do?
Email me with with your name + school/library name, grade level, and why you think your kids would love to chat with the author of Astronaut Academy. Simple, right? If your school/library gets chosen, I’ll need to ask a bunch of technical questions, so ideally all schools should have some experience using Skype software.
The fine print: Ideally middle grade classes since they usually get the most of out my books & talks. Visits should be for single classes or groups no larger than 40 people.
Thanks and good luck!
If you couldn’t already tell from reading my stuff, Dav Pilkey is a hero of mine! Whenever I see or read any of his books it’s a bolt of energy to my brain & hand, reminding me why I started drawing in the first place: Comics are fun & easy to make!
Since he & Raina share a publisher, I was lucky enough to spend time with Dav at the Decatur Book Festival this past weekend! And holy smokes, what a totally down to earth, awesome guy! Dav and his wife, Sayuri, are so supportive and encouraging! He even read Teen Boat in preparation for meeting me. How unbelievably cool is that?
After a 6 year hiatus, Dav has a brand new Captain Underpants book called The Terrifying Return of Tippy Tinkletrousers that is twice the size and three times the extra crunchy fun of the usually not-hardcover chapter books. And recently he’s produced two full-length graphic novels, Super Diaper Baby 2 and Ook & Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen From the Future, which I’ve decided is possibly one of my all time favorite books ever. The guy is on a serious roll and I can’t wait to read all the great stuff on the horizon.
I also love all the cool and insightful videos Dav produces like this one:
Other highlights of the Decatur Book Festival…
The town itself is wonderful. The food doubly so!
Hanging out with Origami Yoda author Tom Angleberger, and Sock Monkey author Cece Bell. This was the first time I ever got to see Tom give a presentation for a live audience and it was simply awe inspiring. The amount of energy and humor he brought to the stage whipped the crowd (myself included) into a frenzy!
Visiting Little Shop of Stories. An all around amazing store that gets you excited about the magic of books the minute you step in. The employees were all wonderful and were working with kids on elaborate presentations and performances. Some of the cashiers were even wearing Fake Mustaches, which I assumed was in honor of Tom Angleberger’s hilarious FAKE MUSTACHE book!
Seeing the first copies of DRAMA out on the wild! And of course, the line up of kids excited to get Raina to sign their copies.
I couldn’t be more excited about the release of my wife’s new graphic novel, DRAMA! Raina put her entire heart and soul into making this book and I honestly believe it’s going to have a hugely positive effect on all the people who read it. If you’d like to help us get the word out about DRAMA, be sure to use the hashtag #DRAMADAY and you’ll be entered into a contest to win some original art! Our way of saying thanks for your support!
“The better Telgemeier’s books sell, the less hand-wringing to do over the next generation. If this is what the youth of America are into, the kids are all right.”
-Ada Calhoun, New York Times Book Review
“DRAMA is quite possibly the most honest piece of realistic fiction I have ever read.”
-Jen Vincent, TeachMentorTexts.com
Raina is heading out on a multi-state book tour, so check out her website for more info!
Wrote a heartfelt article about my undying love of comic readers, comic shops, & teachers for Nerdy Book Club blog. Includes cover scan of my high school Beowulf comic that reveals my full Image comics wannabe mode.
Read it HERE.
I’ve added a bunch of free downloadable stuff in the Teacher’s Guide section of the site including an Astronaut Academy activity pack, Reader’s Theater Powerpoint file, & a guide to setting up your own similar live reading events.
http://yaytime.com/resources/teachers-guides/
