Sepember 6th 2014 3:30pm at Politics & Prose in Washington, DC.

Jimmy Gownley – The Dumbest Idea Ever!
Dave Roman – Astronaut Academy: Re-entry
Raina Telgemeier – Sisters

Three graphic novels for younger teens focus on the struggles and relationships of school and family. The long-awaited companion to Telgemeier’s perpetually bestselling, Eisner Award winning graphic memoir Smile focuses on Raina’s relationship with her sister. The kids (and cyborgs) are back for another school year at Roman’s Astronaut Academy, playing fireball (go Chibi Sesame Seeds!) and giving their hearts away to their crushes (although sometimes the hearts get eaten). Gownley, creator of the Amelia Rules series, shares the tensions and triumphs of his own teen years, when he began self-publishing comics and met with a brief flush of fame, in his graphic memoir. Ages 11 – 14

Politics and Prose
5015 Connecticut Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20008

I’m super excited about the release of Explorer: The Lost Islands!

This book is beautiful! You have to see a copy of the hardcover in person! I wrote a 16-page story for this anthology called “Desert Island Playlist”, which was illustrated by my wife Raina Telgemeier and colored by Braden Lamb (who is also coloring her new book Sisters!).

Explorer: The Lost Islands is edited by Kazu Kibuishi and features new full-color stories by , Jason Caffoe (the Flight series), Jake Parker (the Missile Mouse series), Michel Gagne (“The Saga of Rex”), Katie and Steven Shanahan (the Flight series), and up-and-coming new artist Chrystin Garland.

KIDS’ COMICS REVOLUTION! INVITES KIDS TO PICK THEIR FAVORITE
GRAPHIC NOVELS, COMICBOOKS, WEBCOMICS, AND MORE WITH THE
KCR! COMICS AWARDS!

Kids vote online or by ballot from now through June 23rd, 2013

May 8th, 2013 – Kids’ Comics Revolution!, a podcast dedicated to spotlighting the expanding worlds of kids comics and kid lit, announces the first annual KCR! Comics Awards, honoring the best comic books and graphic novels for kids published across the U.S and Canada. From now through June 23rd, 2013, kids vote online at http://www.kidscomicsrevolution.com or by filling out the paper ballot at the Toronto Comics Art Festival or the Kids Read Comics celebration. Voting will be filmed and posted online. Results will be announced June 23rd at a special ceremony during the Kids Read Comics celebration at the Ann Arbor District Library.

Kids’ Comics Revolution! hosts Dave Roman and Jerzy Drozd collaborated with editor Chris Duffy (Nickelodeon Magazine, Nursery Rhyme Comics, SpongeBob Comics) and the Ann Arbor District Library on the KCR! Comics Awards to fill the void left by the Nick Magazine Comics Awards, which ran only one year before the popular kids’ magazine ceased publication. Nominees were selected by a council of educators and retailers.

Read the full press release HERE!

The KCR! Comics Awards offers kids the opportunity to share their enthusiasm for comics of various styles and format. Kids cast a vote for their favorite comics and characters across eight categories both serious and silly.

Check out the complete list of nominees and online ballot form HERE!

A PRINTABLE PDF ballot for distributing at your school or library! Just be sure to send them in before June 10, 2013!
(click the image to download the PDF)

Double bonus: Pre-Ordering your book through this WORD promotion still allows you to be eligible to participate in the Astronaut Academy Day contest as well!

Huge thanks to my friends at WORD for helping set this up and shipping out all the books!

Seattle-ites! Dave Roman and John Green will be giving a cartooning workshop at the Montlake Library on Monday, March 4th, from 6:30 to 7:30pm! We’ll talk about and demonstrate our processes behind creating characters for TEEN BOAT! and Astronaut Academy, and maybe even draw a SpongeBob or Phineas & Ferb while we’re at it. Kids will learn how to develop their own characters and comics. Registration is required, more info can be found here:

Montlake Library Events

Montlake Branch
2401 24th Ave. E.
Seattle, WA 98112
206-684-4720
(The Montlake Branch is located on the northwest corner of 24th Avenue East and East McGraw Street.)

(the time of the event is indeed 6:30-7:30pm, in case the calendar states otherwise.)

Metro Bus Information:
Served by Metro Bus Routes: 25, 43, 48

More DIRECTIONS INFO

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!

Funny Ha-Ha: Humorous Books for Kids
Hosted by Betsy Bird, Children’s Literary Salon continues our series where we explore amusing books for children, we look at funny books in a myriad of forms: funny picture books, funny graphic novels, and funny early chapter books. Join Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), Nick Bruel (Bad Kitty), Laurie Keller (Arnie the Donut) and Jules Feiffer (Bark, George) as we look at finding the funny for different ages of kids.

Saturday, December 3rd at 2:00 p.m. in the main branch of the library (the big stone lions one, on 42nd Street and 5th Avenue). Second floor in the Berger Forum. See you there!

I’m super excited to share this interview I did with author/illustrator, Katie Davis on her fantastic podcast, Brain Burps About Books!

Be a Space Cadet with Graphic Novels! Interview with Dave Roman

We talk about Astronaut Academy, Teen Boat, how art school can make you afraid to draw, proposing through comics, and tons of other fun stuff! My favorite part is just hearing someone else (besides me!) describe and read scenes from Astronaut Academy! I also created a downloadable Doug Hiro comic strip that will debut on her Brain Burps newsletter, so be sure to subscribe!

Katie’s blog and podcasts have been super helpful to me these past few weeks leading up to my big book release. I highly recommend it to all creative people looking to learn more about the world of books for kids! It’s impossible to not be inspired by all the cool stuff Katie does!