Super Mega Epic Virginia Book Tour!

7 schools, over 3000 kids, and a whole lot of fun!
I was lucky enough to spend 10 days giving presentations to elementary schools in the great state of Virginia.

Here's a video that tries to capture the experience:



Did that seem like a blur? Yeah, it did for me too! A super awesome blur!
So here's a run down of just what happened:

St. Bridget's School in Richmond
Thanks to Assistant Principal Charlene Bechely, and Principal Ray Honeycutt for setting up the visit.
And extra super special thanks to Ann Neuhaus for promoting the event, selling books, and providing a bag of Bill's BBQ for the author at 9AM!

* You know that the Principal is cool when he asks you to draw on his shirt!

South Anna Elementary School in Montpelier

I was able to lead a group of exceptional 5th grade art students in the creation of a story that we all drew out on ceiling tiles. The kids are going to paint them and they will be placed back in the schools ceiling so that everyone can see their great work!

Huge thanks to Lara Ivey and Julie Dauksys at Growing Up With Books (it's like Netflix for books!) for making this visit so special!

They really promoted the event and had the kids fill the school with 'What's at the end of the red string art work!

They even gave me a goodie bag filled with diet appropriate snacks, South Anna swag, and.......... a cell phone strap with my favorite Japanese character, Sato Chan, on it! Lara had it shipped from Japan!!

Beech Tree Elementary School in Falls Church (My old elementary school!)
Thanks to Ellen Valentine for setting up this visit.


Pennington Elementary School in Manassas

Colonial Trail Elementary School in Glen Allen

Extra special thanks to Jackie Rice and Linda Levine for making this happen!

Rivers Edge Elementary School in Glen Allen
Thank you to Susie Milwit and Principal Johnna Riley for putting together the visit!



Nuckols Farm Elementary School in Henrico
Thanks to Principal Mary Cox and Assistant Principal Lisa Merriam for hosting my visit.
And super-sized muchas gracias to Diane Schnupp and her family for making everything so easy and treating me like a Rock Star!

Thanks to everyone at the schools for their amazing southern hospitality!

Moustaches, Math, and Merriment!

Last weekend's book signing/presentation at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena was a blast!

I tried donning a moustache and reading from my new book, The Joy Of Math, but apparently kids aren't that excited by math and moustaches on Saturday mornings. Go figure!
So I read them HUGO, did some drawing, and fed them some cake. When in doubt, give them cake!

Thanks to everyone who came out.
If you didn't make it, here's a super condensed video version of what you missed:




Special thanks to Tom Warburton for being my crowd wrangler! He seemed to use the "BOO" sign quite a bit but I probably deserved it!

Bustin' a book!

Last Saturday, LL Cool J was signing his book at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena.
This Saturday, it's my turn!

I'll be reading, drawing, and generally making a fool of myself!
The fun begins at 10:30am. Bring the whole family!

Maybe I'll even bust out a rap or two!

Peace out!

Color Blind Fun!

Messing around with some black and white art for a new book.

Festival of Friends!

It was super fun to be at the L.A. Times Festival of Books signing books and meeting fans, but it was also great to hang out with good friends . Here are some highlights:

It's always great to spend time with Author/Illustrator, Kid's Lit Rock Star, Jarrett J. Krosoczka. He is the man responsible for wonderful things like the picture book, Punk Farm and the graphic novel series, Lunch Lady.
He's also one of the nicest and funniest guys I know.


And I finally got meet his equally nice and funny wife, Gina. Apparently their secret to staying young and energetic is a strict diet of Cotton Candy and Churros!


As if hanging out with Jarrett and Gina wasn't enough, we got to stroll around the festival together with YA Lit Super Star Author and Scholastic Editor David Levithan. He wrote Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, co-wrote the hit book Will Grayson, Will Grayson with John Green, and is the editor of Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (who used to write scripts for Wubbzy). He also has great taste in t-shirts!



We were yukking it up in front of the YA stage when I spotted Animation creator/Author/Illustrator, Tom Warburton. Mr. Warburton is responsible for Codename: Kids Next Door and the book 1000 Times No.


But wait! There's more!

We also got to chat with our good friends Stephen Silver and his lovely wife, Heidi. As usual, Stephen had an amazing booth set up with all of his amazing books and prints.

My super awesome niece, Viviana, is attending UCLA and since the Festival was held on their campus, I was able to visit with her and her crew of friends.

My friend and Wubbzy Post Production Supervisor, Yvette Espinosa (on the right) stopped by with her family. I was busy signing so I didn't get to spend any time with her but my wife Teri (on the left) was lucky enough to hang out with her for a bit.


And Angela and Ned Gilman stopped by with the kids.


Books are cool, but people are even cooler!

Festival Fun!

The L.A. Times Festival Of Books was a blast!

I was signing and drawing non-stop at the CM School Supply and Bookstore Booth and we sold out of books in one hour! The second we hung up our Wubbzy poster, kids and parents swamped the booth. It didn't hurt that I was wearing a silly Wubbzy hat too! Anything to sell a book, right?

































Many thanks to Lori Vaillancourt at CM School Supply and Bookstore for putting this together!

L.A Times Festival of Books

If you're headed to the L.A.Times Festival of Books, come by and say hi!
I'll be there on Saturday between 2-3 PM signing books at the CM School Supply and Bookstore booth (#839).
It's right across from the Target Stage. So once you get bored with me, you can go see my uber-talented pal, and author of Lunch Lady, Jarrett Krosoczka. He hits the stage at 2:20PM.

So, put down your iPads and come check out some real books!
All the info is here. http://events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks/

Oliver and Friends

I got to meet the amazing Oliver Jeffers today!
"Oliver who?" you ask. Oliver Jeffers! One of the most super amazing artist/authors in the world!
Plus, he has an awesome moustache! I think it has magical powers.

Seriously, check out his brilliance here- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnPk8gmwPuQ

He was appearing at Mrs. Nelson's Books where he gave a wonderful presentation that included him redrawing his books as his friend read them and a paper airplane flying competition!



I carpooled out to the event with my amazing artist pals James Burks and Dan Santat. And while we were there, we got to hang out with a couple of cool new pals, Alethea Allarey, Alyson Beecher, and Candace Ryan.

I'd try to give a better description of the event but Alethea does a great job on her blog- http://www.readnowsleeplater.com/2010/04/makeover-by-oliver-jeffers.html



I was lucky enough to snag a couple of Oliver's drawings and get him to sign a few books.

Needless to say, it was an awesome and inspiring afternoon! Now, pardon me as I go try to grow a magical moustache!

Wubbzy Gets Down On The White House Lawn!

Wubbzy Goes To Washington!

BREAKING NEWS!

Wubbzy has been chosen as one of the characters to be present at the White
House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, April 5, 2010!

The White House Easter Egg Roll is a tradition that has spanned more than
130 years and numerous Presidents. The event is held on the South Lawn of
the White House.

Thousands of children and their families are expected to travel to
Washington, D.C. to participate.

More on this breaking story as it develops!

Hugo the Musical!

Well, it's not quite a musical but it is a 'music video' that I put together for my new children's book, Hugo and the Really Really, Really Long String.

Many thanks to Brad Mossman for lending his amazing song making skills!
Brad and I worked together to create all of the songs on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! I wrote the silly lyrics and Brad turned them into really great, high-energy pop songs!

You can find out all you want to know about the Wubbzy songs here- http://wubbzysongs.blogspot.com/

And you can view all the Wubbzy music videos here- http://wubbzysongvideos.blogspot.com/

Birth of a book!

My first children's book, Hugo and the Really, Really, Really Long String, hits the stores today!

And in celebration, I'm posting some of the first little lunchtime scribbles of Hugo. It's always fun to look back at where an idea started and see how far it's come.

Lights! Camera! Book!

My first children's book, Hugo and the Really, Really, Really Long String, will be in book stores on March 23rd.

Here is a silly little video that I put together to help promote it.

Many thanks to Jann Carl for the lending her voice over skills and the neighborhood kids for sharing their amazing acting abilities.

That new book smell

During the Holidays, I got one of the greatest gifts ever-
an advance copy of my first Children's book!

It's called Hugo and the Really,Really, Really Long String.

Random House is the Publisher and it will be in stores on March 23rd (or you could hit the link over on the left to pre-order).

Big thanks to my Editor, Heidi Kilgras!

Virginia Winter

Thinking of a snowy winter in Virginia.
Mostly because I'll be headed there soon-ish to see Ma Boyle and the family.

Bobo the Magic Dog

Here is the latest drawing I did for our Doodle Dorks blog.
The style is a little bit different for me.
It was fun to try something new.

You can check out the drawings from my fellow dorks here-http://doodledorks.blogspot.com/

Touchdown Tiki

Former N.Y. Giants running back, Tiki Barber, makes an appearance on Wubbzy tomorrow, Dec. 15th at 3PM Eastern.
As a Dallas Cowboy fan, this was a bittersweet experience.
Why couldn't it be Troy Aikman?

Ty Ty the Tool Guy

A while back we were lucky enough to get the incredibly busy Ty Pennington, of Extreme Home Makeover fame, into the studio to do a voice for Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!
He was a super nice guy and we had a blast doing the episode.
It's premiering Monday, December 14 at 3:00 p.m. ET on Nick Jr.

A day at the beach

Forest Fun

City Life