Spring Book Tour Schedule

Hi, all! I'll be coming to a bookstore near you very soon! Time to gear up for summer reading!
:)
JJK


April 8, 4 PM- South Portland, ME- Nonesuch Books- Nonesuch Books

April 10, Peanut Butter and Jellyfish Virtual Storytime!

April 13, 1:55 PM- LA Times Festival of Books- LA Times Festival of Books, Children's Stage, Signing with Once Upon a Story immediately following and 3:15-4:15 pm Signing with Mrs Nelson's, Booth #720

April 15, 7 PM- San Diego, CA- Yellow Book Road Bookstore- Yellow Book Road

April 26, 2 PM- Amherst, MA- Eric Carle Museum of Picture Books- Eric Carle Museum

April 28, 4 PM - Madison, CT- RJ Julia Booksellers

May 2, School Lunch Hero Day 2014!

May 6- Platypus Police Squad: The Ostrich Conspiracy publishes!

May 9, 4 PM- Dedham, MA- Blue Bunny Bookshop

May 12, Platypus Police Squad 2 Virtual Book Talk!

May 28, 5 PM- New York, NY- BookExpo, American Booksellers Foundation of Free Expression Auction

May 30,  9:30 AM - BookExpo signing for Platypus Police Squad 2

June 4, 4 PM Cambridge, MA- Platypus Police Squad 2 Launch Event- Cambridge Public Library (Book sales by Porter Square Books.)

June 5, 10 AM- Washington, D.C.- Library of Congress - "A Library of Congress Books and Beyond for Young People Program on Reluctant Readers"

July 15, Boston, MA- School Nutrition Association Annual National Conference- SNA ANC

July 16, Findlay, OH- Mazza Museum Summer Conference- Conference Information

Peanut Butter & Jellyfish Book and Giclée Print Giveaway!

I am giving away three sets of prizes to three lucky folks who share the Peanut Butter and Jellyfish book trailer on Twitter, Facebook and/or Pinterest. You can enter the raffle below. You will earn raffle points for each share and you can enter every day through the book's publication on April 8th!

The three winners will each receive an autographed copy of the finished book and a giclée print of the book jacket. The giclée print is autographed and the main characters are drawn in the bottom border. The print was produced by R. Michelson Galleries of Northampton, MA!

Here is the direct link to the Peanut Butter and Jellyfish book trailer: http://youtu.be/9gZLKNcFzKk

*NEW* Share the process video on social media and you can win additional points! Here is the process video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IlF1uvtnRY&list=PLg9gpgNtuVmEAiXucto3duX7wQZQZaMC4&feature=share

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Peanut Butter and Jellyfish will be here on April 8th!

Listen up! Radio interviews with Meltdown Author/Artists!

MELTDOWN is happening THIS Saturday at Smith Vocational High School, 80 Locust St in Northampton, MA! All week long, Monte Belmonte of WRSI The River has been airing interviews he conducted with this year's authors. Listen to the conversations below and check the times that each author will be taking the stage!

10:40 a.m. - Tanya Lee Stone!

Listen to Tanya talk about writing nonfiction for young readers! 

(And learn how Tanya dodges telemarketers!) 

11:40 a.m. - Bob Shea!

Listen to Bob Shea talk about unicorn envy!

(And learn about the kind of telemarketers that hit up Bob!) 

And BONUS!

 Bob Shea was also interviewed by Bill Childs on Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child! Listen here!

12:40 p.m. - Jarrett's Drawing Party!

Learn about the history of Meltdown and the author/artists that Gina and I have lined up!

Featuring Kelly Light and David Hyde Costello!

 

1:40 p.m. - Dave Roman!

2:40 p.m. - Raina Telgemier!

Listen to Dave and Raina talk comics!

(And learn about how Raina and Dave fell in love. Awwwww!) 

The book sales are put on by the fabulous Hannah at the Odyssey Bookshop. If you wanted to score some autographed books, but aren't able to make it, why not give the store a call at 1-800-540-7307!

I'm incredibly honored to be nominated for the Indie Champion Award!

Color me honored and completely blown away. I've been nominated for the Indie Champion Award alongside James Patterson, Richard Russo, Brandon Sanderson, David Sedaris and Jesmyn Ward.

I am just stunned. Thank you, American Booksellers Association! And thank you for all that you do for my work and our communities every single day!

In a perfect world, this will end in a six-way tie.
http://www.bookweb.org/news/voting-opens-2014-indies-choiceeb-white-read-aloud-awards

The Power That Comes in Connecting a Local Bookstore to Your SchoolVisits

Many folks who read this blog most likely either host authors at their school or are themselves authors who visit schools. I wanted to point you to an article on the Publishers Weekly blog that was written about a recent school visit I had in Vermont. I'm pointing it out because I want everyone to remember how valuable a local bookstore can be to your school visits. Everyone wins when a local bookstore runs the book sales. As you'll see, they do a ton of work that the hosting school won't need to undertake—ordering stock, organizing orders, etc. For the author, it's a wonderful opportunity to get to know the booksellers in the communities they visit. (If you're lucky enough, you may even be asked to sign stock for the store.) And for the bookstores—it's a way to keep their cash registers ringing. And THAT is something that the entire community benefits from.

You can read that PW article here: http://blogs.publishersweekly.com/blogs/shelftalker/?p=12496.


In the article you'll be introduced to the folks at Flying Pig, a fantastic indie with fantastic people. Every town should have a great indie. Perhaps you have one closer than you think. Check out this search tool to find your closest bookstore:

http://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder

Voting for the Children's Book Choice Awards opens next week!

Get ready to vote for your favorite books at www.bookweekonline.com! Voting in the Children's Choice Book Awards opens on March 25th! I'm proud to serve as a champion of the awards and hope to help get out the vote! I'll also be serving as a presenter at the awards gala in May!

Check out this link to learn how the finalists are selected: http://www.cbcbooks.org/a-letter-from-the-cbc-and-ecar-about-the-childrens-choice-book-awards-finalists/#.Uyb9W4VWhbQ

Meltdown 2014 takes place on Saturday, March 29th!

Gina and I are incredibly excited about the authors that we have lined up for Meltdown 2014! Bill Childs has an equally exciting musical lineup, which you can learn more about at http://wrsi.com/meltdown. But for those of you that come for the kid lit, you might want to get straight to the authors. Well, here you go!

It all goes down at Smith Vocational High School, 80 Locust St in Northampton, MA!

10:40 a.m. - Tanya Lee Stone!

11:40 a.m. - Bob Shea!

12:40 p.m. - Jarrett's Drawing Party!

Featuring Kelly Light and David Hyde Costello!

 

1:40 p.m. - Dave Roman!

2:40 p.m. - Raina Telgemier!

The book sales are put on by the fabulous Hannah at the Odyssey Bookshop. If you wanted to score some autographed books, but aren't able to make it, why not give the store a call at 1-800-540-7307!

Kindergartners react to Peanut Butter and Jellyfish!

I recently read Peanut Butter and Jellyfish to a group of Kindergartners. Afterwards, their teacher asked them to draw pictures and describe their favorite part.

Their reactions are what this is all about! It's so gratifying when kids react so positively to your work!



A BIG thank you to Mrs. Clancy and her students!!

I'll be at the Tucson Festival of Books THIS Sunday, March 16th.

Here is my schedule for this weekend's Tucson Festival of Books. Hope to see you there!

Dare to Dream: Our Life-Changing Journeys

Three authors will share their journeys of becoming an author and how their dreams of creating books transformed their lives.

Education Room 353
Sun, Mar 16, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Children/Teens
Signing area: Signing Area #3 - Children's (following presentation)

Panelists: Jarrett Krosoczka, Lenore Look, James Ransome
Moderator: Marney Welmers

Story Blanket

The Story Blanket offers young children and families an opportunity to listen to a great story—read by the author or illustrator of that picture book.

Story Blanket Tent
Sun, Mar 16, 1:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Writing with Pictures: The Graphic Novel

The creator of Lunch Lady will share sketches, notes, manuscripts, and artwork to demonstrate the hard work of creating a graphic novel. Writing a graphic novel takes patience and hard work as well as many, many revisions.

Education Room 353
Sun, Mar 16, 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Children/Teens
Signing area: Signing Area #3 - Children's (following presentation)

Panelist: Jarrett Krosoczka
Moderator: Paul Ottley

College Knowledge

It's never to early to begin thinking about college! Navigating the college selection and admissions processes can be daunting, but not if you have the correct tools. Author/Illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka will talk about his experience overcoming obstacles to education.

Student Union Santa Rita
Sun, Mar 16, 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Children/Teens
Signing area: Sales & Signing Area #1 - UA BookStore Tent (following presentation)

Panelist: Jarrett Krosoczka
Moderator: Rudy McCormick

Changes are afoot for The Book Report with JJK

The Book Report with JJK is about to undergo a transformation. Instead of a once-a-week 5-8 minute show, the interviews will now be broken down to 1 minute segments that will air throughout programming! And I'll be calling in every Tuesday morning to recommend a new book and let folks know what's going on in the world of kidlit.

As always, Kids Place Live airs on channel 78 on SiriusXM!

(The full interviews will still be archived on my website: http://www.studiojjk.com/thebookreport.html)