LL5 now available

Hello all, I am taking a brief break from my cyber-hibernation to let you know that Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit is now on bookshelves at your local bookshop. I hope that everyone's holidays are treating them well thus far! I'll be back with more news in January. Until then, Happy New Year's!

First Day of Winter

Believe it or not, this is the first day of winter. And my last post of 2010. I'll leave you with the image I created for Target House's winter carnival at St. Jude. I have had so much to be thankful for in 2010. Thank YOU, yes you, the one reading this right now. Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm. It means the world to me.

See you next year!

Drawings from Kids

Check out this awesome drawing of Lunch Lady by the very talented Liam! Keep up the great work, Liam!

Do you have a note or a drawing that you'd like to share? I would love to see them!
They can be emailed to me via props@studiojjk.com or mailed to:
Jarrett J. Krosoczka
PO Box 60155
Florence, MA 01062

Sketchbook Saturday

2nd draft thumbnails for LL5, LUNCH LADY AND THE BAKE SALE BANDIT—2010

This will be the last post in the year-long Lunch Lady themed Sketchbook Saturday feature of this here blog. Sketchbook Saturday will be back in 2011 with a new theme. See you then! Happy Holidays!

fall book tour flashback part 4

The Little d Award, now known as the Denise McCoy Legacy Award for Humor, is given by a team of librarians, kids and friends of the late Denise McCoy. Denise was a passionate bookseller and advocate for children's literature who lived and worked in the Albany, NY area. And she LOVED funny books. I was honored to have had Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute win the 2010 award in her name. And the events surrounding the award were outstanding! Denise would be so proud of all of the hard work that her friends do. Kids are given books in her name and the entire community gets psyched up about literature. Now that is an incredible legacy.

The day started at Arbor Hill Elementary. I was introduced by Albany's mayor and the reigning Tulip Queen.

Each kid had their own copy of LL1 and I signed them as they walked in. These kids were pumped!

I got to kick it with come real lunch ladies. (Bad pun, huh?)

Next,  it was off to The Book House, a great indie, where local classrooms of kids had a field trip.

That evening, there was a very nice reception, where the award was presented. I was touched by everyone's kind words in the presentation, but mostly honored that they used "mole communicators" to introduce the various committee members.Pictured here: Herb Shultz, President of the Board of Directors for 15LOVE, Mishka Gilkes, 2010 Tulip Queen, Allyson Shea, Little d committee member, and Tom O'Brien, Denise's McCoy's brother.

The Albany Times Union published a nice article on the whole shebang!

 Photos by Joann Hoose.

fall book tour flashback part 3

I spent some time in Fairfax, VA with some outstanding school librarians this fall. I couldn't help but notice LL3 was mingling on the shelves with Masterpiece, which is illustrated by my ol' RISD classmate Kelly Murphy.

I popped into Comic Con NY for a few minutes and lookit that! Is that someone cospalying as Baghead? I caught up with this guy and uh...no. Nothing displayed on the front of the bag was fit to print...

This is the group shot from the annual illustration show at R. Michelson Galleries. Just a few people who live in my neighborhood. Check out more pics and the full list of folks here.

Here I am with Jeanne Birdsall and Rich Michelson.

I was honored that the Connecticut Children's Book Fair not only invited me to participate, but asked to use Punk Farm as their image for the 2010 Fair.

PF was everywhere! Signs, name cards, you name it!

And there was a HUGE cut-out display of the band. It blew me away!

People come to this book fair to DEVOUR books. It was unreal!

Clifford was there to cause trouble.

Ed Young and I texted a picture to his editor, Alvina Ling.

And I met author/illustrator Allison Paul. Well, I should say "re-met" her. Way back in 2002, Grace Lin and I organized a show at RISD with lots of fellow newly published illustrators, like Anna Alter, Amy Walrod and Kelly Murphy.

Back then, Allison was an illustration student hoping to get published and she was at our lecture. Wow! When she told me this at UConn, I was really moved. You just never know when your words will resonate or make a difference.

fall book tour flashback part 2

I made my first trip to Arizona and visited Ocotillio Elementary.

Home to the incomparable Cathy Bonnell! Talk about your awesome school librarians, Cathy is top-notch! Beyond top-notch!

It's a shame she's retiring at the end of this year. Look at all of the authors she's met over the years!

I couldn't resist getting a closeup of this one! Did you kow Jon and Lane have been working on books since they were in Jr High? I had no idea!

The Ocotillo lunch ladies made a special stop in at one of my presentations. They brought their cafeteria equipment to show the kids what they're really used for!

Check out the walls at Cathy's library! Sczieska! Gantos!

Adam Rex!

Diane deGroat!

I was honored to add my stamp.

While in Phoenix, I also stopped by Changing Hands, a great local indie!

Cathy was also nice enough to host a dinner for me at her home. And what a magnificent home she has! There is art from books everywhere. She even has a framed note from Dr. Seuss! Local educators and local artists/authors Wendy Watson, Lynne Avril and Chris Gall all stopped in to join us that evening. It was a fantastic evening!

Speaking of Cathy's art and fantastic evenings... I donated a piece to the Eric Carle Museum Gala and Cathy won this painting of Ollie. (He's the hero of my fall 2011 picture book.)

The Carle invited G and I to attend the Gala. It was a very fancy affair. I was waiting for the Joker to attack and Batman to crash through the ceiling. (That's just where my mind goes.)

We got all dulled up for the evening. And it's a good thing, too, because the Huffington Post published our photo.

I was invited to pull the winning raffle tickets at the end of the evening. Alex Kennedy, director of the Carle, was brave enough to trust me near a microphone.

It was an impressive audience, with the 2010 honorees seated in the front row. Glad I didn't have to give a speech! Yikes!

Carle Gala photos by Johnny Wolf photography.

More LL Halloween fun!

Ms. Denaro, a 3rd grade teacher in Carlisle, MA had fun this past Halloween dressing up as Mizz Lady Lunch!

fall book tour flashback

I had an excellent time on the road this fall, zigzagging the country and meeting kids, educators and booksellers. Thank you to all for your continued support. I'll be posting some pictures and notes from the road all week as we near the end of fall. (Yes, it's still fall, even though there is snow on the ground outside of the studio. . .)

Eric Wight, Ursala Vernon and I yuck it up at the Baltimore Book Festival.

I got the crowd to sing the Price is Right theme song, while...

Ursala and Eric drew dueling cartoons.

And we got to hang out with Ed and Rebecca Emberly!

Here's an event that was closer to home. The release party for the Many Hands CD.

This Haiti-fundraiser took place at Look Park in Florence, MA.

Here I am in Benton, Arkansas. Met some wonderful librarians down there! (And yes, that sweater is yellow...)

Speaking of Festivals that begin with the letter "B"...The Boston Book Festival was a blast! I joined fellow cartoonists Aaron Renier, Jef Czekaj, and Alexis Frederick-Frost on a panel hosted by Robin Brenner.

You can listen in on our misbehavior at the BBF's website. Listen to the podcast and imagine what our drawings might look like. (Click on the one that is called "cartooning", not "crimes and misdemeanors".)

I visited with the kids at Polytechnic School in Pasadena, CA.

And while I was in town, I hung out with these jokers. That's Bob Boyle, Tom Warburton, Dan Santat and Bob's lovely wife Terri.

And of course, Lisa Yee. Who plays Wendy to their Lost Boys.

And I also made a last-minute stop into famed bookstore Vroman's!

Stay tuned! More to come!