Monday, January 30, 2012

Book Links



To all of my librarian friends, if you have your January edition of Book Links, you'll find an interview with some odd guy with an unpronounceable last name talking about lunch ladies and punk farms.

Honored to have been featured in ALA's magazine! Thanks to Robert Reid and the good folks over at Book Links for having me.

If you have a login you can read the interview here! And if you don't have a login, you can get a free trial. OR you can see a hard copy of the magazine when visiting your library!

Friday, January 27, 2012

Read all about it

In today's Hampshire Gazette, there is a very thorough feature on my life and work. You can read the article here.


Ralph was excited to see his mug in print and Zoe was excited to see a picture of the mural in her room grace the front page of the newspaper. Great article all around. Thanks to Steve and Carol for coming by to chat and snap pictures!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

When librarians, art teachers and lunch ladies join forces

I've had a wonderful few days visiting with the wonderful students of Hess School in Mays Landing, NJ. The 1,400 students were pumped, no doubt thanks to the dedicated librarians who enlisted help from both the art teacher and the lunch ladies!

Check out this mega-apron filled with gadget badges invented by the kids:




That's art teacher Carla Burke on the left and librarians Janet Yunghans and Kristen Mulraney on the right.



These posters adorn just about every doorway around the school:



These 14 lunch ladies and lunch dudes serve up lunch to 1,400 students daily! 500 of which are a part of the school's Breakfast Bunch as well! That's a lot of food. True superheroes!



Kids also made their own comics:



Excellent work all around!



And the library helpers got a special party in honor of their dedication to helping out the library!



Yes, in a school this big there are ninety library helpers!



They do all the work and I get to eat the cake!






The Press of Atlantic City also stopped by to cover the events. You can read all about it here!



Thanks for a great visit, Hess School!

Friday, January 20, 2012

@MrSchuReads' school library in 2011

Back when I was taking paternity leave, Mr. Schu, America's School Librarian™, posted his library's top 10 most circulated books from the year. I was bowled over and honored that books from the Lunch Lady series took the top two spots.

Thank you to Mr. Schu and all of the school librarians across the country who work so diligently to get their kids reading and for putting my books into the hands of their kiddos.

Check out the full list here!

Friday, January 13, 2012

PF in the Horn Book



The January/February edition of The Horn Book has a nice article entitled, "What Makes a Good Rock-and-Roll Book?". It's a great round-up of all things that literally rock. Get it? LITERALLY? Because it's about books . . .

Anyhow, they have some very kind words about Punk Farm and Punk Farm on Tour:
Punk Farm and Punk Farm on Tour truly capture the rock experience in all its ragged glory, from band-mate camaraderie and songwriting to live performance and audience participation.

Read the full article here. And thank you to my friends over at The Horn Book!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Nerdies



Back when I was taking time away from work to tend to my growing family, I was honored with one of the inaugural Nerdies in the graphic novel category.

Thank you to all of the Nerds from the Nerdy Book Club for bestowing me with this honor for Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco!

Check out this great list of kids' comics and peruse this awesome new blog!


Thursday, January 05, 2012

Copy editing LL8 while reviewing the sketches on an iPad






My comments on the copy edited manuscript for Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril are in, which brings us that much closer to the finished book. The copy edits come back digitally now and I gave the sketches a once over on the iPad. (A great way to see them with fresh eyes.)

How very futuristic.

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

2012




There are so many exciting things ahead in 2012 that I can't wait to share with you. And in due time, I'll be able to share them all.

For now, I will tell you that you can look forward to the release of two new Lunch Lady books. Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes will publish on March 27th and Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril will publish on September 11th.

I'll have some public events in both the spring and the fall in support of the books. Though, there will be fewer events in the spring as we adjust to life with two children here in the Kroso home.

You can always stay up-to-date on my public events by checking in on my Google calendar, which is on the front page of StudioJJK.com.

And while you're marking your calendars, be sure to make note of the free LL7 Virtual Book Talk, which will take place on the day LL7 releases on March 27th. Info is here.

There is much to look forward to. Here's to a wonderful Twenty-Twelve for all!