Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween! Skelton flamingos and Lunch Lady pumpkins

We are feeling incredibly grateful here in the Krosoczka house to be celebrating Halloween this evening. The hurricane's fury avoided us completely. Our hearts go out to all of the folks in the affected areas. And I feel lucky to even be home. I had been in Austin for the Texas Book Festival. I had already canceled Sunday's appearances, but was scheduled on a flight out on Sunday morning. On Saturday afternoon, while signing books with Dav Pilkey, Lisa McMann and Mac Barnett, I glanced at my phone and saw that Massachusetts was in a state of emergency. I took off to pack my bags and head to the airport and got on the last flight of the evening. Sadly, many of my Northeast author friends are still stuck in Austin. Not a bad city to be stuck in, but I would far rather be home with my kids. Not only to shelter them from the storm, but to decorate pumpkins like this:


My three year old drew this. So proud!

And with the storm behind us, the yard decorations are back out on display:




Not only to I feel fortunate to have my house in order, I feel so lucky that folks like my work enough to use my characters as inspiration for their Halloween celebrations. Check out the awesome Nash family below! I had to pick myself up off the floor when I saw how they decked themselves out for their Halloween shenanigans.





And remember Lunch Lady super fan who drew this awesome comic? Her librarian sent in this photo of her storytime pumpkin!




And this morning, third grade teacher Kerry Ciccone tweeted this photo to me:


And that's not to mention that her son made this awesome project for his literacy parade project!


If you are celebrating Halloween and using any of my characters, I am so incredibly honored! And I would love to see your creativity in action! Please email them to me (props at studiojjk.com) or Tweet or Facebook them to me!


UPDATED!

Laura Lintz, who shares the same initials as Lunch Lady, sent in this awesome picture from the Arlington Library!


Wednesday, October 24, 2012

lucky me in Lucky and Squash!

I do believe I failed to blog about this earlier in the year. But my dear friends and neighbors Jeanne Birdsall and Jane Dyer teamed up on an amazing book called Lucky and Squash.



During the making of the book, Jane called Jeanne. She needed photo reference of a man holding a dog. As luck would have it, Jeanne had a drawer full of just that! Huh?  You see, Jeanne took a series of author photos of me holding Ralph. She passed them on to Jane. So if you are reading Lucky and Squash to your kids, and you think you see me, you're not going crazy. That is indeed me in the book playing the part of Mr. Bernard!


Here is a photo of the talented duo reading from the book at last spring's launch at nearby Broadside Bookshop!





Monday, October 22, 2012

Tra-la-laa! Dav Pilkey on The Book Report with JJK this Tuesday!

This Tuesday (October 22) at 5:40 ET / 2:40 PT, Mr. Underpants himself will be chatting with me on The Book Report with JJK! Tune in to SiriusXM's Kids Place Live, channel 78, to hear Dav Pilkey tell me all about where Captain Underpants came from! SPOILER ALERT: It's a character he's had since elementary school!


Where I'll be this weekend at the Texas Book Festival

I'm very excited to return to the Texas Book Festival in Austin, TX at the end of the week! And it'll be a busy few days for me. Below is my full schedule. Do come out and say hello! Or, uh...howdy!

And if you follow me on Twitter at @StudioJJK, perhaps you can win some fun things throughout the weekend!



10 AM
Lunch Ladies, Mummies & Class Clowns 
Saturday, October 27
Texas State Capitol: Capitol Extension Room E2.012

2:15
Captain Underpants! 
JJK will be giving a dramatic reading in celebration of Dav Pilkey's latest Captain Underpants book!
Saturday, October 27
Family Life Center (1300 Lavaca)



Due to the impending "frankenstorm" that's due to hit the Northeast, I'll be leaving the Texas Book Festival a bit early to batten down the hatches at home. I'm sad to miss out on the fun on Sunday, but I hope that I get to see many folks at the festivities on Saturday!

Friday, October 19, 2012

PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest



Earlier this fall, I was honored to serve as a judge for the PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest for young writers. It was certainly a difficult task to choose from the selections, they were all so amazing! Fortunately, I didn't go it alone. Buddies and neighbors Tony DiTerlizzi and Mo Willems also served as judges, as well as an amazing cast of folks like Lisa Henson and Jewel.

The winning books have been posted to PBS's website here. Definitely give them a read! I found them all so inspiring.

When I was reading all of the entries, I couldn't help but think of the first book that I ever wrote back when I was on the 3rd grade.

Congratulations to all of the winners and to all who entered! I look forward to reading future books of yours!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Lucy Cousins on The Book Report with JJK this Wednesday!



This week, Lucy Cousins will be featured on The Book Report with JJK! The Maisy creator was visiting from across the pond and I caught up with her ahead of her event at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Her exhibit at the Carle, which features many originals from the Maisy books and my family's favorite -- Hooray for Fish, is up until November 25th. More info on the Carle's current exhibits is here.

Tune in to SiriusXM's Kids Place Live, channel 78, on Wednesday October 17th at 5:40 ET / 2:40 PT.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Picture Day Peril worksheet

Can you match the school picture with the author photo?

Download the PDF of the Picture Day Peril worksheet here!

New York Comic Con: kids' comics panel this Sunday


This Sunday, I'll be moderating a panel on kids' comics at NYCC. Moderating! I feel like not only was I chosen for the team, but made team captain. Take that every gym class ever!

Here's all of the info:


COMICS TO GROW ON
Sunday, October 14th
10:45--11:45 AM, 1A08
Description: Want to raise a comic book aficionado? Start here! With characters ranging from a neurotic rabbit to a crime-fighting lunch lady, these authors are masters at penning comics for the youngest age group. Look forward to a discussion about presenting the comic book format to the littlest readers in an accessible and often downright hilarious way guaranteed to have them reading AND writing comics in no time at all.

1. Jarrett J. Krosoczka (Lunch Lady Series) - moderator
2. Patrick McDonnell (Mutts comic strip; The Monster’s Monster)
3. Scott Campbell (East Dragon, West Dragon)
4. Peter Brown (Creepy Carrots)
5. Matthew Reinhart (Star Wars: A Galactic Pop-Up Adventure)
6. Philip Amara (So You Want to Be a Comic Book Artist)
7. Ben Hatke (Legends of Zita the Spacegirl)
8. Zack Giallongo (Broxo)
9. Orpheus Collar (The Red Pyramid: Graphic Novel)

Monday, October 08, 2012

Grace Lin on The Book Report with JJK this Wednesday at 5:40 pm ET!




On Wednesday, October 10th, Grace Lin will hit the satellite radio airwaves on The Book Report with JJK! Are you as excited to read The Starry River of the Sky as I am?

Tune in to channel 78 at 5:40 pm ET / 2 pm PT!




Upcoming shows:
October 17: Lucy Cousins
October 24: Dav Pilkey

Friday, October 05, 2012

Find me in Augusta, GA this Sunday



I'll be reading at the Westobou Art Festival this Sunday at 2pm. My event will happen at the Augusta-Richmond Public Library. More info can be found here!