Thursday, July 26, 2012

Nothing like mentions in Publishers Weekly to motivate one to meet those deadlines!

In PW's Fall 2012 Children's Books issue, Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril (out September 11) gets a nice mention. Also, in the Spring 2013 section, Lunch Lady and the Video Game Villain gets a nice plug, as does Platypus Police Squad: The Frog Who Croaked!

Want to see an gigantic list of books being published for young readers? Check PW's fall 2012 and spring 2013 lists.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Join me for free virtual comics workshops, 2 months from today!



In exactly two months, I will be celebrating the release of Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril by offering free virtual comic workshops throughout the day! We'll all write one big ol' comic together and learn more about the medium of comics. LL #8 will have published one week prior, so come armed with a few questions about Lunch Lady's latest adventure!

Click here for all of the information you'll need to connect with me on September 18, 2012!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The evening in which my 3 year old daughter hand-sold copies of my books

Last evening, the entire family visited Newburyport, MA. It's a lovely old New England seaport town.


A trip to Newburyport is not complete without a stop to The Book Rack, a wonderful local indie bookshop.



The whole family browsed. But eventually Lucy, now 7 months, was done. And she let us know. So I took the fussy little one out to the sidewalk to calm her down. Then I looked in the window and saw my wife, Gina, laughing and shrugging her shoulders to me. Zoe, who is now 3 1/2, is not shy. She easily makes friends and noticed there was also a little girl with her mommy looking to find a book.

"What books are you buying? I'm buying this book," She then led the kid and mom over to a display the store had of my books. "You should buy my daddy's books!"


The mother wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She looked to Gina, who nodded her head. Yup, the kid isn't making that up.

And the book that Zoe chose for herself to take home?

Monday, July 16, 2012

Jef Czekaj on the radio and in person!



It's Jef Czekaj Week here at StudioJJK! On Wednesday at 5:40 pm EDT, tune into SiriusXM's Kids Place Live (channel 78) to here me interview Jef on The Book Report with JJK! Jef combined his love for turtles, rabbits and rap to create one of the most exciting new picture book series in Hip & Hop!


And then on Saturday, July 21st, come by ArtBeat in Somerveille, MA! Jef and I will share a stage and it will be a punk/rap KidLitPalooza with Punk Farm and Hip & Hop. We'll take the stage at 2 pm! If the heat doesn't melt your ice cream, the rock will!



Wednesday, July 11, 2012

a Lunch Lady comic by Dafne


I love it when kids draw my characters. I especially love it when they take my characters on new adventures! Check out Lunch Lady and the New Lunch Lady, a comic by Dafne. Not only is Dafne super talented, she's resourceful. She took a barcode off of a banana for the barcode on her library edition of this new Lunch lady adventure. Keep making those comics, Dafne!

Read her comic below!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

The League of Librarians




Recently on Twitter, I was asked by a group of librarians if I would design a League of Librarians T-shirt. Apparently, they had adopted the name for their team in The Summer Throwdown, an online competition between teachers and librarians to see who could read the most books over the summer months. Originally, they were Team Librarian, but took on the monicker of League of Librarians (from the 2nd volume in the Lunch Lady series) to strike fear in the hearts of their opponents. Needless to say, I was honored and much to their surprise, designed something up and placed it on Zazzle. Their enthusiasm was just fantastic. After the book was published, I did receive a few messages from librarians who were pretty angry about the book. This really upset me because the book was meant to be a cheeky love letter to librarians and I hate the thought of my work upsetting a group of people that I hold in such high regard. As an author, you can receive heaps of praise, but you remember the few voices of dissent above all else. The excitement from this group over on Twitter erases all of that beyond measure.


So GO #LeagueofLibrarians!!!

Friday, July 06, 2012

Today, I played with paint in the studio...

...all in preparation for my summer 2014 picture book.

The Summer Book Club's July pick!


July is all about the awesome comics created by the sibling collaborators Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm! Read the latest Babymouse and Squish books (and all of the rest, also!) and call in to chat with Jenni and Matt LIVE on July 25th at 5 pm EDT! Listen in on Kids Place Live, SXM 78, too!

And one lucky winner will get their picture drawn up by Matt! Check out Kids Place Live's website for the details! 

Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Angela DiTerlizzi is this week's guest on the Book Report!

This week, The Book Report with JJK will be on Thursday. (Happy 4th of July, everyone!) And I'll be chatting with Angela DiTerlizzi about her hysterical books! Tune into SIRIUS XM'S KiDS Place LiVE  (channel 78) at 5:40 pm EST!