Summer Schedule!

Summer reading is upon us! I am honored and delighted to have created the art for the Collaborative Summer Library Program. Perhaps you may see one of these posters hanging at your local library? If you do, please give your librarians a high-five for me!

I'll be stopping by a few libraries in New England this summer for book readings. Perhaps we can high-five the librarians together?

June 29 

3:30 pm
Watertown, MA
Watertown Public Library

June 30
6:00 pm Grades K-2

6:45 pm Book Signing

7:30 pm Grades 3 +
Durham, CT

Durham Public Library

July 7

Always Tardy Marty hits bookshelves! Written by the talented Erica S. Perl and illustrated by yours truly! Ironically, 
this book is hitting bookshelves early. (It was originally slated for September.)

July 21
6:30 pm
Walpole, MA
Walpole Public Library

August 6

Chicopee, MA

Chicopee Public Library

I know you don't want to think of back-to-school season just yet, but... Looking ahead to fall, here is a look at some
of the events that are getting cooked up. There will be more events added for It's Tough to Lose Your Balloon, so stay
tuned for more info!

September 5
Washington, D.C.
The National Book Festival

September 8

It's Tough to Loose Your Balloon hits bookshelves! When this book publishes, it will be the 30th book with the name Krosoczka on the spine!

September 8

4 pm

Dedham, MA

Blue Bunny Bookshop

September 9

Knoxville, TN

Union Avenue Books

September 12

Amherst, MA

The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art

September 19

Princeton, NJ

Princeton Book Festival

This Friday-an event with the Chesterfield County Public Library (Just outside Richmond, VA)

There is no doubt that I will have a BLAST on Friday with the librarians of Chesterfield County Library. Look at that cool flyer they made! And look at all of the super-fun tweets that they have been sending! If you live nearby, I hope to see you on Friday at 7 p.m.!

Here is the event page on their website:
http://ccpl-catalog.chesterfield.gov/record=g1003046&searchscope=0&SORT2=R

Come meet the creator of Lunch Lady Jarrett Krosoczka, Fri, 3/13, 7p, Career Tech Center@Hull pic.twitter.com/6xBHTcbzXq
— Chesterfield Library (@CCPLVA) March 9, 2015

This Lunch Lady fan is ready for Fri. night when she gets to see @StudioJJK live and on stage! http://t.co/gj78JWWkBN pic.twitter.com/wWW9sttsPF
— Chesterfield Library (@CCPLVA) March 9, 2015

@StudioJJK & @CCPDVa bring you Platypus Police Squad live on stage after Lunch Lady! http://t.co/gj78JWWkBN pic.twitter.com/n5KChaqnH8
— Chesterfield Library (@CCPLVA) March 6, 2015

J.G. Hening cafeteria staff joins forces with the Lunch Lady. Jarrett Krosoczka, Fri, March 13 pic.twitter.com/CppImq86JN

— Chesterfield Library (@CCPLVA) March 10, 2015

Hey, Pacific Northwest! I'll see you this week!

Seattle, WA is an incredibly welcoming city! I arrive on Wednesday and they're planning a parade! Wow! Talk about going above and beyond!

I will be at the Seattle Public Library, located at 1000 4th Avenue, on Wednesday (February 5th) at 7 pm. I'll be talking about Lunch Lady, sharing slides of my process, drawing and yucking it up in general. I'll also be scribbling and doodling in copies of any book with my last name on the spine.

If you can't make it to the library, I will be working with these bookstores: University Bookstore, Queen Anne Book Co., Secret Garden Bookstore and ParkPlace Books. While I won't have a public event with each, I am sure that if you live near one of those bookstores, they would be happy to take orders for personalized books that will be sufficiently scribbled and doodled in.

On Friday (February 7th) at 3:30 pm, I will be at Alameda Free Library, located at 1550 Oak Street in Alameda, CA. No word yet on whether or not the City of Alameda will have a parade that day, but either way, I will once again be talking Lunch Lady, sharing slides of my process, drawing and yucking it up. If you live nearby, but can't make it, sales will be provided by Books, Inc. They will also have the hook up for personalized books that are scribbled and doodled in.

See you soon, Pacific Northwest!

:)
JJK

Tour Schedule Winter / Spring 2014

I have some exciting events lined up to support of Lunch Lady and the Schoolwide Scuffle. I'll be hitting some cities that I haven't toured in since 2005's Punk Farm and I'll also be getting to some exciting festivals and conferences! It's always a good idea to double check with the venue ahead of the event. And definitely check back, because dates may be added. I hope to see you at one of the events listed below! (But not all the events, that would be a little stalkerish. I mean awkward, right?) 

January 28, 4 pm- Shelburne, VT- Flying Pig Bookstore

January 29, 10 am, 12 pm & 2 pm EST- Everywhere in the world- Tune in to the free virtual webcasts!

January 29, 5 pm EST - Everywhere in the world! Tune in to The Absolutely Mindy Show on SiriusXM's Kids Place Live and call in to ask me questions live on the air! 1-866-328-2345

February 5, 7pm- Seattle, WA- Seattle Public Library

February 7, 3:30pm- Alameda, CA- Alameda Free Library

February 20, 6:30 pm- Boston, MA- Children’s MediaAssociation Children’s Book Event

March 10, 8 am- Hyannis, MA- (MSLA) Massachusetts SchoolLibrary Association

March 16, 11:30 am-Tucson, AZ- Tucson Festival of Books

March 17, Phoenix, AZ (More info to come)

March 25, 11:40 am, WI Dells, WI- WEMTA (Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology
Association)

March 29, Northampton, MA- MELTDOWN!

April 8, Peanut Butter and Jellyfish publishes!

April 8, Portland, ME (More info to come)

April 13, Los Angeles, CA- LA Times Festival of Books

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

May 3, Celebrate School Lunch Hero Day!

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

Flying Pig Bookstore in VT this Tuesday!

I am terribly excited to drive up to Vermont on Tuesday, January 28th, to celebrate the release of Lunch Lady and the Schoolwide Scuffle! I will be signing books at the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne!

The actual event will happen at Shelburne Town Hall, 5420 Shelburne Road, which is an easy two minute walk from the bookstore.

I hope to see you there, Vermonters! Is it true that all visitors to Vermont get complimentary maple syrup and free samples of every Ben & Jerry's flavor? Or is that just a rumor?

Beaming from my studio to your classroom - this Wednesday!

To celebrate the release of Lunch Lady and the Schoolwide Scuffle, I'll be live from my studio on Wednesday, January 29th at 10 am, 12 pm and 2 pm! This is a free event for all! Just log onto www.studiojjk.com/freevirtualbooktalks.html for all of the information that you will need to participate!

As with all of my webcasts, signed and personalized books are available for pre-order via Broadside Bookshop. Click here to order. Please input names for inscription in the order under the "Order Comments" field.

See you on the Interwebs! Ralph will be ready for you!

two events at RISD this weekend

I am thrilled to be returning to the RISD campus this weekend for a few fantastic events during the RISD by Design weekend.

On Friday evening, I'll be giving the keynote kick-off for the Mindshare lecture series. At 6:30 p.m., I will deliver a talk called "How to Make It Once You've Made It" in which I'll retrace my steps from the Illustration Studies Building to where I am now. More info on that is here.

On Saturday at 2 p.m., I will join fellow literati RISD alum Marcellus Hall  and Jen Corace for a fun family event called RISD READS.  All of the info that you need on this event is here.

Tour Schedule Fall 2013

Happy back-to-school season! I'm gearing up for a very exciting fall, where I'll be visiting with students and educators in seventeen states. Whenever I can, I hold public events during my travels. Below is where you can find me in the next few months. Perhaps I'll see you there?





September 5, 5 PM- Slidell, LA- St. Tammany Parish Library- Slidell Branch Library

September 22, Brooklyn, NY- Brooklyn Book Festival

October 5, 10 AM- Chapel Hill, NC- University of North Carolina Steinfirst Lecture

October 11, 6:30 PM- Providence, RI- RISD's Entrepreneur Mindshare Keynote

October 12, 2 PM- Providence, RI- RISD READS Children's Book Reading and Signing

October 19, 9 AM- Providence, RI- Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors

October 23, 12 PM- Green Bay, WI- Wisconsin Library Association Author Luncheon Series

November 2, 8:30PM - 12:30 PM- Chestnut Hill, MA - The Foundation for Children's Books 

November 10, 10 AM- Storrs, CT- Connecticut Children's Book Fair

November 17, 9 AM- Hartford, CT- Rising to the Challenge- American Association of School Libraries Author Breakfast

November 21, 4:30 PM- Boston, MA- National Counsel of Teachers of English Conference:
Elementary Section Get-Together

November 22, Boston, MA- National Counsel of Teachers of English Conference: 12-1 Platypus Police Squad signing at HarperCollins Children's Books, 1-2 signing Lunch Lady at Random House Children's Books

Summer Flashback: BookExpo

Thank you to everyone at BookExpo who stood in line to get their books scribbled and sketched in way back in May! I am humbled and honored by the outpouring of support that you all gave me!

And look! My head was on a stick. You know you've made it when. . .

And apparently my wife Gina and agent Rebecca coordinated their outfits for the occasion:

Here's a Krosoczka Fun Fact. I enjoyed this pedi-cab ride. Gina did not. . .

Summer Flashback: The Worcester Public Library

Thank you to my hometown library for hosting a launch party for Platypus Police Squad!

And guess who turned up. . .

My 1st grade teacher Mrs. Alisch! My sister Holly (pictured here) had her as a teacher, too. In fact, everybody in the Krosoczka family had her as a teacher over the years!

Also in attendance. . .

Mrs. Casey! Mrs. Casey gave me my first gig. She moderated the high school newspaper and hired me to be the cartoonist. And that role came at such a critical time in my life.

Summer Flashback: The American Library Association's annual conference

Thank you to everyone in the League of Librarians who came out to hear us yuck it up at our panel: Krosoczka! Telgemeir! TenNapel! Comics Your Kids Love By Names You Can't Pronounce, Moderated by Jon Scieszka. It was standing room only and Raina, Doug, Jon and I had a very engaging discussion on comics, consonants and hilarity.

And of course a special thank you to those who used the official hashtag: #ScieszkaKrosoczkaTelgemeierandTenNapeltalkcomics. (Seriously, check the link, people used that hashtag!)

Here are some photos from the panel:

And of course, a big thank you to all who came to get signatures and sketches in their Lunch Lady and Platypus Police Squad books!

Also, it was great to see everyone at the Newbury/Caldecott Awards Banquet. You all clean up very well. Here I am with Knopf Publisher Nancy Hinkel and Newbery medalists Patricia McLaughlin and Cynthia Voigt. 

Summer Flashback: The School Nutrition Association's ANC!

The School Nutrition Association hosted their Annual National Conference where our nation's school lunch staff converged to talk about putting forth the best programs for our nation's kids! It was an absolutely wild experience to keynote to 2,500 folks!

Here's a peak at the room before it got filled with enthusiastic school lunch superheroes:

Hanging out with Lunch Lady and Lynette, Cindy, Shannon and Terry, who appeared on Food Network's Chopped. I had the honor of interviewing these ladies on stage!

I think Betty could create something powerful with this piece of culinary equipment.

I want to cosplay a Snap, Crackle and Pop next year. Who's with me?

Al, Lisa, Darius and me.

Quite possibly the longest book signing line I've ever had. I now know how David Hasselhoff feels whenever he visits Germany.

Thank you to all of the SNA members who welcomed Lunch Lady and me to your conference! We had a fantastic time in KC with you!

Summer Flashback: Create2013 and the Iowa Reading Association

Earlier this summer, I had the great opportunity to speak at two conferences. Create gathered art educators from across Tennessee, and the Iowa Reading Association brought together reading teachers from across the Hawkeye State.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take many pictures at either conference. But both were stellar. I love when I have the opportunity to speak to big groups of educators. Everyone inspired!

Summer Flashback: Knoxville

I had a fantastic time at the Knoxville's Children's Festival of Reading back in May. Thank you to all who put it together!

Back in early 2006 when blogs became a thing, a blog called 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast started writing about my books and became an ardent supporter of my work. After all this time, I finally had the pleasure of meeting Jules in person!

Jules led a very engaging conversation with fellow authors Debbie Diesen, Bob Shea, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen and Marc Tyler Nobleman.

Summer Flashback: Nantucket Book Festival

Thank you to everyone at the Nantucket Book Festival for an excellent weekend!

Photo from the NBF FB page.

Nantucket - a small island with two power indie bookstores!

The ‪Nantucket‬ Book Fest had a party for the authors at the Great Harbor Yacht Club, so I wore my pirate/sailor socks. Because, you know - that's what one wears to a yacht club, right?

Summer Flashback: The Houston Public Library

Everyone at the Houston Public Library were so awesome. They even made giant Fish Stick Nunchucks!

I landed at IAH a day ahead of my event at the Houston Public Library and was greeted by a familiar face...

It was an unbelievable day at the Houston Public Library. These librarians went all out! Just crazy over the top! They decorated their hallways to look like the back alley of a ‪PunkFarm‬ concert.

Lost Elephant posters at the Houston Library! Listed on the tear-aways: call numbers to books about elephants!

At the Houston Library - kids could be any Lunch Lady villain they wanted to be!

Honey, I shrunk the Lunch Lady. Giant LL gadgets at the Houston Library.

The librarians feted art contest entrants with lunch and free books inside lunch boxes!

Dress up and rock with Punk Farm or visit the actual animals in the petting zoo!

The kids of the Houston Library will grow up to fill our libraries and rule our world!

Thank you Houston Library librarians and patrons for an incredible day!

Check out more of the awesomeness on the Houston Public Library's Flickr page!