Texas!

So after a whirlwind week of a signing in Philly and an art opening in Providence, I boarded a plane for the Lone Star state. The Texas Librarian's Association was going on and I was making up school visits missed because of Hurricane Rita (I tacked on a few more schools as well). The coolest thing about getting down to Texas so often, is that my best friend from RISD grew up there and lives there. Jamie and her husband Jeremy are two of my favorite people on the face of the planet. They run a very successful business Imago Dei Gallery and will celebrate their 4th wedding anniversary at the end of May. So while a week's worth of school visits is hard work, I get to hang out with some great friends and their great friends who have now become great friends of mine as well.

I was honored by Baghead's permanent place on Sampson Elementary's new library mural and was also honored with some great drawings by kids that decorated Foster Elementary. When all was said and done, I probably spoke to close to 3,000 or so kids in the 6 days of visits I gave. It was also cool to have some friends and their kids come by to see the visits. Tyler and Timmy, whose parents are old family friends, came by and Isaiah came with his mom and sister and Mika came with her kids as well.

The real highlight for me during this Texas trip was our journey out to "the hill country". (Jamie has been talking about this place since we first met. She and her family go every summer.) Jamie and Jeremy's church had planned a retreat out to the Frio River and we stayed in these nice cabins. It was 5 hours west of Houston, so we drove through some towns that literally looked like they were from old western movies, towns that were built around railroads. I bought a cowboy hat at Buc-Cee's pit stop and oddly enough, I wasn't even self conscious about wearing it. I felt like a full out Texan. We went kayaking and swimming and it was a great getaway - no cell phone service, no internet... and if you fail to put suntan lotion on, you will pay for it. That Texan sun is ruthless! I had a few red stripes on my arms in places that I missed....

An all around great trip! I landed at about 1:30 AM (Flight delays are AWESOME!) And then I woke up to head down to Providence for RISD's illustration portfolio review. I saw so incredibly talented young artists. These kids will have books out in a few years, so watch outAnd now I need to kick the studio time into gear because I am revising what will be book #9! I've been working on a lot of research and I need to get work done before I head to NYC next weekend to see my friend Jonathan Weiner's art exhibit and I fly out to LA for a week for big important meetings.

And speaking of RISD, Jamie had this picture of our first day at RISD.

photos from the URI show

Kelly Murphy and I are about as gangsta as you can get...

Jen and Erin representin' HITWGC!

'99 Represent! (don't look too closely at Evan's moustache...it may hypnotize you and overpower you....)

with Mary Jane Begin and Christopher Denise

For all you RISD kids out there, you'll be happy to know that 'Gallery Guy' was in attendance...for those of you who don't know this guy, 'Gallery Guy' (also known as 'Sample Man') mysteriously turns up at every opening at RISD and takes a look at all the art, while munching on whatever cheese or crackers that is there. But apparently it's more than just RISD...he is an enigma...this has been going on for years...

show in RI this thursday

hey everyone-

i'm in an art exhibit this thursday at uri. the opening is from 6-8. if you're around, stop by. the show is up until april 28th.

more info here

lucky.

As one could imagine – yesterday was a crazy day for me. The news officially broke that Dreamworks Animation has acquired the rights to develop and produce an animated CG film based on Punk Farm. It made the cover of Variety!

Thank you everyone for the messages, phone calls – everything! It all started at 8:30 in the morning when my phone rang and it was my old college buddy Steve (who had gotten a call from our friend Sean – who had read about it on comingsoon.net). The e-mails and phone calls of support didn’t stop until late in the evening. There were a lot of "Whoa's", "Woo Hoo's" and other "W" words as well as a lot of exclamation points and words in ALL CAPS!!!

I am truly a lucky man. Not just because of the great news but because of the amazingly supportive family that I have and because of all of the great friends that I’ve been able to surround myself by in life.

In the midst of this activity yesterday, I received a package from my friends down in Texas – J and Tendel. They wanted to share with me the goodie bag that had been given away at Isaiah’s 5th birthday party. Included was a CD of family friendly punk music. I listened to the CD as I ate lunch. And then, to my surprise, the last track wasn’t a song, but Isaiah reading Punk Farm.

It made everything that I’ve been working towards so worth it. And it will serve as a reminder to me as to what is real and important.

To listen to Isaiah reading Punk Farm, click here.

ready for my close up.....

BIG NEWS!!!

Guys Read @ PLA

I landed from Virginia and before I could unpack, I was off to the Public Library Association conference in Boston. I had a great signing at the Random House booth on Thursday and then I got to take a break from all the madness of running around and had a big lunch with Tony and Angela DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. It was good to kick back with good friends and talk books. I saw Alvina for all of a few minutes (sorry we didn't get to hang out more!). That night, Penguin Putnam sponsored a dinner for Jon Scieszka and myself. We had a great bunch of librarians and book people to dine with. Jon and I decided we were going to start a new award - the best children's book of the year awarded to an author and illustrator whose last name ended in "zka". There would be two categories - one for writing and one for illustrating.... So keep your eyes open for it and vote often!

You would think I would have retired for the evening then, but one of my favorite bands, Mates of State, was playing in Cambridge. And over the past 3 years, I have missed their show every time!!! So I jumped on the T and met up with my sister and our friend Skot for an amazing show. I wanted to buy a CD and a T-shirt, so I walked up to the merch booth and as I was looking up at the various T's, the kid behind the counter said "Excuse me... do you write children's books?"
I looked down."Yes," I said.
"Did you work at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp?"
"Yeeesss..." I responded.
"You used to be my counselor!"
And I did! Wow. It was Mark Jorbain. Wow! I hadn't seen him in 5 years. And now he is 22 and has started his own record label, Third World Industries and he is managing the opening act of the show that I saw.

I got to bed a little passed 2 AM and then woke up early the next day for the Guys Read panel discussion at PLA. I met up with Jon and Tim Basil Ering and we walked over to the conference together. Now spending any time with Tim Basil is like a whirlwind, because he just gives you so much energy. We turned up at the conference hall and Tim and I suddenly realized that we were talking to a much larger group than we thought we would be - there were at least 6oo people or so. Maybe I should have planned better - I thought it was going to be more casual! We were soon joined by the Erik P. Kraft (who has quickly rose to being one of the funniest people I know) and Tony D. Jon discussed the Guys Read mission and statistics on how low reading scores are for boys. Why don't guys read?

We were each introduced and spoke of reading, writing and drawing as young kids. It was amazing to see how many of the same themes came up in all of our lives - comic books got us into things, reading didn't always come easily....... We had a great signing afterwards and signing like that in a group was more fun than I would have ever imagined. We talked about maybe forming a band and touring together.

Then some wacky guy in the booth across from us started throwing around chocolate covered nut clusters. Don't ask me why - but I'm glad he did - I was hungry!

Here is a picture from the talk. Tim took more with his camera, so when I get my hands on more pics, I'll post them.

If that wasn't enough, then dozens of friends came into Boston for the weekend to celebrate Kevin Rice's (AKA Edie from "Page by Page") birthday. So many good friends came in from as far away as the UK, California and Louisiana. So many surprises and more good friends that I haven't seen in years in some cases and months in other cases......

I think I may be having over stimulation withdrawal.....

back from Virgina

I had a great week and a half in Virginia! A big thank you to my friend Liz in Fairfax for setting up schools in her area and to Joan for coordinating the schools in Charlottesville (and that one crazy stop in-between - and I'm talking about the schools, not the speeding ticket!) And of course a big thanks to every school that had me!

I got to see a lot of old and good friends along the way. Some who I haven't seen in years - like Jamie Smith who is engaged now! - and old friends that I get to see often, but not enough as I really should - like John McNeil - who is at the start of his career in med school!

Happy 5th Birthday, Isaiah!

By far one of the coolest things that has happened to me over the years is when I catch wind of a birthday cake that has one of my characters on it. The first time that it ever happened to me was shortly after Good Night, Monkey Boy was released. At the time, it jolted me into realizing that my work was out there and that kids were vibing with what I was doing. I placed the photo on the wall in front of my drafting table to remind me of that fact if I was ever having a bad day. A birthday cake is a big deal - the photos will be in their family albums forever.

With Punk Farm, I've been told of three Punk Farm themed birthday parties this year! And with the latest - I've been jolted just as I was 4 years ago when I received that picture of the Monkey Boy cake. My friends in Texas have a son, Isaiah, who just turned 5. He loves Punk Farm and can recite every word without even looking at the book! His parents put together quite the party and I am honored that Isaiah's 5th birthday involved Punk Farm!

They sent me this great invitation and some great pictures -

kid quote - maybe not in a book...but on a blog.....

KID: Someday, could you write a story about our school?
ME: Well…all of my experiences add up…and my experiences end up in my books somehow…
KID: My name is Paul.

kid quote - funny kid responses

Ok, so one of the main reasons why I started this blog was to be able to record the random things that kids come up with when I'm on the road promoting. Here's a sampling of recent remarks:

ME: Who can tell me what happens when you graduate college?

Various answers:
-You start your career.
-You go to grad school.
-You go to med school. (These 1st graders are planners!)
-You have summer vacation.
-You get to wear a funny hat.
-You get your driver's licence.
-You're FREE!!!!
____________________________________________

KID #1: Are you married yet?
ME: No
Group moans.
KID #2, turns around and says : Guys, he's only in his twenties! Come on, people!
_______________________________________________

As kids are shuffling out -
KID: Do you like the Red Sox?
ME: Yeah!
KID (Makes a face of disgust): Well I like the Yankees. Thanks for Damon!
He turns and leaves.

F&G's

F&G stands for "folded and gathered", which means that it looks like the book, but none of the pages are bound together. The colors are just about right, some things may be moved around slightly, but it's the closest you get to seeing the book before you see the actual book.

The F&G's for My Buddy, Slug came in this past week and they look great! Another step closer to seeing this book in print!!!!

How I Met Your Extra

Wow – life has been busy. I was in Colorado for an amazing vacation with my brother and some great friends (see pictures) and then I had a school visit in Denver. Great day. At one point, I was trying to explain that I had just finished a book and was going to ask the kids when the book would come out (being that I told them earlier that it takes a year for a book to be released once the art is done). And in true publishing mindset fashion – I said, “I finished the art for this book in fall of 2006, so when will it come out?”. A kid in the first row raised his hand and said, “Fall 2006 hasn’t happened yet!”

Oh yeah. He was right. It hadn’t.

I then flew to LA for a few days to see some friends and I also had a meeting with my agent out there. It was a crazy few days.

I got to see my friend Bryan Konietzko’s studio at Nickelodeon where he creates his show Avatar: The Last Airbender. Definitely inspirational and cool to see where all the magic happens.

I also got into a car accident. Here’s a bit advice – when you rent a car, make sure you take out the full rental insurance policy. I’m sure glad I did – because when you’re in LA and you get into an accident, odds are the cars involved are nice. As in a Jaguar and two Mercedes nice……

Everyone involved was safe, but it was sure a bit of a shake up.

I also got to be on TV. Not because of the accident, but because my friend Carter co-created How I Met Your Mother, which is a sitcom on CBS. I had the great opportunity to attend a taping of the season finale and then Carter asked if I would like to be an extra. So look for me in the bar scenes of the season finale! My first professional acting gig involved the cast of How I met Your Mother and me. Yes, my 1st scene involved 1 extra and I was that one extra. When you see me sitting at the next booth over and it may look like I’m talking to someone, but there was no one there….that was ACTING!

After LA, I returned to LA, where I met up with my friend Chris Milmoe (Boyfriend from “Page by Page”) and his family and I hit the mountain for 2 more days. Then reality was back and I returned home, worked on some projects, had a local book signing (it was very successful, the BN was able to bus in 140 kids) and then I took off to Virginia Beach for the Virginia State Reading Association Conference. Came home. Went to Worcester Art Museum for Art All State training, saw my mom, had dinner with my brother and sister and now I am packing to go back to Virginia for an 8 day book tour. Baghead is nominated for a Virginia state award so a bunch of schools are having me down.

When I get home, it’s straight to the Public Librarians Association conference in Boston, then up to NH for a school visit, then down to RI to drop off artwork.

So yeah – I’m keeping busy. And I’m also looking for a new hat. A new hat comes along every once in a great while. And in my travels, I’ve managed to lose my two favorite hats - my favorite winter hat and my favorite baseball cap. My brother and I wandered around the mall looking, but to no avail. I’ll be sure to keep this pressing issue at the forefront of my blog.

today, i watched the sun set.

colorado

Words can't even begin to describe how awesome this past weekend was. Breckenridge, CO with my brother Rich, my friends Ali, James and Steve. I'll just let the pictures do the talking.

amazon image

The cover of My Buddy, Slug is now on amazon.com.....

.......slug..............

So the release date of My Buddy, Slug has been officialy been set for September 12, 2006! (It was moved up a bit.) And - the amazon.com page has popped up and the catalogue page on Random House's web site is up as well.

....getting......excited.........

hanging with Babar

Last week I went into New York City for the Child Magazine Best Books of 2005 Awards celebration. I had the honor of meeting Laurent de Brunhoff, who has been creating Babar books for 60 years. It was incredible to meet someone who is a living history of the book world. Laurent was being honored with a lifetime achievement award.

There were a ton of other great authors and illustrators there as well! Mo Willems told me a while back that this event was always a stellar one – and he was so right! While I had “met” a number of the artists over the phone a few years ago when I was asking them to create snowflakes for Robert’s Snow, it was really cool to meet Mark Teague, Chris Rashka and John J. Muth in person.

I also got to meet some great fans. Including a dad who told me how much Punk Farm meant to his son and a kid who told me that his favorite bands were among those listed on Punk Farm’s website as their favorite bands.
“What are some of your favorite bands?” I asked.
“Blondie,” he responded without missing a beat. He went on to list Green Day, the Ramones and the Clash as well. So awesome.

Laurent deBrunhoff

All of the authors and illustrators.

Mo Willems

Knopf REPRESENT! Michelle and Nancy

Beckerman is now an AD at Abrams and is in charge of stuff

Megghan McCarthy & agent extraordinaire Rebecca Sherman

3 of John McNeil's favorite people

the NEW studiojjk.com

www.studiojjk.com

It's finished! (Well, 99% of it is at least.) There's a ton of new stuff on there, which I'll outline below, but somewhere on the site is the most embarrassing photo ever taken of me. Yes – my student ID from my freshman year of high school. But it's hidden – and hidden well! Odds are, you won't find it, but good luck!

BOOKS – In the new book section you can now download Spanish translations of my books. For those of you who teach Spanish speaking students, simply print the translations and then cut and paste them into your books. (If you notice any glaring grammar problems, feel free to correct me.) Big thanks to my mom, Jose Torres, Issha Ortiz and Jimmy Guity for their help!

ABOUT – The about section is restructured. If you loved the fake bio, you'll love the faker bio.

STORE – Aside from ordering books, you can order buttons and posters now, too.

FREE STUFF – Tons of stuff here. Aside from everything that was already there, you can now download characters to your mobile phone. You can download images to iron on T-shirts and also download images to your Playstation Portable.

To fully experience the site, your screen should be set to a minimum of 1024 X 768. Many thanks go to my nephew Griffin Boyle (Happy Birthday!) and good friend Jen Bailey for their voice talents.

I hope you enjoy it!

www.studiojjk.com

YEE-HAW!

Whoa- how did this happen?! I have a book out today!!!

My 7th book - Giddy Up, Cowgirl - is officially on sale! It's about a free spirited toddler who is trying her best to help her mom run errands. But not everything works out as planned......

Take a look at a preview.

Order yerself a copy!

connect the dots

Stephen Hawking. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Neil Gamman. Captain Underpants. Eragon. Jarrett J. Krosoczka. How could you connect those dots? Give up?

They are all represented by the same agency. It is with great pride that I announce that I now have an agent. Her name is Rebecca Sherman and she is with the prestigious Writers House. It is a decision that has been long in the making, but as my career continues to grow, I am no longer going it alone. Thank you to everyone who has listened to me and given me advice while I was searching for the right agent and while I was even considering taking one on in the first place.

I couldn't be happier about the decision. All good things to come! Stay tuned.

ATTENTION: NYC!

I am getting so excited for the Child Magazine book signing next week. If you're in New York City, you should come by. Barnes and Noble at Union Sq @ 7 PM. Check out this line up - it's out of control. I'll be honored to even be in the same room as these people!

the rhythm is gonna get you.....

In the beginning of January, I received a phone call from Target. They asked if I was available on January 27th and if I was willing to fly to San Diego. I don’t think I missed a beat when I said, “Yes”. They just became a sponsor for United Through Reading, which is this amazing program where people in the armed services, who are overseas, are videotaped reading a book. That DVD is then given too their children back in the US. So the event in San Diego was a kick-off for this sponsorship.

I flew out on Thursday and I went to the venue soon after I arrived (The Aerospace Museum) where they were preparing for the event. Target actually gave away 720 copies of Punk Farm to
the families in attendance and I signed every single copy. (And drew a picture in every single copy, too!) It was definitely the biggest quantity I had ever signed. (It took about 3 hours or so.)

The event on Friday was amazing. Target sure knows how to throw a good party. I facilitated a mural wall with the kids. It was so cool because I don’t always get to connect one on one when I’m at book events, so it was great to go between signing books and then drawing with kids. Some kids drew about the war or their parents; some just drew Sponge Bob Square Pants. But the bottom line for me is that I was so moved by the plight that the families must endure while their loved ones are overseas. Whether spoken or not, every kid and parent there was dealing with something incredibly heavy.

On another note, I had the opportunity to meet Gloria Estafan. (She was the main attraction of the night. She spoke of her experiences having a father who was gone to war, she read her book, sang and then signed copies.) I shook her hand, looked her square in the eye and said, "Gloria, I just wanted you to know - that at my 8th grade graduation - we sang 'Coming Out of the Dark' "

I think she appreciated it.

And to see just how tight we are now, check out this drawing a kid made of us all hanging out.

SLUG update

So to give you a sense of a book's progress in real time - at the end of December I received my first round of mechanicals from my designer at Random House, Melissa Nelson. Mechanicals are the first drafts of the pages with the art scanned in and the text put into place. The color is far from close, but this is where we make sure everything is where it needs to be before it goes to proof (where the color is corrected to be exact).

Melissa is an incredibly talented designer and we have a great working relationship. We usually go through a few drafts and she helps shape the book up to be true to my vision and she always brings something great to the table. The title itself has a great font design (which Melissa created). The second drafts came in and while it's headed to the F&G stage, we're still creating a few minor changes here and there. (F&G stands for 'folded & gathered', which is proofs cut and put together as a book, but it is unbound. They go out to reviewers and book buyers.)

almost there.com

I’ve been working lots of long hours lately, polishing up the new studiojjk.com. It’ll be worth it once I’m done, but it’s hard to see that sometimes when I look at the clock and suddenly it’s in the AM again and I realize that I need to get sleep! It has a lot of new features and I’m hiding little bits of stuff here and there – you’ll be able to uncover hidden pictures, complete rough drafts, old books that I made as a kid (in their entirety) and somewhere – the most embarrassing photo of me ever taken – my 9th grade student ID.

So stay tuned! I’m hoping to launch it sometime in early February!

following through

So I haven't touched water colors in years and man - they aren't easy! My step-brother Deven had posed for some reference photos for me for a character I have down the line and I used them as source material. It was a good excercise, but frustrating! I have so much respect for artists who use this medium. I also made it to my local coffee shop to sketch. And all of this creative excerice feels good!

career cookbook

An interview I gave for the Career Cookbook has been posted - www.thecareercookbook.com

Tatnuck closing Worcester store

Wow- my grandfather just called. He had just heard on WTAG that Tatnuck is closing its Worcester location. I can't even begin to explain how sad this is for me. My book signings at that store have always been the pinacle of any book tour. I had my first ever book signing there on June 25, 2001 for Good Night, Monkey Boy. To read the full story, click here and to see pics from my first ever book signing there, click here.

looking forward

2006!!! Of course I have the regular New Year’s resolutions – work out more, floss more, take vitamins, etc, etc…. However, I do have a lot of creative based resolutions. But resolutions tend to break by February, so I’m calling them goals. So here are my goals for 2006 – and I’m telling you all because I want you to help me stick with them. If you see me throughout the year ask me how they are going and if I am floundering with them, make fun of me endlessly!

My goals-

A new website. Yes, I will be tearing down studiojjk.com, so enjoy it while you can, and it is going to be rebuilt from the ground up! Expect it to run more quickly, the pages to be better integrated and there will be plenty of new features. I’m hoping to launch it by February.


Write more. I have had all of these stories floating around my head for a few years now and I just need to get them out of me. And they aren’t for kids, but teenagers. And you may be asking – “What would a JJK book be like for an older audience?” They will be about coming-of-age, unrequited love, family pain & triumph, risks, awkwardness, summers, friends, loss, trouble, dreams and teenage angst, among other things.


Sketch more. I used to sketch a lot more than I have in the past year. So this year I will be using my blog as my way of keeping at it. If you don’t see random sketches posted here every now and then, give me flack. I’d love to share my non-picture book sketches with my readers.

And all of this of course will be hindered by my love for snowboarding and I’m itching to get up on the mountain. I plan on going quite a bit this year!


Giddy Up, Cowgirl comes out in February, and while I don’t have any sort of formal book tour for it, I have events pretty much every month through April!
January = San Diego, CA
February = Denver, CO
March = Virginia
April = Houston, TX
I’m pumped for it all. I have good friends in all of those cities and remember when I was talking about snowboarding……?

In the fall for My Buddy, Slug, I may be undertaking a BIG book tour.

And for new projects…..I’ll be starting work soon on a graphic novel, which will most likely be a series of books. But I’ll tell you more about it later in the year when more things are settled.

2006 is going to ROCK!

Happy New Year everyone!!!