Jon Scieszka on the radio!

 

Listen to the Stinky Cheese Man discuss his early rejections from publishers and the powers that come with ambassadorship on WRSI The River.

Mr. Scieszka will be taking the stage at Meltdown at 2:40PM on Saturday!

WWW.RIVERMELTDOWN.COM

Jef Czekaj and Kevin Markey on the radio

Listen to Jeff talk about his books, like HIP AND HOP and A CALL FOR A NEW ALPHABET, while Kevin discusses his SUPER SLUGGERS series on Monte's morning show at WRSI The River. Both will be at Saturday's Meltdown!

 

Kevin Markey takes the stage at 11:40 AM!

Jef Czekaj takes the stage at 12:40 PM!

WWW.RIVERMELTDOWN.COM

Jeanne Birdsall on the radio

Listen to Mizz Birdsall talk all things Penderwicks, The National Book Award, and her appearance at this Saturday's Meltdown. Want a sneak-peak at Penderwicks #3, which doesn't come out until May? She'll be reading from the book at Meltdown at 1:40PM!

Click here to listen to Jeanne's interview on WRSI The River.

Music Meltdown & Book Bash THIS weekend

This Saturday is The River's Music Meltdown & Book Bash at JFK Middle School in Florence, MA. Leading up to the big day, radio host extraordinaire Monte Belmonte is chatting with this year's authors. 

Check out my radio interview with Monte here. We discuss this weekend's festivities, as well as the future of Lunch Lady, movie adaptations and the labor movement in Wisconsin.

And make sure you come by on Saturday. Gina and I have lined up a stellar group this year. Kevin Markey, Jef Czekaj, Jeanne Birdsall, and Jon Scieszka will all be taking the stage. Click here for the schedule.

Sketchbook Saturday

After a long, intense New England winter, my wife and I decided to cash in some of our hotel points and head south for a warm weekend.

LL4 nominated for a Children's Choice Book Award

I am delighted to announce that Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown has been nominated for a Children's Choice Book Award in the category of "Third Grade to Fourth Grade Book of the Year"! The Children's Choice Book Awards Program is the only national children's book awards where winning titles are selected by the young readers for whom they are written. It's an incredible honor to say the least!

Voting is now open at www.bookweekonline.com, so please encourage the kids in your life to vote! Educators and booksellers can also tally in their kids' votes and enter them into the website. The winners will be announced at a live Gala in in New York City on May 2nd, which coincidentally, I will also be hosting! I'm charged with introducing the presenters for the evening, which include such legends as Eloise illustrator Hilary Knight, fright-master R.L. Stine, National Ambassador of Young People's Literature Katherine Paterson and LeVar Burton, former host of Reading Rainbow! Wish me LUCK! If you're interested in attending the Gala, ticket information is here: www.bookweekonline.com/gala .

As host, I filmed a video announcing the nominees. If you're presenting the program to your classroom or library, the video is here: www.astorybeforebed.com/demo/ccba2011nominees .

Thank you so much for your continued support!

Sketchbook Saturday

Ralph Macchio (the pug) patiently awaiting my OK to eat his treat. I hope that Ralph Macchio (the actor) is as disciplined on Dancing with the Stars next season.

Funny Kid Quote

I had a great time running workshops at the Colorado Academy. With the Kindergartners, I ran workshops on drawing emotions on a character's face. I ran through all the basics—happy, sad, scared, mad. . .

And then I asked for suggestions from the kids. "What other kind of face could we draw?" I asked.

A kid in the front raised his hand. "A poker face!"

Like or Friend or Follow

For some time now, I have maintained a Facebook page where you can "friend" me. After speaking to some educators across the country who don't like to mix Facebook with any work contacts, I decided to start up a Facebook author page. So if you're concerned with me seeing your embarrassing high school hairdos and don't want to "friend" me, you can now "like" me here and still get all the latest news on my books.

Huh? Here's the simple version:

Friend me here.
Like me here.

Or if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here.

Rotary phones and carrier pigeons are also acceptable forms of communication.

Sketchbook Saturday

Last night I had the awesome opportunity to go on a ride-along with the Northampton Police Department. I'm currently working on the second draft for the first book in my PLATYPUS POLICE SQUAD chapter book series. As I imagined I would, I gained even more respect for the fine men and women who work tirelessly to keep our communities safe. I learned a lot of things that will most certainly make it into my books. 

Denver event this Tuesday

I'll be swinging by the Tattered Cover Book Store on March 8th at 7PM.


See you there!


Tattered Cover Book Store

2526 East Colfax Avenue

Denver

, 

Colorado

80206

Sketchbook Saturday

Today I am traveling home from the South Carolina Reading Association conference. The whole family came along for this trip.







Zoe let me borrow her crayons so that I could make good on my New Year's resolution.

Drawings from Kids

Check out this awesome drawing by Amiee! I visited Aimee's school virtually, so getting this drawing was especially cool.  It's just so neat to see that the kids are getting just as pumped up about writing and drawing with my virtual visits as they do with my in-person school visits.

Do you have a note or a drawing that you'd like to share? I would love to see them!
They can be emailed to me via props@studiojjk.com or mailed to:
 Jarrett J. Krosoczka
PO Box 60155
Florence, MA 01062

Sketchbook Saturday

toddler gesture sketches

Virtual Author Visits

I just cut a video on my Virtual Author Visits. Here it is:



www.studiojjk.com/virtualauthorvisits.html

LL Uno

Lunch Lady y el sustituto cibernético, the Spanish edition of LL1, is now available! This edition is put out by a publisher in Spain, but the book is available here in the States as well.

As always, I encourage you to check with your local bookshop. If you are a local bookshop and want to order books for your store, check out Roca Editorial's website for more info. 

LL1 is also available in Catalan. Lunch Lady i el substitut ciborg is published by Grup 62.

Happy Valentine's Day

I didn't get you flowers, but I did finish the art for LL6. Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco will be available on September 13th, 2011.

Here's a sneak peak of the art:

Sketchbook Saturday

two napping pugs

Dan Santat's SIDEKICKS

Dan sent me a PDF of his near-complete graphic novel debut and I read it with my jaw open. It's gorgeous, it's fast paced and it is just so incredibly good. I cannot wait to own a copy of this book.

In the meantime, I'll need to up my game, as will we all.

Mr. Santat is running a cool campaign through his website where he's supporting his local indie and giving an e-book on the making of SIDEKICKS. Check it out. 

Sketchbook Saturday

my two-year-old daughter

Drawings from Kids

Check out this drawing by Mario. He was asked by his teacher to make up a character that might be included in Punk Farm on Tour. Mario said that his flamingo was radical. I agree! And I think Mario is radical, too. Keep drawing, sir!

Sketchbook Saturday

Dear Winter, I am done with you.

PF is OK

Punk Farm and Punk Farm on Tour recently had a nice write up in Oklahoma City's Metro Family magazine. Check it out!

Drawings from Kids

Check out this great drawing sent in by Declan! I love these villains, they sure look like they'd give Lunch Lady and Betty a run for their money. Excellent job, Declan. I hope that you keep drawing!!


Do you have a note or a drawing that you'd like to share? I would love to see them!
They can be emailed to me via props@studiojjk.com or mailed to:
Jarrett J. Krosoczka
PO Box 60155
Florence, MA 01062

Sketchbook Saturday

Steakhouse decor - Round Rock, TX

Joey Wieser - get his books

I'm plugging away on the Lunch Lady books at a brisk pace while working on my picture books and a new chapter book series. So as you can imagine, I've been busy as of late. I needed some help with the coloring of the Lunch Lady books and I am very lucky that cartoonist Joey Weiser was game. He has been an invaluable help, replicating the look that I established in LL 1-4. Joey colored LL5 and is currently coloring LL6. You should check out his books, too. They are very good!

Joey's website is www.tragic-planet.com. Here are some of his books and mini-comics:

And all of Joey's comics can be ordered right from his website.

Sketchbook Saturday

studio brushes

studio icicles

Funny Kid Quote

In a Q&A period, I was grilled about my Hollywood connections.

KID: Have you ever been to Hollywood?
ME: Yes, I have. *brushes shoulders off*
KID: Have you ever met Justin Bieber?
ME: No, I haven't.

A few minutes later. . .
SAME KID: If you do ever meet Justin Bieber, would you get his autograph for me?
ME: Sure, but chances are, I'll never meet him.

A few more minutes later. . .
SAME KID AGAIN: Do you think you'll ever make a Justin Bieber book?

If only...

snow day

Lots of snow around the studio today. The commute this morning was crazy.

Punk Farm pumpkins

School librarian Heather Jankowski created storytime pumpkins with her students last fall. And check out what she created—Punk Farm pumpkins!!! And the reason why this is most impressive? The attention to detail? Yes, that is impressive. But what's most impressive is that I've known Heather for many years now and she's not the first person you would think of when it comes to arts & crafts. Looks like somebody has found her inner Martha Stewart. . .

twenty-eleven

So it's official! It's 2011. I've been very busy, as I've hit the ground running finishing up art for LL6 and working on the first draft of PPS1. Nothing beats starting out with a clean studio. (See the above photo created using a nifty iPhoto picture stitching app thingie.) I did a lot of reorganizing and bought an additional bookshelf. One of my goals this year is to take a few minutes out of each day to just sit with my art books. (Another goal is to actually paint on that blank canvas that has been mocking me for the past two years. I'd love to get to do some non-book art.)

Don't worry, nothing is alphabetized—just organized by type. Picture books, graphic novels for young readers, graphic novels for older readers, YA books, art books, etc. My toys continue to fight for shelf space. It's amazing how quickly you can feel like you're outgrowing a space.

Lots to look forward to this year! Lunch lady and the Bake Sale Bandit was just published and Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco will be out on September 13th. Also out on September 13th will be Ollie, which will mark my return to picture books as an author/illustrator. Chew, Chew Gulp!, a book that I illustrated for Lauren Thompson will be out on May 24th as well. And on February 15th, Lunch Lady y el sustituto cibernético, the Spanish translation of LL1, will be available!

 
I'll also be busy this year working on LL7, LL8, PPS2, my next picture book and a second book by Lauren Thompson. (As of right now, those are all slated for a 2012 release.)

Another big thing to look forward to this year—my first book, Good Night, Monkey Boy, turns ten years old on June 12, 2011! Such an odd feeling to think that I've been in print for nearly ten years as I feel like I'm just getting started. Look for lots of exciting announcements to come surround my 10 year printaversary. In the fall, the Worcester Art Museum will be holing a retrospective exhibit of the original works from my books. WAM is planning a big event surrounding the exhibit to benefit the Joe and Shirl Scholarship. (October 23rd, if you have your calendar handy.) I'll also be sending some of my artwork down to Houston, TX. (Which, let's face it, I've spent enough time in Houston to consider it a second hometown!)

Please stay tuned, there will be plenty of other announcements to come, I just can't talk about them all as of now.

I hope that 2011 is a good one for you! I'll see ya on the Internets!

-JJK

Sketchbook Saturday

A new year, a new Sketchbook Saturday. The theme for this year—paying attention to the world around me. It used to be that I would sketch the world around me non-stop—on planes, on trains, in parks, etc. And I haven't in some time. And it's not just because my book deadlines have mounted up or because of the responsibility of fatherhood. I blame that little gadget that I keep in my pocket every day—my iPhone. It's just become too easy to jump on the Internet to fill the time between getting from one place to the next. So to keep my New Year's resolution on track, I will be posting a new page from my sketchbook, my current sketchbook, every Saturday.

Today I bring you a sleeping pug.

LL5 release event at Friendly Comics RESCHEDULED

Today's event at Friendley Neighborhood Comics in Bellingham, MA is rescheduled for next Saturday, same lunch time, same lunch channel. I'll be signing from 11AM-1PM. Until then, I'll be shoveling.

LL5 Events

With the release of Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit comes a few public events. Here is what is locked down so far. There may be a few more additions, but I will mostly be staying closer to the studio as I wrap up LL6 (and LL7!)

See you around!

Sat. Jan 8 - 11AM - Bellingham, MA - Friendly Neighborhood Comics 

Fri. Feb 25 - Myrtle Beach, SC - SCIRA Conference

Tue. March 8 - Denver, CO - Tattered Cover Book Store

Sat. March 26 - 10AM-4PM - Northampton, MA - Meltdown! The River's Family Music and Book Bash (This is the event that G and I program the author stage for. This year we have Jon Sciezka, Jeannie Birdsall, Jef Czekaj and Kevin Markey joining us.)

Sat. May 7 - Hagerstown, MD - Washington County Reading Day

Sat. May 21 - Durham, NC - Durham County Library's Comic Fest

LL5 launch at Friendly Neighborhood Comics

This Saturday at 11AM, I'll be headed to Bellingham, MA to celebrate the release of Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit. Check out www.friendlycomics.com for more info. See you there!





And Happy 20-11 to you!