Check out Guy-Write by Ralph Fletcher

Ralph Fletcher has put together a superlative book for young writers. It's definitely a must for classrooms. And as a bonus, there's an interview with yours truly in the "Draw First, Write Later" chapter.

August is Jon Scieszka month at The Summer Book Club!

I hate the thought of summer coming to a close, but love that we'll be ending the Summer Book Club with the Stinky Cheese Man!

Erica Perl on The Book Report with JJK, Thursday at 5:40 pm ET!

Come on by SiriusXM's Kids Place Live on Thursday, August 2nd at 5:40 pm to hear me chat with author Erica S. Perl. Erica is the author of so many awesome books, which include Chicken Butt, When Life Gives You OJ and Dotty!

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.

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!

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?

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!

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!

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!!!

Today in the studio: reviewing proofs for the board book edition of Good Night, Monkey Boy

Can't wait for this to be available to the youngest of readers in the summer of 2013.

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! 

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! 

Fostering the Young, Imaginative Mind

I debuted my new presentation for educators and parents at the Shenandoah Literature Conference on Monday and it was a hit! The best compliment came from a teacher who thanked me for validating what she does every day. "Even when I think the day was a tough one, I need to remember that I'm making a difference," she told me.

This is not me giving my presentation, this is an actress playing Lunch Lady introducing me.

This is me giving my presentation. Picture taken from a Twitter pal.

I'm now offering presentations for grown-ups that can happen at conferences, after school for teachers, in the evening for parents—or really, any time for interested adults.  In "Fostering the Young, Creative Mind," I detail what my grandparents and teachers did for me growing up to support my creative endeavors. Not only did everyone's encouragement bring me to where I am today, it really helped me through difficult moments of my childhood. 


Today, our educational landscape is so focused on data and test results, the creative kids are often lost in the shuffle. But there's plenty that educators can do within the parameters they are given and I aim to arm them with the tools that they can use to help those imaginative kids.


In part of my presentation, I talk about how my grandparents gave me a videocamera (after much prodding on my end). And now, I am a legitimate movie producer with two feature films in development. I dug up some old VHS tapes of my teenage theatrical efforts and digitized them for the slideshow. 


Here are a few videos that I made at 14.


Enjoy!

For more info on my presentations, please click here.

It's the first meeting of The Summer Book Club, chat with Marc Brown!

On Wednesday, Marc Brown will be calling into The Absolutely Mindy Show, where Mindy and I will interview the legendary author/illustrator and facilitate questions that come in from young readers across the country! (Kids can call 1-866-328-2345!)


It all happens on Wednesday (June 27th) at 5 pm EST on SiriusXM channel 78!


Plus, we'll be announcing who won the grand prize—their picture by Marc Brown!

making friends at Enders Rd

When I was a kid, I used to daydream that I was hanging out with the fictional characters that I read about. As an author/illustrator, I really hope that kids will look at the characters that I create as their friends as well.

On a recent visit to Enders Road Elementary in Manilus, NY I was greeted at the front door by my characters!

   

And inside, lining just about every inch of wall space, every single student at the school drew themselves with one of my characters. It was so incredibly humbling and such an honor to see which character of mine each kid connected with. Here are a few snapshots of their awesome work:

And let's not forget this awesome young fan who made a T-shirt with a Lunch Lady coat of arms!

There is a great recap of my presentations here.

In your face, Mark Twain!

Hear that, Mr. Twain? The history of history!

Raffaella, I am indeed lucky to get a Lunch Lady drawing from you! You are very talented!




If you have any drawings, 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

On Wednesday, June 20th, at 5:40 pm EST, tune into Sirius XM channel 78 and listen to legendary author Norton Juster talk about the Phantom Tollbooth and the NINETEEN rejections he received for the Hello, Goodbye Window! The Book Report with JJK airs during The Absolutely Mindy Show on Kids Place Live! See you then!

Ignite a fire within your students for a love of reading at the start of next school year

Book in September for a free Virtual Visit session in the spring:

After my presentations, people often comment that I have inspired their kids to read and write on levels they hadn’t seen before. And many regret not booking me sooner in the school year to get their kids excited about literature. 

Gina and I would love to help your school kick-off your reading and writing curriculum in fall 2012. To give everyone an incentive to sign on for a September school visit, for all schools that schedule for that month, we will include a free Virtual Visit session in the spring. You can use that to allow the kids to share how they’ve grown as readers and to allow the young authors to share the writing projects that they’ve written since my visit.

You can download a brochure of my presentations here: http://www.studiojjk.com/Jarrett_Krosoczka_school_visits.pdf

Where I'll be this fall:

I'll be hitting the book-festival circuit this fall to promote Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril. With that, I'll have a number of tour stops where I can add school visits. (In these situations, schools will not be responsible for air travel costs.)

Here are some of the cities that I'll visit:

Decatur, GA

Minnepolis, MN

Washington, DC

Athens, GA

Austin, TX

If you are interested in hosting me at your school, please 

contact Gina at:

gina@studiojjk.com

In the meantime, have a wonderful summer reading season, everyone!

Summer Reading Events

While I stay mostly close to home and the coast, I do have a few book events in the summer months.

June 13, 6 p.m.: Providence, RI -  I'm beyond honored to be included in this exhibit: RISD ICONS: A Legacy of Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design.  The show will run June 14-24.


June 16, 10:30 a.m.: Arlington, MA - Fox Branch Library


June 23, 1 p.m.: Newburyport, MA - The Book Rack


July 12, 11 a.m.: Lenox, MA - The Lenox Library



July 21, time TBA:  Somerville, MA - Epic event with Jef Czekaj at Arts Beat
It's HIP AND HOP and PUNK FARM! The Jay Z/Linkin Park mashup of kids' books!
It all happens at the Somerville Theater in Davis Square!


August 8, 3 p.m.: Framingham, MA - Framingham Public Library 



Hope to see you soon!
JJK



And if you are a public library in Northeastern Mass, New Hampshire or Southern Maine, please don't hesitate to get in touch with Gina at gina@studiojjk.com. She'd be happy to help set something up for you, as we spend our summer months in coastal New Hampshire! My presentation fits in perfectly with the Dream Big summer theme. Download a brochure here.

Weston draws along!

The incredibly talented Weston sent in these photos. Back in March when I was launching LL7 and connecting with kids via UStream, Weston caught the afternoon show after school. And as I drew in my studio in Massachusetts, he drew along in Texas!

GREAT job, Weston! Keep up the excellent work!



If you have any drawings, 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

The Absolutely Mindy Show and The Book Report with JJK present: THE SUMMER BOOK CLUB

I'm excited to launch a new initiative to get kids reading during the summer months! I'm teaming up with Mindy at SiriusXM's Kids Place Live to bring you a special series of author interviews. Each month, we will be featuring a different author, an author that can reach all of the kids on the other side of the radio airwaves. (There are 5 month-olds listening in their cars and there are 10 year-olds!)

And we're launching with Mr. Marc Brown!

So kids, read as many books as you can throughout the month and especially check out the titles detailed below. AND get this! Marc will draw a picture for one lucky winner. He will draw one lucky kid as a character in the world of ARTHUR!!! Official contest info will be at the Kids Place Live Facebook page here. But the short of it is, simply take photos of your kids reading Marc's books and email them in! And get creative, pack those library books on the summer car trip and HAVE FUN! And most importantly, READ!!!

A Senhora da Cantina e o Substituto Ciborgue is now on bookshelves!

For all of my Portuguese-speaking friends, Lunch Lady #1 is now available in Portuguese! You can order A Senhora da Cantina e o Substituto Ciborgue here.

My favorite part of foreign translations of the Lunch Lady books is learning what the gadgets translate to. Well, scratch that. That's my second favorite part. My favorite part is the thought that kids who live on the other side of the planet, who speak a language I don't eve understand, can read one of my books. That is just mind-blowing!

Ollie at Book Expo

I won't be at Book Expo this year, but a purple elephant painted with watercolors will be. Look for my contribution at the children's art auction, to benefit the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, this Wednesday evening at the Javitz Center. 


You can preview all of the art here. What an impressive collection!