One of my closest school visits yet was at Waterford Oaks Elementary in Cedar Hill. Who knew we were neighbors?!!

You were a great group of kids and, from some of the questions you asked, I bet many of you are going to grow up to work in the movie business, too! If you do, I think you’ll really enjoy it. Like I said, when you work in the film business you get to do (and learn) something new every day!

Thanks again, Waterford Oaks Elementary!

I just returned from TWO schools today! First, I visited Blanton Elementary. All the kids were great and had excellent questions. I even had a couple email questions waiting for me when I got home.

After a nice lunch with two of CFBISD’s top-notch librarians, I shot over to another Carrollton school–Rosemeade Elementary. Those kids had some great questions, too! I had a fun time and even learned that the folks in the school office were able to hear the kids’ scary dragon roars!

I want to thank all the kids from BOTH schools for being so engaging, welcoming, and generally fun to be around–my kind of people!

Thanks, Blanton and Rosemeade!

I met so many young authors and illustrators today at Pantego Christian Academy. They were all the winners of the district-wide young author/illustrator competition!

I gave a couple of presentations, signed some books, and watched as everyone received their awards for the wonderful books they had written. I was even able to read a few of their books between shows. They were quite good! I’m betting, in a few years, some of those same young authors and illustrators will be signing books of their very own!

Thanks for the great time, everyone, and keep writing!

I had a good time at DallasKidsRead! I met many great authors and illustrators and had fun performing for the kids. The above photo shows me with a few of the authors including local author, Catherine Weiskopf. She wrote some very cool math books proving that some authors can be good at writing and arithmetic (yeah, I’m not one of those authors).

WFAA shot some video of the beginning of the Northpark event where the host, Mayor Tom Leppert, read a Dr. Sues book to the kids. I’m not in the above piece but there is a young boy reading my WordGirl book–very cool!

Thanks to the sponsors and everyone who came out to see us. And a special thanks to all the wonderful volunteers from Rainbow Days and the Dallas Public Library for helping out. They were amazing at organizing and running this huge event!

Thanks again for having me; I had a great time!

I’m thrilled to be a part of this year’s DallasKidsRead!

The festival begins on Friday the 16th, where I’ll be one of 19 authors and illustrators presenting to preselected DISD students. But on Saturday the 17th, from 1:00 to 6:00, everyone is invited to come out and meet the authors and listen to our presentations!

The festival will be set up at NorthPark Center, on Level One between Nordstrom and Macy’s. For more information, visit: dallaskidsread.org.

See you there!

I just returned from an evening appearance at Groves Elementary in Wylie, Texas! I was happy to be the guest speaker for the March PTA meeting and it was a fun change to visit a school where I didn’t have to wake up so early to get there!

I want to thank Sonya Rhodes and everyone else who helped set things up. I also want to thank the students and parents who came out. I enjoyed meeting you and hope to visit again soon.

See you later, Groves Gators!

Even though spring is in the air and winter is but a fading memory (at least for us down hear in Texas), you can relive all the winter fun with the newly released: Chipper’s Chilly Chase.

I really enjoyed writing this book for the great folks at the American Public Works Association. And in doing so, I learned many cool things about the often invisible but vital jobs of public works employees.

If you’re interested in a copy, you can pick one up from the APWA’s website along with many other fun books and information about the very interesting world of public works.

Today I drove all the way up to Flower Mound, Texas for an appearance at Forest Vista Elementary. You were a great group of kids — Kindergarten to 5th — and made such loud animal sounds; it’s a good thing your library is mostly soundproof!

You Forest Vista students are quite a creative bunch. You have your very own art hanging in the halls (and on the ceiling of the art class), and thanks to your drama department, you already knew many of the movie business words and phrases in my show. Maybe some of you will grow up to put on fun shows, too!

Thanks again, Forest Vista Elementary!

My last day in the Rio Grande Valley ended with a visit to the Mercedes Early Childhood Center! I really enjoyed presenting to all of the Kindergarten and Pre-K kids, using your gigantic, enormous, ginormous screen!

I also want to thank Mrs. Hinojosa for inviting me in the first place. And, thanks to her, MECC’s library may have the most copies of my books out of ALL the libraries!

And guess what? When I came back to sign books at your school’s Literacy Night, I was happy to see some of the kids already making good use of those books.

Thanks again to everyone for an enjoyable trip to Mercedes, TX!

Thanks to all the students at Mercedes Junior High! I really enjoyed sharing my presentation with you and answering all your thoughtful questions. A few of you even emailed me some great questions later! I hope all the 6th Graders aced your TAKS Writing tests and I hope some of my tips were helpful.

Thanks again, Mercedes Junior High for being a great audience. And a big thank you to Mrs. Elizondo for the big gift basket and the cool welcome banner outside the library!