I just returned from my very first author visit in the great state of Tennessee—at Oak Elementary in Bartlett!
It was a fun day all around. When I arrived, I enjoyed a huge breakfast with the faculty and staff. Then, as I performed my first three shows, I realized that the students had been going over videos, books, and my website before I arrived. They knew almost as much about me than I know about me!
I enjoyed a fine lunch with the Oak Elementary Library Crew (the kids lucky enough to work in the library) and I got to see all the winners of the special bookmark contest. Many of the students created bookmarks based on some of my books and there was a huge display with all the winners. Each of the lunch tables were decorated with the runners up and several of my books! I felt very welcomed and honored, indeed!
A HUGE thanks goes to Tammy Phillips for inviting me and organizing one of the best author visits ever! I’d also like to thank all the parents, teachers, and PTA members who worked so hard helping throughout the day. And, last but not least, I want to thank all the great kids at Oak Elementary. Keep reading, keep writing, and remember the four words!
I finished my brief San Antonio tour at Esparza Accelerated Elementary! It was Author Day at Esparza Elementary and I discovered that I was in good company indeed. Not only did the students get to see my live presentation but also two video conferences by authors R.L. Stine, of Goosebumps fame, and the author of all the wonderful Hank the Cowdog books, John Erickson.
Little known fact: when I was a Wishbone author, Big Red Chair Books almost set up a Wishbone/Hank crossover book but it never happened. Too bad, that would have been a lot of fun to write!
Thanks to Dani’el Mason for inviting me. Thanks to Coaches Wilder and Gutierrez for all their help. And a big thanks to all the Esparza Eagles for the warm welcome for author day. Hopefully, being around all us authors all day inspired some of you to become authors yourselves!
The second day of my San Antonio tour took me to Carson Elementary. I arrived early and got to be on TV! Carson TV, that is. I had a special guest spot with Mrs. Pais the librarian. I’ve been to many schools with their own TV studios but I don’t often get to be a part of it. Very cool!
After each show, Mrs. Pais the librarian, gave away copies of my books to the best behaved kids. I signed books for Karli, Tony, Hannah (same spelled backwards), Candido, Eli, Giancarlo,Niko, Ava 1, Ava 2, and many more! I hope you all enjoy reading them as much I as I enjoyed writing them.
I’d like to thank Mrs. Pais for inviting me and I’d live to give an extra special thanks to all the Carson Cowboys at Carson Elementary!
Had a great time during my first author visit of the school year…at Brauchle Elementary in San Antonio, Texas! It’s pronounced, “broccoli” by the way, and they have a superhero theme going this year. That’s perfect since I’ve written so many superhero books (one of my favorite kinds) However, their slogan is, “You don’t have to be super to be a hero!” I’m not sure about about that; I met tons of super kids while I was there!
In between shows, I admired the bee smoker in their display case (representing how Mr. Brauchle–the school’s namesake–used to keep bees). Unfortunately, I forgot to tell the kids that when I worked in special effects, I used to use those bee smokers all the time to make outdoor smoke. Cool, huh?
Thanks to Mrs. Stanley for inviting me and to Mr. Felix for helping me set up. And a special thanks to all the Brauchle Cougars!
It’s that time of year again and I’m ready to get out there and meet more diligent students and fans of reading! I truly enjoy entertaining and educating the future readers and writers of the world. And I especially enjoy encouraging students to believe in themselves and use those four special words, “I Can Do That!”
Contact me as soon as possible if you’d like me to visit your school. I already have a few weeks booked so try to have a couple of dates in mind.
Don’t live in Texas? Not a problem! I’ll travel anywhere in the world to visit your students! I often do! I’ll even consolidate travel costs by booking several schools in the area.
For more information, click HERE to navigate to my School and Library Visits page and click HERE to view several pages of summaries of and acknowledgements to past school visits.
I look forward to meeting you!
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I spent that last day of my Houston area tour with the great kids at Lakeview Elementary, in Sugar Land, Texas! After participating in an Emergency Drill (my third so far) I presented to all the award winners of the Texas Readers Club. I even got to see the Fourth Grade before they went off on their field trip.
I really had a great time and enjoyed your library’s mural with all the cool book characters. I can see why so many of you did so well in the Texas Reader’s Club. If I saw all of those interesting characters every day, I’d want to read about them, too!
Thanks to Mrs. Jones for inviting me and a big thanks to all the great kids at Lakeview Elementary. You and your teachers made my last author visit of the school year one that I’ll always remember.
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I just returned from a great day at Rummel Creek Elementary in Houston, Texas. I performed my shows in the library’s very cool and very big theater. I had seen similar theaters in other libraries but they had always been too small for my show. This one was the perfect size and it was a lot of fun. I hope everyone enjoyed my performances as much as I enjoyed giving them!
I also got to meet several of the students who worked with the library’s video equipment. They even edited their movies on Macbooks like mine! It was fun watching them perform the morning announcements just like in a real newsroom!
Thanks to Mrs. Harrell for inviting me, to the librarian of the day (Becca Dawson) for the great introduction, and to all the great kids at Rummel Creek Elementary!
I had a fun day today at Austin Parkway Elementary in Sugar Land, Texas. I met a bunch of great kids, toured your cool school with all its wonderful murals, and (between shows), I visited the first three classes who got their library books turned in. I answered some great questions from Mrs. Dante-Smith’s 1st Grade class, Mrs. M. Hall’s Kindergarten class, and Mrs. Dratter’s 3rd Graders. It was fun meeting all the kids who learned that good things happen to those who don’t forget to turn in their library books!
Thanks to Mrs. Hall for inviting me, thanks to Mrs. Mohr and Mrs. Omenson for all your help, and a big thanks to all the great kids at Austin Parkway for a great day!
My second show this week brought me to Meadows Elementary in Meadows Place, Texas. I really enjoyed visiting your open concept school–you know, the kind of school without any walls dividing the classrooms. I enjoyed performing my shows, signing a few copies of my books, and giving a writing workshop to the soon-to-be fourth graders next year. I hope they remember all the tips I gave them when they take their TAKS writing test next year. I know they’re going to be great!
Thanks to Mrs. Puckett for inviting me and thanks for a fun day to all the Meadows Elementary Mustangs. They don’t have any walls to keep them from galloping toward success!
I kicked off my Houston area tour with the great kids of Smith Elementary in Magnolia, Texas! Even though the end of the school year is just around the corner, all the kids were extremely polite and attentive. I had to get everyone going with my patented silly-face face stretches! That got ’em going and they really seemed to like the show. Of course, having a bulldog as their mascot really helped when I asked for their best dog barks (yes, it’s a crazy show sometimes).
Thanks to Mrs. Stanford for inviting me and thanks to all the Smith Elementary Bulldogs for helping me start my Houston tour with a barking success!
