So, I've just finished a week of school visits in the Chicago area (left before the big storm!). I try to schedule my non-local school visits in chunks so that I don't have to keep switching back and forth from creative silence to public speaking too many times. In theory this works, but it does make those school visit stretches extremely exhausting. Thankfully, however, the schools, librarians and the students in the Chicago area were so welcoming and enthusiastic that I was able to ride their energy and have a great trip!
The libraries did such great publicity and outreach that there was a great audience for all my talks. While it is was a little embarrassing to see my big head smirking at me on all the posters, I did think it was kind of amusing to see that each library used a different author photo.
And one didn't use an author photo at all:
But all the images seemed to work because the students came and I had a marvelous time. Some showed up with homemade dragon kites, just like my book Kite Flying:
And others seemed to really enjoy learning how to draw a lucky tiger:
The librarians feted me with lots of yummy food, including a cake with an edible version of my book cover on it:
And I always love seeing student work inspired by my books!
And a highlight of my trip? Meeting and spending some time with librarians Linda Zeilstra-Sawyer and Holly Jin, judges on the Geisel and Newbery Committees (respectively). So neat to meet (and thank in person) two of the people responsible for changing my favorite color to silver!
