Hear about all the happenings of José Lucio and Heave Ho!
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Heave Ho!
Wowzers, what an incredible honor to have Heave Ho! voted "Best New Local Book" by the readers of the Connect! The fine folks over at the Connect threw a big party for all the BOS winners at the Charles Morris Center, and it was a blast. So glad to have been a part of it, and yes, that's "yours truly" on the cover seated with my lady, Maggie, who got "Best Actress" again!
Click on the image to go to the article about Heave Ho!
On May 11th, I stopped in to Gould Elementary and read Heave Ho! with the Kindergarteners and 2nd Graders. It was an absolute blast, and I can't wait to work with those kids more in the future. Mr. McGrath set up the visit, and put together the amazing video below. He's a real rockstar with the kids there; every time we would walk through the halls he would get mobbed by kids who were super excited to see him. The morning started out with us getting things together while the GNN, Gould News Network, played across all the classrooms- which he produces every day, and features kids from the school.
Probably the biggest thrift store ever in the Cleveland area. Scored some real gems here!
Great Children's Reading Room at The Learnéd Owl in Hudson, OH.
Saw this 7" of the homies, Ricky Fitts, on the wall at a record store in Louisville.
Funny little room I stayed at in Erie, PA.
Minutes before the event officially started
There were some incredible vendors at the BSPBF!
Picked up this great old bed sheet to use for our tablecloth.
The gorgeous interior of the BSPBF
had some incredibly well crafted, and all around great literature. I bought one thing, and they hooked me up with all this, so I traded them a copy of Heave Ho!
This was a nice little surprise stop for the tour.
So good to kick in Cleveland with this legendary Hutchinsonian.
Here's some more of what's been happening on the road.
Western Alabama is a wild place!
Folks having fun at the Alabama Book Festival.
The Alabama Book Festival was held in Old Alabama Town which had all these old colonial buildings that you could tour.
Rachel Watkins is the kindest lady in the world! Thanks for letting me stay with you and your wonderful family!
So cool to be at Avid Bookshop the day after the Days had been there for their book event.
Got to catch up with my homie, Thom. He's making some killer work at the University of TN.
We did patch job on this painting, which I got to take home!
Making a mess!
Such a great bookstore in Louisville!
Wild menagerie garden in Louisville.
He's not doing what you initially think, he just has three fingers.
Also got Heave Ho! into Carmichael's Bookstore in Louisville. Score!
Our first stop on the road was Hattiesburg, MS for the Fay B. Kaigler Children's Book Festival at Southern Mississippi University.
We got into town late on the 7th, and set up camp at a campground just outside of town. It was pretty nice sleeping out among all the frogs and crickets.
These pictures give a little glimpse of the happenings over the course of the Fest.
Annette with the SuperTwinz was my table mate for the first day.
One stop shop!
Ms. Janice is such a good soul. We look forward to working with her more in the future.
Time to rest up for the final day.
I'm not a selfie taker, but I felt compelled to have this Jan van Eyck moment
The images below are from the De Grummond Children's Literature Collection. We of course wanted to see all those original artworks and process pieces. We missed the tour, but luckily Ms. Amanda was so kind that she skipped her lunch to give a special tour. Enjoy!
Saw this incredible mural each day while taking the series of escalators.
Got to meet Gene Luen Yang!
Curious George process pieces.
Yes!!!!
Rosemary Wells.
These Ezra Jack Keats pieces are amazing in person! So much texture and bold design, these pics don't so them much justice.
Keats posing for his own reference.
EJK
OG Snowy Day!
Look at all those EJK originals!
We'll be on tour from April 7th to April 26th, spreading the good word or Heave Ho! Come out tomorrow, wish us luck, and pick yourself up a worm sticker and one of the new Spaceboy postcards.
Lots of interesting news going around here lately, including being named as a finalist in the INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards for Children's Book: Early Reader! Judging has already begun, and it sounds like winners will be announced over the next few months; so keep those fingers and toes crossed.
Also, the tour booking has been going quite well. I'll be on the road from April 7th to probably the 26th. I'm still plugging in some bookstore stops to round things out, but I'll be in MS, AL, GA, NC OH, NY, PA, MD, so hopefully see you at one of those stops.
In addition to all that, great reviews have been coming in pretty steadily. Big thanks to everyone that has taken the time to type in some kind words and click those stars.
There's a great blog here in town called SouthernMamas that is all the rage for mamas. I found out about it through Scribble Art Studio, since they post events and promotions on the blog quite regularly. Since it's such a great resource, I asked about getting Heave Ho! featured on the blog, and Anne Hart got back to me and said we could indeed get the book on there, but we should first feature it in her Hart To Heart column in the Savannah Morning News. This was, of course, an incredible added bonus!
Check out the article here.
The Heave Ho! cast and I are super-excited about our latest review from the Book Troll Real Escape blog. Karen (the Book Troll blogger) and her son (assistant Book Troll) sat down and read the book together. She tells of his excitement as they opened the package together, saw the book for the first time, and of his engagement with the story as the worms bravely came to the assistance of their worm buddies. I could go on and on about how much I enjoyed their enjoyment of the book, but I'll let you read it for yourself.
"Once the story was done he joyful looked at me and said, “Mommy books about worms are the best!” I would have to say that Jose Lucio scored big in this house with Heave Ho!"
Click the Book Troll to read the whole review.
"We will certainly keep this one around in our house and enjoy it over and over again. Plus we got two adorable worms in the book that are now “my best friends,” according to my three year old."
