Last week I spent a couple days in Groton (rhymes with cotton), in the Finger Lakes region of central New York. The first night I was there, the front axle of my car came loose, but otherwise it was a great visit.
Because I was there for two days (and because the people in Groton are just so hospitable) I had a chance to meet many of the teachers at the school. We shared breakfast, we shared dessert, and by the time I left I felt like I had known them for years.
Speaking of breakfast, the first morning all the teachers brought in food for a potluck in the library. There was the usual assortment of muffins, donuts, coffee, etc. There was also this. I photographed the recipe because I figured no one would believe me when I got back.
And you know, it was really good. I even had some more for lunch. Here’s another interesting thing that happened. Remember that girl from Backbeard, the one who was wearing the same clothes as he was? I met her! She lives in Groton and goes to school there.
Finally, I got to sign the bathtub, a decades-long tradition for authors who visit Groton. It was an honor, and I used the opportunity to catch up on my reading.
Groton’s an unusual place, and I loved it. Thanks to Pat Berry, thanks to all the teachers who made the visit so much fun, and thanks most of all to the students!
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I grew up down the street from St. Gregory’s School in Loudonville, and drove past it at least a couple times a week. I always wondered what it looked like inside. Yesterday, thirty years later, I finally got the chance. Biggest surprise? It’s full of pirates in neckties and matching trousers. Who would have guessed?
I had a blast with the kids at St. Gregory’s. We read some books and talked about writing and illustrating. In the afternoon I did a writing project with the fourth grade, and their stories were hilarious and very, very clever. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a group of boys get so intensely lost in a writing project. It was a joy to behold.
Special thanks to Terri Braaten for all her work putting the visit together!
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I write a lot of entries about school visits that I do, and I’m always a little afraid I’m going to run out of things to say. Yet somehow, in every school I seem to find something unique and surprising. This past week I visited Harrison Avenue and Ballard Elementary Schools in South Glens Falls. They were great visits: the kids were terrific, the teachers enthusiastic, and I felt really welcome both days. It was clear an awful lot of effort had gone into the preparation.
One thing that really struck me at Harrison Avenue were the cool projects the teachers came up with. 
One group did a variation on the scissors project, creating a wall full of cool drawings, each one of which contained a pair of scissors hidden somewhere inside. Another group created actual paperdolls for color photocopies they made of Backbeard on the cover. They were absolutely hillarious.
At Ballard we were in the cafeteria, which can often be a bit difficult. It’s tough for the kids to sit for a long time on the floor, and the acoustics can make it difficult to be heard. I have to say, though, that the time just flew by and these kids were fantastic. Check out the image below. I think they were trying to figure out one of the upside-down pictures, although I’m not entirely sure.
To give you an idea how engaged the kids at both schools were, take a look at this. As part of my talk on Absolutely not, I spoke a bit about optical illusions and gave this brief example. I doubt I spent more than thirty seconds on it.
After the presentation, the kids went back to their rooms and wrote in their journals. A little later, I got a quick tour of one of the classrooms and took a look at their entries. Here’s a sample:
I mean, holy cow, this kid even remembered the illusion and drew it from memory! I’m impressed.
See why I love my job? Thanks especially to Laurie Alden and all the teachers and staff for a great couple of days.
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Last night we had the “official” launch of Backbeard and the Birthday Suit in the Opalka Gallery at the Sage College of Albany. As I told everyone during the presentation, it was exactly the kind of capstone an author dreams about during the long months toiling away at a book. Over a hundred people showed up, and there were some fun surprises, even for me. For example, I had no idea this crew was going to be there…
They are, from left to right, Elizabeth Wunderlich, Joely Johnson, and Ola Mork. (Joely is the Director of Media Relations at Sage and I’m grateful to her for her work helping to pull this event together.) The pirate costumes totally blew me away. Having these three there really set the mood for the evening.
I gave a short presentation, and we gave away some cool pirate booty, including some books and a few giant archival prints of images from Backbeard. The evening flew by, and for me, the best part was catching up with so many people I haven’t seen for a while. I saw family, old friends, teachers and even fellow authors. (Can you find Karen Beil and Dan Mahoney in the picture above?) I can’t remember when I’ve had so much fun, and my thanks go out to everyone who came out to the Opalka last night. Shiver me timbers, indeed.
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It’s always nice to visit a school and see that it’s full of artwork. For example, check out this cool Uncle Frank plate, one of a series designed by the kindergarteners at Altamont Elementary. The cotton hair and eyebrows really capture the essence of his character, and were he real, I’m sure he’d approve.
Other favorites were the cool welcome sign, the drawings of personalized – and fully decorated – pits, and the excellent pirate ship, complete with crew members who’ve been thrown overboard.
I had a blast today, especially because of the kids at Altamont who made it so much fun for me. Their questions were terrific, and everyone really made me feel at home.
Thanks to everyone at Altamont, and especially Ms. Flynn for getting the ball rolling and Ms. Lehman for her hard work and unbelievable soup and cake!
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I have to admit, when I arrived at Okte Elementary last week I was unprepared for what I encountered. In fact, I feel it’s my duty to warn anyone considering a visit to the school. If you go, know one thing: the whole place is full of bugs.
My first clue came as soon as I walked in the door and encountered this wall, completely covered in insects, most of them with human-like faces.
The bugs continued down the hall, up the stairs, and into the library where I found them hanging from strings all around the room. But it didn’t stop there; as the kids started coming in I began to notice something strange: every single one of them had their own T-shirt with a custom-designed bug on it!
These were incredible, and in all my years of school visits I’ve never encountered anything quite like it. I can’t even begin to imagine how much work these must have been to make, but I’m told an army of volunteers worked their fingers to the bone in order to get them ready in time. But the best was yet to come. Look what I got…
As you can probably imagine, the whole day was great. I got to spend a lot of time with the kids, had a delicious lunch with the faculty (thanks Gina Scotto di Carlo!) and even had a special desert with a bunch of representatives from each of the grades.
Before I knew it, the day was over, but I’ll always have that cool shirt to remind me of my visit to the buggiest school ever. Thanks to Ms. Walton, Ms. Kelly, Ms. Waters, and Ms. Grabowski for all their efforts. It was great!
Continue reading →This week I visited two schools outside Syracuse, NY: Van Buren Elementary and Elden Elementary.
At least I’m pretty sure I did. It was a little confusing. It turns out that this was one of those situations where both schools were built from the exact same plans. They looked exactly alike, plus they were only a mile or so from each other. By the second day I kept forgetting where I was, exactly. But it didn’t really matter; I had a great time both places.
My first stop was at Van Buren, and after the morning presentations I got to meet with several students for an official “press lunchâ€. As we ate, they took turns asking me questions about writing, illustrating and making books. I, in turn, did my best not to talk with food in my mouth. It was informal and a lot of fun, and the questions were really good.
Van Buren was a lot of fun, and I especially enjoyed the artwork where kids imagined what was buried down in Uncle Frank’s pit. Very cool.
The next day I drove over to the other side of town to visit Elden Elementary. The school had just installed a beautiful new screen, and I got to inaugurate it. I’m not sure if it was because I was using a microphone, but for the second day in a row the kids were terrific. It’s never easy doing a large presentation in a cafeteria, but these sure went smoothly. My thanks to all the kids at both schools.
Then came lunch. Actually, I can’t even remember what I had for lunch; it was all about the dessert. Corinne Johnston, the Arts Education Chairperson went all out with one of the most spectaular pastry/cake/cookie/fruit spreads I’ve ever had the pleasure to see.
Finally, to top things off I finished the day with one more presentation to the PTA that evening. To their credit, the parents were even better behaved than their kids, and that’s saying a lot. (The kids asked more questions, though.) It was a real pleasure getting a chance to speak to the parents, and I thank the PTA for the opportunity.
My thanks also go out to Corrine, Cindy Doback, and all the teachers and principals who made the visits possible. Much appreciated!
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Last week, when I arrived at Whitehall Elementary, I was greeted by a welcome breakfast prepared by the librarian, Mrs. DeRocker. I was also greeted by a member of the P.T.A. (whose name I won’t mention) who told me a very interesting story about raising money for the visit with some sort of show involving flaming batons. I really, really wanted to believe her. In fact, I did believe her. But that’s how it is up in Whitehall; you have to be on your toes at all times.
One sign a school visit is going to go well is when I see artwork on the walls, and at Whitehall there was a lot of it. Students had done a number of the Absolutely Not projects from the website, and they came out really well. There were reflective ink blots…
…and common objects creations…
…covering all the walls outside the library. In addition, there was a giant welcome sign with all the letters made from objects as well. (These are the first two letters of “Welcome” – the sign was much to big to photograph all at once.)
 Thanks to Mrs. DeRocker, Mrs. Ripley, and Mrs. Davis for all their hard work putting together the visit. If anyone out there is considering a visit to Whitehall, I recommend it. Just don’t believe everything you hear.
 
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Last week I visited Glendaal Elementary in the Scotia-Glenville district and got to spend the day with some future authors and illustrators. We talked about books, and the first grades and I wrote a short story about the school’s mascot (a cardinal) and the principal (a really nice guy). In the afternoon, the fourth grade worked on a writing project with some hilarious results.
 
What actually landed on cousin Ernie’s head? This wall was full of possible answers…
And as for what was buried in Uncle Frank’s pit, here’s one guess: Gold, and lots of it.
My thanks go out to Mrs. Briscoe, Ms. Jankowski, Mrs. Grant and Mrs. Stallmer’s fourth grades, Mrs. Doyle and Ms. Brennan’s first grades, and Mr. Eagan for their help making the visit work so well. Go Cardinals!
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