PS 347 and the Woodsies

Last month I had the privilege of reading Bernard to the awesome kids at P.S. 347 which is a school for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired as well as children with Deaf or Hearing Impaired parents.
I was invited by the gracious Gary Wellbrook, teacher at P.S. 347, enthusiast of children's literature and unabashed Joseph Campbell fan. So right way we had two things in common. He posted a lot of nice things on his blog about me and other kids book authors and illustrators, you can check out at his blog here.

One thing that Gary zeroed in on is my love for the work of Margret and H. A. Rey. Curious George is a big influence and I was reminded of another big influence over the holiday that I had forgotten about.Anyone remember these guys? The Woodsies?

My cousin got these from "Santa" in the early 80's and I remember pretty much frothing at the mouth in envy. I had had forgotten about these guys but after seeing them, I realized how much they made an imprint on my little brain back then. These guys are ALWAYS Fuzzy and Hopeful!

PA ONE BOOK PRE-EVENT UPPER MERION LIBRARY

A couple pictures from the Upper Merion Library reading event a few weeks ago. The Upper Merion Library was an especially fun place to start as it is the hometown library of my wife Lydia Ricci. She wrote and illustrated a three children's books in elementary school that all won the annual school contest and were made into books that still reside in this library today. 

Her books "Herbie and the Land of the Untouchables" the follow-up adventure "When Rainbows Fade" and "Nervous is spelled L-I-N-D-A" were in this library 25 years before Bernard. It was a lot of fun and special thanks to Jeanne Kauffman (that's her in the mauve sweater) for organizing everything and making me feel comfortable.

Reading the book with a little help on the snores from my friend Emma.

The drawing demo threatened to get out of hand as the kids asked for animals that I obviously didn't know how to draw.

Fortunately there were otter crafts and goldfish snacks to keep everyone entertained while I signed books.

It was a great start to the PA One Book program and I thank the staff of Upper Merion Library for putting together a great event. I hope to come back soon!

READING AT MOOMAH THURSDAY MAY 19TH

Super excited about doing this reading at Moomah. They invited me to sit in their animation class for 6-9 year olds. In addition to reading the book I'll be giving a demo on how to draw Bernard. The kids are then going to take their drawings and make stop action animations with them. If you are in New York check it out!

BOOKSIGNING THIS SATURDAY AT BOOKS OF WONDER

First off, thanks to everyone who came out on Friday and made the reading at Character Development a success and lots of fun.  This coming Saturday I've been invited by the amazing book store Books of Wonder in Manhattan to participate in Pop-ups and Picture Books. A bookreading, signing, and Q&A from 12-2. Come down and say hello and check out the work by two time Caldecott winners Leo & Diane Dillon,  Amazing pop-up books by Matthew Reinhart and collage by Javaka Steptoe.

I'm especially excited to be bringing my son Oskar along, his first return to his birthplace and our first Father/Son adventure to New York.

BOOKSIGNING THIS FRIDAY IN THE NARB

Booksigning this Friday and some pics of the window installation. Hope to see you there.