HELLO BAYVILLE!

HELLO BAYVILLE!

I had an INCREDIBLE time with the students at Bayville Intermediate in the wilds of Long Island, NY. Why was it wild? On my way there from the train station, I saw TREES EVERYWHERE and some of them were still standing (no thanks to Hurricane Sandy).

I live in Manhattan, so I don't get to see many real live trees up close. A big thanks to my host for stopping the car on the way there so I could touch a few.

It was so great to walk into the school and see this wonderful bulletin board with some of my characters on it. By the looks of the artwork, I see that I'm going to have some seriously talented children's book illustrators to contend with in the future!

Either these kids were incredible well behaved or they were entirely riveted by my brilliant presentation. Still not sure. I figured that they enjoyed it since no one cried.

After my presentations, I visited my favorite place in all schools: THE LIBRARY. And what did I see? This cool board! Memo to myself: update my author photo and grow more hair.

Fun fact about me: my hand never gets tired from signing books, only washing dishes, cleaning the bathroom and lifting heavy objects that are not books for me to sign.

You'll notice the wonderful lunch just behind the books. Shrimp cocktail? Caesar salad? Brownies? Message to fellow children's book authors and illustrators: If Bayville Intermediate asks you to speak at their school: DO IT! They have excellent taste in food AND children's book authors (they asked me, didn't they?)

I had a brief moment with each student. Fist bumps all around! Then Purell Hand Sanitizer!

This was the pièce de résistance (or creme de la creme for those of you who don't speak French): a massive mural of my books! Beyond cool! They did such an incredible job!

I enjoyed some wonderful letters on the train ride home.

Thank you, Bayville Intermediate! I hope you all had as much fun as I did!