DAN'S TOYS

It may come as no surprise to you that I love toys. They take me back to my childhood and inspire me. I love to have them around me in my studio. Alright, so maybe I play with them when no one's around, but that's beside the point.

Here's the shelf right above my drafting table. As you can see, there are a few robots and 2 figures in old fashion deep sea diving suits. What can be cooler than that? Creature From the Black Lagoon and Werewolf Pez dispensers, that's what!

Here's a blurry close up of a trippy psychedelic toy I had in the late 60's/early 70's. Did it have some sort of weird effect on me as an adult? You bet!

This is the creepiest toy I own. But to be fair, he never once tried to put a pillow over my face when I was sleeping (okay, maybe once). I've removed his batteries, yet he still plays those little cymbals in the middle of the night. Clang. Clang. Clang.

The good thing about being an adult is that you can waste your money on an entirely frivolous item like the Rock'em Sock'em Robots and your mom can't yell at you. Well, maybe she can, but she can't punish you.

These guys watch me while I'm on my computer. Now, Colonel Sanders will occasionally have a fight with the Popeye gumball machine and.. okay, I'm alone a lot.

My favorite monster has to be the Creature From the Black Lagoon, mostly because I feel he's been underrated and highly misunderstood. I mean, the poor guy's the only one of his kind. So maybe he drags women off of boats and brings them down to his watery lair. He just wants to be loved like the rest of us.

This is a close up of one of most prized toys, Robert the Robot. He actually talks, but unfortunately it's in some sort of robot language that I'm sure we will soon learn when robots take over the earth. Also pictured are 2 incredibly cool monster pencil sharpeners and a Rat Fink figure. 

And here's the Casper collection. Yes, I got a little carried away, but this all will be worth something some day!

Boy, I really hope so...

ECONOMY CANDY: THE GREATEST PLACE WITH THE WORST NAME

As most of you know, I'm more of a savory person than a sweet one (taste and personality), but when my sweet tooth is a-hankerin', there's just one place to go: Economy Candy!

This out of the way candy emporium is one of my most favorite places in the world filled with such wonderful things, yet- Economy Candy? Couldn't they have come up with a better name?

The thing is, once you enter, you don't care anymore.

Located on New York City's Lower East Side, possibly the greatest candy store and a boon to dentists everywhere, it looks more like a hardware store. Maybe this is why there's not a line around the block like there should be.

As I approach, I already know I'm going to buy entirely too much and quite possibly sit on the curb right out front and devour it all in one sitting. I hear the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Here's the window. I see many candies I haven't seen since my childhood and some I've never seen before. I also see the Indian Nuts are back. I know most of us were on pins and needles about that. Crisis averted! I also see that gift certificates are available. Hint! Hint!

So here it is. Well, not all of it. This is merely one section of one wall in the store. I wonder how many pounds of candy is in here. Also, no sign of candy-making elves anywhere. They must be in the basement or on a coffee break.

I'd have to say, if this whole shelf fell on me, it wouldn't be such a bad way to go.

The aisles are tight and for some reason, get tighter with each visit.

They have candy from not only from the past, but from all over the world, too. Economy Candy has actually conquered time and space.

Chunkys? El Bubble? 100 Grand bars? All I need is my Partridge Family Album, my Banana Splits lunchbox and the Watergate hearings and I'm 9 years old all over again. Note to self: stock up on baseball cards for the spokes of my bike.

Somehow this is entirely too many flavors of jelly beans or not enough. I can't decide. Thank goodness  5 lb bags are available. 

I must've wandered into some sort of health food section. Who knew you could get almonds not dipped in chocolate? How do they get the chocolate off of them?

I steered clear of all of this stuff. It looked entirely too healthy.

With a full bag I leave Economy Candy, but fear not, I will return. I've done good work here today. Time to crack off a hunk of milk chocolate almond bark and start working on those cavities.

LETTERMAN'S DINER, KUTZTOWN, PA

As you know, I love a good diner (just take a look at my book, Every Friday or The Big Diner from my series, Oswald or my waistline), so before I left for my visit to Muhlenberg Elementary in Kutztown, PA, I did a little diner research.

I found a place called LETTERMAN'S DINER, which was about 2 blocks away from where I was staying. Why does it appear that this photo was taken at night? Because it kind of was. I shot this at 6AM (still nighttime for me) when they opened. In fact, Letterman's was the ONLY place open at that hour. I had to get to the school pretty early and needed a hearty breakfast, so it was wonderful to see their lights on down the street like a beacon of warmth, food and coffee in the cold, cold darkness of pre-dawn.

So here it is. It was pretty empty as you can see except for the grill man and the waitress. I waited until they went in the back to take the picture. I bet you thought they ducked behind the counter.

Don't you just love this place?

Coffee, two eggs over easy, rye toast and sausage. This is the kind of breakfast that will keep you going all day long or possibly knock you out at around 11AM like a bear getting shot with a tranc dart. I was willing to take my chances, so I dug right in.

By this time the place started to fill up, mostly with regulars being that they all seemed to know each other. I pretended to read my book, but I was really trying to listen to their conversations. 

Okay, so my membership to the Clean Plate Club has now been revoked. I couldn't do it. It was great but just too much for me. Besides, I had to hit the road. The kiddies were waiting!

Maybe there's time for a quick nap before I go.

More on my visit to Kutztown, PA in a future post.

HELLO HILTON NY!

It was another great school visit with another great bunch of kids!

Just look at all of the incredible artwork! I hope you noticed the cool display of my books in the library. Nice! It always makes me feel welcome. I'm blown away every time I see stuff like this.

I hope everyone had as good a time as I did. This is me giving my presentation. I wave my hands around a lot. I'm Italian, so I can't help it.

I signed lots and lots of books and had lots of great conversations.

"You're funny," a 1st grader said to me.

"It's my job," I told her.

BRAIN BURPS ABOUT BOOKS INTERVIEW WITH DAN!

BRAIN BURPS ABOUT BOOKS INTERVIEW WITH DAN!

CLICK HERE to watch a fun interview by the amazing Katie Davis with me in my studio.

Be sure to check out Katiedavis.com.

WOO HOO! WO HOP!

WOO HOO! WO HOP!

For those who know me, you know I love all kinds of food, which is one of the reasons why I LOVE living in New York City.

A big night out for me when I was growing up was going to the local Chinese restaurant. I have fond memories of the red table cloths, waiters carrying sizzling platters and lanterns hanging from the ceiling. My favorite item on the oversized red leatherette-covered menu was the PU PU PLATTER, mostly because it was served on a mini lazy susan with an open flame in the center! It was the height of dining and danger for an 8-year old. How I loved re-cooking my spare ribs and shrimp toast!

Years later, I still have a special place in my heart (and stomach) for that cuisine and my favorite place to go in Chinatown is Wo Hop.

Just to give you an idea of where it is, here's a screen shot from my phone. It's right in the heart of Chinatown!

Excitement mounts in the pit of my stomach (or is it just hunger?) as I get closer.

Did I mention that Wo Hop is not a fancy place? I'm not the type of person who is put off by appearances. Just as long as the food is good!

Insider's tip: There are actually 2 locations right next to each other. I've only eaten at the street level restaurant once (when the basement level location had a very long line, which is usually the case on Sunday afternoons). I have no idea if the food is exactly the same or not, I just prefer the lower level, maybe because I've been coming here for 25 years and I'm set in my ways.

See? They got an A.

While you're waiting for your food, you can search the walls for a familiar face in these photos. So far I haven't been able to identify a single person. Perhaps they're all celebrities from an alternative universe.

This is why I come here: THE DUMPLINGS! They're my favorite menu item. They're served with a very think soy sauce. I've never tried, but I'm sure I could eat about 50 of them.

Isn't this a lovely still life? Today I ordered some chicken soup, which was just thing I needed on such a chilly day. The soup comes with those wonderful crunchy noodles. As a kid, I would dip them in duck sauce with just a touch of that incredibly HOT mustard if I was feeling brave. I'm pretty sure the mustard can melt through metal. I can only imagine what it does to the lining of my stomach.

Satisfied, I heave my fully belly back up those stairs and head across the street for some retro video game action. Hmmm. I wonder what ever happened to the Dancing and Tic Tac Toe Chickens? Who knows?

Anyway, my chicken soup was great and- hey, wait a minute...

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!