Congratulations to these Superstar Libraries . . .

Curious City has announced the winners of the Joe and Sparky book giveaway. Copies of Joe and Sparky Get New Wheels and Joe and Sparky, Superstars! are on their way to the stellar libraries below.

If you didn't win, you can still DOWNLOAD the Activity Kit and take the Joe & Sparky Personality Test for a spot of fun.

Hillcrest Elementary School BC
Bristol Public Library CT
Mabry Elementary School FL
Brookdale Elementary GA
Monticello Public Library IA
Plainfield Public Library IL
West Lafayette Public Library IN
Cleveland Elementary School Library MA
Limerick Public Library ME
Norway Memorial Library ME
MCLS: Bedford Branch MI
Dakota County Heritage Library MN
Horace Mann Elementary School NY
Hudson Library & Historical Society OH
Bishop Elementary OK
Lucknow Central P.S. ON
Adrian School Library OR
Stewart Heights Elementary School SC
Richneck Elementary VA
Craft Memorial Library WV

Woodland Elementary School Is Awesome

I love visiting schools. One of the last school visits of the year was to this one in Southwick, Massachusetts:

Thank you, Woodland Elementary School!

I was lucky enough to spend two whole days with the kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students of Woodland Elementary School. You should know that they are EXTREMELY smart and talented. During the presentations, they brainstormed oodles of story ideas and had lots of excellent questions. (My favorites: "Does your hand ever get tired?" and "What did your mom think when you got published?")

We had a pizza party in the library, where the guests offered many exciting ideas for a third Joe and Sparky story. Like these:

JOE AND SPARKY BATTLE GENERAL GRIEVOUS
JOE AND SPARKY SWIM WITH SHARKS
JOE AND SPARKY: LOST IN SPACE
JOE AND SPARKY MEET JAKE THE ELEPHANT
JOE AND SPARKY: SHARK ATTACK!

And they are not just gifted authors. They are artists, too. Check out what the kindergarten class did!

Stunning hallway display by the Woodland Elementary School kindergartners

Can you spot the handprints?

As a bonus, I fulfilled a lifelong dream and ate in the teachers' lounge!!! After being barred for decades, I was finally allowed to enter that secret clubhouse of educators. It was all that I imagined and more--a smorgasbord of complimentary baked treats, chocolate, and ten different kinds of coffee. (Somebody later told me that the treats and coffee were a special gift for Teacher Appreciation Week, but I prefer to think that the teachers' lounge always has a party in full swing.)

All in all, a perfect school visit. Now carry on and enjoy your summer.

SUPERSTARS Book Launch Party!

Last month, I had my first-ever book launch party at a very special place, my childhood library--the Forest Park Branch Library in Springfield, Massachusetts. It's where I got my first library card, where I participated in summer book clubs, and where I discovered some of my all-time favorite books.

So when the amazing Springfield librarian Jean Canosa Albano invited me to visit as an author, I jumped at the chance. We decided to throw a book party for JOE AND SPARKY, SUPERSTARS! Even if the idea did make me a teensy bit nervous. (What if nobody came? What if kids came, but didn't have enough to do? What if too many people came and I didn't have enough cupcakes and the children formed an angry mob?)

But then I reminded myself that part of being an author is being eternally and unapologetically optimistic, and so I planned and prepared and harassed all of my family and friends on facebook and guess what? People came. We had lots of fun. And there were enough cupcakes for everyone.

Thanks to all who joined the party and thank you, Forest Park Branch Library!

Set up and ready. Will anyone show up? Will I sit here alone with 100 cupcakes looking like Minnie Pearl? Only time will tell.

Hooray, they're here!

Desperately trying to pay attention to someone as my son wildly boogies on down next to me. (Keep smiling, keep smiling.)

In case the lollipop and sunglasses did not tip you off, he's kind of a big deal.

Disappearing cupcakes.

A little pre-Hokey Pokey reading to the star-studded crowd. (Those may or may not be jazz hands.)

The heckling giraffe.

A cute baby.

Crafty kids making puppets.

These gentlemen take their puppet-making seriously.

SUPERSTARS!

Click here to read an article about the event.

Superstar Artists to the Rescue!

Fact: It is not easy to find a giraffe costume for a 230-pound, 6' 3" man.

I discovered this fact last month while searching for a giraffe costume for my husband. He ever so kindly volunteered to dress as Joe for the JOE AND SPARKY, SUPERSTARS! book launch party. But the only costume I could find was this little number. Sadly, we quickly realized that a 230-pound, 6' 3" man wearing yellow facepaint and an incomplete giraffe costume would terrify small children.

On to Plan B: a carnival cut-out. You know, one of these things:

I tried to get my crafty on and make one on my own. Several disastrous attempts and six Exact-o blades later, I was forced to create a Plan C. But time was running out! What to do???

Luckily, the Superstar Artists of Taravella High School in Coral Springs, Florida came to the rescue. (It helps to have friends in sunny places.) Just LOOK at what they did!

Our Superstar Artists carefully planning, measuring, and sketching.

Adding color to Joe & Sparky's Superflash 5000.

The finishing touches to Joe's fruit hat.

A few of the talented artists with their teacher, Susan Anderson.

Voila! The masterpiece is done. Ready to be rolled up and shipped from Florida to Rhode Island. (Then I'd have to rubber cement the art to cardboard and carefully cut out those cute heads. Yikes!)

THANK YOU, SUPERSTAR ARTISTS OF TARAVELLA HIGH SCHOOL!
(Rebecca, Joel, Domingo, Dylan, and Ali)

Party time! Click play to see the finished cut-out & funny friends at the JOE AND SPARKY, SUPERSTARS! book launch party:

Personalize a free slideshow design

Giveaways for Superstar Teachers & Librarians!

Hey, Teachers, Librarians, and other Swell Children's Programmers . . . Joe and Sparky are giving you the Superstar treatment in honor of their book launch!

Educator & Librarian Giveaway!  Enter here before 6/15/11 for a chance to win one of Joe and Sparky's books.

Activity Kit!  Three madcap activities for public librarians, school librarians, educators, and other swell children's programmers. Download it for free here.

Thanks to the brilliant Kirsten Cappy at Curious City for creating all of the above!

It is here! It is here!

The return of the unlikely duo that Kirkus describes as "part Bert and Ernie and part Thelma and Louise!"

The second Joe and Sparky early reader, JOE AND SPARKY, SUPERSTARS!, is out today!

Here's an excerpt from the first review--a star from Kirkus!

★ "This little treasure is one that will get passed around. Like the Hokey Pokey, that's what it is all about." —Kirkus, starred review

Order a copy from your independent bookstore:

Kirkus Reviews' Best Children's Books of 2009!

Joe and Sparky Get New Wheels has been included in Kirkus Reviews' Best Children's Books of 2009! Kirkus describes Joe and Sparky as "part Bert and Ernie and part Thelma and Louise." To see the entire list, go here.