I'm just back from a twelve day trip up to Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis-St. Paul, where I did a bit of research and visited a bunch of schools and children's indie bookstores.
The trip started inauspiciously, when my flight was canceled because the wind blew the plane onto a belt conveyor.
Eventually, I made it to Chicago, though, where the weather looked like this:
Still, I had arrived ahead of time so I could go down to the
Museum of Science and Industry, which has a World War II German u-boat and a chicken incubator.
Next two days were the actual school visits, arranged at Henry Puffer Elementary and Liberty Elementary by
Anderson's Book Shop and at Attea Glenview School and Rondout School by
The Book Stall. Afterwards, I got to hang out with Robert from The Book Stall and stopped by for a couple of pics.
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| Posing with posters |
Then I was off to Milwaukee for a school visit at Atwater Elementary arranged through the
Boswell Book Company.
It was my first time I'd ever been to Milwaukee, but sadly didn't have a chance to sightsee, because it was off to Minneapolis-St. Paul for three days of school visits.
Visits at North Trail Elementary and Brimhall Elementary were through
Addendum Books; those at Crestview Elementary and Little Canada Elementary were through the
Red Balloon Bookshop; and at Valley View Middle School, through
Wild Rumpus Books.
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| Snake! |
I had some free time, so I went over to Addendum Books for some pics and had a fun lunch with Katherine and Marcus, the proprietors.
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| In front of the "Purple Rain" wall |
Since I was there over the weekend, I spoke at Red Balloon for the
Minnesota SCBWI about Research and the Suspension of disbelief.
I also had the chance to go run a couple times on the Mississippi Riverfront trail and visit the
Science Museum of Minnesota.
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| T.rex! |
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| Triceratops |
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| Stegosaurus! |
After Monday's school visit I had a fun lunch with Drew and Jordan of Wild Rumpus Books at
Pizzeria Lola (a separate Pizza-a-Day Diet post will be forthcoming). Then I visited the bookstore, where I met the
menagerie.
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| Copper oven and decorative birch logs |
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| Chicken! |
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| Ferret! |
Then I was back to Chicago and spent a day at the
Field Museum of Natural History and showed
Madeline Smoot of
CBAY Books a bit of the city!
Many thanks to all the librarians and booksellers and
Blue Slip Media and everyone else who made this happen. Thanks also to
Quinette Cook and all the folks from MN SCBWI who came out for the workshop. It was great fun meeting you!
