When you order the print edition of
Monkey Boy to Lunch Lady in the next month, you'll receive extra hand-drawn sketches in your book.
And the best part—you're helping underprivileged kids in unique familial situations take art classes for free.
Order your copy today!
www.studiojjk.com/10yearsketchbook.html
And man does it look sharp! I couldn't be prouder with how my sketchbook looks in print.
It can take up to a month for stock to get to Ingrams' warehouse, so in the meantime, I'm taking individual orders from my website. (I can get quantities now.) If you work at a bookstore and want to stock Monkey Boy to Lunch Lady, you can put your order in with Ingrams. The ISBN is 9780983854517. Librarians can also order the book wholesale through Ingrams.
And if you can't wait, then you can order your copy right now!
My sketchbook,
Monkey Boy to Lunch Lady, is now available as an eBook via Google Books, which can be purchased on your local bookstore's website.
Here is a link where you can learn which indies are selling eBooks. Here is my sketchbook via my local bookstore.In an effort to promote eBooks through indies, I won't be releasing my sketchbook to any other e-outlets. Google Books can be read on just about any tablet computer.
And remember, my sketchbook benefits the
Joe and Shirl Scholarships, which connects kids with an arts education.
Here's a look at what you'll find inside my sketchbook:
Here's a preview of the exhibit. Please come on by on Sunday, I'll be signing books from 1 - 4 pm, with proceeds benefiting the Joe and Shirl Scholarships.
Worcester Art Museum
55 Salisbury Street
Worcester, MA 01609
508.799.4406
In conjunction with my exhibit at the Worcester Art Museum, I will be teaching a workshop called, "The Business of Children's Books".
You can register online here! Here's some info on the three hour workshop:
Join Worcester native and award-winning author/illustrator Jarrett J. Krosoczka and see the world through the eyes of a professional children's book artist. Jarrett will share his experience growing up as an artist, the rejections he faced, and the growth of his writing and illustrating process. He'll also cover the submission process and distribute a packet of handouts with tips for beginning writers and illustrators. A question and answer session will be followed by a walk through the exhibition, Monkey Boy to Lunch Lady: 10 Years of Jarrett J. Krosoczka. A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Jarrett has published several children's and pre-teen books including Good Night, Monkey Boy; Punk Farm; and the Lunch Lady Series.
15 years worth of sketchbooks have been visually edited down and scanned. Designer John Lind and I are putting something together that I hope you will love. It's a little something to say thank you for 10 great years, something that will benefit the Joe and Shirl Scholarships and something that will support independent book stores. More info soon. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek at what we're working on:
When I turned fourteen, my big birthday present that year was a drafting table. My grandfather brought me down to CC Lowell art supply store on Park Ave in Worcester and I picked one out what looked like the ones used in all of the cartoonists books that I had. That night, we had Chinese food. My fortune cookie read, "You will be successful in your work." I taped the fortune to the top left corner of my desk.
I still work on that desk today.
On June 12th, 2001, my first book,
Good Night, Monkey Boy, was published. It’s hard to believe that it’s been
ten years, but I remember the day, and the days leading up to it so clearly. Every step of the way, as materials would come back from Random House, I was gitty with excitement—my name would be on the spine of a book! I had an ISBN! The first round of color proofs came in and I marveled at how well the colors reproduced. I hadn’t seen the paintings since I had dropped them off in the previous summer, but these were my colors. The excitement was building. I would lay awake at night, staring at the ceiling. June 12th couldn’t come soon enough. It was like seeing your Christmas presents displayed under the tree in September and you still had to wait for December 25th to open them. Publishing was a slow process, I would, ironically, quickly learn.
And then it happened—the first time I would ever hold a finished hardcover version of one of my books. I was living on Summer St in Somerville, MA at the time. I was meeting a friend for lunch in Harvard Square and made my way to the sandwich shop we agreed upon and waited. And waited and waited—my friend completely forgot we had set up a time for lunch. (Pat McKenna, I’m looking at you!) While I was in Cambridge anyhow, I stopped into the Curious George Bookshop in the heart of the Square. It’s the most amazing shop, filled to the brim with children’s books. It was at this bookstore that I would poke around in when I was first submitting work to publishers. I anticipated having a book of mine amongst the shelves. I arrived back at my apartment to find a large, padded yellow envelope on my doorstop. I instantly recognized the Random House logo, but I wasn’t expecting a package. I picked up the envelope and froze dead in my tracks, my blood pulsating at a breakneck pace. There was something sturdy in this envelope. It wasn’t floppy like all the previous packages. This was. . . a book!
On the stoop, I tore open the package and there before me was my first child. Monkey Boy’s grin couldn’t compete with mine. The endpapers, the jacket flap, it was all there and assembled. I can’t even begin to put into words the thrill and excitement and joy that filled me from head to toe.
In late May of 2001, I returned to work as a full-summer staff member for my 6th and last season as an employee at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. Camp was in session when June 12th rolled around. I left my co-counselor, Chris Milmoe, and headed into town with old camp friend Erich Birkby. Birkby and I drove to the Buckland Hills Mall in Manchester, CT. When you’re in Ashford, CT, it’s the closest thing you can get to civilization. We madeour way to a book store and I saddled up to the information desk. “Excuse me,” I said. “I’m looking for a book. I believe it came out today. I don’t know the author’s name, but I know the name of the book.”
“What is it?” asked the store clerk, ready to help.
“It’s called
Good Night, Monkey Boy,” I looked at Birkby as if to say, can you believe this?!
The clerk typed the letters into the computer, hit return and grimaced.
“What’s the matter?” I asked.
By: Jarrett J. Krosoczka,
on 11/14/2011
I absolutely LOVE this post.