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 Part 1 (Prep, Angst, Anticipation) - Part 2 (Meeting Michael Ian Black, B&N event in NYC) - Part 3 (Simon & Schuster meet-and-greet) - Part 4 (Porter Square Books, James Patterson grant) - Part 5 (Northshire Books Saratoga, Division St. Elementary, final wrap-up)

I woke up on the last day of the book tour with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I looked forward to getting back home to Jeff and creative hermitmode. On the other hand, this was the LAST DAY of my FIRST BOOK TOUR. I vowed to make the most of it.

Goofing around just before the children arrived.

I checked out of the hotel and took a cab over to Northshire Books Saratoga (424 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY 518-682-4200 / 855-339-5990). When researching the bookstore before the tour, I discovered that the 9,000-square-foot indie bookstore had opened last summer.

Image from AllOverAlbany.comThis was the second location for the Northshire Bookstore. The first opened in Manchester, Vermont.

I was excited to see my event listed in their calendar:

I enjoyed interviewing events and community outreach coordinator Rachel Person for my NAKED! blog. Rachel told me her position means "that I'm lucky enough to handle author events for the store and to find ways to work with other local organizations throughout our area. I'm also something of a magpie reader, which means I'm always drawn to the next bright shiny object, and will read in pretty much any genre."

Rachel also said that coming to work in a bookstore every day was so energizing, that it was really a great place to be. "And, as the events coordinator for a brand new indie (our store opened less than a year ago), I feel like I'm helping to bring something to my town that hasn't been here before - a year-round lineup of strong, exciting literary programming."

I asked Rachel why picture books are important, and she answered:

"As a reader, I feel that picture books can really bring out the best in writers and artists - creating books for such a young audience requires such care and precision. Every detail has to be just right. As a mom, I've loved watching my children discover the world through picture books. They pave the way to absolutely everything."

Model train in Northshire Bookstore Saratoga children's department.

I loved all the light and space at Northshire Bookstore Saratoga; the place is gorgeous.

Not only that, but the entire second floor is devoted to books for young people!

I arrived just before the store opened up, and it was great to meet Rachel Person face-to-face after exchanging so many e-mails.

Also really enjoyed meeting Marika McCoola:

Not only does Marika work as an indie bookseller, but she is also an author, illustrator and educator. Her debut graphic novel, BABA YAGA'S ASSISTANT, was acquired by Candlewick in 2013. BABA YAGA'S ASSISTANT follows the story of Masha, a teen raised on the Russian folktales her grandmother told her. When Masha finds an ad looking for Baba Yaga's Assistant, she ventures into the woods to apply. The graphic novel is edited by Deb Wayshak, illustrated by Emily Carroll, and is coming out in 2015.

Setting up for my presentation at Northshire was super-easy. I didn't need my projector because Rachel Person had an adaptor that enabled my MacBook Air to connect with their projection system. I loved their event venue!

Soon the children and their parents arrived. Because there were fewer kids than the previous day, I was able to interact with each one of them, including during the illustration workshop session.

Rachel Person was super-organized and made me feel so welcome. I had a chance to sign pre-ordered books (for the school I was visiting later that day) as well as after my Northshire visit. Look at the photo above: I was so impressed by the book display on my table! Rachel even put out copies of Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction, an anthology from Stone Bridge Press that contained my illustrated story for teens, "Kodoma."

And check out the choice of signing pens, whoa:

Rachel had a great "Get Your Geek On" pin and when she saw me admiring it, she found an extra one for me!

After I finished signing, Rachel and I picked up sandwiches at a nearby market and headed to Division St. Elementary School, where I talked to three kindergarten classes.

So much fun, and I was impressed by how well-behaved the students were. And SO VERY VERY CUTE. I had them help me do the reading by shouting out "Naked!" whenever I pointed to them. Wow, kindergarteners really love yelling that word. :-D

I talked to them about how Michael had written the story and I had illustrated it. They loved the picture of Michael consulting his cat. They were also fascinated by the whole process of creating a picture book, including the cover and jacket flaps.

I showed them the choices I gave Michael, and asked them which one they thought he chose:

They were delighted by the fact that Michael chose the one in which he looked the most NAKED. :-)

And then I did a drawing demo, using (for the first time ever), a SMART Board interactive whiteboard:

Wow, was it ever fun to use! Thanks so much to Rachel Person, by the way, who was my tech support. Not only did she keep the slideshow running smoothly (we used a Windows-formatted USB stick of slideshow images) and also controlled the SMART board "erase all" when I needed it.

I had volunteers come up and do a scribble on the whiteboard, then I used the students' suggestions to create some characters, and then (again, with their help) wrote a simple story starring the creatures we had created. LOVED their enthusiasm and eagerness in our creative collaboration process.

Afterward, Rachel and I had a chance to hang out at her house and eat our sandwiches before the cab came to pick me up. Loved her house -- so full of books and creativity! Her husband is Steve Sheinkin, who has written short stories, screenplays, comics, a graphic novel, textbooks, history books and more. You can find out more about Steve and his work at http://www.stevesheinkin.com.

Thanks again so much to Rachel, Northshire Bookstore and Division St. Elementary School for their hospitality and making me feel so welcome!

As I headed off to the airport in Albany to fly back home, I couldn't help but contrast how I was feeling at that moment to how I felt in the weeks before the book tour. Back then I was excited but very stressed about the public speaking, whether I was prepared enough, what to take with me in my carry-on luggage, travel details, etc.

On the way home, however, all I could think about was how wonderful it had been to share my experience with those young readers, and how utterly SINCERE they were in their reactions, their questions, their enthusiasm for the books that Michael had written and I had illustrated.

I took all that wonder and delight of those young readers and wrapped it around me like a blanket as I made my way back to Toronto; my heart was so full.

THANK YOU, SIMON & SCHUSTER CHILDREN'S. 

Continued from Part 1 (Prep, Angst, Anticipation) - Part 2 (Meeting Michael Ian Black, B&N event in NYC)

After the B&N event, I had lunch with Ginger Knowlton at a nearby café. So great to catch up! I was supposed to get together with Ginger back in February, but I cancelled my trip because of the Judy Blume illustration project.

When I arrived at Simon & Schuster for the meet-and-greet, there were NAKED! and I'M BORED signs and books on display in the front lobby of the 4th floor, yay!

Dani Young came out to greet me, and took me to Justin Chanda's office to dump my coat and bags. Justin was still in a meeting. It's always fun hanging out in Justin's office when he's not there; not only do I get chance to check out his book collection but I also have such interesting conversations. And Justin, if you're reading this, don't worry -- we never talk about you, really. Or snoop through your stuff.

This time, Laurent Linn came by to chat!

And then while we were catching up, Jeff arrived. He had dropped off some of his luggage at a friend's place but had trouble finding a cab in the rain, so ended up walking all the way to S&S. :-(

Happily, though, we were early enough that Laurent could take Jeff on a quickie tour of the offices. I trailed along, of course. And I got Jeff to take this photo of us in the lobby:

And LOOK! I was excited to come across this display of the revamped Judy Blume books with my illustrations on the cover (designed by Lauren Rille):

And OH MY GOSH, I spotted hardcover versions of the chapter books I illustrated!!! It was the first time I had seen the final version.

Laurent showed Jeff his office. I love Laurent's office. Look, he has hanging art! Not just mine, but I also spotted art by my friends Kevin Sylvester and Eliza Wheeler:

And look! Laurent (who used to work for Sesame Street) won a Daytime Emmy award in 1994 for Outstanding Achievement In Costume Design for Sesame Street. And check out his signed Sesame Street poster:

He is also a Totoro fan, and I took this photo for my friend Errol Elumir:

But then it was time for the Meet & Greet. Check out this example of the cool Naked!-themed cups they had at the event:

Justin and Laurent talked about how much fun it was to work on NAKED!:

After Michael said a few words (including nice stuff about me *blush*), it was my turn. Because I was nervous, I had some notes written down:

I started by saying how I wish I could take a snapshot of this moment to send to my younger self and (this wasn't planned) Jeff jumped up and took this photo, heh:

Aw, so many friendly faces!

I mentioned I was nervous so had to use notes, right? Well, turns out I accidentally skipped one of the lines in my notes and FORGOT TO THANK LAURENT LINN FOR BEING SUCH AN AMAZING ART DIRECTOR ON THE PROJECT AAAAAAAAUUUGGGH. I apologized to Laurent afterward.

At the end of my mini-speech, I mentioned that earlier this year as I was posting about the Judy Blume illustration project as well as NAKED! coming out, someone asked me if I had a fairy godmother. Yes, I told them, and my fairy godmother's name was JUSTIN CHANDA! If you don't know why, I encourage you to read my Thank You To Justin Chanda and Simon & Schuster Children's as well as the story of how I became illustrator for the Judy Blume books.

So.... I presented Justin with a labelled Fairy Godmother wand and then gave him a big hug. Apparently Justin has taken the Wand to several meetings at S&S since. :-)

After the speeches, Michael and I were ready to sign some books:

Everyone was incredibly friendly and welcoming, and I loved meeting so many of these behind-the-scenes S&S types who help create such fantastic books.

It was also so great to meet people in person I was mostly familiar with on Twitter, like Rachel Stark (@syntactics on Twitter):

One of the people I had been hoping to meet was Christian Trimmer, who is @MisterTrimmer on Twitter. However, it didn't sink in until later that I DID meet him, but just hadn't connected his face/first name with his Twitter id. Gah! I emailed him after the event to apologize for not recognizing him.

With Veda (digital marketing coordinator), Isa Caban (marketing assistant) and Teresa Ronquillo (marketing coordinator):

And thanks to Angela Zurlo of Simon & Schuster's Production department for this copy of the UK version of NAKED!, which comes out TODAY. According to my British friends, "pants" means "underwear" in the UK.

When we finished the signing the last of the books (thanks to those who waited in line until the end), we closed up the room and headed out:

Because Jeff had had so much trouble trying to flag a cab in the rain, we decided to take the subway to Penn station instead. Jeff wasn't coming with me for the rest of the book tour, but he wanted to help me get to the train. I'm so grateful for his help, because lugging stuff through on the NYC subway during rush hour was not fun, especially in my somewhat zombie-ish state...It had been a wonderful day, but I was dead tired. Then I thought of Michael, who was doing a literary-themed comedy event with Parker Posey later that night! 

Jeff bought me this Naked granola at Penn station. :-)

At Penn Station, we had some challenge trying to figure out where I was supposed to get on the train (again, rush hour crowds didn't make this easier). Then we discovered that my train was late. :-( We said our good-byes when the train finally arrived, and Jeff wished me luck.

I ended up not getting to my hotel in Cambridge, MA until after midnight. I was soooo braindead at that point; I am so not a night person, and it had been a crazy (crazy WONDERFUL) day. Happily, though, my Royal Sonesta Boston room was super-comfy:

As tired as I was, I needed to reorganize my stuff so that I'd be ready for the next day's presentation. By the time I felt prepped, I had less than six hours until I had to get up again.

The bed was soooo comfortable that I fell asleep almost immediately.

Next up: Talking to kindergarten and grade one classes at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, MA!

Continued from NAKED! Book Tour (Part 1)

Jeff and I had breakfast on Wednesday morning in the hotel restaurant. If I wasn't so distracted about the upcoming event B&N that day, I'm sure I would have appreciated the restaurant decor much more. VERY shiny:

Restaurant at Dream Hotel New YorkWe checked out and then waited in the hotel lobby until we were told that our ride (a Music Express van) had arrived. And then as the driver was loading our luggage, MICHAEL IAN BLACK GOT IN THE CAR. After giving him a big hug, I immediately forced Jeff to take this photo on my iPhone:

Then I noticed Michael's cool socks, and asked if I could take a photo of those. Without hesitation, Michael said "sure."

I can't remember what we chatted about during the ride to B&N, but I'm sure I was babbling. To Michael's credit, he didn't freak out or roll his eyes or run screaming from the van. Instead he was such a sweetie, nodding and occasionally inserting a comment when I paused in my babble to take a breath, and eventually I calmed down and we started having a normal conversation. 

And then we were at B&N! 

Katy Hershberger (our Simon & Schuster Children's publicist) was waiting for us, and we were introduced to Jennifer Stark, the Community Relations Manager. While Jeff took my laptop and projector to test the setup, Michael and I began signing books.

The students coming to see us had a chance to pre-order books from B&N, and we could sign/personalize each one ahead of time (the little post-it notes you see above have the names of the children) so that they didn't have to wait in line.

If I was going to do a book tour on my own in the future, I would definitely try to arrange this if there was a large group. It's not so much an issue for smaller groups plus I would have loved to chat with each child, but for bigger numbers it's much more efficient for everyone, plus ensures that each child who wants a signed book will get one.

Jennifer (the B&N Community Relations Manager) was smart. She didn't put ALL the books in front of us at once but one small pile a time, so that we didn't feel overwhelmed. Each time we finished signing a batch, more appeared. When the pre-ordered books had all been signed, we signed stock.

Then the kids started arriving. I think there were several classes from different schools at each presentation. Or maybe each presentation was for a specific school? I'll have to check with Katy.

One of the classes was late, though, and the waiting children were getting restless. I forgot that I was supposed to be nervous and got up on stage, started drawing a bizarre creature with the help of the kids:

As soon as I started interacting with the children and drawing, my nervousness dropped away and I began having fun. Their enthusiasm was infectious. Wings or arms, I asked. WINGS! they yelled.

I soon realized, of course, that I needed to ask for a show of hands instead of just having them yell things out -- the latter got way too loud and chaotic. Finally the last class arrived, and Michael did a reading of NAKED! while I controlled the pace of the slides showing the illustrations. The kids LOOOOOVED both the title and story, YAY! And I so enjoyed watching Michael read the story aloud.

Then some of them starting calling out "Read I'M BORED!"

Michael and I hadn't planned that, but I happened to have my copy of the book with me (which I asked Michael to sign) so he read aloud from that (see above). Again, I was thrilled to see him read this story out loud for the first time. He had such a great rapport with the audience; you can tell he has kids of his own. :-)

Another personal highlight: seeing some of the kids MOUTH THE WORDS along with Michael as he read I'M BORED. They had it memorized! Awwwww...

After the readings, Michael talked about how he wrote the book and I talked about how I illustrated it. With Michael's help, I had put together a slidehow with some fun photos and sketches. Here's an example of one of the slides I created, for when Michael was talking about waiting to hear whether his editor (Justin Chanda) at Simon & Schuster Children's liked his revisions or not:

And here's a photo of Michael asking his cat for advice during one particularly challenging revision period:

Photo: Ruthie Black

Not surprisingly, a bunch of the questions in the Q&A focused on Michael's cat. :-) Michael took each question seriously, and I loved how he answered the kids. I was also touched by how he'd direct some of the questions my way (not the cat questions, though), to make sure the children got to hear the perspective of the book's illustrator.

Before I go on, I'd like to reiterate how NICE Michael was. Those who expect that Michael is always like his public comedy routine persona may be disappointed but I found Michael to be an incredibly sweet, low-key, self-effacing and generous individual. And you can never quite tell what he's going to say next. :-)

Photo: Ruthie Black

As Marcie Collen pointed out in her article on ChildrensBookAcademy.com, Michael Ian Black knows how to connect with young readers. "Bottom line," says Marcie, "Black didn’t just take his established comedy set and smack it down in a 32 page format and call it a day.  No. He uses his talents to create some really fun, silly and engaging books that are suited to a kid’s sensibilities." Also see my Nerdy Book Club guest post about so-called "celebrity books."

Plus Michael's a wonderful writer. Not just of picture books, but nonfiction as well. His YOU'RE NOT DOING IT RIGHT is a deeply personal memoir, and (at the risk of sounding clichéd) made me both laugh out loud as well as weep. The voice is wonderful, and I can't wait for Michael to write YA. I told him this but then quickly backtracked because I don't want him to write YA instead of picture books. :-)

But I digress. 

I asked Michael to pose with I'M BORED. I was supposed to be looking bored as well, but I couldn't stop smiling!

Between presentations to school children, Michael and I did more book signing but also had a chance to chat with Katy Hershberger, Barry Goldblatt (Michael's literary agent, see above) and Jeff. Or I should clarify: I didn't need to chat with Jeff, but it was so great that Jeff had a chance to meet Michael as well as Katy and Barry.

Thanks again to Jeff for being our tech support for the slideshow segment! For those curious, I used a Keynote presentation on my MacBook Air with an Epson PowerLite 1761W. For future presentations, I'm considering also taking my travel Wacom Intuos Artpad so I can show kids how I draw on my computer, and they can watch via the projector on a screen. Or maybe I do what my friend Kevin Sylvester does and draw on my iPad. I must do some experimenting, I think.

So pleased that Ginger Knowlton dropped by! Ginger's my agent from Curtis Brown, and she's amazing: 

Anyway, our B&N presentations went really well. My terror level dropped hugely after the first few minutes, when I realized everything was going to be okay. Michael and I were having fun, and the kids could tell. Our second presentation went even better than the first because we had a better idea of what the other was going to say/do.

I know I've said it before, but I have to say again that it was MUCH more fun that I had expected. And I so enjoyed finally meeting Michael.

This post is already way too long, so I'd better stop. Next post, I'll talk about the Simon & Schuster Children's meet and greet and my trip to Boston.

I posted about working on NAKED! over on Pixel Shavings today:

Overall Narrative, Thinking Vs Drawing and NAKED! Sketching: What I'm Learning About The Picture Book Creative Process - by Debbie Ridpath Ohi

I enjoyed working on I'M BORED so much that I was secretly hoping that I'd get to illustrate another of Michael's stories...and my wish was granted! Entertainment Weekly posted the news this morning.

I am so very, very pleased to announce that my next picture book illustration project is going to be NAKED, written by Michael Ian Black, published by Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers. I LOVE the story and am already having a ton of fun doing sketches for the book.

Plus I get to work with Justin Chanda (editor) and Laurent Linn (art director) again!

NAKED launches in the Summer 2014.

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Malibu, California, 1920s. via Flickr user dcwooten.

By Erik N. Jensen

Summer officially arrived on June 21, and as Americans anticipate lounging by pools and vacationing on beaches, they also look in the mirror and worry about how that midriff will look, once it’s squeezed into a swimsuit.  Despite the country’s rising obesity rates, our society has not grown more accepting of different body types and sizes.  We seem, if anything, to have become less accepting of them.  Women in the 1950s and 1960s, a recent New York Times article noted, didn’t mind a muffin top here or a bulging thigh there, but “Today, it’s assumed that only the lean, muscular, hairless and ab-defined will feel comfortable in a bikini.”

That lean, muscular, and ab-defined standard would have looked completely familiar to women (and men) living in the 1920s, however, and there are some remarkable similarities between the physical ideals of that post-WWI decade and those of today.  Then as now, society placed a premium on achieving streamlined, athletic bodies in men and women alike, and this was perhaps nowhere so true as in interwar Germany.  A 1925 essay in a German magazine foreshadowed the spirit, if not the phraseology, of later Elle and Seventeen articles when it decried the “flabbiness and muscular atrophy” of the unexercised body and instead promoted “slender… taut-breasted girls” as the new ideals.

Photo by Vern C. Gorst. c. 1929-32. via UW Digital Collections.

In an episode that would strike terror in the hearts of every self-conscious beachgoer today, Germany’s very first democratically elected president of the new Weimar Republic, Friedrich Ebert, suffered the humiliation of having an unflattering photograph of himself in a swimsuit published on the cover of Berlin’s leading illustrated weekly on the day of his inauguration in August 1919.  Political wags compared him to a walrus, and, within weeks, satirists from across the spectrum had spliced his image into a slew of mocking (and widely circulated) postcards, posters, and cartoons.  They presented Ebert’s slightly sagging body (the man was 48 years old, after all) as a metaphor for his incapacity to govern the country, portraying him as literally unfit to lead.  The relentlessly mocking tone of those media criticisms makes Us Weekly’s contemporary ridicule of celebrity cellulite seem gentle by comparison.

The quest for a toned body in 1920s Germany, though, was not just about looking hot in a bikini (which, in any event, wasn’t even invented until after World War II).  It was also about counteracting the negative consequences of an increasingly mechanized and sedentary lifestyle.  At the same time, as the economy sped up, business leaders insisted that their workers needed to keep pace.  A modern society, in short, demanded modern bodies.

Here, too, a comparison of the body cultures of Weimar Germany and of our own society reveals striking parallels.  When Business Owner magazine 0 Comments on Beach body brief as of 1/1/1900