From January through the beginning of May I have visited students from 43 schools, the most ever in any one school year. Among that group were 3 school systems where I visited multiple schools; 10 schools in the Hamilton, NJ school district, 4 schools in the Syracuse area and 14 schools in the Red Clay district of Delaware. I enjoyed every visit immensely. I can’t included details on every school as this would become a novel and not a blog post. Apologies to the schools I have not mentioned in detail.

What I Do

I suppose I should explain what I do in my presentations. I usually start with three of my books which vary by the age of the audience. I project the pages onto a large screen and can “turn” them with a remote in my left hand while holding the book in my right. These readings usually get the students laughing and set the mood. I then ask the students if they have any questions which can take the program in many different directions. I have hundreds of slides in my presentation that I can easily jump to at any point if an answer would benefit from a visual. At some point I offer to draw something for the students and after that I show them a scribble drawing demonstration that they can participate in. If enough students want to hear another book reading I can add that in and I also bring along a variety of toys I have designed and sculpted earlier in my career. I have hours of material I can draw from and usually have only 45 minutes to an hour to present. Each presentation is unique, steered by the students’ questions.

Reading Do Not Open The Box . I love seeing photos where all the students are giving me full attention.

The first visit of 2025 was to Winthrop Elementary in Bellmore, NY. on January 16th. I did three assemblies for all of the students in the school. While there I had the chance to have dinner with some old friends from my Pratt and Brooklyn days, Tony and Lori Scarlatos. After that I visited Memorial Elementary in Pittman, NJ and finished the month presenting to the 2nd grade students from 3 schools in Talbot County at the historic Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD. I live in Talbot, so it’s nice to do local schools without having to travel.

Onstage at the Avalon Theatre with the biggest screen I’ve ever used. I felt like a Broadway star.
I do have other books, I just like these photos. I cannot take my own photos of students but all of these were posted by the schools or teachers on social media

On February 5th I did 8 virtual visits with schools all over the country for World Read Aloud Day. I enjoy virtual visits as it allows me to interact with kids I would otherwise never meet in person.

The Pace Quickens

Things picked up in February. On the 8th I did a Saturday program in Cambridge, MD and then I hit the road for another trip to Long Island to visit George A. Jackson Elementary in Jericho. Tony and Lori had invited me to stay in their guest studio so I had a nice visit on Superbowl Sunday with them. I did 3 presentations at the school on Monday and also had lunch with some of the students in the library.

If there is a stage I prefer to be in front of it rather than on it. I brings me closer to the students and makes the presentation more personal.Some of the students who came to the library to meet me and pick up their signed books.

That evening I drove south and stopped at Jeffrey Clark School in Mickleton, NJ for presentations in the library. I’ve known the librarian, Mrs. Wordelmann, for many years from the NJASL conventions and was happy to finally get to visit her students.

After that began the true odyssey. On February 25th I visited Glendora Elementary in South Jersey to do 3 assemblies. I had a wonderful time with the students there. When another school in their district found out I was coming they booked me to visit James W Lilley Elementary for an evening Literacy Night program.

It’s always nice to find that a school has put in a lot of work to welcome you.

That night I checked into my AirBNB in Trenton for the rest of the week. In the morning I drove up to Valley Road School in Clark, NJ. I gave myself plenty of time to get there, which was good as there was an accident on the Garden state Parkway just before my exit. (of course there was). I still arrived on time and spent the day visiting students and having a nice lunch with faculty and the principal. This was a great start to the weeks that would follow.

Afterwards I got together in Princeton with 3 friends from my teenage days. We worked as ghouls in the Haunted Castle at Six Flags Great Adventure. Sam was visiting NJ from California, Frank drove up from South Jersey and Tom came in from Pennsylvania as well. It was a very fun reunion.

I love seeing long shots like this. Sometimes it’s hundreds of students in the gym…and sometimes the performance space is the lunch room…and sometimes we are jam-packed in a library. No matter the space, the students and I have a great time.

The next day began my Hamilton, NJ school visits. I had met Principal Mallon at the NJASL conference in Atlantic City in 2023 and she reached out last summer about visiting 10 schools in her district. I presented at Wilson Elementary on Thursday and then two schools, Sunnybrae and Kuser on Friday. I went home Friday and picked up the book I had ordered for the next week’s visits.

I’m glad I decided to do AirBNBs instead of hotels for these week-long visits. I had room to spread out the books I had to sign and could cook meals instead of needing to eat restaurant food all of the time. My goal with all of the travel was to not put on any weight. I was able to get up early most mornings and work out at various Planet Fitness locations.

I find it amusing how many photos of me reading make me look angry. Many of my books are about characters with strong emotions so I can’t help but read them that way. It’s impossible to give a dramatic reading and smile at the same time.See.

My second week in Hamilton was very busy. I presented at seven schools between Monday and Friday, with two assemblies in each school. That Friday I got back to Maryland with only a few hours to spare before Melanie and I headed to the airport for a week’s vacation (much needed) in Miami and the Florida Keys.

I Travel North

We flew back Saturday morning and I had just enough time to pack up my car and drive 6 hours to Syracuse, NY. I left early as it was supposed to rain hard that night so I figured I could get most of the books signed once I got there. Unfortunately just after I arrived at my AirBNB there was a tornado warning and the power went out for hours. I opened the apartment curtains and signed most of the books I needed for Monday before it was too dark to see. Next time I will bring candles.

It was a bit of a shock going from sunny Florida to Upstate New York where there was still snow on the ground and the lakes were frozen. I visited 4 schools over 4 days, organized by Mrs. Dershang from Brewerton Elementary. I visited her school in 2019 so it was nice to return after 6 years. It was not my only return visit this year.

Last Fall, when I started booking all of these visits, I realized I would be moving a lot of books.

I got home late on Thursday and once again spent my weekend organizing books for the next week. Back in the fall when I realized what my schedule was looking like we made the decision to buy an SUV. I needed something that could move a lot of cases of books. For six weeks I was loading up to 20 boxes of books along with my presentation materials and clothes for the week into the Nissan Pathfinder we had bought.

Red Clay

The drive to northern Delaware was only around 2 hours, too far to drive each morning, especially since I had to arrive at the schools around 8:30 am. I found a nice townhouse on AirBNB for the first week which was convenient to most of the schools that week, especially the first, Linden Hill, which was only 2 minutes away. I visited 5 schools, 3 assemblies each day. It’s interesting to see the differences in schools in the Red Clay district, it goes from urban to suburban to rural.

The second Red Clay school was Warner Elementary in the city of Wilmington. A great old school building which had been expanded with a huge auditorium sometime recently. The students were great and I had some time at lunch to visit the Brandywine Zoo, just down the hill from the school.

Richardson Park, Marbrook and Brandywine Springs rounded out the week. Each school visit is unique. I offer to do whatever the school asks of me when I visit. Sometimes I have lunch with a select group of students, sometimes I help deliver the books the students have ordered and sometimes I have two assemblies in the morning, leave for a few hours and come back for a third in the afternoon. Sometimes I stick around and visit a few classrooms to let some students ask questions they may have thought of after my presentations.

Over the course of my travels I had many lunches with very inquisitive students.

The next week I visited 6 schools over 4 days. Monday was an in-service day so the visits started on Tuesday, April 1st with two assemblies each at two schools. This showed why every school visit can be very different. With most schools I send a book order form ahead of time so families can decide if they would like to get signed copies of my books. I never require that the school do this and there are no minimums. The morning school families ordered about 20 books which I brought with me, signed and with a drawing in each. The afternoon school was a Title 1 school and chose not to send the order forms out. Instead they used funds to purchase 257 copies of I Hate Picture Books!, one for each student. I had to make a special trip to Schiffer Publishing the prior week to pick up the 11 cases of books.

On Wednesday I visited Cooke Elementary. I had visited this school back in 2017 and it’s always nice to be invited back to meet the new students. Of the 43 schools I presented to this year 5 were return visits. Cooke was also special as it was the birthplace of one of my books. On my drive to the original school visit I had the inspiration for the book that would become untitled. The students were excited to hear that their school played a part in it’s birth.

On Thursday I had another day of visiting 2 schools, Lewis and Johnson and finished up on Friday with Brandywine Springs. On Saturday, April 5th I participated in the Festival of Words in Greenwood, Delaware. I presented two programs: Creating Creatures and Characters and Can You Do That In A Picture Book?. It was a fun day and I met some great students and educators.

Into the Home Stretch

The following week began with the last three Red Clay schools. On Monday I visited Richey and Mote Elementary Schools. On Tuesday I visited North Star Elementary. Their librarian, Alyssa Sweitzer, had been the person who arranged the 14 Red Clay schools for me. I had met her when I first visited Cooke and I also did a virtual visit with her students at North Star in 2021. It was great seeing her and I had a fantastic time visiting her students. After my main assembly presentations I revisited the 4th grade classes for two extra Q&A sessions. These were more relaxed and I got to sit down to chat with everyone. Oh, and I’ll be back up that way on June 12th for Storytime at the Woodside Creamery.

It’s nice to talk to students in a more relaxed setting.
Fourth graders ask great questions and it’s fun joking around with them.

That night I had a long drive to western Pennsylvania for a visit to Hillview Elementary School on Wednesday. I often joke that the further I go from home the bigger deal I am. Hillview proved my joke to be true. Mrs. Hartzel, who had arranged the visit, did a fanastic job. She got students from Grove City College to work with the students in advance, reading my books and doing crafts weeks ahead of my visit. The halls were covered in art based on my books. They also invited a local reporter to cover my visit who paid close attention to my presentations and then asked me some follow-up questions. Here’s the article she wrote.

Here are some of the incredible art projects based on Do Not Open The Box!, untitled, I’m Going To Outer Space!, I Hate Picture Books!, and even Shadows On My Wall that lined at least three long halls.

A couple of things happened at Hillview that really touched me. April 12th is my birthday and I am often asked by students how old I am. I have never had an issue with this and tell them. Well, this week I was asked and I said, “I’m 61, oh wait, I’ll be 62 on Saturday”. Some hundred or so students suddenly burst into a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday! What a wonderful birthday present.

As I said, these students were prepared. Somewhere on the internet I had mentioned that I performed in street theater as The Lorax back when I was a teenager. One student asked me if I could do my Lorax voice. I bring along my copy of The Lorax (signed by Dr Seuss) so I picked it up and read a few lines. I can’t believe I was able to remember the voice I used after 40 some odd years!

After a lovely visit to Grove City I jumped back in my car for a return visit to Wrightsville Elementary. I’ve known Mrs. Lavery for a long time now, having visited once before in 2017. I did a morning presentation in the library, had a few hours to poke around the antique stores across the Susquehanna River in Columbia, PA and then came back for an afternoon session. I then stayed around to do an evening program. They are a Title 1 school and it helps them to fund an author visit if they include that for the families. It’s great to see the students who have gone home all excited and persuaded their parents to come out at night. I explain, very briefly, to the parents who I am and what I do. Then I tell them I’m going to teat them like 4th graders and begin the program. In the evening the kids get to pick the books I read and I held back a couple of things that would normally come up during the day. It’s fun because you get a mix of kids from all of the grades and they all came back as they had a great time during the day.

Always drawing. In the Wrightsville library during the day and in the gym for the evening family presentation.

Having been on the road for about 6 weeks straight it was nice to get home and have some time to rest, catch up on things around the house and do some client work. I started writing this piece over a week ago. On April 23 I began my last few scheduled school visits for this season and two of them were different from my Author Presentations.

Something Different

Last summer I created a Toy Design program for a camp at a school in Baltimore. It went over very well with the kids. I turned it into an assembly and/or workshop program that is offered to Maryland school through Arts For Learning Maryland. On Wednesday I spent the day at Tilghman Elementary doing seven 45-minute workshops with students from pre-K through 5th grade. I brought along toys I’ve designed and sculpted, a Keynote presentation and toy design worksheets. For the younger students we designed Teddy Bears and the older grades created their own Action Figure designs and Pool Toy designs.

Student Action Figure Designs

The next day I visited Waugh Chapel Elementary to do the Assembly version of the Toy Design program. I presented to the 3rd grade students and I am also doing 4 in-class workshops after the assembly. I sent the students home with the task to design Teddy Bears and in the workshops we are designing Action Figures. I have 2 more workshops with them next week. Both schools have enjoyed the programs and I hope to offer this more broadly next year.

Student Teddy Bear Designs

On Friday, April 25th I visited Woods Road Elementary in Hillsborough, New Jersey. Wow, what a way to finish up this incredible year. I was greeted in the morning by the principal who was wearing a t-shirt with my name on it! I’ve never had a school do that before. Even the school mascot was wearing one.

Woods Road goes all out for Young Author’s Day!

Woods Road makes a big deal out of their Young Author’s Day. Aside from the shirts that the students were wearing, the school set up the gym with games and crafts all themed around my books. The presentations were in the library and the students were prepared with great questions. It was quite a memorable day.

The Make-A-Mouse table, the What’s Inside The Box? game, Make an Alien or Monster craft
and The Puffin Bean Bag Toss GameWhat’s Next?

It was absolutely amazing to be able to present to so many school this year. I never expected to be a performer of any kind but the joy I feel standing in front of 200 kids who are laughing at my jokes and getting excited when I draw for them, I am honored and grateful to be asked by so many schools to visit their students. I hope this was not a fluke, I hope I can replicate whatever combination of marketing, luck and magic that happened this year. If you are an educator, if you have a child in school or if you know anyone looking for an author to visit their school, please get in touch. My schedule for next year is wide open and I have dates open throughout the school year. I’ll travel anywhere that a school wants me to visit.

What worked well this year was visiting multiple schools in the same district. I can give schools a great rate when that happens, often eliminating travel costs. I have a contact form here on my blog, you can also get in touch through my website, CreaturesAndCharacters.com. There you can see more info about my books and programs. I’d love to visit your school in the 2025/26 school year!