SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • *Best New Books*
    • Annual Best Lists
  • Reviews
    • One Star Review
    • Nonfiction
    • Toon Reviews
  • Articles
    • Authors
    • Link Du Jour
  • Covers
    • Covering the Newbery
    • Cover Curiosity
    • Unfortunate Covers
  • News
    • Books on Film
    • Morning Notes
  • Newsletter

April 22, 2014 by Travis Jonker

Instagramming an Author Visit: 26 Story Treehouse Author Andy Griffiths

April 22, 2014 by Travis Jonker   9 comments

Bust out the giant plastic letters! Last week it was author visit time ’round my neck of the woods. 13 Story Treehouse author Andy Griffiths was in town. This visit was unique for a couple reasons:

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

1. Mr. Griffiths was coming all the way from his home country of Australia in support of his latest book, the 26 Story Treehouse (review to come), and was only stopping at a few schools while in the U.S.

2. He was also visiting the schools of two friends – The Jimmy Carter of Teaching Colby Sharp and The Bill Clinton of Children’s Literature John Schumacher. They both recapped their visits already: click here for Mr. Sharp’s recap, click here for Mr. Schu’s recap.

Prep was in order. Specifically, sparkly letter prep.

Have I mentioned lately that I love this window chalk stuff? I do. Notice how I subtly appealed to the Twitter generation with a random “#” thrown in.

In advance of the visit, the publisher was kind enough to send these posters that students could use to create their own tree houses. Kids had a good time with that.

So much so that we lined the halls with them.

Here’s a glimpse into my mind. Pre-visit checklist. I was clearly very concerned about water for Andy. For some reason, that’s the thing that fuels my nightmares:

Author: Do you have water?

Travis: *Blood-curtling scream* I don’t.

Author: It’s okay, man – I’ll use the drinking fountain.

But no author of mine shall drink from a mere fountain! They will be lavished with water from the isle of Fiji. If there’s anything I’ve learned from John Schumacher, it’s this – spring for the good stuff.

Ah yes, the big day. The best part. Andy took to the mic in front of an enthusiastic audience. To say that students were excited would be an understatement. To say they were going kinda nuts would be a justrightstatement.

Has anyone ever rented a fog machine for an author visit? The only thing missing here is the machine churning out some dramatic fog. If I pull one out for our next author visit, don’t be surprised.

Here are a couple things you need to know about Andy’s presentation:

It was funny. Very funny. Kids laughing their heads off funny.

Andy has hit upon a very entertaining way to talk about his process for creating stories. For him, comedy is all about playing on opposites, and he illustrated that nicely for the audience.

There were props. Effective props. He brought the house down by showing students all the different stories that could be created using a Godzilla toy and a baby doll.

I was able to get my hands on the Killer Koala after the presentation, captured below by my colleague @daydreamreader. This picture sort of makes it look like there were a bunch of people taking pictures and I wasn’t looking at this particular camera. Not the case. There was just one photographer and I felt the need to do the “stare off into the distance” move.

After the presentations, it was book signing time. This was a joy to watch, as Andy chatted with every student before, during, and after signing their book.

And with that, Andy had to head out to his next visit – anything else ? How about a picture?

Thank you Andy Griffiths, Mary Van Akin, and Macmillan Children’s Books for a wonderful day.

Filed under: Articles

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

January 2023

Who's Published the Most Newbery Winners in the Last 25 Years?

by Travis Jonker

January 2023

2023 Caldecott Medal Predictions

by Travis Jonker

January 2023

The Ten Most Eye-Opening Caldecott Books of All Time

by Travis Jonker

January 2023

Enter the World of Incredibly Specific Children's Literature Instagram Accounts

by Travis Jonker

December 2022

Top 10 Posts of 2022: #1

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#181)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Review of the Day: The Tree and the River by Aaron Becker

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Monkey Prince Vol. 1: Enter the Monkey | Review

by J. Caleb Mozzocco

Heavy Medal

Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Readers’ Poll Results

by Steven Engelfried

Teen Librarian Toolbox

The Value of Innocence for BIPOC Students, a guest post by David Mura

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Looking Ahead: Our 2023 Preview

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Sports-Forward Books for Fans of the Movie "Space Jam: A New Legacy" | Read-Alikes

Four YA Romances for Teens Watching 'The Summer I Turned Pretty'

Four Magical Middle Grade Novels for 'Encanto' Fans| Read-Alikes

Four Breezy YA Summer Reads for Fans of 'Along for the Ride' on Netflix | Read-Alikes

Three Action-Packed Adventures for Fans of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Brenda Benedict says

    April 22, 2014 at 9:41 am

    I teach reading interventions in Hopkins Middle School which is just down the road from Dorr Elementary. I follow your blog and twitter but never realized you were from West Michigan. Thanks for the great work.

    • Travis Jonker says

      April 22, 2014 at 9:52 am

      Hello! Thanks for the kind words – man, we really are just down the street from each other

  2. Emma | My Book Corner says

    April 22, 2014 at 11:11 am

    LOVE the sparkly letters! Top marks!!

    Andy Griffiths is great isn’t he? Have had the pleasure of meeting him a couple of times – always v generous with time for his younger readers.

    Looking forward to seeing what you think of the 26-Storey Treehouse – love that series of my books. Although I do not have a yearning for a marshmallow machine that just won’t disappear.

    • Travis Jonker says

      April 22, 2014 at 12:17 pm

      Thanks, Emma – as you can tell, we had a great time with Andy. I’ll be talking about 26 Story in the next few days or so. Basically, I love it. And students will as well.

  3. Gus Gordon says

    April 22, 2014 at 7:27 pm

    Great post Travis. Andy is one of the most entertaining authors I have ever seen speak. Always very funny and engaging. Also nice to see Andy’s books doing well over there (especially another Aussie). He’s a good guy and a hard worker. Looks like you guys had a fun day!

    Best, Gus

  4. Colby Sharp says

    April 23, 2014 at 11:35 am

    Hooray for #team81!

    • Travis Jonker says

      April 24, 2014 at 9:29 am

      Yes!

  5. cuisinart mixer deals says

    July 8, 2014 at 8:34 am

    Just after 20 years of devoted service, my Sunbeam Mixmaster
    gave out. After I replaced it with an alternative of the same brand, When I discovered that they just do not make items just like they used to!
    So I bought a KA, like everyone else. It’s been some years
    ago now and I also still dislike that Kitchen Aid!
    I really don’t enjoy that you can’t add ingredients easily as you are blending with out putting the training collar and chute on the bowl, you cannot scrape the bowl while the beater is running, it is extremely messy (some thing generally seems to fly out
    the bowl, regardless of how cautious I will be), I cannot seem to obtain it
    set proper so that the ingredients in the bottom of the bowl
    get incorporated into the batter, and it is just too big and
    heavy!

  6. forex forum says

    February 22, 2017 at 2:10 pm

    What i do not realize is in fact how you are not really much more well-favored than you may be right now.

    You are very intelligent. You recognize therefore significantly in terms of this
    topic, made me individually imagine it from numerous numerous angles.
    Its like women and men are not fascinated until it’s one thing to
    do with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs nice. Always handle it
    up!

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

  • Author/Illustrator Blogs

    • Erin Stead Illustration
    • Hey, Rabbit!
    • James Preller's Blog
    • MATTHEWCORDELLBLOGS
    • Mo Willems Doodles
    • The Scop
  • Book Blogs I Like

    • A Book and a Hug
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • A Kids Book a Day
    • A Year of Reading
    • Abby (the) Librarian
    • Awful Library Books
    • Becky’s Book Reviews
    • Better Book Titles
    • Book-A-Day Almanac
    • Bookends
    • books4yourkids.com
    • bookshelves of doom
    • Bottom Shelf Books
    • Calling Caldecott
    • Caustic Cover Critic
    • Chad C. Beckerman
    • Charlotte’s Library
    • Cheryl Rainfield
    • Chicken Spaghetti
    • CHILDREN’S ILLUSTRATION
    • Collecting Children’s Books
    • Cybils
    • EarlyWord
    • educating alice
    • Finding Wonderland
    • For Those About to Mock
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Good Show Sir
    • GottaBook
    • Great Kid Books
    • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
    • Hi Miss Julie!
    • Jen Robinson’s Book Page
    • Kidsmomo
    • Maria T. Middleton Design
    • Nerdy Book Club
    • Neverending Search
    • Nine Kinds of Pie
    • One Book, Two Books, Old Books, New Books
    • Out of the Box
    • Oz and Ends
    • PlanetEsme
    • Read Roger
    • Reading Rants!
    • Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
    • sharpread
    • ShelfTalker
    • so tomorrow
    • The Children's Book Review
    • The Miss Rumphius Effect
    • Uncovered Cover Art
    • Waking Brain Cells
    • Watch. Connect. Read.
  • Library Blogs

    • ALSC Blog
    • Blue Skunk Blog
    • librarian.net
    • LISNews
    • Stephen's Lighthouse
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Tame The Web: Libraries and Technology
    • Unshelved
  • Follow This Blog

    Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

    Primary Sidebar

    • News & Features
    • Reviews+
    • Technology
    • School Libraries
    • Public Libraries
    • Age Level
    • Ideas
    • Blogs
    • Classroom
    • Diversity
    • People
    • Job Zone

    Reviews+

    • Book Lists
    • Best Books
    • Media
    • Reference
    • Series Made Simple
    • Tech
    • Review for SLJ
    • Review Submissions

    SLJ Blog Network

    • 100 Scope Notes
    • A Fuse #8 Production
    • Good Comics for Kids
    • Heavy Medal
    • Neverending Search
    • Teen Librarian Toolbox
    • The Classroom Bookshelf
    • The Yarn

    Resources

    • 2022 Youth Media Awards
    • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
    • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
    • Summer Reading 2021
    • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
    • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
    • Summer Programming Survey
    • Research
    • White Papers / Case Studies
    • School Librarian of the Year
    • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
    • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

    Events & PD

    • In-Person Events
    • Online Courses
    • Virtual Events
    • Webcasts
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Media Inquiries
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Content Submissions
    • Data Privacy
    • Terms of Use
    • Terms of Sale
    • FAQs
    • Diversity Policy
    • Careers at MSI


    COPYRIGHT © 2023


    COPYRIGHT © 2023