Instagramming an Author Event: An Evening with Bob Shea (And a Special Guest)

All ready for our Bob Shea event!

AHH! NO! Not ready! I missed something!

Ah. Better.

Break out the balloons, folks – Bob Shea (and a special guest) visited our school district last night and I have the square-shaped photos to prove it.

I’ve never helped organize an evening author event, but I was feeling good about our secret weapon: our school district has an incredible Fine Arts Center that was recently built.

We did our darnedest to hype the event – including sending out these posters I made using Canva.

Bookbug, independent bookseller in Kalamazoo, MI came up for the event to sell some books:

We decorated a bit:

It was time for the main event.

You know why Bob Shea is perhaps our nation’s best family event author/illustrator? Because Bob Shea is just as funny to grown-ups as he is to kids. Colby Sharp (who hosted a Shea event earlier this week) called it a Toy Story presentation for exactly this fun-for-everyone reason. I’ve heard whisperings that Bob may have some stand-up comedy experience. It shows.

After things were rolling, the house lights came down and Shea read his upcoming book The Happiest Book Ever! Beware the frowny frog.

*SPECIAL GUEST ALERT*

Who was in the house? Arnie the Doughnut Michigan author/illustrator Laurie Keller. Poor Laurie – here she was thinking she was just coming to watch, and mean Mr. Shea brings her up on stage. Keller helped with a underwear-designing bit for Bob’s latest book Dance, Dance, Underpants. Shea took suggestions from the audience, and Keller did the rest:

After the presentation wrapped up, it was book-signing time. This is also known as Travis Sticks a Camera in Bob Shea’s Space and Awkwardly Snaps a Candid Photo time.

And with that, it was time for Bob to gently drift off to dreamland:

Thank you Bob Shea for visiting. Thank you Mary Ann Zissimos for arranging the visit. Thank you Laurie Keller for being a good sport. It was a wonderful night.

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