Scenes From a Book Tour
In October, my debut
picture book, DEAR SANTASAURUS, was released. Since then, I’ve been visiting
schools and bookstores. It’s been great meeting hundreds of kids and families.
It’s also been funny and emotional. Here are some of my favorite moments.
I went to visit my
nephew’s school. The 2nd graders knew that I was related to their
classmate, but one little girl couldn’t remember how. She pointed to my nephew
and asked me, “Are you his grandma?” I’m only 30-something. I guess
that’s not too young for gray-covering hair dye and wrinkle cream. I got some
on the way home.
At that same school, a
boy asked me, “Are you famous?” I told him no, not really. He wanted my
autograph anyway. “In case you get famous someday.”
I find preschool visits
to be a fun challenge. The 4 and 5 year olds can’t sit still very long, and I’m
also distracted by all the nose picking. (I guess it’s a habit that comes with
all that not-being-able-to-sit-still.) After reading and playing dinosaur games
with the group for 20 minutes, I asked if anyone had questions. A little boy
raised his hand and asked, “Can I give you a hug?” Sure! A second later I
was mobbed by preschoolers wanting hugs. My eyes welled up. I didn’t even think
about all the nose picking germs until after.
While I was doing a
signing at a bookstore, a boy asked me if he could read my book before buying
it. Of course! So he went to the corner and read the book quietly. When he
returned it to me, I asked him what he thought about it. “It’s pretty good. But
I don’t like dinosaurs.” Then he was gone.
At another book store
event, a young childless couple was wandering around the kids section. They
must have thought I was an employee (even though I was standing behind a table
stacked with DEAR SANTASAURUS books and a sign that read, Meet the Author). The
woman asked me, “Can you recommend a picture book to give as a gift?” Long
story short, I’m not a good self-promoter. The couple ended up buying Mustache
Baby by Bridget Heos. I gave them a free dinosaur sticker.
What’s the biggest
dinosaur? At an event at a
children’s museum, I told the kids that it was the Argentinosaurus. (I just
looked it up, and I may be wrong on this. But the Argentinosaurus is in the top
three.) Well, one little boy insisted it was the T-Rex. For five minutes, we
debated. I told him the T-Rex was large, powerful and is very popular, but
T-Rex is not the biggest. The boy told me I was wrong. Over and over and over.
Eventually, I conceded. I think it was the right move.
And now for the daily
cookie…
Double-Decker M&M
Bars
Ingredients:
3/4 C butter, soft
1 C sugar
1 C brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 C flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C cocoa powder
1 TBS butter, melted
1 C mini M&Ms, divided
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 13x9x2 inch pan.
2. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla.
3. In another bowl, mix 2.25 C flour, baking powder, and salt. Blend slowly into cream mixture.
4. Divide batter in half.
5. Blend cocoa and melted butter in another bowl, add to one half of the dough. Mix well.
6. In remaining dough, add the rest of the flour and 1/2 C M&Ms.
7. Spread chocolate dough in bottom of pan. Then spread the white dough on to top. Sprinkle with remaining M&Ms.
8. Bake 25-30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.
Help & Hints:
It's difficult to spread the dough. I recommend dropping heaping spoonfuls all across the top and gently spreading them together.
And don't miss the rest of the tour.
Get your copy now at...
Indie Bound
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
BAM
Or your favorite bookstore.
