by Matthew | Sep 2, 2015 | Bobbledy Kids, Fun Things to Do, Kids, Life, Projects |
For a long time, the kids had no idea what Robbi and I do for a living. They know we’re “working” because we shut the door to the studio and tell them to amuse themselves in the living room. But for all they know “working” means eating pretzels and watching Netflix. Alden learned Robbi was an illustrator from one of the kids at her school. Once Kato found out that I am a writer, he naturally assumed that I was responsible for the words in all the books in the world.
These complicated concepts seem to have finally distilled into a collective understanding that Robbi and I make books together (some small subset of all the books in the world) and that we sell them in an attempt to make money.
Once all these dimensions clicked into one pleasing package, the kids realized that they had a golden opportunity to walk in our footsteps—and to reap the (imagined) riches that might result.
And so they took out their markers and made a banner.
They took out their scissors and folded single sheets of paper to make small books. (As explained in the tutorial in the back of recent Bobbledy title I Looked Out the Window And).
They took out their pens and wrote stories, to which they added drawings.
Instantly recognizing the shortcomings of their parents’ far-too-focused-on-books-alone strategy, they conned their mother into ordering a big bag of lollipops online, that their store might offer sweet treats to complement the reading process.
They dumped the staples from our staple bin and placed their various titles just so.
They convinced their father to lug their art table down to the corner of Queen Street and High. They set up shop. They beamed enthusiastically at the passers by.
And almost instantly, commerce happened.
People stopped to buy finished books and blank books or to have a hands-on tutorial on how to make their own book.
There were ample opportunities for real-time math lessons as they were forced to make change.
The list of available books contained such winning titles as: That’s Not Cool, Sometimes Dogs Eat Macaroni and Cheese, and Kitty Cat the Acrobat.
About twenty minutes after the shop had opened for business, the inventory was depleted. Kato gladhanded customers while Robbi and Alden raced inside to make more books.
It was a rather successful first day. I’m pretty sure the kids made more than Robbi and I did at our first day selling our wares at a book show.
But then again, we didn’t have the benefit of setting up next to Chestertown’s most popular bakery. Nor are we nearly as blessed with those elusive intangibles that help drive sales—youthful enthusiasm, earnest wonder, and…lollipops.
by Robbi | Dec 26, 2014 | Bobbledy Kids |
Good friend Simon and Bobbledy subscriber extraordinnaire recently sent us a drawing he did of the Ancient Desert Velatitan.
You would be correct if you were to suggest that this dinosaur is quite large, like, larger than a tree.
You would also be correct if you were to suggest that this dinosaur lives near a shallow lake or pond.
You would also be correct if you were to suggest that in the vicinity of this dinosaur exist very tall horsetails.
We know this because Simon also included some “facts” about his Ancient Desert Velatitan on the back of his drawing.
What you might NOT know, however, is that these “facts” might not be “facts” at all. A search for “velatitan” and “Gorgos desert” yielded no results. The Gorgos Desert that Simon has written about is unusual, because unlike most deserts, it has lakes and ponds and horsetails growing in it.
And so it seems that Simon understands the very best part of being a writer and an illustrator: you can make up complete worlds with your words and pictures. Which makes me wonder –
What other kinds of things do you think are true about this Gorgos desert? What kind of dinosaur is this Velatitan? He looks kind of happy to me – I wonder why?
Or perhaps Simon can chime in and correct me – perhaps there really IS such a dinosaur as the velatitan. Either way, it’s been nice to think about this ancient dinosaur and his home. Thanks for sending us your desert story, Simon!
by Robbi | Dec 11, 2014 | Bobbledy Kids |
Well, now that we’re getting back into the swing of things on this here Bobbledy Blog, we have some catching up to do.
Erin from Madison sent us some great drawings a while back – the completed activity pages from our mailings of Benji McBean’s Amazing Machines and Where is My Chicken?
First off, Erin, you’re a girl after my own heart – a machine that makes snacks for you?!
Sign me up! Kickstart this campaign and I will donate all of my future snack savings. Which, if you’ve seen all the late-nights snacks I eat while I’m working, is actually worth a lot of money.
Next, I fully appreciate that the answer to “Where is my chicken?” is generally the obvious one.
Outside the chicken house, obvs! The question we SHOULD have asked was “What is the name of my chicken?” which is much less obvious, and which, thank you, you also answered. So nice to meet you, Owen the Chicken.
Thank you, Erin of Wisconsin for the great drawings! And here’s to more drawing, snacking, and naming of chickens in your future!
by Robbi | Jul 25, 2014 | Alden, Bobbledy Kids, Drawing Prompts, Kids |
The other day Alden made the claim that she wanted to be an illustrator, just like me. I was very pleased to hear this (though I have heard her also make similar claims to other people regarding their chosen professions). She went further to add that she wanted to be able to draw just like me. She said she wanted to draw Bill the Dragon from “The Imaginary Dragon.” I suggested that drawing like me wasn’t really as interesting as finding her own way to draw things. She considered this for a bit, and then said she would try to draw Bill just how she remembered him, and not exactly how he looked in the book.
So, for reference, this is how Bill looked in the book – my version of Bill:
And this is how Alden remembered him – I call him Bill 2.0:
I cannot tell you how in love I am with this drawing of Bill: the google eyes, the hands at the ends of his wings, the jutting underbite, the very Bill-like look of uncertainty and fretfulness. It captures the essence of Bill in a completely new way. Mission accomplished!
Which begs the question: What does Bill look like to the rest of you out there?
Email me your drawings of Bill and I’ll post them here on the blog. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!
by Matthew | Apr 13, 2014 | Bobbledy Kids, Our Books, Reader Submitted |
This is Calli. As you can see, she is a ninja. That much is very clear. The more observant among you may notice that she is holding asparagus.
The question is why.
We wonder if we might take some credit. Or, at least, if the latest Bobbledy Book has anything to do with it.
As has already been documented in our Kidskel And Weebert review of Even Ninjas Eat Asparagus, even ninjas…
…east asparagus.
In the back of the book, we offer a tutorial on how to improve one’s ninja skills.
The final item is bulk consumption of asparagus. We suspect that this is where Calli got her asparagus-themed notions.
And reviewing the fine print at the bottom of the tutorial page, we remember encouraging young ninjas everywhere to share their ninja feats with us,
Hence the email with Calli’s photos attached. But let me be clear. Calli did not quite follow instructions. No indeed. She went one step further, executing the yet-unwritten fourth rule of how to be a better ninja: planting asparagus so that there is even more available for eating later.
It is true. Give a ninja a stick of asparagus, and she’ll eat for a day.
But teach her how to PLANT asparagus, and she will be rocking her ninja moves for years to come.
Thank you, Calli, for letting us all know that even ninjas plant asparagus.
As for the rest of you: send us photos of yourself practicing your ninja moves—either the ones we suggested or ones you’ve thought up on your own.
Or, if you aren’t a Bobbledy Club member, you can order Even Ninjas Eat Asparagus HERE or you can just cut to the chase and become a Bobbledy Club member HERE.
by Matthew | Mar 4, 2014 | Bobbledy Kids, Make Your Own Book |
You Bobbledy Club members have heard the great news already, but for everyone else, we are delighted to officially announce that the winner of this year’s “make-your-own-books” contest is…
Laramie Horstman of St. Charles, Missouri
Last October, we sent out more than 300 copies of this book, The Snowmen Below, which wasn’t really a book at all.
We provided the first few sentences and a few illustration prompts and asked kids to supply the rest. Their own stories, their own illustrations, and even their own portrait and author’s bio at the end.
We received 43 books, to which more than 100 kids contributed (several classes of kids did collaborative books). We read them all, over and over again. There were so many wonderful stories, so many amazing drawings, so many great ideas. It was really, really hard to pick just one to publish, but in the end, we did.
Part of what we liked about the winning book, was that, in making her book her own, she even changed the title. So instead of snowmen, we have The Aliens Below.
Aliens with five eyeballs.
Aliens which, though extremely mysterious, are not so bad in the end .
Perhaps you will be inspired by the back cover blurb, which I just happen to have right here:
Trap doors are made to be opened, and laddersare meant to be climbed. And who can resist a slide leading down into darkness? What follows are the adventures of a curious girl who gets sucked into a vacuum, poked by a stalagmite, and locked in a cage with a family of five-eyedaliens. Frazzled and rattled and soaked in spilled milk, she comes to the brink of disaster . . . but somehow still manages to save the day.
We chose Laramie’s book because she had such a great story, such well-drawn (and consistently drawn) characters, because she had a way of keeping the story moving with humor and action and intrigue, and because she did such a great job of incorporating Robbi’s illustration prompts into her own story, including the book’s exciting conclusion.
Of course, the most fun for us is hearing about what happens when the contest winner opens the envelope and discovers that she is a published author and illustrator.
Laramie’s mom agreed to be our fly on the wall.
Here is Laramie (center) preparing open her envelope. To the right is her older sister Chloe, who also sent us a book and who also did an incredible job. We would have loved to publish Chloe’s book as well.
Here is Laramie at the moment of discovery. I see on her face just a hint of recognition that something very exciting is about to happen.
And here is Laramie in that thrilling moment of learning that one’s book-publishing dreams have come true. Most writers have this moment a good two years before the finished book actually arrives, when they get that call from their agent that says an editor has made an offer. In the strange world of Bobbledy, Laramie found out that her book was going to be published by actually seeing the finished version.
Do you get the sense that she is pleased by the news?
What makes me happy is how obviously thrilled for her Chloe is. Now THAT’s a great big sister.
After the initial jubilation, Laramie took a moment to admire her certificate.
It was full of all the flattering things the judges had to say about her book.
And then she picked up the book itself. Again, I sense happiness, pride, joy…relief?
And then, not willing to judge her book by its cover, Laramie opened it up, to read her story again, now in finished form.
At this point, the third Horstman sister Scarlett got in on the action.
Later, Laramie took a moment to revel in her accomplishment. Not yet 10 years old, she is already a published author and illustrator. When I was nine, I was still trying to figure out how my shoelaces worked.
Please join me in congratulating Laramie for a job well done. And let’s have a round of applause for every kid who wrote and illustrated a book this year. Remember that just making a book is an accomplishment in itself. And something worth doing just because it’s so fun. Not every book gets published, but every book is an amazing piece of your imagination put on paper for everyone to see. This is why books are my favorite thing in the world.
If you are not a club member and are inspired to see the masterwork of this extremely talented nine year old, here’s where to find it.
And if you’ve read the book and want to pass your thoughts about it along to Laramie, shoot me an email, and I’ll be sure she gets your message.
