Children’s Book Week is over, and my visit to South Milwaukee Public Library was a great success. About 100 people showed up for the event, which featured presentations from me, illustrator Carol Schwartz and authors, Janet Halfmann and Gibbs Davis. My daughter Antonia and son, Armando, came along to help, as well as hand out posters and coloring books. I even had the opportunity to show off some drawings Antonia made of the various monsters from my Monster Isle book, some of which you can see in this post.

All of the children that showed up were divided into two groups. One group went to the illustrator room, while the other group went to the author room. I didn’t see the presentations by Janet and Kathryn, but I understand the kids had a great time. Plus, I could hear all the cheering and noise from their room. In the illustrator room, Carol gave a very nice presentation that included a look at original sketches, paintings, and various other pieces that illustrate the bookmaking process. It was very informative and the kids loved it.

I shared my book with the kids, but really spent most of the time creating a big monster drawing whose look was dictated by the kids. The children really enjoyed the opportunity to get involved in creating and naming the monster, so that was loads of fun for everyone.

Toward the end of the evening, we had a brief question-and-answer session for the children and adults.

Thanks go out to the entire staff of South Milwaukee Public Library, The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Wisconsin Chapter, Janet Halfmann, Denice Ryan Martin, and Deb Semrad for all of their hard work in organizing, running and promoting the nights’ activities. And a special thanks go out to the parents and children that showed up for the event.