What's round on both sides and HI in the middle?

 Demonstrating the important skill of drawing a bathing hamster in love

with a roll of toilet paper at the Hudson Library and Historical Society.

Ohio! Here we are once again, back in Mark's home state. We've traveled somewhere around 800 miles so far, from Philly to Pittsburgh to Hudson to Grandpa's Cheese Barn to Oberlin back past Grandpa's Cheese Barn to Dayton, where we are relaxing in a luxuriously air-conditioned room on a glorious king-sized bed.

 Ah, Grandpa. Thank you for your wisdom and your cheese.

 Gross, Grandpa.

It's a welcome change from the last two nights, which were spent in room 327 of South Hall, one of Oberlin's dormitories. Not that it was a horrible stay by any means, it's just that there's nothing to make you feel the weight of the ten plus years since graduating college like sleeping in a muggy dorm room and having to walk down a hall with your towel and toiletries to go to the shower.

Our time in Oberlin reaffirmed that Mark is a genius, as he insisted on buying two cheap fans at a Target before we got there, and it also taught us that dormitory bathroom sinks are not ideal for bathing babies. Anya didn't seem to mind, but it took a bit of maneuvering to get her clean. Cleanish. But Mark's reunion was very fun, Anya charmed everyone, and the only thing that marred our weekend was the discovery that the Oberlin College Book Store DOES NOT CARRY THE POPULARITY PAPERS.

Oh my stars!

What's up with that, Oberlin College Book Store? Come on! Oberlin is mentioned in The Rocky Road Trip! Maybe they did carry The Popularity Papers, but they ran out because it was so popular. Right? Anyhoo, if anyone happens to be in the Oberlin College Book Store, feel free to mention to them your deep need to buy The Popularity Papers there.

In the The Seeley G. Mudd Center in Oberlin.

While we were in Oberlin we took a picture of Anya in one of the college's famous Womb Chairs and then put it up on Facebook. Almost immediately an old summer camp friend who also happened to be an Obie recognized where the picture had been taken and quickly emailed me to ask a very strange favor.

I have a special mission to propose while you're there, which you can feel free to turn down, since it involves graffiti (albeit on a wall or door already covered in graffiti) and takes time.


How could I resist? And the next thing I knew, I was sitting on a floor outside of the walk-in fridge in Fairchild Hall dulling one of my Sharpies on painted cinderblock while my friend Andreas dictated Deborah's tribute to the walk-in fridge and the Jabberwocky.

Well of course I had to draw a little monster as well.

And so, yet again, life imitates art--as Lisa Kovac graffitied up the Girl's Bathroom to help out Lydia and Julie, so I graffitied up a hallway in Oberlin to help out my friend. The neat thing is that I met Deborah in summer camp when we were thirteen--right about the same age that Lydia and Julie will be in PP5, and here we are, ten billion years later, still causing mischief. Real friendship lasts.

Wishing everyone a happy and thoughtful Memorial Day, and I'll be at Cover to Cover Books in Columbus tomorrow at 4:30!

On the road again...

We have found ourselves in a La Quinta Inn in Moon, PA on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, and hooray, the internet is finally working. Yesterday we set off from Philadelphia, and after a day of driving through sun and rain (and sometimes both at the same time--the weather was weird yesterday) we made it here.

It's not so different from the last time we took a major, longer than a long-weekend road trip. Oh wait, yes, it's very different, because an inanimate Phanatic isn't the only passenger in the back seat. That's right folks...

FYI: The Visitor's Center on the Penn State campus is a great place to stop for lunch,

and they totally don't mind when you drool all over their enormous floor map.

We're traveling with an eight-month old baby.

An eight month old baby who is currently wailing her face off in the next room, because going to sleep in a dark different place after being completely off schedule and overstimulated is terrifying and stupid and WHY ARE YOU THE WORST PARENTS IN THE WORLD? WHY WON'T YOU JUST LET ME ROLL AROUND ON THE BIG BED??? I WAS HAPPY AND CUTE AND EVERYTHING WAS AWESOME. Don't worry, Mark is calming her down.

This is awesome! Cribs are for chumps.

For the most part, Anya has been amazing. She was either sleeping or babbling or gnawing on a toy for the entire trip (eight hours, door to door) from Philadelphia. Oh did we mention that she's also teething? But she's coping. Perhaps not right now, but she's been pretty terrific up to this point, smiling at bookstore employees and not barfing on their floor. We couldn't be more proud.

Today we found ourselves back in Sewickley, home to the Penguin Bookshop and the scene of our last tour event two years ago, when we arrived, exhausted and wearing clothing of questionable cleanliness, after over two weeks of hard touring. This time it was our first stop and we brought a cute baby, so our former disgustingness was forgotten (hopefully). I started the day off at Osborne Elementary, where the kids made drawing and now I'm kicking myself for not taking photos. Hey, kids, send me photos of your work! They were really terrific. Then an event in the store and now I think, I think Anya might actually be asleep which means that I get to eat takeout dinner without the background music of Miserable Baby. Here's hoping...

Tomorrow we'll be in Hudson, OH, at a library event hosted by The Learned Owl Book Shop. Will all the bookstores that I visit on this trip be named after birds? Tune in next time to find out...

The Popularity Papers 4 has LAUNCHED!!!

IT'S HERE!!! IT'S HERE!!! PP4 IS HERE!!!!!

April 2008

Six years after graduating from art school (six years filled of the oddest assortment of part-time jobs, freelance work, and the general drama that comes with being a 2-something single, under-employed illustrator) my literary agent, Dan Lazar, asks, "Have you ever considered writing a graphic novel for kids?" and Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang move into my brain.

November 2008

With 75 pages of what will become my first book, I travel up to New York and am offered a two-book deal by Amulet Books. I freak out many people on the train ride home to Philadelphia by sobbing my face off (with joy, but I'm sure it was still unnerving).

March 2009

My then-fiancé (now husband) and I lose our minds and buy a house and move two months before our wedding.

My dad runs around our new lawn with a chainsaw.

May 2009

Marriage!

It was a beautiful day.

April 2010
The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang is published. I see it in a Barnes & Noble and nearly pee myself with joy.

This is the face of a ridiculously excited first-time author holding her first
advanced reading copy of her first book for the first time.

June 2010

The New York Times Book Review gives a positive review of PP1. The review comes out on the day of my grandmother's 90th birthday party at my father's house on Long Island and my whole family is so happy with the review that they collectively achieve nirvana until I accidentally let go of a mylar balloon and it gets stuck in a tree, leading my father to grumble, "Hugely talented, my butt."

First book launch at Books of Wonder in NYC. Also, bangs. Not always the best idea.

August 2010

Mark and I drive from Philadelphia to Denver and back, stopping to visit bookstores and libraries and friends. On the way home we get the news that a second two-book deal has been negotiated. There is a rockin' dance party in the car somewhere in Northwestern Pennsylvania.

Our road trip was full of wonderment.

April 2011

The Popularity Papers 2: The Long-Distance Dispatch Between Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang comes out, and I do as many book events as possible, but am frantic to finish PP4, because I'm four months pregnant. I foolishly tell my friends about the pregnancy on April 1st, and no one believes me.

See you guys? I wasn't joking.

September 2011
After taking an evening waddle through my neighborhood, I come home to find a very apologetic email from my editor explaining that there were just a few more edits to do, mostly dealing with commas and capitalization. It's about three hours worth of work, so I sit with my computer and watch the Phillies game as I go through the edits. After a few hours, with about fifteen minutes of work left to do, my water breaks. We call the hospital, get ready to go, and then I sit down and finish the edits while my husband packs the car because I AM HARDCORE. After sending off the finished edits and an email to my editor, we leave for the hospital and my daughter, Anya is born.

October 2011

The Popularity Papers 3: Words of (Questionable) Wisdom from Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang is published. I haul myself to a few local book events, but the launch is pretty quiet because I have an itty bitty baby. Poor PP3. Also, a new deal for 2 more books is negotiated.

At Children's Book World in Haverford, PA, three weeks after
Anya was born. I don't look exhausted. Certainly not.

April 2012

THE POPULARITY PAPERS 4: THE ROCKY ROAD TRIP OF LYDIA GOLDBLATT AND JULIE GRAHAM-CHANG IS LAUNCHED!!!

Okay, so here we are. It's been four years since I first met Lydia and Julie and now there are four published books about the adventures of these two great friends, and at least two more on the way. And not to poo-poo any of their other adventures, but I am so, so, so crazy excited about The Rocky Road Trip. Even though it was written relatively fast because I was racing against the pregnancy clock to get it finished, I had been thinking about it before Mark and I took our own not-so rocky road trip in 2010. It's been my experience that you learn the most about yourself when you leave your familiar surroundings, and I was so glad to give Lydia and Julie (as well as Papa Dad, Daddy, and Melody) their chance to discover new places, new friends, and new strengths within themselves.

I really, really hope you enjoy reading The Rocky Road Trip as much as I enjoyed writing and drawing it (a lot).

Even more than Anya is enjoying these delicious peas.

Merry Old England!

Coming soon in paperback, hooray!

Next month the paperback edition of my second book, The Popularity Papers 2: The Long-Distance Dispatch Between Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang is coming out! In it Lydia and her family relocate to London for six months, and she and Julie email and chat online about starting junior high and living in another country.

I'm often asked if my books are based on my own life, and while I can't say that they really are, I can't say that they aren't, either. When my brother and I were kids our best friends moved away to England, and we traveled there to visit them. This was during a magical time called "The 80s" where looking like this was awesome:

Too cool for school.

See any familiar faces? Anyone who reads my books knows that I believe that true friendship can withstand both distance and time. That boy on the left with the super awesome sneakers? That's my friend Peter, and if you check out the blog post I wrote when we were in Denver, you can see that the wedding we drove across the country to be at was his. Pretty neat, right?

I only have a few pictures from that trip (special thanks to Peter's mom for sending them to me) but it wasn't the last time I'd be in the United Kingdom. In 1998 I was back, traveling with three of my best friends, and I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of me on that trip. In my memory I had all these photos of myself running around England and Scotland and Ireland, when in truth in 1998 I didn't own a digital camera so I was sparing with my picture-taking (and because I was taking the pictures I'm not in very many of them). So after an exhaustive search of my photo albums, this was pretty much all I could come up with:

On a ferry to the Isle of Mull with Kit and Sarah. Apparently I really loved wearing windbreakers.

Atop Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

One of my all-time favorite pictures with Kit, and we've been friends since we were 13, so there are many.

I love these photos, but you kind of have to take my word for it that they were taken in the UK (except for the one on the Giant's Causeway, and in that instance you just have to take my word for it that it's actually me sitting there). I thought I had all these shots of me in Oxford and London and Glasgow and Manchester but in reality I just have pictures that I took of other people in Oxford and London and Glasgow and Manchester.

The way I see it, there are only two ways to rectify this situation. The first would be for Jason to send me to England, which I happen to think is a fabulous idea. If Jason sent me to England, I would get so many great photos! I would take a photo in front of Big Ben, I would go to Bath like the Goldblatts and the Graham-Changs do in PP2--I would do such a fantastic job of putting my face in front of England's landmarks. When I mentioned this brilliant idea to Jason, he just laughed and laughed and laughed and I don't think he took me seriously. And so, Plan B!

One of the perils of living in London is attacks by gigantic American authors.

Why I've Been a Negligent Blogger

Meet Anya! She's pretty new.

Hi Everyone!

So we went and had a baby. She's pretty great, but taking care of her takes a lot of time (mostly doing laundry). But no worries, I'm back to writing and drawing books and I'm training her how to color them in. So far she just wants to put the markers into her mouth. It's an uphill process. But I'm really excited about PP4 coming out in April (The Popularity Papers 4: The Rocky Road Trip of Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang) so I'll be doing some touring again and updating the blog on a more regular basis. In theory...

FATIGUE!

3:15am EST. Wake up, shower, finish packing.

4:04am EST. WAWA! Because you can't leave for a journey/come home from a journey without first going to Wawa. PHILLY LAW.

4:43am EST. My dearest most wonderfullest husband drops me off at Philadelphia International Airport.

4:51am EST. An airport worker tries to convince me that my rolly suitcase is too large for the overhead compartment, and that I need to check the bag. I freeze her with my super-terrifying Death Glare, remove a sweater from the rolly suitcase, put it in my other bag, and go on my merry way through security.

5:01am EST. I get through security and put the sweater back in the rolly suitcase.

6:03am EST. The rolly suitcase, with the super-puffy sweater, fits into the overhead compartment JUST FINE.

6:15am EST to 9:15am PST. Flight from Philly to San Francisco.

After landing, I picked up my Big White SUV, which I have named Moby D, and used the Abrams GPS to drive up to Book Passages in Marin County. The GPS has two names--

Name for when the GPS is behaving: Buddy

"Okay, I turned left, where to now Buddy? Drive 1.9 miles? Okay Buddy!"

Name for when the GPS is not behaving: Señor Poopypants.

"What do you mean, you've lost satellite feed? Do not make me throw you into the San Francisco Bay, Señor Poopypants!"

After a massive salad at the Book Passages cafe (so good to eat something green after my breakfast of pita, cheese, and leftover hamentashen) (I don't miss airplane food, but I do miss the days when it was free) I met up with two women named Susan and Sue. They have last names. I am really, really tired and don't quite remember them. But I slurped down a mocha and Sue took me to the Marin Elementary School.

I'm not exactly sure what I said to the kids, but I was powered by mocha and adrenaline and it seemed to go pretty well. The kids were great and asked terrific questions, and I think that I answered them with words.

Back in Moby D, I drove into San Francisco and found the hotel. In order to get into the garage the receptionist, Hester (also known as AWESOME HESTER) measured Moby D and then guided me, airport tarmac employee-style, into the narrow entrance of the underground garage.

7:39pm PST. Begged the Spirit of Jet Lag to let me stay awake until at least 8 so that I could sleep through the night.

2:02am PST. AWAKE!!! Oh Spirit of Jet Lag, please oh please be merciful to me today?

I'll be at Books Inc. in the Marina at 4:30 today--come on down if you're in the San Francisco area and you want to hear me say some words!

A Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Joke

Fred the Fish and Sam Clam were best friends, even though Fred the Fish was pretty square (he always goes to school) and Sam Clam was a little wild (he never met a mussel that he didn't want to pump). But still they were the best of friends.

One day, Fred's school was caught and he became an excellent entree at a local bistro. But Fred's little fishy soul went to heaven, where he got some white robes, a halo, and a harp, and Fred was happy.

But he missed his friend. One day, during harp rehearsal, he heard from a recently arrived lobster that Sam had also passed away. "But he's not here!" Fred cried, and then realized...uh oh...Sam must be there.

The music director saw that Fred was upset, and took him aside. "You know, I can talk to the Big Guy for you, and maybe you can go down there for a little while and say hi to your friend." He was true to his word, and the next day, Fred was allowed to visit Sam, with only one stipulation: He had to be back in heaven by midnight, or he'd have to stay down there forever.

Down Fred went! He had no problem finding Sam--he was running a popular disco. Sam laughed and embraced his old friend, and the two talked about old times and caught up. Sam gave Fred a tour of the club; Fred played a harp solo for Sam that he'd been working on. They were having such a nice visit that Fred lost track of time, and all of a sudden he realized it was 11:55. "Yikes!" He yelped, "I have to go!" He bid a quick farewell to his old friend and made a dash back up to heaven.

"So how was it?" The musical director asked Fred the next day.

"It was great," Fred said mournfully, "but...I left my harp in Sam Clam's disco!"

BWAH HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

Heading to San Francisco on Tuesday for some book store and school visits!