We finally went, because my parents were here, and we figured a 1:1 adult:child ratio would be good. The kids recently got The Day the Crayons Quit from Derek’s Complex Litigation class when they came over for dinner, and we’ve been enjoying it ever since. Imagine our excitement when we found out the author and illustrator were going to be reading the book at the festival! They were hilarious–a great team, and great entertainers.
Before reading, they cracked up all the kids with a demonstration of how well they work together. Drew described things while Oliver drew totally different things. Note Tommy down front–the girls were right behind him.
Not only did they use great voices for all the crayons, but they gave us little behind-the-scenes details about the writing of the book. Oliver had real six year olds help him conceptualize the drawings. The green frog and tree his helpers drew him were so great that they made it into the finished book! You could see the wheels turning in Tommy’s head at this point…
By the time we got up to have them sign our book, Tommy was all ready to discuss his own future children’s book ideas with the guys!
Funnel cakes and strawberry lemonade revived their flagging spirits, and Janie initiated a photo shoot before we left!