North Middle School, Portage, Michigan

I got to talk to my first ever group of 6th graders at North Middle School in Portage, Michigan! I was a little nervous that, as middle schoolers, they might find my presentation (and pants) a little silly, but to my delight they were happy to play along and full of excellent ideas!!

I started by talking a little bit about life as an artist. I walked them through different ways I've used my art to make money: working in advertising, licensing for products, partnering with content creators like Carter Kench.

Then I talked to them about writing and illustrating books. Luckily, the topic was particularly relevant to them because they are currently working on a district-wide project where they create picture books for their elementary school buddies. I showed them a silly book I made when I was five years old, then read them my most recent book, The Fanciest Flower.

Then we talked about how books are made, with a special emphasis on the importance of editing. I highlighted in my presentation that the one thing all books have in common is that none of them are a first draft. To drive this point home, I showed them some pages from my original book pitch and walked them through the process of editing, art directing, and cover designing. They were surprised to learn how long it takes for a book to end up on shelves, and how many iterations are created along the way. I hope it encouraged them to iterate on their own ideas and resist judging their own first drafts too harshly.

Then came the best part of the presentation: coming up with a story as a group. I talked a little bit about story structure and then we dove right into crafting one of our own. As they gave me suggestions, I drew on a whiteboard, reminding them not to worry about the messiness of our story because it's just a first draft.

Here is the story we came up with (as best as I can remember it):

Once upon a time there was a rebellious teenage avocado named Patricia who lived in Avocadoland with her avocado dog, Gregory. She really wanted a leash for her dog but there was a monster named Caden who was guarding the leash store. First, Patricia tried flying over Caden in a little airplane but he knocked down her plane. Then she considered bribing Caden with food. The only problem...his favorite food is dog. Of course Patricia couldn't sacrifice her precious dog, Gregory, so she had to try something else. She was left with no choice but to "roundhouse kick him 20 miles to the west." (A suggestion so incredibly specific it made everyone laugh) With Caden the monster out of the way, Patricia waltzed right into the leash store, got the leash she so badly wanted, and lived happily ever after with her avocado dog, Gregory.

We all had a lot of fun putting together such a silly story and I think it made an impression on them that it came together so quickly and was so completely original.

At the end of the presentation, some of the students were excited to come up and talk to me about their own work. One girl even showed me her sketchbook which was filled with excellent drawings. I hope the presentation gave her and the other artists in the crowd a few new ideas about possible future career moves.

Everything was organized by the wonderful Portage librarians, Melissa and Erin, who helped me out with all fourteen of my presentations while I was in town. I'm so grateful for their support and enthusiasm. I couldn't have done it without them. Here they are (as well as Melissa's fantastic assistant, Alexis) with a table they set up for my books:

They even helped me coordinate with a local indie bookstore, BookBug, to fill orders for the students. I stopped by to meet the owner, Joanna, who was generous enough to spend some time talking to me about school visits and give me her insight on working with other indie bookstores. I had an awesome time in the Portage district and my visit to North Middle School was a fabulous way to kick it off!

Thanks for having me, North Middle School!