West Middle School, Portage, Michigan

My second stop in Portage, Michigan, was West Middle School. The 6th graders I talked to were just as much fun as their peers at North Middle School. I gave them the same presentation, starting with different ways an artist can make money (advertising, licensing work for products, collaborating with content creators, etc.) before moving on to the main topic: writing and illustrating children's books. After reading them my book and telling them a little bit about the process, they had some great questions. They asked about how payment works and I explained the advance/royalty structure.

One student asked where the inspiration for my book came from and I told them about how the first draft, the so-called "fancy flower" was not a fork, but a toothbrush. And that the idea hit me when I was brushing my teeth, looked down, and saw my toothbrush as some sort of strange new flower with a plastic-y stem and strange bristle petals. I scribbled a silly drawing of the idea and then kept at it until it eventually took shape as the story it became. I hope that answer gave them the sense that inspiration can come from anywhere and works of art often change a great deal from beginning to end.

I was accompanied onstage by a sign language interpreter (who you can see in the above picture) who did an amazing and job signing as I read my book as well as during the next portion when we came up with a story together. As I took suggestions from the students for the story, I drew on the whiteboard.

Here is the story we came up with together, as best as I can remember it:

Once upon a time there was an old lady bunny named Girl who lived on Neptune with her pet gummy worm, Jerome. She really wanted a pineapple but she couldn't get it because it was locked in her car. First she tried calling her friend, The Muffin Man, for help, but he couldn't be bothered because he was so busy eating muffins. Then she tried using her cane to break the window of the car but she wasn't strong enough. Finally, she had no choice but to launch her trusty gummy worm pal, Jerome, at the window. He managed to wriggle in through the tiny gap between the window and the car and unlock it from the inside. Girl was able to get her pineapple and lived happily ever after all thanks to good old Jerome.

We had so much fun coming up with such a goofy story and I reminded them all that this was the perfect way to write a first draft: focusing on fun, play, and completely uninhibited. If they wanted to keep working on it, they had come up with lots of very original ideas that could be iterated on for as long as they felt like it. What a funny and creative bunch!

At the end, they were even kind enough to give me some school merch! Thanks so much for having me, West Middle, Pioneers!