Early autumn was a whirlwind of activity for Tom as he visited schools, festivals and TV stations.  He got to meet, draw and laugh with young readers in Georgia, Texas, California, Oregon, Washington, North Dakota and Illinois.  And autumn isn’t over yet … In November, he’ll be visiting Florida, Minnesota, Colorado, Utah and Illinois.  You can check out the November schedule on the Appearances page.

So, what’s a visit include?  Well, Tom talks about the StickDog series, of course.  But he also draws lots of pictures with students too—pictures include all the characters from the books and sometimes some actual illustrations too (Karen, the Doggy Tornado from the first book is one of his favorites).  One of his favorite things to do is check out the students’ own artwork after the Stick Dog drawing lesson.  Usually, the kids’ pictures are better than Tom’s … he’s learned to live with that.  So, where did he talk, laugh and draw lately?  All of these awesome places:

The Decatur Book Festival in Georgia
The Tweens Read Fest in Houston, Texas
Lots of places in North Dakota, including:
  Rita Murphy Elementary
  Ellendale Public School
  Hebron Public School
  Morton Mandan Public Library
  Main Street Book in Minot
  Beaulah Elementary
  Washington School in Jamestown
Morton Grove Public Library
Mueller Charter School in San Diego
Newport Coast Elementary in Newport Beach
Two Rock Elementary outside San Francisco
Loma Vista School outside San Francisco
Lawton Elementary in Seattle
Lake Forest Elementary in Seattle
Maplewood Elementary in Seattle
William Walker Elementary in Portland
Oregon Episcopal Elementary in Seattle