The Rambles of Spring

As promised, here is my schedule for MoCCA weekend in New york:

Friday, April 8th: Suffolk County Library Opening -Nesconset Branch (Smithtown NY).

Saturday, April 9th: WORD Bookstore, Brooklyn, 1pm, then the New York Public Library (Children’s Room) at 4:30 pm.

Sunday: MoCCA Comics Festival, book signing at the First Second table 12 noon.

Come and say hello!

And, since I like to add at least a little bit of art to every post, here is a little illustration that was once upon a time going to be a t-shirt design:

A Metaphor for Life

Juggling with children underfoot (or in a backpack carrier) is a metaphor for life. Just replace "juggling clubs" with "responsibilities" and there you have it.

Juggling with Kids from Ben Hatke on Vimeo.

I took this little video with my laptop up at the campo above Gravagna. I left that set of clubs in Italy. They were good clubs and I miss them. I've found that not all juggling clubs are created equal.

So that New York schedule I keep mentioning? I'll post it tomorrow. Promise.

Character Design

Hi there friends.

For years now, at bedtime and in between picture books and chapter books, I have been telling the girls stories about a pair of mice that follow and protect a little family through its many journeys. The first mouse I made up in the space of a moment never expecting to tell more than one tale about him. I say “made up” though he is really a shameless rip-off of a well-known mouse from beyond the wardrobe -right down to the name: Cheepa-cheep (really, I think you’re allowed to plagiarize in the privacy of your home when you just want a three-year-old to please, please, please fall to sleep). He wears a sword at his side and a feather in his ear. He loves adventure, but is a bit more of a rapscallion than his Narnian cousin. Cheepa-cheep soon acquired a companion in the form of a small, bespectacled mouse named Chirpa-chirp, who carries a nearly bottomless sack of books wherever he goes. Sort of the literary rodent’s version of wikepedia. They ride on geese, have frequent trouble with gnomes, and more often than not their adventures are about saving the little family from unsuspected dangers.

I’ve never drawn a picture of them. But the other day I found these (drawn by Angelica):





This was thrilling to me because I’ve never been on this side of the fence before. I’ve never had the experience of describing a character or idea and having someone else draw it. I’ve given that experience to others but never thought of what it would be like for them. I love the little details that weren’t mine -the sandals, the pouches on Cheepa-cheep’s belt. And of course the feather, which I had imagined as small but works so well as a battle standard.

NEXT WEEK: I will finally get down to posting my upcoming travels, signings and comics workshops. New York is on the horizon...

Pot o' Comic Gold

Hello friends and/or casual readers! And a happy St. Paddy’s day to you! Here is a little comic I scribbled up and an update below...


UPDATE: Looks like I'm not the only one to make a comic with this gag...

Ha ha! Pinching! Ha! Okay. So I’ve done a couple of interviews lately and I wanted to share them with you today. Both of these cropped up on the internet just this week:

-The first is an interview for the fantastic blog Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. If you haven’t visited Seven Imp before, now is the perfect time. The blog’s author, Jules, has just started writing for Kirkus Reviews.

-The next interview is for the BookPage blog. You may remember that I recently did this illustrated questionnaire for them. The interview is a nice follow up and features my own daughter, Zita, who is turning six this week (Five! oh Five where did you go?). Also, and here’s the important bit, they are giving away three copies of Zita the Spacegirl. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment in the comments section answering the question “Who was your childhood hero?” (I am probably not going to enter).

-Finally, here is a nice review of the book by the super cool Dr. Katie Monnin who Anna and I had the pleasure of meeting last fall before the New York City Comic Con. She uses comics in the classroom as reading and literacy tools and this review even includes a lesson plan. For real!

On my table now:

Zita Fan Art

I wanted to pop in today to share this fantastic bit of Zita fan art I found the other day:



The above was drawn by artist Mark Lewis and it’s a fun take on the idea of “world hopping.”

I always really enjoyed seeing other people’s take on the character and I’m interested to see if more fan art will start cropping up. Zita used to get a fair amount of fan art back in the old webcomics days, like this piece from my ol' palMike Maihack:



...and this one from Mario Boon



Will more fan art start cropping up now that the book is out in the wide world? I hope so. If it does I’ll try to post it here from time to time...