Of Monkey Underwear and Pie

The number one question I get when I finish reading CHICKEN BUTT! with school groups is: "Now will you write a book called MONKEY BUTT?!" To which I always say, "Of course, yes!" But today I went a little farther and talked to a bunch of kindergarteners about what that would actually look like. Since these were unchartered waters, I played it safe and waded into a kindergarten I know quite well - my daughter's class.

Now, kindergarteners, as you may know, love to play with words and rhyme and be silly. So when we started talking about what other rhymes we could use for a monkey book based on the same "You know..." (what/why/how/who/where/when) questions as CHICKEN BUTT!, I got as many nonsense words as real ones. But I also got a lot of real words, including Monkey Flu and Monkey Shoe(for "who"), Monkey Hair and Monkey Bear (for "where") and Monkey Fly and Monkey Pie (for "why"). We made a big list together, then shifted into the illustration portion of our workshop.

I received several absolutely delicious-looking illustrations of Monkey Pie. I also got many, many wonderful drawings of Monkey Underwear (rhymes with "where" and is a bit derivative of CHICKEN BUTT! but I'm not litigious when it comes to kindergarteners), including Olivia's drawing of a monkey in underwear... wearing a pie, with another monkey in it, on his head. Luca drew "Monkey Loo," which appeared to be a jungle equipped with a shower, sink and toilet ("It's British for bathroom," he informed me).

I also received one "Fairy Underwear," one "Whale Underwear" and one truly priceless "Alligator-Sting-Ray... and Underwear" (from Ronan, who did "Whale Underwear"... clearly his imagination knows no bounds). I also really liked Will's drawing of a monkey with "his underwear on fire! and it's shooting hearts like slingshots! everywhere!" And Avery did a graphic-novel-worthy depiction of Super Monkey (in cape... and underwear) fighting the bad guys in a graveyard. Samuel finished his Monkey Underwear drawing, flipped his paper and created an amazing spaceship that appeared to be held together by a giant pair of BVD's.

My daughter, the little rebel, bucked the whole monkey trend and drew a "Dog Pie." Her pal Lucy presented me with a "Monkey Cow" (rhymes with "how") and a "Monkey Cat" and then proceeded to explain why monkey cats make bad pets (they poop on your rug.)

So, now I'm not much closer to finishing my draft of MONKEY BUTT!, but I have a lot more appreciation for the imaginations of my daughter's classmates. I'm going to scan a couple of the illustrations and post them here, but I wish I had room to display them all... they're that good, and funny, and inspired.

I already believed this, but I'm now more convinced than ever that if every kindergartener got a stack of paper, a tub of crayons and an hour a day to draw Monkey Underwear or whatever his or her heart desired, the world would be a better place.

Blogtour Prize Drawing Results!

Well, I'm finally back at the coop, after the very fun and successful New York, er, leg of the No Butts About Reading book tour (starring me and my butt - CHICKEN BUTT!, that is - plus Ayun Halliday and her heinie - ALWAYS LOTS OF HEINIES AT THE ZOO, that is). Here are a couple more fotos of our antics, including hanging out behind Patience and Fortitude (I think this is Patience's rear, but don't quote me) at the New York Public Library:

 

and reading/signing/drawing-animal-butts at New York literary institutions including Bank Street Books, Books of Wonder, WORD Brooklyn, and The NYPL. We even got to share the stage with Fran Manushkin and Tracy Dockray, author and illustrator of THE TUSHY BOOK. Here's Tracy flexing her artistic muscles:

 

Sadly, all good things must come to an END (as demonstrated by the back cover of Ayun's book, seen here). But New York City is just a little goofier and a little more buttastic thanks to us.

 

Oh, hey, before I forget. Are you wondering who won THE CHICKEN BUTT! BLOG TOUR PRIZE DRAWING? The grand prize winner is: Christine! She wins a signed copy of CHICKEN BUTT! plus a butt-load of bookmarks and tattoos! I've also selected three runner-ups - jennsbookshelf, devourers(dot)books(at)gmail(dot)com, and ya ya's mom - and all will received signed bookmarks and CHICKEN BUTT! tattoos if they simply send me their mailing addresses (email erica[at]ericaperl[dot]com).

And my honorable mention prize - not chosen at random, I confess, but awarded because this entrant wanted to win SO BAD she entered twice - goes to lesly7ch(at)yahoo(dot)com. For her extra effort, she gets bookmarks and tattoos too. Plus Sherry K won a signed copy over at Chicken Spaghetti! Wow! That's a lot of BUTT! Thanks to everyone who entered, and the wonderful bloggers who hosted me. I had a blast!

If you did not win this time, please get yourself a BUTT! anyway. If you find me at BEA or elsewhere, I will happily sign your BUTT! for you, and give you a bookmark or a tattoo or two (I'm rarely without 'em).

Big BUTT in the Big Apple

Here are some fun snapshots of the NO BUTTS ABOUT READING! tour, taking place right now in New York, New York. If you're wondering why I have not picked blog tour book giveaway winners, THAT'S WHY! Stay tuned and I promise I'll pick someone's name out of my chicken butt hat as soon as I get home.

OK, here's me and Ayun at Bank Street Books, showing off our butt-drawing skills:

 

And here I am at the lucky NYC public school that won (okay, my friend's daughter goes there and she asked really nice) an author visit from me:

 

 

Here we are on the CHICKEN UNDERWEAR! page, tee hee hee!

And here's my hostess herself! Thanks for having me visit your class, Alexa! I had tons of fun. Wish I could have visited Emma's class, too. Next time, I hope!

 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to:

Grandma Elly (my mom)

Grandma Maryann (my husband's mom)

Grandma Dearie (my grandma)

Aunt Emily and Aunt Sue (my aunts)

Anna (my brother's wife and mom to my adorable nieces)

Rachel, Lucy, Helen, Valerie, Sarah, Becky (and all the rest of my mom-cousins)

and ALL my beloved mom-friends, far too numerous to list here (including my going-to-be-a-mom-soon friends like Maria!)

Hope you all get out and enjoy the day. Buy yourself a present, paint your toenails all sparkly, go for a run, have a mojito (or several), do all of the above. Park yourself on the cough and read CHICKEN BUTT! with your kiddos. Or better yet, you know what? Let them read it to you!

Welcome to My Nest

Today, the blog tour takes me to visit KIMBERLY WILLIS HOLT, one of my favorite writers (and winner of the National Book Award, how cool is that?) at her lovely blog A PEN AND A NEST.

Here are some fun facts about the pictures of me and my world that you'll see there.

1. The Nest I am seen posing in is not, in fact, my nest. Sesame Street fans will recognize that it is Big Bird's nest and I am just visiting it.

2. The CHICKEN BUTT! cookies, however, are my cookies (baked with a little help from one of my daughters and her pal, Nellie). They were consumed by CHICKEN BUTT! fans at Wellesley Booksmith. Yet another reason to come to my events - sometimes I bring cookies!

3. The marshmallow Peep diorama (depicting a scene from Mordecai Gerstein's Caldecott-winning book The Man Who Walked Between The Towers) was created by me and my family but did NOT win the Washington Post Peep Diorama contest this year... or even come close. Those who feel we were robbed should complain to The Washington Post, which is solely responsible for this eggregious error in judgement.