"PETER BROWN WON A CALDECOTT HONOR!!!  AND HE IS COMING HEEEEERRRRREEEE!!!"  Okay, I didn't necessarily scream it as it wouldn't be the appropriate "noise level 1" in our school but I did scream it in my head with a slight fist pump before telling the school librarian/my friend Karen that we had bagged the author/illustrator extraordinaire before he won the award thus saving us millions of dollars.  BAAAAM!   

Karen and I went about familiarizing our students with his many picture books, and I created art projects to go along specifically with Peter Brown's books "Creepy Carrots" and "You Will Be My Friend".

Peter came and did one presentation/signing for each grade in our K-2 primary school.  His presentations entertained our students AND teachers AND even our principal.  His presentations were chalk-full of  engaging material which included:  Peter reading one of his first picture books that I believe he created  at the age of 7 (This was perfect for connecting with our students),  showing his evolution from a little artist to making picture books,  drawing (the pic to the left shows Brown making a "mistake"), reading "Creepy Carrots" (sound effects and theatrical voice included), brainstorming sketches for how he came up with his different characters, Q&A time, and lastly, a preview of his upcoming picture book, "Mr. Tiger Goes Wild".  If you are an elementary teacher and/or parent, I would definitely say you should have Peter Brown come to your school!  It was excellent and received rave reviews from all the teachers I talked to.  It also opened the door to bring in other authors/illustrators in the coming years!   The only issue that came up was an email from a parent saying her daughter loved the signed Peter Brown book so much that she refused to let it go...even when using the restroom :P

Here are some images from the presentations, signing, and some of the Peter Brown artwork my students made.

Stay tuned as I will post some pictures from my students' artwork that traveled all the way to Funsani, Malawi, Africa!  If the pics don't make you smile than I'm afraid you probably have to much botox in your face :P

Hi!  I'm Zach Roush.  I'm a pre-published children's picture book author/illustrator who teaches K-2 Art by day.  This blog will contain everything from my artistic process (aka writing, sketching, painting), book/movie reviews, school art projects, along with pointing you towards other websites that I hope you will find helpful.  Stayed tuned as I will soon have a post on the Caldecott Honor Winning Peter Brown's visit to our school!