Lincoln Center reading

I did a reading at Lincoln Center this morning. There were probably a hundred people, lots of toddlers.

I read Ten Tiny Toes, Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep, and Three Grumpy Trucks, and talked a little bit about each book.

I noted that Ten Tiny Toes was dedicated "to Samuel and Ethan, my twenty tiny toes." I showed a picture of what they looked like when they were little and how they've grown up. 

I asked the kids to shout out the refrain of Beep! Beep! Go to Sleep whenever we came to that part. They obliged.

I said it was dedicated to "Samuel, who dreams of robots and time machines," and showed pictures of Samuel and his time machine.

Three Grumpy Trucks only has two illustrations done, so that required a little more imagination on the kids' parts.

I talked about Guy Parker-Rees and how his animal illustrations from previous books look like exuberant toddlers, and that's why I like him. Everyone recognized Giraffes Can't Dance!

I asked the kids to stand up and try to stretch like a Guy Parker-Rees illustration. They obliged.

This is one of the illustrations Guy has done for Three Grumpy Trucks:

A new friend came to the event, and we had brunch afterwards, then hung out at the water terrace at the Museum of Natural History for a couple of hours watching toddlers play in the fountains. She was probably thinking, "He's nice but a little bit insane."

(Don't tell her, but when I got back to my building two little neighbor girls were drawing with chalk on the sidewalk, so I joined them, and eventually we had five kids drawing train tracks. Shhh.)

We call this a good day.