Oh Really?

While a certain 2 Guys on the 4 Guy Tour were lolling around in a fat guy's chair, the other 2 guys were working the room at the Library of Congress. Hard. This is a picture of Ambassador Scieszka and Vice Ambassador Shannon in the hallowed halls of the LOC, just before they were whisked away by helicopter.

Crazy bunch of book lovers at the National Book Festival this year. Well over 100,000 of them. And they were there to see a great line-up of Judy Blume, Rick Riordan, Kate DiCamillo, Jeff Kinney, James Patterson, Jackie Woodson, Mo Willems, Tony DiTerlizzi, Holly Black, Kadir Nelson, Shannon Hale, Stephen Kellog, Jerry Pinkney . . . and Scieszka/Shannon.

We managed to pester everyone.
Stand by for video proof.

This could be the big day.
All 4 guys are scheduled to be at a school here in LA in a couple hours.
We'll see.

The Brixton Brother(s)

On this tour Mac and Adam have started talking about Mac's forthcoming mystery novel, which Adam illustrated: The Brixton Brothers #1: The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity. It's officially released on October 6.

But yesterday we got word of a great review posted by Betsy Bird at her School Library Journal blog, Fuse#8. She really gets the book, and she posts a cavalcade of videos and supporting links, too. You know, the sort of thing we'd do ourselves if we weren't so lazy.

Anyway, here's the novel's cover, sans type. Click to make big.

Mission Accomplished

Mac and Adam, the hardest working two guys in the four guys tour, just had a really nice time in Riverside, CA. Have you ever been there? They have this hotel called the Mission Inn that looks like three Spanish churches and that castle from El Cid pushed together. It's the sort of place that has oil paintings of all the Presidents who've stayed there, and they have a surprising number of oil paintings. Look how pretty.



What a fantastic place to begin our Two I mean Four Guys Tour.

Finally, here is a picture of us sitting in a chair that belonged to William Howard Taft, our nation's fattest president. How fat was Taft? Adam and Mac are each about a half Taft.

Yes, Really.

To: Scieszka and Shannon

Re: Your skepticism

I want to affirm that I AM going to be a part of this 4 Guys tour. Here's a picture with an airport behind me and everything, so maybe stop being such jerks about it.

Adam

This One Is For Max

Here is another reason why Anderson's in Naperville is one of the best book stores in the world:

We were just getting ready to start the Tour when Anderson's called us to say they had a special request from a school near them. This past summer, a little kindergarden guy named Max had died of a brain tumor. They wondered if we could stop by to help celebrate Max's life.

Mr. Shannon kicked things off for 500 first, second, and third graders saying, "We are here to turn a sad thing into a good thing." And then we were off storytelling, drawing, and Robot Dancing.

Max's mom and dad and neighbors and friends are building a library of Max-Approved books, and helping fund more brain cancer research. You can check it out, and help out at their MAX website.

Oh Really?

I don't want to get all controversial right at the beginning of the Tour . . . but what kind of 4 Guy Tour is this?

We are in a hotel in the middle of a Chicago suburb mall parking lot, getting ready to take off for a very early morning school presentation, and I only count 2 Guys – Jon Scieszka and Dave Shannon.

I'm not saying a certain 2 Guys are already working harder and stronger, I'm just saying I only count 2 Guys.

So Mr. Shannon and Ambassador Scieszka are off for one crazy long day today. From Winnetka to Naperville and back again. But don't worry about us. We have plans to get everyone doing the ROBOT ZOT dance.

"Robot Zot never fall! Robot Zot conquer all!"

4 Guys, 4 Books...1 TOUR!

Welcome to the GUYS WITH BOOKS blog!

We'll be posting tales from the road, pictures and movies...stay tuned!
If you live near by one of our stops, come say HELLO!