Animal Act 2

More combination animals. Once again, these were drawn on tour on big pads of paper with Sharpies, based on animal suggestions taken from the audience. Then the kids usually named their creature, and I usually suggested it should be their new school mascot.
Reaction to this suggestion of mine was varied. Some kids embraced the idea (probably understanding that it was a joke and that in a day or two everyone would forget all about it), other kids folded their arms and essentially said, "No, we're satisfied being the Wildcats actually, thanks."

Animal Act

Adam here. I've jumped ship and am no longer on tour, but I thought I'd share some drawings I made throughout California and Arizona.

It's become a regular shtick of mine to ask audiences of kids for animal suggestions and then combine said animals into a hideous chimera for their amusement. Then I frequently invite the kids to name it. Here are a few. I'll show more later.

A girl named the fellow below "Chow Chow." It's on the tag.

No name for the last one, but notable for being the only time I've been asked to draw a bearded dragon. Mac had to pull up a little jpeg of one on his iPhone for reference.

INEXPLICABLE TOUR MOMENT #2

Mac here. Adam and I did a great signing at a Barnes & Noble in Tucson, but it started off a little weird. When we got to the table, a man in sweatpants was standing there, eating a cookie. He told us about the University of Arizona game: Apparently a football had bounced off a guy's foot. Then he nibbled his cookie and told us about the University of Arizona game again. This is when Adam left me and pretended to inspect the easel.

Then:

SWEATPANTS: Where are you going next?

MAC: New York.

SWEATPANTS: How's the weather been in New York?

MAC: I'm not sure. I'm actually not from New York--I live on the west coast. I'm heading there to keep touring.

SWEATPANTS: Where are you touring?

MAC: Connecticut, New Jersey, New York,

SWEATPANTS: How's the weather been in New York?

MAC: Oh, I don't know. I don't live there.

SWEATPANTS: Where are you from?

MAC: The west coast.

SWEATPANTS: Like Florida?

MAC: California.

SWEATPANTS: Me too!


He did not buy a book.

Tucson Appearances

Just a quick note to warn anyone who was planning to come to Adam and Mac's UofA appearance this morning that it's been cancelled. But Mac and Adam will still be at the Borders on Broadway at 2pm.

You Say It's Your Birthday

It's Mr. Shannon's birthday! Lots of people are nice to him. They sing happy birthday. They give him cakes.





We think he needs more. He needs a birthday surprise. And we are just the guys to give it to him. Because we have done about 342 presentations together, we have pretty much memorized what each guy says. So Mac and Adam and I decide to surprise Mr. Shannon by giving his entire presentation . . . without him.





Adam shows the kids how to draw David while Mac and I explain why David's left nostril is bigger than his right nostril ("he's left handed"), how Mr. Shannon broke his nose ("the sliding glass door was shut"), and what Mr. Shannon's dad used to call a buzz haircut ("a pig shave").


Mr. Shannon is definitely surprised. Mr. Shannon is even flabbergasted. But he gets to take the morning off. And the K-2 kids love both the presentation and the special Adam Rex birthday version of David.

Untitled from Adam Rex on Vimeo.

Gentlemen Farmers

Three of the Four Guys have spent the past few days in the San Francisco Bay Area. We've been reading at a bunch of terrific schools, but today we want to talk about Ohlone Elementary, the first and so far only school to have a Steven Wright quotation on its welcome sign in the parking lot. After a great reading and signing, someone told us there was a farm attached to the school, and that this farm had animals. Ever eager to expand our audience, the guys leaped into action.

There's Mac reading Guess Again! to Emma, who is a sheep, and who was more interested in eating hay.

This chicken was more attentive for Adam's reading. What you see here is a special moment. Adam realized his lifelong dream of holding a chicken, and this chicken realized her lifelong dream of being held by Adam Rex.


And finally, here's Rainbow the Goat reading Robot Zot!. Rainbow was unquestionably the most interested in our books. And although it might seem like Jon wants to eat Rainbow in this picture, we assure you, the goat was the hungry one. Shortly after we took this photo, Rainbow took a bite out of Guess Again!:


That's life on the Guys With Books Tour--one minute you're reading in an elementary school library, the next you're wandering around in the Pet Sounds album cover.

Inexplicable Tour Moment #1

Adam here. So we're doing a 4 Guys event at a school which will remain nameless, and right before things get underway we find a pair of glasses on the stage. As the only bespectacled Guy on the tour I am especially concerned.

After our presentation I approach a teacher as he leads his class out of the auditorium. This teacher looks as if he's changing very slowly from Antonio Banderas into Keith Richards, and I've caught him at a sort uncomfortable middle stage where he hasn't the charms of either. But I tell him I've found a pair of lost glasses, and he looks at me for a good long moment. Then he looks at the glasses, and back to me again.

"Do you want me to crush them?" he asks.

Under different circumstances a question like this might have thrown me, but I've already completed a few school visits and am already in the sort of headspace required to roll with the often Dadaist questions of six and seven year-olds.

"No, actually," I answer, "I thought there might be some sort of lost and found."

Antonio Richards grunts and nods, as if reluctantly acknowledging this mysterious troubadour and his unfamiliar but equally valid non-glasses-crushing ways. He thanks me and takes the glasses, and ten minutes later I'm wondering if the whole episode really happened, and whether it might make for a decent blog post.

The Pilgrims' Progress

4 Guys Tour from Adam Rex on Vimeo.

WILD THINGS

We've blitzed through LA . . . and made it to San Francisco. With the help of hundreds of kids, Dave has been drawing versions of ZOT'S PERFECT ENEMY.

Adam has been constructing demented 3-Animal mash-ups.



Jon has been maintaining a dignified Ambassador presence.


And Mac has been eating bananas.