I woke up early to school today, even though I don’t normally work on Wednesdays. I did not want to miss the visit of author Jarrett Krosockza, who writes and illustrates the popular Lunch Lady graphic novels and my favorite Playtupus Police Squad along with an impressive range of other picture books and graphic novels!!

I went to his talk with my mom’s third grade class and loved hearing him talk about how he has always loved to use his imagination to tell stories. He showed us some books that he wrote in the third grade, and reminded us that he still uses the same ideas (drafting, revising, editing) today!

One of my favorite things he said was that he really believes it is important to be bored. All the stories he wrote as a kid, were things he did when he was bored. “I know it can be hard now, because we have so many things to distract us,” he said. “But it’s so important to be bored so your imagination can get to work!” Working at a school with a 1-to-1 iPad initiative, it’s always nice to hear this reminder that sometimes we need to put the screen down and indulge in some good old fashioned boredom!

After his talk, I went back to the classroom with my mom’s students, who were buzzing with excitement over what they had just heard. They had about 30 minutes to kill before lunch and recess, so they used their iPads to explore Jarrett’s awesome website where he has fun activities and games related to his books.

They started pulling out paper and markers to draw characters from Jarrett’s books, and many began working on their very own graphic novels! I walked with a few friends to the photocopier to make extra copies of graphic novel paper, which has pre-drawn panels to add to. As we walked, Anna started telling me about her graphic novel idea.

“Mine is called The Piñata Diaries.” she started. “It’s going to be about a piñata and a bunch of other party favors. And they think they’re gonna go to the party.

But then, 

they get murdered.”

I cannot wait to read this book. ❂

Slice of Life is a daily writing challenge during the month of March hosted by Two Writing Teachers. Visit their blog for more information about the challenge and for advice and ideas about how to participate.