Three Events This Weekend!

blurry photo of me reading The Gingerbread Pirates at the 2009 Polar Express night at Barnes & Noble in Portsmouth, NH

As the illustrator of two Christmas books ('Twas the Night Before Christmas and The Gingerbread Pirates), this is always a busy time of year for me. I've got three fun holiday events planned for this weekend. Here's where I'll be...

Friday, December 7	6:00-9:00 pm. "Matt Tavares Catches a Ride on the Polar Express". I'll be reading and signing my Christmas books at Barnes and Noble in Newington, NH, part of their annual Polar Express night. I read at 6:00, then there's a reading of The Polar Epress, and lots of other fun stuff (like free cookies and hot chocolate!) This has become an annual tradition for me and my family, and it's always a lot of fun.
Saturday, December 8	12:00-2:00 pm, reading and signing my Christmas books at the Rowley Public Library in Rowley, MA. I'll do a drawing demonstration, and you can decorate (and then eat) your own gingerbread man!
Sunday, December 9	1:00-3:00, book signing at The Hill House, 127 Mount Vernon Street, Boston, MA... right in Beacon Hill, the setting of my version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. This is the weekend when Beacon Hill is being decorated for the holidays, and it's always a fun time to be in the city.

	So if you're anywhere near Boston, Portsmouth, or Rowley, come say hi (and get some Christmas shopping done)!

Fall Events Schedule

At Book Ends in Winchester, MA in 2010 (I'll be there on October 20 at 1:00 pm!)

I'm just about to start final art for my current picture book project, so I don't have a ton of events planned for this fall... but I will be traveling around a little bit, with events planned in New York, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and California (but oddly, none in Maine, which is where I live...). 

So if you happen to be in or near New York City, Winchester, MA, Newington, NH, Waupaca, WI, or Tustin, CA, please come join me for one of these fun events! Here's where I'll be:

October 6	12:00-2:00 pm, book signing and talk with author Doreen Rappaport on our new book, Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, at Books of Wonder in New York City.
October 12-13	Waupaca Book Festival, Waupaca, Wisconsin.
October 20	1:00 pm, book signing and talk on Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, at Book Ends in Winchester, MA.
October 24	School visit, Mast Way School, Lee, NH
October 25	6:00 pm. Opening reception for "The Original Art 2012: Celebrating the Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration". Original artwork from There Goes Ted Williams will be included in this exhibit at the Museum of American Illustration, at The Society of Illustrators in New York City. The juried exhibit will be on display October 24-December 22.
November 17	1:00-4:00 pm, Barnes and Noble, Newington, NH, book signing for Helen's Big World: The Life of Helen Keller, part of a book fair for Wells Elementary School.
December 1	1:00-5:00 pm, Opening reception for 21st Annual Children's Book Illustration Show, Chemers Gallery, Tustin, CA. This is a group exhibit featuring original artwork by 5 comtemporary children's book illustrators: E.B. Lewis, Sylvia Long, Chris Sheban, Boris Kulikov, and Matt Tavares.
December 7	6:00-9:00 pm, reading and signing my Christmas books at Barnes and Noble in Newington, NH, part of their annual Polar Express night. I read at 6:00, then there's a reading of The Polar Epress, and lots of other fun stuff (like free cookies and hot chocolate!)...

Barnes & Noble event tomorrow!

I'll be reading and signing There Goes Ted Williams at Barnes and Noble in Burlington, Mass tomorrow, July 11, at 7:00 pm. A friend sent me this picture from the store. Looks like they've got plenty of books!

Last two events of the season!

It's been a busy fall, but I'm down to my last two events of 2011.

Tonight I'll be reading my Christmas books at Barnes and Noble in Newington, NH at 6:00, at an event called "The Polar Express Event with Matt Tavares and More!" The "more" part includes free cookies and hot chocolate!!

This is my 4th year doing this, and it's always a blast. After I read my books, a conductor will do a reading of Chris Van Allsburg's classic, The Polar Express, complete with music, cookies, and hot chocolate for all the kids.

Money raised during this event will benefit the Berwick Academy school library.

Here are a couple slightly blurry photos from last year's Polar Express event:

me reading The Gingerbread Pirates

The conductor taking a break from reading The Polar Exress, while Chris Cote plays holiday music

Then tomorrow morning at 10:30, I'll be signing my holiday books at my kids' favorite toy store, Animal Instinct in Ogunquit, Maine. If you're near Ogunquit, come make a day of it- you can meet Santa at the fire station at 9:30 then walk over to Animal Instinct for my signing.

There is a whole bunch of other fun stuff going on all day, part of Christmas-by-the-Sea. You can download a full schedule here.

Captain Cookie...

...is hanging on my Christmas tree. Arrr!!

And I was very happy to see that he's on the big wall at Barnes & Noble again this year! Pretty cool to see The Gingerbread Pirates up there with Dr. Suess, David Shannon, and Charlie Brown (and Harry Connick, Jr... and Mike Huckabee...?) Go Captain Cookie!

Barnes & Noble Book Fair recap

I signed books at a book fair for Wells Elementary School at Barnes and Noble in Newington, NH last weekend. It was a wonderful event, with tons of people and some excellent performances by students and teachers. The book fair was organized by my wife, Sarah, and she and everyone in the WES PTSA did an amazing job. Here are a few pictures:

So many teachers made the trek to Newington to help out with the book fair. Here's computer teacher extraordinaire Mr. Sprankle on guitar and the one-and-only Mr. I on the banjo, entertaining the crowd with some excellent songs they wrote. One of my favorite lines: "Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be readers. Because then they'll be smarter than you..." or something like that...

Then Mr. Sprankle had the kids laughing their heads off as he read and performed a few Elephant and Piggie books. Did I mention that Mr. Sprankle is awesome?

Tough to follow up Mr. Sprankle's hilarious read-alouds of Mo Willems books with my own reading of a 19th century poem, but that's what I did! I read Over the River and Through the Wood, and then did a drawing demonstration with a live model posing as a baseball player.

Later in the afternoon I did another reading and drawing, but this time all the kids were freaking out because they ALL wanted to be the model. So I told them all to sit still, and I drew EVERYBODY. Then they all wanted to keep the picture, so we had a raffle.

My daughter and some of her classmates also sang Over the River and Through the Wood, which was awesome.

Wish I got more pictures, but I was too busy signing books! It seemed like the whole town of Wells was there, and people bought armloads of books and raised over $1300 for Wells Elementary School! Not too shabby.

After the book fair, many of the participants drove up to Portland, Maine to watch the Wells High School football team win the State Championship game. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday!