This past Tuesday, Susan at Chicken Spaghetti was the first to let me know that The Day-Glo Brothers was named to School Library Journal‘s list of the best books of 2009. That piece of wonderful news is still just as surprising today as it was then.
Thank you, Susan, and thanks to everyone who has bought, championed, or otherwise believed in this book.
Used filters at the DayGlo factory.
When I saw my first-ever jet-black squirrel on the campus of the College of Wooster yesterday morning, I didn’t have my camera with me. But that’s OK — it was only the second most impressive spectacle I witnessed during my two-day trip to Ohio for the Buckeye Book Fair.
The most impressive came soon after I landed at the Cleveland airport. David Wiesenberg, owner of book fair sponsor Wooster Book Company, picked me up joined me for a guided tour of the headquarters of the DayGlo Color Corporation.
My research for The Day-Glo Brothers had never taken me there. The story I tell in the book pretty much leaves off at the point when Bob and Joe Switzer founded the company that exists today, and so my fact-finding had focused on how the brothers had gotten to that point.
But as much fun as it had been getting to know the Switzer brothers on paper, through their original notes on their early experiments, there’s a lot to be said for getting a firsthand look at what continues to this day to result from that experimentation.
It made for one brilliant afternoon.
Imagine how Bob and Joe must have felt to see this color for the first time.
As they say at DayGlo, the dirtier the factory gets, the brighter it looks.
Inside the bright pink belly of the manufacturing process.
Note the footprints; I found this stuff still on the soles of my shoes hours later.
Some of the finished products, ready to ship.
Your author. Photo by David Wiesenberg.
Since The Day-Glo Brothers came out in July, author-appearance opportunities have loomed before me like a really, really good buffet, and I’ve been sampling a little bit of everything: one bookstore event, one presentation to other authors, one public library visit, one school visit (this coming Wednesday), and one homeschool workshop (next week).
Next month, I’ll make it to the dessert cart, with my first out-of-state trip since publication. On Saturday, November 7, I’ll be signing books at the Buckeye Book Fair in Wooster, Ohio — just down the road from Cleveland, where Bob and Joe Switzer invented their daylight-fluorescent colors.
If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by to say hello — and to check out the other authors on the bill.
I’ve got a new favorite radio host in Cincinnati: WVXU’s Mark Perzel, who interviewed me last week.
I don’t think this will come as a surprise to anyone, but it turns out that I really like talking about The Day-Glo Brothers.
Once, before I was published, I gave some thought to one of the most common — and potentially intrusive — questions that children’s authors get asked by members of their target audience.
In the past few weeks, I’ve frequently received a variation on that question — from adults.
“How are the book sales?” they ask.
This question strikes me as genuinely curious, rather than nosy: Amazon.com sales rankings are just one of the many real-time popularity measurements we’ve gotten used to seeing for contemporary cultural artifacts, and my questioners (correctly) assume that I’ve got a better idea than they do of where The Day-Glo Brothers currently ranks.
It’s also a very sensitive, fickle metric — a book’s ranking can jump or fall frequently within a single day (or so I’ve heard) — which makes it hard to get a clear view of the trend, at least if you have anything else going on in your life. What’s more, sales through one giant online retailer in no way reflect sales of the book through the local, independent retailers to which I prefer to steer would-be buyers.
So, how am I going to answer that question about book sales, assuming that I don’t just choose to deflect it entirely? I think I’ve found my answer in FirstSearch. A week ago, that service told me that 56 US libraries had copies of The Day-Glo Brothers. Today it says the count has climbed to 83.
Is 83 a lot, considering the official publication date was July 1? I have no idea. I do know how that figure compares to the other picture book biographies that I mentioned during my presentation at BookPeople a couple of weeks ago:
501 for George Crum and the Saratoga Chip
1,562 for Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman
2,731 for The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins
I also know how to do basic math, which tells me that this week’s library count is 48% higher than last week’s. And in this economy, a measurement in my favor that’s heading in that direction is one I sure don’t mind telling folks about.
One young attendee checks out The Day-Glo Brothers under black light. Photo courtesy of Donna Bowman Bratton.
Last Saturday’s BookPeople party celebrating The Day-Glo Brothers was one of the best days of my life. Donna Bowman Bratton and Christy Stallop have already documented the event nicely with kind words and lots of photos, but I’d just like to say a couple more things about it:
1) I had way more fun than I ever would have thought possible — and my expectations were running pretty high to begin with.
2) Thank you! To everyone who showed up, took pictures, bought books (the store sold out!), asked me to sign them, ate cookies, made daylight-fluorescent crafts, listened to what I had to say, spread the word, hosted me, introduced me, or otherwise helped out — you made my day. You made my year.
[Update: Greg Leitich Smith and Moxy Jane have also posted accounts and photos of the big event. Thanks, guys!]
I hadn't had this many people paying attention to me since my wedding day. Photo courtesy of Christy Stallop.
I was on vacation all the following week, and I had no reason to suspect that the story of this book would get even better while I was out. I was essentially offline for the entire time, so I figured that even if things did get better, I wouldn’t know about it until I was back in front of my computer.
Then on Wednesday I got a call from my editor at Charlesbridge: The Day-Glo Brothers had received its third starred review, this one from School Library Journal (“The story is written in clear language and includes whimsical cartoons. … This unique book does an excellent job of describing an innovative process.”), following stars from Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.
Wow.
Some might possibly wonder — OK, at least one person has already stated as much — whether this book’s warm reception will give me a swollen head. I’m not too worried, though, as the universe has shown that it has ways of keeping me in check.
Immediately after the party at BookPeople, I headed up the street to have a late lunch with a fun assortment of relatives, children’s literature peers, and college friends. As it has been for every day these past few weeks, the temperature in Austin was north of 100 degrees, or heading that way. Still, the outdoor seating area was shaded, and with fans and misters blowing on us, sitting outside was quite bearable — even for me in the bright green necktie you can see in the photo at the top.
I almost never wear a tie these days, but for some reason the old reflex kicked in, and when my lunch arrived, I flipped my brand-new, first-time-being-worn tie over my shoulder. I then grabbed the bottle of ketchup, gave it a shake and a twist of the cap and –
FOOMP!
Ketchup everywhere. Everywhere on my equally brand-new white shirt, at least, and some on my aunt, too. Not on the tie, though — the daylight-fluorescent tie came through without a spot.
Now, if you have a copy of The Day-Glo Brothers handy, turn to the spread in which Bob Switzer is in bed recuperating from his head injury. See those objects that he’s hallucinating? They aren’t marked with a brand, but they’re clearly identifiable to anyone who’s ever sat at an American restaurant table.
Care to guess which brand of ketchup I wore home from my big day?
The table stocked with daylight-fluorescent craft materials was a hit. Photo courtesy of Carmen Ramirez McFarlin.
These went fast. Glad I wasn't counting on leftovers. Photo courtesy of Carmen Ramirez McFarlin.
