MONDAY, 9 OCTOBER AT SCHOOLS & 6 PM / IN-STORE TALK & SIGNING
Stephan Pastis, Looking Up
We are delighted to bring author / artist / award-winning humorist Stephan Pastis to local schools on Oct 9 to talk about his new book, Looking Up!
For the school visits, please note the student's school and teacher in the Comment box (he's visiting multiple schools) and check "School Event Delivery" when checking out. That way your child will get the signed book delivered to them at the proper school.
And how lucky are we that he has agreed to do an event at the shop that evening at 6pm! That way your whole family can meet the creator of our favorite newspaper comic strip, Pearls Before Swine (it's in over 800 newspapers!). Register for the FREE evening event HERE. Please note that each reservation admits one adult and one child. Please note that while this event is free, we truly hope you will buy a copy of Looking Up! to be signed that evening.
Looking Up is a hilarious and heartfelt middle grade novel, filled with Stephan's cartoon drawings. The reviews are great, and we love it too.
Kirkus Reviews (09/01/2023):
Imagination and drawing help two grieving children in this illustrated novel by the creator of the popular Timmy Failure series and the comic strip "Pearls Before Swine." Things are not looking up for Saint ("I wasn't named for a bearded guy in heaven. I was named for a football team in Louisiana"). Her favorite toy store is demolished, and her beloved diner closes. It's all part of the gentrification for which she holds her single mother, who works long hours as a real estate agent and frequently breaks her promises, responsible. Saint very much likes reticent neighbor Daniel "Chance" McGibbons, who uses a cane, but first she has to win his friendship after an awkward beginning at his birthday party. When the uncle Chance lives with sells to developers, Saint's determination to save his home penetrates Chance's reserve. The kids' subsequent shenanigans will delight readers. The story is generously illustrated with Pastis' characteristic black-and-white cartoon line drawings, mostly of the two round-headed kids, whose hair and skin are as white as the page. Longtime neighborhood resident Old Lady Trifaldi helps Saint learn to cope with change by looking at the stars from her roof, "to make time go backward." Pastis fills this deceptively simple first-person account with humor, puns, turns, and twists--and the final twist gives this friendship tale its surprising depth. Words and art combine to create a moving story. (Fiction. 9-12)
