SISTERS is nominated for an Eisner Award! The Eisners are basically the Oscars of comics -- the biggest and fanciest award my industry offers! SMILE won an Eisner in 2011 (that's the little gold sticker that's printed on the cover of most of the copies). It's a big honor to be nominated again, this time in the category of Best Writer/Artist!!

The Einsers are nominated by a jury, and then voted on by members of the industry. Incredibly, many people don't know they are eligible to vote -- but, if you're a teacher, librarian, bookseller, editor, or a small-press comics creator, YOU CAN VOTE! Do you make mini-comics? VOTE! Are you a teacher who includes comics in your curriculum, at any grade or education level? YOU CAN VOTE, TOO! Librarian who shares graphic novels with your patrons? PLEASE, JOIN YOUR PEERS IN VOTING!

You don't have to vote in every category, but there are some wonderful nominees across the board this year, all of whom deserve recognition. So please, head over to the ballot, register if you have not, and vote!

I'll be back soon with my summer schedule, including appearances in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego!

This weekend is the Toronto Comic Arts Festival, one of my favorite events in the world! It's free to attend, and I'll have a table at the Toronto Reference Library (Yonge & Bloor Streets): Table 103 on the first floor -- here's a map! The table is where you can find me for most of the weekend, and where I'll have tshirts, original art, and books for sale, including the brand-new color BSC #1, Kristy's Great Idea! Come by, get a book signed, hang out! I'm also on several panels and programs. Here's the info.

Saturday 10am - 11am How, Where, and Why Should I Start Reading Comics? @ Forest Hill Ballroom, Bloor Yorkville Marriott It can be daunting to enter the world of comics, and just not knowing where to begin as a reader. This panel features authors from some of the most important and widely-read books in the graphic novel revolution, speaking about their work, and the broad appeal of the medium. Featuring Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics), George O’Connor (Olympians), Raina Telgemeier (Sisters), and Professor Glen Downey (The York School). Moderated by Robin Brenner (No Flying, No Tights).

Saturday 1pm-2:15pm Raina Telgemeier and Dave Roman present: Comics Dance Party! @ St. Paul’s on Bloor, 227 Bloor Street East It’s a comics dance party! Join New York Times bestselling graphic novelists Raina Telgemeier (Sisters) and Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy, Teen Boat) for an hour of kids comics fun! With live drawing, games, and activities, this dance party just won’t stop! Followed by a one-hour signing at this venue.

Sunday 11:15-12:00pm Truth & Intimacy in Graphic Memoir @ High Park Ballroom, Bloor Yorkville Marriott Autobiography and memoir are among the most popular genres of contemporary comics, and with good reason; successful comics memoir renders its subjects explicitly, both textually and visually. In this medium where so little is left to the imagination, real experience may never have been so intimate, so ‘true’. In this feature presentation, moderator Johanna Draper Carlson (Comics Worth Reading) will interview four of the most acclaimed practitioners of contemporary comics memoir, to get at the root of what it’s like to put it all on the page. Featuring Dustin Harbin (Diary Comics), John Porcellino (King Cat), and Raina Telgemeier (Sisters).

Super exciting! I can't wait to see my Canadian friends, and maybe eat some ketchup chips and Greg's ice cream...see you there!

Just a reminder that the first of my Baby-sitters Club graphic novels is being re-released in full-color on Tuesday, April 28!

If you'd like to pre-order a signed copy, my local indie bookstore Astoria Bookshop would be happy to arrange it! Just go to their order page, scroll down to BSC Graphix #1, Kristy's Great Idea, and be sure to specify who you'd like your copy signed to!

Astoria Bookshop will take pre-orders until April 24, so if you'd like a signed copy to arrive as close as possible to the book's release day, be sure to get your order in by then!

I'll be at the bookshop signing copies and playing a game of Cartoonist Pictionary on Saturday, May 2, which happens to be Independent Bookstore Day! (And Free Comic Book Day, wow!) Come by at 1pm for some games, snacks, and a book signing with me and Dave Roman! If you'd like to pick up the new Baby-sitters Club Graphix then, we'll have lots of copies!

Cartoonist Pictionary! (We'll need some talented volunteers to join us!) The Astoria Bookshop 31-29 31st Street Between Broadway and 31st Avenue Astoria, NY (718) 278-2665 N or Q Train to Broadway in Astoria, Queens

It'll be fun--hope to see you there!

Hey guys! I know it's been a few weeks since I updated my site...since getting back from California, I've started penciling the actual, real, final art for my next book! I'm having a great time, but there's not much to talk about at this point. I've been posting a lot of sketches and process stuff over on my Instagram, so if you want more frequent art updates, that's the best place to find me!

I'll be attending the MoCCA Art Festival as a special guest on April 11 and 12...which is neat, since MoCCA was the very first comic convention I ever had a table and sold minicomics at, starting way back in 2002! I haven't tabled there in a while, but since I'm a guest this year, I'll be signing books and doing a couple of panels! Here's where you can find me that weekend:

MoCCA Art Festival Location: Center 548 West 22nd Street Between 10th & 11th Avenues New York, NY April 11-12 11am-6pm Tickets: $5/Day

Please note: Signings and panels are at different locations, approximately a two-block walk from one another. Below is a map. Please plan accordingly!

SATURDAY, APRIL 11

1-2 pm Book Signing Center 548 (main festival venue) Bergen Street Comics Booth, #220-221 You may bring books from home or purchase them onsite!

3:30pm Raina Telgemeier Q+A High Line Hotel The Matthews Room Reservations required, GET A FREE TICKET HERE

SUNDAY, APRIL 12

1-2 pm Book Signing Center 548 (main festival venue) Bergen Street Comics Booth, #220-221 You may bring books from home or purchase them onsite!

3:30pm CAROUSEL for KIDS! High Line Hotel The Matthews Room Cartoonist R. Sikoryak brings a special KIDS’ edition of CAROUSEL, his series of live comics readings and other projected pictures, to the MoCCA stage. Stories, gags, audience participation, and more, for kids of all ages.

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Also, please be sure to check out my updated event listings! You can always find those on the right-hand site of my home page. I'll be adding more events in the near future, but as you can see, I'm going to be appearing in Astoria, NY in May; Ann Arbor Michigan in June; and the San Francisco Bay Area in July!

I'm pleased to announce that SISTERS has been shortlisted for a 2015 Children's Choice Book Award...and YOU can vote!

Go to THIS PAGE, and vote for SISTERS in the 2nd Grade to 3rd Grade category. You can vote in all the other categories, too. Then, the winners will be announced during Children's Book Week in May!

Voting goes until May 3, so please encourage your friends and THEIR friends to participate!

Thanks & happy voting!

On Thursday, March 12, join me, Dave Roman (Astronaut Academy), and James Burks (Bird & Squirrel) for an evening of fun and comics at Once Upon A Time Bookstore in Montrose, CA! We'll all be presenting and signing, and it's free to attend!

Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman, & James Burks! Thursday, March 12 7pm Once Upon A Time Bookstore 2207 Honolulu Ave Montrose Shopping Park Montrose, CA 91020 (Where the 2 and 210 freeways intersect) phone: 818-248-9668

I mentioned a few months ago that Scholastic was releasing full-color editions of my Baby-sitters Club graphic novels...and now, you can pre-order a copy!

If you'd like a signed copy, my local indie bookstore Astoria Bookshop would be happy to arrange it! Just go to their order page, scroll down to BSC Graphix #1, Kristy's Great Idea, and be sure to specify who you'd like your copy signed to! I'll also be doing an event at the store in May, so stay tuned for more info.

The book's release date is April 28. Hope you guys like it!

My 2015 Hourly Comic Day comics. Some of these were done in a moving car. All were done straight-to-Sharpie in a notebook given to me by a Naperville middle school last fall with a parade of elephants along the bottom page trim.

Yesterday I was anticipating this morning’s ALA Youth Media Awards announcements, and while I was sure that SISTERS wasn’t going to win anything, I was holding out hope for some of my friends’ books, specifically EL DEAFO by Cece Bell. And we woke up today to learn that it did indeed receive a Newbery Honor Award — the most distinguished award in the children’s book industry, and the first time a graphic novel has ever done so. I didn’t want to name-drop in the hourly comic for fear of jinxing it, but that’s the book I was thinking about at 9:50pm last night. El Deafo is one of the most important books to come along in a long time, graphic novel or otherwise, and Cece deserves every ounce of recognition she is getting.

Today also happens to be the 5-year anniversary of SMILE in print. I was too busy making noise about El Deafo on Twitter to give it much thought, but Cece herself has told me that it was only after she read Smile that she decided to tell her story in graphic novel format. I could not be more proud or happy for her, and if I have contributed in some small way to moving both the worlds of comics and children’s literature forward, that’s all the honor I need.

Many congrats to my other friends who were bestowed with medals today, but especially Dan Santat, who took home Caldecott gold for Beekle, and Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, who collected both a Caldecott Honor and a Printz Honor for their graphic novel This One Summer.

Hey, guys! Yesterday was Graphix's Tenth Anniversary! My publisher (an imprint of Scholastic) is one decade old, and I'm pleased to say I've been working with them since the beginning! I signed my first contract in 2004, and my first Baby-sitters Club graphic novel was published in 2006. It has been a wild and wonderful ride, and we're all looking forward to more great stuff in the future. A few comics news sites broke the story about several upcoming Graphix books yesterday, and included among the news was the fact that...I've signed up to do three more books! That, plus the one I'm currently working on, means I'll be publishing FOUR graphic novels between now and 2022.

While I can't tell you any of the specifics yet, the press release teases that I'll be doing (another) nonfiction family story (along the lines of Smile and Sisters), a collection of short stories, and a fictional graphic novel. I have lots of ideas and I'm looking forward to getting them out of my head and onto paper!

But for now, it's back to work on my current project, which is a fiction story with a fantastic setting, slated for 2016. I hope to be able to share more details soon.

That's all for the moment!

My friends over at the Nerdy Book Club asked illustrators to post a sample of the size they create their original work at, and use the hashtag #iDrawThisBig. The quarter is there for reference, but I think the better reference is the books themselves -- all of my books have the same trim size, so you can easily see the paper size in contrast to the books in the photos. I posted my results on Instagram along with some annotations, but thought you guys might like to see them too, and putting everything in one post seemed like a good idea.

First up: SMILE! Smile and Sisters were both drawn on 9x12 Bristol board. When I began Smile as a weekly webcomic back in 2004, my goal was to spend as little time as possible on each page, and working small kept me in line. It also lent a sense of intimacy to such a personal project. I repeated this technique with Sisters, as you will see! Drama and the four Baby-sitters Club graphic novels were all drawn larger. Also, for those interested, Smile is my only published book to date with hand-lettering. All of the others were lettered with a font based on my handwriting.

Fun fact...I chose to show this page because it takes place on my first day as a student at Lowell High School in San Francisco...and my 20-year reunion is this fall!! Time truly flies when you're having fun.

Next : DRAMA! Drama pages were drawn on 11x14 Bristol board. The four Baby-sitters Club graphic novels were also drawn at this paper size. Drama is the project where I began adding panel borders digitally. It saves some time and ensures the margins are straight, which pleases the design team at the publisher! I chose this page because I love bookstores.

Fun fact...The store in this scene is called Longacre's...Mrs. Longacre was a frequent substitute teacher at my elementary school, and she subbed long-term in my third grade class while my regular teacher had surgery or something. Mrs. L was kind and caring, in stark contrast to our regular teacher, who was an angry, tough lady, and I remember that being a wonderful month within a really difficult year. However, both teachers left a mark, and I learned SO much from both of them.

Finally, SISTERS! It was actually quite challenging to go back to this smaller paper size after Drama, but I felt that it was important to work similarly to the way I created Smile, because this was a companion book. My working methods changed a lot between Smile and Sisters, though...I no longer hand-letter the dialog (although I still create sound effects by hand) and panel borders are digital. I have also worked with a different colorist on each project, although I have had the same editor, book designer, and letterer since Smile. It's nice to have a team that's comfortable working together!

Fun fact...We really did hit this huge storm while driving across Nevada, and Lovelock, NV was the town we stopped in to wait it out for the night. We had planned to go further, but traveling requires thinking on your feet sometimes. To this day, when my sister and I joke about the worst places we've ever been in our lives, that town always tops the list! I'm sure it's totally fine now, but in 1991 (when Sisters takes place) it was pretty sad. Especially in a torrential storm.

Hope you enjoyed this peek into my studio!

Whoa, so...every year, The Beat, which has long been my favorite comics news source, asks folks across the industry to cast their vote for the Person of the Year, defined as “the most important person, someone who had the biggest impact, an innovator, someone who set the pace, or had a banner year creatively” in comics.

This year, I won.

I can certainly concede that my 2014 was incredible, and felt like it built in intensity with each passing month. But to round it out with this honor is astounding...my career feels like it's pretty swell to me personally, but being recognized by my peers is on a whole other level of awesome.

I've loved comics for a long time. From the day I discovered them as a kid, there's been little else I've been so passionate about, and nothing else I wanted to do more. I've been fortunate to be able to make work I care about, and to have such great readers along the way, as well as a community of people that supports me and cheers me on.

So, thank you!

Congratulations to all the other people nominated for the PotY, too -- smart, talented, hard-working people who deserve just as much (if not more) credit as I do.

I'm ending the year on a sweet note -- the Wall Street Journal has published an article called The New Wave of Graphic Novels, which talks about the last ten years and how things have shifted and changed in my industry, and heavily features me and my work. I couldn't be prouder.

2014 has been a banner year for me. It had its ups and downs, but overall, it has been an overwhelming success. The debut of SISTERS surpassed my (and my publisher's) wildest expectations, and it was a real treat to meet so many of my incredible readers on my book tour.

Then, I came home and finished the first draft of the script for my next graphic novel -- the article hints at some of the themes in the story towards the end. I'll spend most of 2015 at my desk (pictured!) creating the art, and in 2016, I'll have another book to share with all of you! So, thank you. Without you guys, none of this would be possible. Thanks for letting me share my stories, and for sharing so many of your own in return. I'm looking forward to even bigger and better things in 2015, and beyond!

photo by Sasha Maslov for the Wall Street Journal

One last reminder about holiday orders and shipping deadlines! ***Signed copies of my books can be ordered from my local indie bookstore, Astoria Bookshop, and they will ship it directly to you! Please submit orders by December 17 (Dec. 10 for int'l orders) to assure they arrive in time for Christmas. (Need some suggestions for other graphic novels to gift? Here's a list!)

***SMILE T-shirts are BACK! We're taking orders for the holiday season over on THE COMICS BAKERY website. Please place your holiday orders by December 17 at the very latest to receive them in time for Christmas!

***If you're looking for original artwork, I sell pages from the Baby-sitters Club graphic novels right here on my site! Please order by December 10, as the packages are a specialized size and therefore sometimes take a little longer for the post office to process and send.

***ALA SMILE posters are available from ALA's website!

Thanks, everyone. Back to work for me!

This is an updated version of a post from early 2013. Hey, so you like my books! I’m so happy, thank you!!

"I've read this a couple of times...what else you got?"

If you enjoyed Smile, Sisters, Drama, or my Baby-sitters Club graphic novels, here are some suggestions for graphic novels and comics to read next.

The best way to get a hold of most of these titles is to ask your favorite local bookstore or comic shop to order them for you. You can also buy them via online retailers like Indiebound.org or Amazon. And you can always request them at your local library!

For Ages 8 and Up:

My webcomics!

Hey, maybe you haven't read them yet! I've got a whole pile of short-story comics right here on my website. Some of these are over a decade old; some of them are newer. Many of them were originally published in my minicomic series, Take-Out, and some were created for other web or print venues.

El Deafo

by Cece Bell

One of my favorite graphic novels in recent memory. A memoir, in which young Cece suffers from severe hearing loss after a bout with meningitis, and goes through life with a clunky hearing aid. At its core, this book is really about friendship and finding your place in the world, which anyone can relate to!

The Dumbest Idea Ever!

by Jimmy Gownley

A memoir about how Jimmy became a cartoonist when he was a young teenager. A perfect read for budding authors, artists or cartoonists, or anyone who likes stories about real kids with real lives.

Yotsuba&!

By Kiyohiko Azuma

My favorite manga of all time. Hilarious, simple, and some of the best comic timing I’ve ever seen.

Amelia Rules!

By Jimmy Gownley

Amelia and her mom move to a new town, and this series follows the adventures of Amelia and her new friends. A fourth-grade lens on real life.

Chiggers

By Hope Larson

Summer camp! Secrets! Cute boys! Lightning!

Babymouse

By Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

She may be a mouse, but she has many of the problems kids face in their regular lives: homework, a messy locker, bullies at school. Babymouse also has a massive imagination, which helps her overcome!

Lunch Lady

by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

A school cafeteria lunch lady who is also a superhero! All of her tools and gadgets are made from kitchen tools and common household objects.

Astronaut Academy

By Dave Roman

Character-driven stories about kids who go to school on a space station. Really fun if you like anime, manga, video games, word play, and space ninjas!

Cleopatra in Space

by Mike Maihack

What if Cleopatra went to school in outer space?! That's really all you need to know before diving into this fun series!

The Silver Six

By AJ Lieberman and Darren Rawlings

A standalone story that feels like it could be based off your very favorite cartoon show. Full of action and fun.

Zita the Spacegirl

By Ben Hatke

An adventure comic with a big heart, beautifully illustrated.

Giants Beware

By Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado

A girl who wants to fight monsters, surrounded by a town of medieval characters. Claudette and her friends make a winning team.

Bone

By Jeff Smith

An absolute classic. Epic story, funny characters, surprising depth, jaw-dropping artwork.

Amulet

By Kazu Kibuishi

Kazu is bringing an animated, Miyazaki-like sensibility to the comics page, and creates an exciting adventure along the way. One of the most gorgeously-drawn comics available today.

The Secret Science Alliance

By Eleanor Davis

If you like jam-packed artwork full of tiny, interesting details, this one’s for you.

Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword

By Barry Deutsch

An 11-year-old orthodox Jewish girl who wants to fight monsters? Sweet!

Cardboard

By Doug TenNapel

Doug has a knack for writing fantastical fables about real-life kids. This is my favorite of his books.

Guinea P.I.G.: Pet Shop Private Eye

By Colleen AF Venable and Stephanie Yue

Super sweet and super funny. Kids who love animals will love this series.

To Dance

By Mark Siegel and Siena Cherson Siegel

An autobiographical graphic novella about a girl who aspires to be a ballerina.

Mal and Chad

By Stephen McCranie

A kid scientist and his talking dog. Love it!

Bird & Squirrel on the Run

By James Burks

A buddy road trip comedy, made even more fun by animal protagonists and solid cartooning.

Sidekicks

By Dan Santat

A houseful of pets all aspire to be their superhero owner’s new sidekick. Delightfully drawn.

Calvin and Hobbes, any volume

By Bill Watterson

Probably the best comic strip of all time. Brilliantly drawn and written, with a lot to say about the world we live in. A must.

For Better or For Worse, especially the volumes published between 1983 and 1990

By Lynn Johnston

My very favorite comic strip, which also taught me how engrossing realistic fiction could be. I credit FBorFW with paving the way for the kinds of comics and stories I like to create today, as well as being the biggest influence on my art style.

For Ages 12 and Up:

Friends with Boys

By Faith Erin Hicks

Faith is quickly becoming the premier YA graphic novelist of our day and age. FWB is about homeschooling, public high school, a missing mother, a bunch of crazy brothers...and a ghost.

Anya's Ghost

By Vera Brosgol

Setting the YA comics bar extremely high, this is an expertly written and drawn graphic novel with a spooky edge. Vera is a storyboard artist for Laika Studios (Coraline, ParaNorman), and it shows in every panel.

American Born Chinese

By Gene Luen Yang

A powerful story about the Chinese-American experience, an ancient Chinese fable, and a look at racism in society...all converging into one narrative, and accessible to any reader. ABC was the first (and so far, only!) comic to win the prestigious Printz Award, as well as a National Book Award finalist.

Will & Whit

By Laura Lee Gulledge

Artsy kids, heartbreak, and a hurricane! If you're a fan of Drama in particular, this book would serve as a wonderful companion.

The! Greatest! Of! Marlys!

by Lynda Barry

Lynda Barry's comics were my YA, before YA really even existed. She's been writing teen stories with an incredibly clear voice since the early 80s. This book collects many of the stories about Maryls and her sister Maybonne, and is probably better categorized as being at the young end of YA comics lit. Raw, ugly, hilarious, and poignant.

Tomboy

by Liz Prince

A fantastic memoir about Liz's life growing up as a tomboy. One of my favorite YA graphic novels. Recommended for high school and up.

Please note: I’ve focused on books that I think are appropriate for my target readers, who mostly range between ages 8 and 13. You may be older or younger, but in general my books are considered “middle grade,” and this list focuses on graphic novels within that range. This means I’m leaving out some truly quality suggestions, especially for slightly older readers, but there are plenty of resources out there to help you find good comics for the upper end of young adult, and adult readers.

*****

This essay was originally posted on Inside A Dog. Copyright Raina Telgemeier.

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American Thanksgiving is almost here! The holidays are upon us, which means people are in gift-buying mode. Here are a couple of things I have going on these days, for people who want to add some Raina-centric cheer to the mix:

***Barnes & Noble has a Black Friday promotion I'm a part of: They created a special, limited edition of Smile with a new page -- and every copy is signed!! That's right, I signed several thousand copies of Smile (it took about two weeks!), and they will be in-store at B&Ns while supplies last, THIS WEEKEND ONLY. That's Nov. 28-30! Once they're gone, they're gone! For more information and to find a store near you, click here.

***If you can't make it to a Barnes & Noble but you still want a signed/personalized copy of any of my books, you can order one from my local indie bookstore, Astoria Bookshop, and they will ship it to you! Please submit orders by December 17 (Dec. 10 for int'l orders) to assure they arrive in time for Christmas.

***SMILE T-shirts are BACK! We're taking orders for the holiday season over on THE COMICS BAKERY website. Please place your holiday orders by December 17 at the very latest to receive them in time for Christmas!

***If you're looking for original artwork, I sell pages from the Baby-sitters Club graphic novels right here on my site! Please order by December 10, as the packages are a specialized size and therefore sometimes take a little longer for the post office to process and send.

***ALA SMILE posters are available from ALA's website!

And, whew...I think that's it. Here's to a happy, safe and healthy holiday to all of you.

~raina

Many of you have asked about it, and finally, I'm pleased to announce that SMILE T-shirts are BACK! We're taking orders for the holiday season over on THE COMICS BAKERY website. Please place your holiday orders by December 17 at the very latest to receive them in time for Christmas!

Also, I'm doing two final events to ring out the year! I'll be in Miami, FL and in DC for the Miami Book Fair and NCTE, respectively.

Miami Book Fair International Miami, FL Saturday, Nov 22

11:30am – 12:30pm Storytorium Stage Panel Event with Michael Fry and Grace Ellis

12:30 – 2pm Centre Gallery, Building 1, 3rd Floor, Room 1365 Best American Comics 2014 with Charles Burns, Ben Katchor, Aydin Koch, and Ed Piskor, moderated by series editor, Bill Kartapoulos

NCTE Conference Washington, DC Sunday, Nov 23 & Monday, Nov 24

I believe NCTE events are only open to conference attendees, but I encourage anyone in attendance to join me at my programs! I'll be signing Sunday at the Scholastic booth from 9-10am, then speaking on the graphic novels panel at 10:30. Monday, I'll be at the 9:05 ALAN session!

Just a few other notes & news bites for you guys:

***I recently created a new poster for the ALA Reads campaign, and you can order a copy here! There are also bookmarks available (in packs of 100).

***Want a signed/personalized book for the holidays? You can order one from my local indie bookstore, Astoria Bookshop, and they will ship it to you! Please submit orders by December 17 (Dec. 10 for int'l orders) to assure they arrive in time for Christmas.

***In honor of SISTERS being in the semifinal round of the Goodreads Choice Awards, I've opened up the ASK THE AUTHOR feature on Goodreads for a few days -- ask me anything until the end of the day Saturday (11/15) and I'll see what I can do! I'm not able to answer all of the letters I receive these days, so doing this sort of public Q&A is really useful for me!

That's all for now!

Hey, neat! SISTERS has been nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award in the Middle Grade & Children's category! Which means YOU can vote for it! This is the preliminary round of voting. If my book progresses, there will be another round of voting, and then a winner will be announced next month!

To vote, simply follow this link, click the cover of Sisters, and proceed to the next category if you so desire! (You must be registered for Goodreads in order to vote.)

This would be super cool to win, so please tell your friends and help me spread the word! :)

Whew!!!!! My book tour has (mostly) come to an end. I had the best time!

I tried to use the hashtag #sistour across social media, so if you want to see pictures and posts from the past several weeks, look it up on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. And, for the events I did with Kazu Kibuishi, we used #therainakazupowertour. (And Jeff Smith joined us for our Columbus event, so we added JEFF to the hashtag...)

THANK YOU DC, Arlington, Bethesda, Princeton, Rhinebeck, Seattle, Vancouver, Toronto, Boston, New York, Sheboygan, Las Vegas, La Jolla, Los Angeles, Alameda, Pleasanton, San Carlos, Naperville, Delaware, and Cincinnati! And all of the schools we visited in nearby towns and territories. I really do have the best fans. I wish I could visit every town in America and Canada!

This was the scene that greeted us at basically EVERY stop on the tour!

In a few weeks I'll be at the Miami Book Fair and NCTE in DC, but will make another post about that later. For now, here are just a couple of photos from the road. At the moment, I'm back in Queens, working on a new script and enjoying fall in the northeast...

Thanks again, everyone! Talk to you soon!

~raina

Hi from the road! I had a nice time at the Vegas Valley Book Fest and visiting schools in Las Vegas -- so, this leg of my tour is off to a great start! I've now landed in the GOLDEN STATE, and will be making my way up the coast to the following places: Monday, October 20 Warwick's Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) 7812 Girard Ave La Jolla, CA 4:00pm

Tuesday, October 21 Children's Book World Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) 10580 1/2 W. Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 4:00pm

Wednesday, October 22 Alameda Free Library Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) Alameda, CA 6:30pm

Friday, October 24 Pleasanton Public Library Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) 400 Old Bernal Ave Pleasanton, CA 7pm

Saturday, October 25 Reading Bug Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) San Carlos, CA 2pm

Hope to see you! Yes, YOU.

Fans at the VVBF!

I've added a couple of new dates to my calendar, including stops in Southern California!! Here's where I'll be over the next couple of weeks:

Saturday, October 18 Vegas Valley Book Festival Las Vegas, NV

**BAM! It’s a Picture Book Panel Discussion Fifth Street School, Auditorium 401 S. Fourth St. 10am

**Raina Telgemeier Presents! Fifth Street School, Storytelling Tent 401 S. Fourth St. 1:55 PM

**Book Signing: 2:15-2:45pm

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EVENTS!

Monday, October 20 Warwick's Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) 7812 Girard Ave La Jolla, CA 4:00pm

Tuesday, October 21 Children's Book World Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) 10580 1/2 W. Pico Blvd Los Angeles, CA 4:00pm

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA EVENTS!

Wednesday, October 22 Alameda Free Library Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) Alameda, CA 6:30pm

Friday, October 24 Pleasanton Public Library Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) 400 Old Bernal Ave Pleasanton, CA 7pm

Saturday, October 25 Reading Bug Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) San Carlos, CA 2pm

CHICAGO EVENT!

Monday, October 27 Anderson's Event at Wentz Hall (with Kazu Kibuishi) 171 E. Chicago Ave Naperville, IL 7pm

OHIO EVENTS!

Wednesday, October 29 Fundamentals at Delaware Cty District Library (with Kazu Kibuishi) 83 East Winter Street Delaware, OH 7pm

Thursday, October 30 Joseph-Beth Booksellers Event (with Kazu Kibuishi) 2692 Madison Road Cincinnati, OH 4:30pm

Can't wait to see you all!