April is National Poetry Month, so we were EXTRA excited to host Rhett Miller and Dan Santat for the release of their hilarious collection of poetry, No More Poems!
Rhett Miller, frontman of the Old 97s, has a natural knack at writing. He writes songs, sure, but more recently he took it upon himself to entertain young readers with silly, mischievous, sarcastic, disgusting poetry! No More Poems is a collection about family, homework, nose hairs, and boogers, illustrated by Caldecott Medal winner and all-around goofball Dan Santat. We were lucky to host both of them in our store during National Poetry Month to a full house of fans, old and very, very new (yay cute babies!).
While Rhett read from their book, Dan drew on a notepad, showing the audience how he illustrates a scene as he takes it in. Dan also taught us how to draw different things using basic shapes like squares, circles, and triangles. His featured illustrations included Spongebob Squarepants, the Death Star, and a Dorito! Rhett also played a few tunes for us on his guitar, much to his fans’ delight!
Hilarity ensued when Rhett told us he wanted to write a poem on the spot using words suggested by kids from the crowd. The young poets shouted out words like “lawn”, “aliens”, and “flip”, leading to a poem titled: “My Lawn is Gone (Thanks, Aliens!)” Rhett then read the finished poem aloud to the giddy audience.
It was a great night to celebrate poetry and creative writing in general! We displayed a board inviting guests to tell us what poetry means to them, and we got some interesting responses– see for yourself! Stinky cheese, poinsettias, soap bubbles, and MAGNIFICENT WORDS! are just a few.
Rhett and Dan signed some copies of No More Poems! and you can claim yours online or come by and do a little shopping in-store! Don’t miss more fun upcoming Kids events (calendar here), including Adam Rubin on Monday, April 29th!
BookPeople 