BACK AT COLFAX FAMILY READING NIGHT

Each year

The Colfax Charter Elementary

Read-A-Thon

finishes off with 

its sooper exciting

FAMILY READING NIGHT!

And it was a great line-up this year!

I started out by reading this to the kids:

But for some reason

NONE OF THE KIDS UNDERSTOOD JAPANESE!

So instead I read my book:

It was pretty action-packed:

Here's a short video of the last part:

Fortunately I brought the English version of Pigs Make Me Sneeze to read, too. Because what's family reading night without some Mo Willems, amiright? It's so much fun reading to big group of kids and their grow-ups! Hope you read to yours sooner loud, too!

WATCHIN' 1000 TIMES NO PAINT DRY

Before I laid into the

final artwork for

my picture book

1000 TIMES NO

I spent a

LOT

of time 

experimenting

with watercolor.

Different paints...

Different papers...

Laying down a wash...

Then inking on top of it

and 

vice

versa

et al

et

cetera.

Here are a bunch of random

paint experiments

that happened.

They're not that far off from what

the book ended up looking like. 

But there are some fun notes

and I love seeing any art with 

paint splotches along the edges.

Ugh.

I wanna do 

another picture book

now.

COLFAX FAMILY READING NIGHT 2013

It's that time of year

at my children's school!

Time for 

FAMILY READING NIGHT!

That's where everyone

goes home after school...

puts on their favorite jammies...

comes BACK to school at 5:30...

eats some delicious pizza...

and 

THEN

splits up into different classrooms to

read 

AWESOME BOOKS!

And once again,

I was given the honor of reading to the 

Kindergarten and 1st graders!

This was my third time reading

(here's the first)

(and here's the second)

and

this year me and the kids rocked out to

Mo Willems'

latest Elephant and Piggie

masterwork

LET'S GO FOR A DRIVE!

We also got down with

I'M DIRTY!

by Kate and Jim McMullan:

You can bet there was some

1000 TIMES NO

and

DON'T LET THE PIGEON

FINISH THIS ACTIVITY BOOK

action as well!

I hope your school

has a

FAMILY READING NIGHT,

too!

It's a blast!

SCRUMDILLY-DO!

Someone flipped me this nice little review of 1000 TIMES NO
over at a blog called SCRUMDILLY-DO!

Check it out over HERE!

And, as always, you can order a signed copy over YONDER!

INSCRIBIN' IT!

Sometimes when folks order a copy of
1000 TIMES NO
from the mighty printlab,
they ask for KND characters inscribed inside.

BOOM!


Done.

Why not browse the printlab yourself?
There's lots of rockin' prints with more to come!
(eventually)
Check it

HERE!

BOOM!

I present to you...

PRINTLAB

ACHOOOOOOOO!!!

Last week was Family Reading Night at Colfax Elementary!



And since I didn't see many of you there... allow me tell you what you missed!

First, all the kids put on their bestest best jammies...
grabbed their favorite stuffed animals...
and went back to school at 5:30!

"WHAT?!"
you say,
"But that's DINNER TIME!"

Yup. DINNER TIME!
We all got together on the playground and had a gihoogic pizza party!
But it was hard to pay attention to the pizza since there was also a bake sale with some of the sooper yummiest treats in the history of forever.

After we ate ourselves silly... it was reading time.
The kids could choose between 5 different rooms where different folks were reading different stories.

I rocked the Kindergarten to 2nd Grade room.

And obviously, I read 1000 TIMES NO!
As well as the rough version of 1000 TIME WHY!

But just so you know...
I don't just read books BY me.
I made sure to read one with ME in it!

Like Mo Willems' Elephant and Piggie classic
PIGS MAKE ME SNEEZE!
(I still tell anyone within shouting distance that it's dedicated to me)

I'm not sure...
But I think the kids liked it.

What do you think?

THE SECRET MOUNTAIN HIDEOUT

After the first season of Codename: Kids Next Door I was burnt.
I was fried.
I was beaten to a pulp
lightly battered
char-broiled
thrown into the deep fryer
and then left in the oven until I was a crispy little lump of blackened coal.

In short, I needed to get away.
So the fabulous Mrs. Warburton thought it would be a good idea to rent a cabin in upstate New York so we could escape to a nice quiet place on weekends.

What she found was a tiny red cabin nestled into a clearing in the woods right next to a roaring stream.


Nothing fancy.
Two bedrooms, each one the size of the bed.
A tiny kitchen with a cozy eating nook.
A little deck off the back.
Just right for a couple of overworked New Yorkers.


We had an amazing summer filled with equal parts exploring and doing absolutely nothing.
I myself spent an obnoxious amount of time wandering up and down the Stony Clove.
I fell in love with that stream and got to know every rock, bend and pool.



Mrs. W and I ended up liking the Catskill Mountains so much we spent most of August looking for a similar house to buy.
But alas, there was nothing as cute as our house with a stream.
(that didn't cost eleventy thousand dollars)
When we asked the owners of the cabin if they were interested in selling it, they claimed they never would.

Sigh...


Eventually, the summer came to a close.
I went down to the stream one last time to say goodbye.
And it was there and then I decided to make a deal with the Stony Clove.
I told the stream that if it would let us buy the little red cabin, I would promise to take care her.
I'd keep her clean of trash.
I'd never let anyone throw junk into it.
I wouldn't take any of her fish.

The stream just gurgled back at me with no discernable change.

But then, sometime that Autumn
the owners of the cabin called.
Turns out they were opening a restaurant and:

a) weren't going to have much time to go upstate
and
b) needed money because restaurants are expensive.

Had the stream heard me?
I thought so.

And the next thing we knew, the cabin was ours.
We didn't own a house in NYC
(because they cost eleventy buh-million dollars)
so we were thrilled to have our own little acre in the forest.

Over the next five years, we went up every chance we got.
Sometimes it was hard to find the time, especially when our first child was born.
And then our second.
But it was our little home base.
Our Secret Mountain Hideout.
I went up there by myself a lot.
That's where I roughed out most of 1000 Times No.
That's where countless KND episodes were written.
I loved it madly.


But as our family got bigger, the house got smaller.
And it wasn't really a four season house so we had to shut it down for the Winter.
We dreamed of one day adding on, or putting up something bigger.
But as I said, we didn't even own a real house yet.
Still, we loved it.

But then we moved to LA.
And much to my disappointment, there wasn't a way to get to the cabin that didn't take a whole day.
We thought about renting it...
But the money we'd get probably wouldn't be worth all the hassle.


So grudgingly, we decided to sell it.
The loss didn't really sink in until a buyer came along.
Then it hit us.
Our little cabin would no longer be our little cabin.

And just last week it happened.
The deal closed.

I hope the couple that bought it has as many great times as we had there.
I hope they appreciate how magical that little clearing in the woods is.
I hope they watch over the Stony Clove for me.
And I hope that we can one day find a little place here on the West Coast that has that same magic.

No! at the Los Angeles Children's Film Festival

In case you didn't know... the 6th annual Los Angeles Children's Film Festival started on November 13th and will be rockin' until January 25th!

And this Saturday, December 18th will be a screening that includes 1000 TIMES NO along with some other great films!
Check it out:


Short films from around the world for all ages - animation and live action.
Free admission for everyone!
Saturday, Dec. 18
Martin Luther King Jr. Theater in Santa Monica, California.
11 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Program #4: Short films for all ages
1000 Times No
Breath
El Salon Mexico
Junior Extra-Terrestrial
Lil Emos HallowEmo
One Small Step
Propose
The Locket & the Sea
The Lonely Rabbit


For directions to the MLK Theater, adjacent to the Santa Monica Main City Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd
go HERE!

And for more info about the festival, head over HERE!
See you there!

CALIFORNIA READIN'

California has said YES to NO!

California Readers, an organization that "connects authors and artists with students and staff in California" has added 1000 Times No to their list of recommended books. Check it:

California Readers Announces 2011 Book Collections for School Libraries
Los Angeles, CA -- November 9, 2010 – California Readers, the state's premier reading and school library advocacy group, revealed its latest recommended book lists for California school libraries. The 300 books on the three new lists can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.californiareaders.org/collections/index.htm at the California Readers' website. The new lists include 41 books published within the last 12 months.

I KNEW I liked it here in LA!

EARLY DAYS OF NO

I came across an early dummy of 1000 TIMES NO the other day and was sooper happy to see this spread:


Yup... that's 50 NO's on one page!

Originally there was a lot more set-up to the book before we got to all the NO's in different languages. But when my editor, the mighty mighty Laura Geringer, saw this spread, she said, "THIS is the book!"

So we went with it!


But unfortunately, many NO's got cut out.

French.

Semaphore.

Klingon.


Ugh... I'm still bummed we couldn't use Klingon.

OTTAWA (belatedly)

I know ...
I know...
Everyone has been like,

Dude, where WERE you from October 20th to approximately October 25?!

And I've been all like,

DUDE... I was TOTALLY in Canada for the 2010 Ottawa International Animation Festival!

And they were like,

WHAAAAAAAAAT?!

And I was shakin' my head like,

YEEEEEEEEAH!

Because the animated short we did for 1000 TIMES NO that's been airing on Nick Jr. got into the festival so I went to represent! And as ALWAYS, I had a blast. Ottawa is STILL my favorite festival. I mean, it's got EVERYTHING!

First off, Ottawa is a beautiful city. It's got that old world European flavor mixed in with awesome modern culture. There's great architecture, tons of public art, tasty restaurants, and of course...

Beaver Tails.


Secondly, you get to watch a TON of films from all over the world. And yeah... a good portion of these films aren't for everyone. In fact, as I get older I'm finding that I have even LESS patience for stark, suicidal, misery-inducing, artsy fartsy films that run on for 25 minutes.
But there's almost always something you can take away from every film.
(A good nap, oft times)
In general, I find the children's films to be the most satisfying since they involve the most storytelling blended with interesting new (and sometimes old) techniques.
And there are usually a couple fun features to check out as well.
This year I was psyched that the 10th feature-length One Piece movie was playing:



So okay then...

Great town

Great films

And, of course, great friends!

I spent most of the trip hanging with fellow decommissioned KND operative Numbuh of the Beast (aka Andy Rheingold to you adults out there) and a guy I had only met briefly many many years ago but now know WAY too much about:

Mr. Craig Kellman.

Aw, you know-- the guys who designed characters on Dexter's Laboratory?
And Powerpuff Girls?
Samurai Jack?
Foster Home For Imaginary Friends?
You KNOW... the guy who designed the characters for MADAGASCAR?!
Wait...
Maybe you'll recognize Craig from this picture of him eating bread budding:


Yeah.
That guy.

Mr.Kellman also designed and directed The Ricky Gervais Show for HBO, which had the honor of being accepted into the festival.

Andy, Craig and I spent most of the trip going to screenings, drinking root beers, seeing films, eating lunch and drinking root beers while comparing animation war stories, watching cartoons, and scarfing down dinner and root beers before attending parties where we ate hors de oeuvres and drank MORE root beers.

Rinse.
Wash.
Repeat.

I know... rough life, right?

And while NO didn't win the sooper big prize for Best Children's Film, it was awesome to be included.

So thanks Ottawa, for another ROCKIN' trip.

Can't wait to see you again!

NO TO OTTAWA!

When I say Ottawa International Animation Festival,
(or the OIAF as we call it on the mean streets of Toon Town)
I want you to say:

AAAAAAW YEAH!!!

Ready?

OTTAWA ANIMATION FESTIVAL!
(or the OIAF as we call it on the mean streets of Toon Town)

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW YEAH!

See... Ottawa was the first animation festival I ever went to way back in, like, 1994.
The signal film I had done at J.J. Sedelmaier Productions for the latest ASIFA-EAST animation festival had been accepted to the OIAF so I wasn't just going as some punk-butt film-watching festival attendee...

I WAS GOING AS A FULL-ON PUNK-BUTT DIRECTOR IN COMPETITION!

Woooooooooord.

I had never been to Ottawa before and instantly fell in love with the city's old world charm.


I hung out with lots of good friends...
Made a ton of new ones...
Watched films until my eyes bled...
And, of course, went to a whole lotta really fun parties!

I especially remember going to the closing ceremonies and dreaming that I...
sooper young and excited young animator Mr. Warburton... might one day stride on stage to accept an award.

So can you imagine the smile on my face when, many years later, Codename: Kids Next Door won the prize for Best TV Series For Children not once, but TWO years in a row?!

SWOOOOOOON!!!

But you know what?

Even after having a couple films accepted and a couple big winners, I still get that sooper triple giant thrill when a new film gets accepted.

Like it was my very first time.

So I am pleased, and proud, to announce that the animated version of my picture book, 1000 TIMES NO, will be featured in the 2010 Ottawa Animation Festival.


And while I can't show you the version that's currently airing on Nick Jr.
I can show you the original promo.

I know, I know...

You've all seen it before.

But maybe there's one or two folks who haven't yet.
So for you one or two folks... check it:



Thanks OIAF official selection committee!

I love that you've taken NO for an answer!

PLUGGED!

Lots of people often stop me on the street and say,

"Hey, sooper fabulously rich Mr. Warburton... what do you DO with all that CASH you've got lying around?"


And that's a very good question. It IS a bit of a nuisance but I've found a couple great ways to get rid of some of the stuff.
For example, I can:

1. Drive my money powered car around the world five times.

2. Build a 1:1 scale replica of Mount Sillymanjaro.

3. Give authors enormous bags of cash to plug my book, 1000 TIMES NO!

One such author is the mighty Jarret Krosoczka. I spent a LOT of cash on him and he spent a LOT of time blathering on about other Lunch Lady-ish stuff before FINALLY getting to my book at the
end of his appearance on DAD LABS.
Check it out:



Awesome, right?!

But UGH... there's that Willems guy again! Can't he find his own authors to give payola to? And I've got NO IDEA who that Hop on Pop guy is! Probably some newbie who'll never make it.

Anyway... sooper special thanks to Mr. Krosoczka. He might have laid it on a bit thick with the, "It's the first book that made my daughter laugh" schtick, but hey... big money requires a big plug!

Please Note: To be honest, absolutely no authors were paid off.
Unless, of course, Mr. Krosoczka's daughter paid him.
There's also no cash just lying around.
Sigh...

1000 TIMES NICK!

1000 Times FINALLY!

Back before 1000 Times No came out, me, Dave Rasura, and our cronies at Curious Pictures made this cute little promo for the book:



Well, shortly afterwards, an exec I knew at Nick Jr. called me up and said, "I saw your book at a store in Brooklyn and it's really cute. Have you thought of animating it?"

And I said, "No... I haven't. But give me 5 minutes and I'll see what I can do."

Five minutes later I sent her the promo we did.
She thought it rocked pretty hard and suggested we do a longer version to air on Nick Jr.

So me, Mr. Rasura and crew went at it and came up with a sooper fun 1:48 version.

Wanna see it?
Then tune in to Nick Jr. TOMORROW June 9th
11:54am for you East Coasters
and 8:54 for us lazy West Coasters!

FAMILY READING NIGHT!

So last week my son's school had an awesome Family Reading Night!

That's where all the kids get dressed up in their bestest best jammies, grab their favorite stuffed animal, and then head BACK TO SCHOOL at 5:30pm! Then everyone meets at the outdoor cafeteria (so California) and chows down on pizza and an amazing assortment of treats! But after that comes the best part:

STORY TIME!

Uh-huh... everyone heads off to a classroom based on your age or grade and gets awesome books read to them!

And guess who was rockin' the Kindergarten through 2nd Grade crowd?

No...

Not Bob Boyle and his sooper new book!

ME!

And not only did the kids get a heavy duty reading of 1000 TIMES NO! These kids...

These lucky, lucky kids...

Got a reading of my latest book in progress!

I can't tell you ANYTHING about it because it's a double mega ninjas hiding under the bed secret. But from the kid's reactions....

It's gonna ROCK!

(I hope)

There were some other awesome readers, too... who I didn't get to see since I was busy reading. But I would have loved to see my neighbor Willie Garson read!

All in all, a really fun night!