Month: August 2011

Hear My Children’s Book!

andertoons

reading

Recently I’ve been reviving some old blog posts. I’ve got seven years worth and there’s some content in there that might be worth another look.

An obsession for a few months back in 2009 was writing my first children’s book. I sent it out to pretty much every kids’ book publisher in the US, but there were no takers (don’t feel bad, we cartoonists are used to rejection) so I posted it on the blog. The few people that saw it generally liked it (thanks, mom!) but that was that.

Anyway, I tweeted it today just to give it a little thrill and the response has been really fun! Lots of people have written to say how much they enjoy it, and Andertoons superfan Cindy Clifford has even recorded some of it! It’s incredible!  You have to go listen to it here!! I’ll wait.

Isn’t that awesome?! You go, Dot! WOO! And thank so much to everyone for the kind words today! What an unexpected outpouring!

Maybe I’ll dust the book off and give it another go…

Teacher Cartoons

andertoons

You know it’s not too much longer and summer’s going to be over and parents everywhere will alternately cry and dance for joy as their kids head back to school.

It’s especially dramatic at my house because my wife is a teacher. So one day the house is filled with family, and the next it’s crickets chirping.

Anyway, with school just over the horizon I thought I’d share some of my favorite teacher cartoons! Enjoy:

I don’t know exactly how apples apparently became the preferred bribe for educators everywhere, but I’m betting that they’ve lost their luster. BTW, for those students of my wife, here’s a hint: forget the coffee and go the chocolate route. Works like a charm!

I remember meeting with my kids preschool teachers a ways back and examining their scissors skills. I had no idea there even was such a thing! I’ve heard my wife discuss fine and gross motor skills, but I had no idea that I’d be looking closely at partially hacked construction paper with other adults and creating a cutting improvement strategy.

Anyway, I’m also a bit of a tech nerd, so this cartoon wasn’t far behind.

I know for a fact that this cartoon is very popular with teachers, but none of them will ever admit it.

Again with the apples! To be fair this cartoon isn’t really a stretch to get to, but I did put a lot of thought into the look of the classroom. (This is where having a teacher for a wife really comes in handy!) There’s the alphabet strip above the whiteboard, the curvy corrugated border on the bulletin board, the calendar… None of which are strictly necessary, and I normally try to imply backgrounds more, but it was too much fun to resist.

Well, there you go. Just a few quick examples of my teacher cartoons. If you’d like to see more, feel free to click here and browse to your heart’s content.

Bonus! Here’s q short video of teacher cartoons I did a while back: