Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Another Visit from George O'Connor

Charming children's book author & illustrator George O'Connor trekked out from 'the vast, dense forests of Brooklyn' to once again visit the energetic children of our elementary school.

His work first caught my attention (or rather the attention of my students) with the American Eagle superhero books Kapow! and Ker-Splash! But it seems that George has been busy since we last saw him as he now has quite a few titles under his belt.

For younger audiences there is the delightful Sally and the Some-Thing and mysterious Uncle Bigfoot. For older readers he has penned (and inked) the graphic novel inspired Journey Into Mohawk Country.

This visit consisted of two sessions. One with the our 3rd and 4th graders and another for the 1st and 2nd grade students. George read us two of his books (Sally and Bigfoot) and in between good-naturedly answered questions that sometimes pertained to his books and at others seemed way off track. Such is the mind of a child (and some adults I know).

George even gave art lessons, instructing the little ones in how to draw his characters Sally, the Some-Thing and Uncle "Bigfoot" Bernie. He is a fabulous teacher because the illustrations created by the children were terrific. Below you can find one student's renderings of...

Uncle Bigfoot

Sally

and the Some-Thing

They are pretty good, no?

As wonderful as all this is I must admit that I am beyond excited about his latest project which is in the works and will be published next spring. It is a book series entitled "The Olympians" about the Greek gods and goddesses.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog you already know of my passion for this topic. When George was visiting with the older students he even created an illustration of a young Zeus (much to my disappointment my request to display it in my classroom was shot down by our school librarian who thought it would be best to house it in the library. Am I bitter? Absolutely! - no not really Sara, you know I love ya!).

Thanks George for visiting us once again and I HOPE you will return when the first Olympian book is published. And when you do I want first dibs on the Zeus or Athena artwork you create on your visit.

11 comments:

patti said...

WOW! Your students are very lucky to have such a great visitor.You seemed to have enjoyed it as much as the kids! But then again who wouldn't.

Barbara said...

The kids' drawings are fantastic. It was so great that he taught them how to draw those characters. Who knows -- there may be a budding illustrator among your young charges!

findingmywingsinlife said...

Gary,
It looks as though your students had an amazing time! Wonderful that he would take time out to spend with your class and share how he illustrates his characters as well!

Glad to hear everyone, including yourself, enjoyed the visit.

LadrĂ³n de Basura (a.k.a. Junk Thief) said...

Those all look like great drawings, and George sounds so cool. I think Sally is my favorite.

WAT said...

George and Gary look so nice together. I like the pic of George drawing. I like George a lot. Or kind of. Yeah, I like.

Salty Miss Jill said...

George is cute, no?
And so are the drawings!

lettuce said...

yeah, i used to look a bit like that...

i really like the last picture, the some-thing

Arielle Lee Bair said...

Your kids must be so happy to go to school!! :) It always sounds like such fun.

Anonymous said...

whoops! But, but, I can display it next to the mythology section!!!!!

Pod said...

hey gazza......what's going down?
;0)

Sebastien Millon said...

Awesome!!! The Some-Thing is super, looks like a fun character. Right up my alley :)

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