This post, which has been sitting in my draft folder for months, happens to be one of my favorites. I can't explain why it's taken so long to bring it to you, but as summer comes to an abrupt end with children heading back to school, it seems that now is an approprite time.
As I was walking home late one afternoon in mid-March I glanced in Left Bank Books and noticed an author event in progress. It was then that I remembered that children's author and syndicated cartoonist Lincoln Peirce (Purse) was scheduled for a 5 p.m. event. I never need an excuse to stop in the neighborhood bookstore, in fact I try to limit my visits since I know I'll always be tempted by a new book. But after a particularly stressful day, and with no particular schedule to follow, I slipped into the back row and immediately relaxed while observing the scene.
Ninety percent of the audience was male; all were accompanied by a parent or two, several arrived with sisters in tow, and one arrived with a story-book-perfect dog, above. There was nary a digital reader in sight, instead, all of the kids, boys and the few girls in attendance, had copies of Big Nate In the Zone (the sixth in the author's series) in their laps. As Peirce answered questions, the kids hung on his every word. There was something so sweet about the easy rapport between the author and his young readers.
Perhaps the easy banter is due to Peirce's early career teaching art and coaching baseball at the all-boys St. Francis Xavier High School in New York City. At least one of his characters is based on a student he taught in those early years.
Peirce left the teaching profession after three years to become a writer and eventually a syndicated cartoonist. Big Nate comic strips appear in 300 newspapers in the U.S. and online daily (here).
The audience requested that the author draw favorite Big Nate characters, which he was more than happy to do (that's Pickles the Cat above), except for one – Chester – whom he says will never be drawn so the character can be left up to the reader's imagination. Someone also wanted to know how long it takes him to write a book: 5 months for the story and then 5 months for the drawings. The author plans a total of 8 Big Nate books.
When asked why his female characters are so annoying (by a girl in the audience) Peirce said he actually created the character Dee Dee, who's not a pest, after his first visit to St. Louis years ago, when a girl in the audience asked the same question. Pierce explained that to Nate, who's in sixth grade, girls are annoying.
The stop at the bookstore that early spring afternoon certainly lifted my spirits, and on my way out I purchased a book for myself too…no surprise there.
Find Big Nate books at Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid.