Hangin' with Tedd Arnold

Does anyone recognize this art work? This is Tedd Arnold, the famous children's book author and artist of the "Fly Guy" series, "Green Wilma", "Parts", "Huggly" and more. My step-mom has been corresponding with him for several years. She was sending him "Fly Guy" inspired books written by my nephew, Marcus. Being the "git'r done" kind of gal she is, she figured out how to get he and his wife to travel from New York and speak at the rural school where she works. The day before his presentation, Ted and his wife, wanted to meet the whole family and see the ranch where my folks live. There are nine grandkids all under the age of 12, so this was a brave request indeed ;) 

They came to the ranch for dinner. Diana had helped put together a "goodie" bag for them with samples of food from the area. They loved it! Hailey insisted on helping them open everything. 

Here is a picture of Tedd and his wife, Carol, with Dad and Diana and all the grandkids. The Arnolds had these t-shirts made especially for each of the grandkids. Pretty cool that these are the ONLY t-shirts out there like this. Very special indeed.

Tedd enjoyed talking with my nephew, Marcus, who has written 16 of his own Fly Guy books, complete with illustrations. Tedd honored him at the presentation and Marcus got to hang out with him some more the next day.

Some of the kids showing Tedd all of Marcus' "Fly Guy" books around the table at the ranch. Patient guy!

The next day, Tedd did a presentation for Dufur School. He did a great job. It was so much fun, watching him free-hand so quickly.

He talked about the things that inspire his books. His children, even his children's favorite pets are in his books. 

He also showed us how he brainstorms his characters through art. It was very interesting. There was a scalpel and a lot of tape used in the making of this character that turned out to be...

"Green Wilma"!

In the space of about 2 minutes, Josiah made a friend who was in 1st grade (same grade he is in). I thought that was neat. He and my nieces and nephews did very well during the assembly. I was really proud of them, because it was a completely new experience, since all of them are homeschooled. 

Anyway, thanks again to my step-mom, who made Tedd's visit possible. We made some new friends, and famous or not, they are great people. Very down to earth. I think we'll be adding more Tedd Arnold books to our collection...

Blessings,

Jackie