Letters from Jones Dairy Elementary School Part II

Posted on March 26, 2011 (Subscribe to Blog)

Time has been getting away from me lately, and my scanner has been playing up, foiling attempts to transfer illustrations from paper to screen. But I finally got there.

Regular readers of this blog may remember that, in March last year, 5th Grade students from Brian Clopper's class in North Carolina wrote lots of letters and drew brilliant pictures of the characters from Island of Fog. I posted everything here.

Well, ditto this year, with a new class. I'm now proud to present...

Letters from Jones Dairy Elementary School Part II

Thanks every-so-muchly, Brian, for continuing to support my books! I hope you and your class have enough time to get through the other two books before the summer break. :-)

Many of the students asked about a movie of the book: Is there going to be one? If so, can I be in it? Unfortunately I have no control whatsoever on this subject unless I fund a movie myself, and sure, I could probably scrape up a couple thousand of dollars if I was serious about it -- but that would pay for a second camera and a plate of sandwiches and not much else. It's just not going to happen unless an actual movie producer takes an interest.

In the last few months I've had some excitement on the movie front via my agent, Whitt Brantley at WMBT Literary, Film & Television, but nothing has come of it so there's really nothing much to talk about here. For a couple of weeks it seemed like my books were being talked about by a few Big Important Types, and I had stars in my eyes... but everything fizzled out. This happens from time to time, so I've learned to keep a lid on it and not give up my day job just yet.

And speaking of stars in my eyes, I'm guessing some of you have heard of a certain 11-year-old girl named Jackie Evancho, who has an amazing singing voice and came second in last year's America's Got Talent TV show? It turns out that she read and enjoyed Island of Fog a while back, and as a result I had the opportunity to send her signed copies of all three. Her slightly older brother, Jacob, also liked the book; he's the one I mentioned in a previous post. Jackie and Jacob's mom, Lisa, was still reading it last I heard, while their dad, Mike, said he'd get me a picture of Jackie and Jacob together with the book. Jackie is incredibly famous for someone her age, with over 40,000 Facebook fans. I have nearly 90 fans on my own Facebook page, so I have a way to go yet. (If you look, you'll see that both Mike Evancho and Jacob Evancho are fans of Island of Fog, which is nice.)

One of these days I'm hoping to get an email from Steven Spielberg saying, "Hey, read your book and want to make a movie. Interested?" I'll probably reply something like, "Mmm, yeah, I guess."

Comment by ROGER ESCHBACHER on Tuesday, March 29, 2011...

Loved the letters. Some very astute questions! School visits were always a highlight for me when my picture books were in play.

Comment by BRIAN on Wednesday, March 30, 2011...

My class will eat this up. I will spring this on them Friday so they can visit your site on our Friday computer lab and be all giddy.

Comment by JAKE on Friday, April 1, 2011...

Hey, I"m from Jones Dairy and I was looking at the pitures. My picture is of Hal, but my name is Jake not Jack. Do you think you can change it? Thanks.

Comment by OLIVIA on Friday, April 1, 2011...

what picture was your favorite and why. and who is your favorite charcter in the book

Comment by EMILY on Friday, April 1, 2011...

Hi, I'm Emily and I was looking at the pictures and questions and noticedt that mine weren't up there. I was wondering if you got them??

Comment by JOCELYN on Friday, April 1, 2011...

Hi, I'm Jocelyn and I just love your books! I was reading the questions and answers and I was thinking that I would want to be in the movie if there will be one! (And i really don't care who it is as long as it's a girl!)
Best Wishes,
Jocelyn:)

Comment by SAVANNAH on Friday, April 1, 2011...

hi my name is savannah from cloppers class.i was looking at the picturs and sall that mine wasent up there did you get it? and my qustoines arent there.why?but i love this site.i hope you could make a movie of this i love the books!

Comment by ZACH on Friday, April 1, 2011...

thNK U SO MUCH FOR LETTING ME HAVE MY PIC ON UR WEDSITE AND BY THE WAY THAT WAS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I THINK I HAVE EVER READ ALL IHVE TO SAY IZ THank u

Comment by ANNA KATE on Friday, April 1, 2011...

i loved your books. i definetely want to read another one

Comment by JENNIFER N. on Friday, April 1, 2011...

Hi Mr.Roinson! I LOVE your books! I'm in Mr.Clopper's class. Did you like my picture?

Comment by MORGAN IN BRIAN CLOPPERS CLASS on Friday, April 1, 2011...

hey thanks for posting my classes artwork. your first was RRRRREEEEEEEAAAAALLLLLYYY good im hoping to read your other books too. :)

Comment by ZACH AUTRY on Friday, April 1, 2011...

well i am postin a nother comment all the pics are very good that our class drew i really want to improve on my cartooning

Comment by ELIJAH on Friday, April 1, 2011...

my name is elijah you got my question, but what about my picture? My name was on the back of my picture!!!!

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Friday, April 1, 2011...

Sorry Jake! I've corrected your name as requested.

Olivia, I liked ALL the pictures and it's hard to say what my favorite is.

Emily and Savannah (and Gabrielle and Lindsey for that matter), I did notice that your pictures were missing and I assumed you just hadn't had time to draw any. I'm pretty sure they weren't in the package or I'd have found them, but just in case, I'll have a good hunt around here. My wife and daughter went through all the letters and pictures as well, so it's possible one or two pictures were mislaid! I'll update the gallery if I find them.

When it came to putting all your questions online, I didn't copy them exactly because some were repeated, so I just paraphrased wherever necessary. Savannah, you asked how I "came up with the dragons and every other excitement," and I honestly couldn't give you a decent answer to that. I just did. It's what writers do, I suppose. :-)

Jennifer, yes, I really like your pictures, and I especially liked the one of Robbie staring at the chained gates, about to smash them open with a big clumsy paw. I liked all the pictures I was sent; obviously there are a whole bunch of artists in Mr. Clopper's class this year!

Elijah, I've now added your picture to the gallery. I was a little confused because I don't remember a character in the book that is small and green with two legs, six arms and six eyes; I wasn't sure that you meant it to be included as part of the Island of Fog gallery. But it IS a good picture. Maybe it's from Hal's dreams? Perhaps what he imagined himself turning into before he became a dragon? :-)

Comment by AMY on Friday, April 1, 2011...

I love your site and I can't wait to read your books. I'm Brian's daughter. I can't wait to meet you someday.

Comment by KEITH ROBINSON on Friday, April 1, 2011...

Ditto, Amy! I'm certain I'll be visiting y'all one of these days, I just need to pin down dates, get time off work, etc. :-)

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