A whistle-stop tour of Leitrim

Getting up at 6am: check.
Taking 1 bus, 2 trains, 3 taxis and a tram: check.
Chatting with the book-mad kids of Mohill and Carrick-on-Shannon: check.
Read my first John Green: check.
Carved a pumpkin: check

Well, not bad for a Tuesday, right?

The white board of fame! Chuffed!

Who doesn't want a Wendy house in their local library?!

 So, yesterday saw the last of the October madness for me with a quick dip in and out of Leitrim under unexpected sunshine (most of the time). Three cheers for Gráinne in Mohill Library, and the lads and lasses of Saint Manchan's NS and Dangan NS.

Super Pig et al.

People, if you're wondering where all the zombies have gone, seek no further: they're in Leitrim! Covered in moss or re-incarnated as frogs, they amble along beside Super Pig, Stitch Man or the delicious (not!) Slobbers in stories full of princesses, villains, monkeys from outer space, popcorn, bacon and tractors.
Talent abounds! Well done to all and to you (was it Jack?) who has a mission while in France: bon appétit!

Drenched and Delightful Dalkey

My accomplice Sadie Cramer and I headed to Dalkey in Dun Laoighaire-Rathdown yesterday for a busy, fun and yet very well-behaved morning with the ladies from Loretto Primary (4th class).

One cool project glimpsed in a shop window.

A library with its own garden!

In between bouts of live illustration and shouting, I mean reading, we took a kettle-powered trip to the Moon, put on underwear with SUPER PIG written on them, nearly got a whole class out of homework (sorry, girls), heard one of the best opening sentences to any story ("This is the beginning of the mayby-end, but actually it was the middle of..."), were left hanging off numerous cliffs and designed some pretty dashing super-hero logos.
Oh and it rained a tiny little bit...

T'was a dark and stormy... er... day

 So, October madness is upon us again and once again it's been a hoot so far. Last week, I took to the wilds of Waterford, braving thunderstorms, stroboscopic lightning, power cuts and hotel gyms. Thankfully, I was in good company, from my splendid reading material (left) to the dedicated librarians who looked after me, via the crazy chickens who came and cheered and chatted and wrote and read and were generally very cool to meet.

Room with a view

Here's to Niamh and Loretta, to Ardkeen and Tramore libraries, to the guys and girls (and aforementioned chickens) of Holy Cross, P.E.N.S., Saint Ursula, Scoil Eanna and Glor Na Mara. Here's, also, to Hamantha (a superhero whose secret weapon is... ham), a pig called Bacon, Super Bra (seriously, guys, tsk...), the Land of Popcorn, marshmallow hats and monster sleepovers.
We had fewer zombies and exploding frogs, but lots of minions and, you know, kettlemen.
Keep it up, Waterford!

Room with a sentient TV!