What a great weekend!

My son, Chris, and I took a road trip to Tempe, AZ to visit some schools and talk about the book. This is the first time I've brought him on a book tour stop and we really had a great time. He's 10 now and old enough to hold his own in a conversation. The truth is, book tours can be a little lonely and he just made the whole thing more fun. It's pretty cool when your kid goes from just being "your kid" to being a great companion.

We left Thursday morning (he got to blow off two days of school, although he brought assignments from class with him) and the drive took just under seven hours. The Arizona landscape is beautiful, full of red rock and cactus, and the city of Tempe is really clean and pleasant. Chris took a bunch of pictures with the camera he got for Christmas, but here's one he didn't take. Actually, I have no idea who DID take it (I didn't), but this is Chris on the trip:



As you can see from the podium, that was at Changing Hands bookstore. It's an incredible independent that Publishers Weekly voted Best Bookstore in America in 2007. Brandi is the children's buyer there and she handled a lot of the arrangements and visited schools with us. Here's a quick pic Chris took of her:



She was really nice and is a part of a great and lively group of teachers and librarians and writers in the area. Every Friday, a bunch of them get together for a vicious card game called "Oh, Hell!" I've never played it before, but it's sort of like group solitaire with yelling involved. They were nice enough to invite us and, while Chris hung out with the kids (and had a GREAT time, judging by all the shouting), I got my butt handed to me in cards.

Here's some "Oh, Hell!":



Now, I know that doesn't look too bloodthirsty, but that's before the game really started. It's hard to convey how vicious this game truly is, particularly because one guy kept winning and making everyone really angry. His name? Daanon. Otherwise known as the creepy guy who gave me a shoulder massage:



In fairness to him, it was a pretty good massage. Plus, he was the host (along with his awesome wife, Michelle). In fact, Chris and I visited the school where she's the librarian -- Barbara Bush Elementary. This is Michelle:



And this is a nice bulletin board she and the kids made to welcome Chris and I to the school:



We also visited Patriot Academy (which they jokingly called "Nightmare Academy" when we were there) and hung out chatting with the kids for about two hours. It was a blast and it was set up by a teacher there named Rebecca, who was the person who first contacted me many months ago and asked if I would come visit. It took a little while, but I'm so thrilled it finally worked out.

Here's Rebecca:



And here's me with a bunch of her students:



They were a pretty amazing, engaged group.

Chris and I drove back on Sunday and got home early enough to celebrate my wife's birthday with a nice dinner out. In fact, she and my younger son (Alex) had just gotten back from an overnight trip down to Legoland. So... a great weekend was had by all.

I'll definitely be heading back to AZ, probably in the Fall when Book 2 comes out. Faith, another cool person and the book buyer for a company that helps school libraries stock up, has offered to help set up a more extensive visit to a bunch of different schools. I'm looking forward to it. And I'm also looking forward to another vicious game of "Oh, Hell!"

I'll leave you now with one final image -- 3 bald guys:



And, to further confirm how truly horrible Daanon is, he was the one that sent me this picture and I just now noticed that he titled it: "hairclub".

Terrible. :)