Making books. Rooting for underdogs.
Driving a colorful bus.
Hello!
We are Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr, husband/ wife, author/illustrator creators of middle grade and picture books—here to tell you about our literacy access initiative, the Busload of Books.
We and our four kids spent the 2022-2023 school year traveling the country in a school bus/tiny home—visiting Title I schools in all 50 states (plus DC), doing presentations on creativity and collaboration, and giving away 25,000 hardcover books to students and teachers from underserved communities.
Partnerships with First Book and Build-A-Bear Foundation expanded the tour’s reach to 150,000 books and 25,000 “reading buddy” teddy bears distributed to Title I communities across the country.
Along the way we partnered with Washington College to facilitate the first-ever, large-scale research study of how author/illustrator visits impact elementary student attitudes about reading, writing, and drawing.
The Bus Rolls On!
We’re back home in Maryland now, making books and showering more frequently, but our Busload work continues. Throughout the 2024-2025 school year, we’ll visit twelve Title I schools across the country—six in-person and six virtually. Every school will receive two free assemblies (one for preK-2 and another for 3-5) and a free book for every student and teacher.
The books will be sourced and shipped by our friends at First Book and funded by the excellent folks at Build-A-Bear Foundation.
We’re excited to continue our research partnership with Washington College, broadening the data set, furthering its potential to inform policy, shape curriculum, and increase funding for future literacy programming.
Our Colorful, Rolling Billboard for Literacy
Our 24-foot Thomas school bus (home for our year on the road) comes with us to every in-person Title I school visit. After each assembly, kids come out to see the bus, take class photos, and meet our dogs.
Close to Home
We’ve launched a multi-year partnership with our local Kent County Schools and the education department at Washington College. Over the next six years, we’ll visit the three county elementary schools in rotation—so that every kid in the county gets two author visits and two books from us during their elementary years.
The Busload of Books research team will collect data on these visits, assessing the impact of multiple school visits and testing a variety of literacy interventions.
Busload of Books Research Project
We’re partnering with the departments of education and sociology at Washington College to conduct the first-ever, large-scale study of how author/illustrator visits impact attitudes about literacy and creativity among elementary school students. The resulting data will fill a critical gap in the research on this topic—and could provide powerful tools for school administrators and teachers trying to secure funding and priority for literacy programming.
We’re partnering with a national nonprofit, a leading liberal arts college, a beloved local arts organization, and our generous publisher.
FIRST BOOK
helps us identify the schools we visit—and works with our publishers to print and get books to Title I students and teachers.
WASHINGTON COLLEGE
is using data we collect to analyze the impact of author/illustrator visits on attitudes regarding reading, writing, and drawing.
BUILD-A-BEAR
FOUNDATION
is generously funding a free book for every student and teacher at every school we visit.
KENT CULTURAL ALLIANCE
makes our work possible by accepting tax-deductible donations on our behalf.
Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr are the author and illustrator of the Cookie Chronicles series, The Real McCoys trilogy, the forthcoming Life on the Moon and the picture books Sunrise Summer, Babies Ruin Everything, and Everywhere, Wonder. When not advocating for educational equity, giving talks on creativity, or commercial salmon fishing in Alaska, they live with their four kids and two dogs in the hayloft of an old barn on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Read more about us
in Forbes!
MATTHEW
Author, Dad,
Tundra Nanny
ROBBI
Illustrator, Mom,
Fisherwoman
ALDEN (16)
Actor, Artist, Entrepreneur
KATO (14)
Athlete, Gamer,
Engineer
AUGUST (12)
All-star Hugger,
Magical Being
JASPER (7)
Shouter, Jester,
Autocrat
DUMBLES (3)
Snuffler, Mooch,
Grumpy Old Man
GOJI (1)
Alien Fur Bug
SELECT MEDIA
THE DREW BARRYMORE SHOW
Live appearance from McElwain Elementary in Denver, Colorado (as part of the Busload of Books Tour)
FORBES
NYT bestselling author MeiMei Fox on the Busload of Books Tour. Read it here.
WASHINGTON POST 2019
Four-page profile of our lives as creators (cover story of magazine insert). Click here to read.
PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Print and online feature in People’s Smile section.
WASHINGTON POST 2021
Feature on the launch of The Cookie of Perfection and the Busload of Books Tour here.
RURALITE MAGAZINE
Cover story about the Busload of Books Tour. Read it here.
WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS
A conversation about how illustration can be a form of authorship—and a tool for increasing representation in kid lit. Click here to read.
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
An interview with fellow author Betsy Bird—about our creative process and the Busload of Books Tour. Click here to read.
RELUCTANT READER BOOKS
Our favorite-ever review of The Cookie Chronicles—and why these books are a good match for readers trying to find their footing. Read it here.
NEW YORK TIMES
An interview with the ArtsBeats blog about our indie press Idiots’Books. Read it here.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The official book-world announcement of the Busload of Books Tour is here.
SELECT PODCASTS
HELLO MONDAY
We join LinkedIn’s Jessi Hempel for a conversation about leaving our day jobs to make books and kids. Listen here.
END BOOK DESERTS
We talk with teacher, scholar, author, and literacy advocate Molly Ness about the Busload of Books Tour here.
THE AUTONOMOUS CREATIVE PODCAST
Our conversation with comic artist Jessica Abel about risk, reward, and making your own luck can be found here.
THE AUTONOMOUS CREATIVE - with video!
Our conversation with comic artist Jessica Abel about risk, reward, and making your own luck. The crowdcast can be found here.
