On Monday, we visited L.B. Williams Elementary School in Mitchell, South Dakota. Among all the schools in South Dakota, we chose L.B. Williams, in no small part because of the graciousness of our host, Deb Bartscher. At the end of a compelling essay about what our...
On Monday, we visited Barnes County North, a preK-12 school serving nine towns in Barnes County, North Dakota. We thought it strange when we crossed the county line about an hour before we arrived but later learned from our host, librarian Beth Undem, that the county...
Robbi planned our tour route to avoid cold weather, and especially snow. The bus isn’t insulated and there are six external mirrors to defrost. Minnesota didn’t get the memo. We woke to snow and cold on the morning of our visit to Garden City Elementary. Our host,...
Last week’s visit to Ludlow Elementary began the night before we arrived at the school. Our host, grade four teacher Lisa Marks, invited us to spend the evening (and night) at her home. Lisa’s family made us a delicious dinner (and breakfast), gave us a place to plug...
After twelve years of dreaming and three years of planning and and more than a thousand generous contributors chipping in to make it possible, we’re hitting the road today with 25,000 books to give away and 25,000 miles to drive. (There’s a symmetry to it.) We’ve...
The Busload of Books Tour is about to begin. In service of our mission, we’ll be traveling through all fifty states in the year ahead. We’ll visit state parks and national monuments, roadside attractions and hole-in-the wall eateries. From the Black Hills (South...
We embark on the Tour one week from today. As I contemplate our pending departure, I alternate between bursts of excitement, fits of panic, and passages of restorative gratitude. Robbi and I have dreamed on this project for more than a decade but never thought we’d be...
For the pre-K-1st graders we meet on the Tour, we’ll be giving away a copy of Everywhere, Wonder, our picture about the importance of noticing and appreciating the beautiful and interesting things to be found wherever we go. The point of our school presentation for...
Friends, perhaps you can help us with something. One of the great opportunities our family will have on the Busload of Books Tour is talking to people all over the country—getting to know them and picking their brains if we care to. We purposefully selected schools...
Yesterday, Brian and I headed out in the bus. Our goal: to test the systems and troubleshoot before Robbi and I hit the road at the end of the month. We started out tired. Brian has been working on the bus around the clock. I have been managing non-mechanical tour...
Yesterday the bus started to feel a lot more like a home. We got up early, grabbed our rollers and brushes and many cans of paint and headed to Brian's house, where the bus has lived for the past few months as he continues to magically domesticate it. While I opened...
The Daily Minute: 9.30.23
In which Robbi has loved her best life and we are one child shy of liberation.
The Daily Minute: 9.29.23
In which the bus is heading to Cox Diesel Repair and Fabrication for a tuneup.
#busloadofbooks
According to Goji, it’s Bring Your Dog to Work Day. He’s trying so hard, but his stories are dull, with tedious descriptions of sniffing and snorting, endless dull stretches of napping, and inevitably concluding with the protagonist consuming large bowls of tasteless brown nuggets with reckless disregard for common politeness or personal well-being. Also, he’s terrible at typing.
The Daily Minute: 9.18.23
In which Robbi is sized up by her secret admirer.
