Hello Wonderful Title I Educators!
Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr here—author/illustrator, husband/wife creators of picture books and illustrated middle grade novels.
We’re spending the 2022-2023 school year traveling the country in our tiny home school bus, visiting Title I schools in all 50 states on the Busload of Books Tour.
We wish we could visit your school in person, and perhaps we will someday, but for now we’re offering the next-best thing—FREE ACCESS (for Title I educators) to videos of our Tour presentations, drawing demos, and supporting educational materials for all elementary ages.
The presentations are funny, high-energy, and supported by more than 100 illustrations, photos, and animations. We hope they might bring a bit of fun, laughter, and creative spark to your classrooms and community.
(or read on to learn more about our presentations)
(click HERE if you have already received your access password but have lost track of the link)
Presentation for Pre-K – 1st Grade
That Full Moon Feeling
Finding the Wonder and Telling Your Story
Supporting materials prompt students to create and share their own stories—and a drawing demo teaches them how to draw a bear!
Presentation for 2nd – 6th Grade
Bulldozers in the Fog
The Power of Creative Expression
Supporting activities challenge students to match proverbs with their meanings—and a drawing demo teaches them how to draw Dumbles the Dog!
To access this free content, fill out the form below, and confirm you work for a Title I-eligible school. Once you submit the form, you’ll receive an email with a password and a URL that will lead you to the content!
Note: These materials are for Title I educators only to share within their Title I communities. Like most creators, we can’t usually offer free access to our presentations, as school visits provide an essential source of income while giving students an invaluable opportunity to interact with us in person. But we’re aware that many schools – including most receiving Title I funding – are unable to afford author visits. For that reason, we’re extending the benefits of the Tour to more schools by providing this free content for Title I educators to share with their classrooms and communities. All others should click HERE to learn more about paid in-person or virtual visits or workshops.
The Ultimate Virtual Field Trip
We invite you to join us for a virtual tour of America’s unsung wonders and off-the-beaten-path communities. At every step, we’ll be documenting our travels via daily photos, essays, sketches, and videos. Check out our route!
To join the adventure, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, or the tour blog.
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
helped us identify the schools we’ll visit—and is working with our publishers to get our books to students and teachers.
WASHINGTON COLLEGE
is using our tour to conduct a major study that will fill a critical gap in the research on the impact of author/illustrator visits.
KENT CULTURAL ALLIANCE
is filling our bus with hometown pride and accepting tax-deductible donations on our behalf.
RANDOM HOUSE
is helping with publicity and making a major donation of books.
FIRST BOOK
helped us identify the schools we’ll visit—and is working with our publishers to get our books to students and teachers.
WASHINGTON COLLEGE
is using our tour to conduct a major study that will fill a critical gap in the research on the impact of author/illustrator visits.
KENT CULTURAL ALLIANCE
is filling our bus with hometown pride and accepting tax-deductible donations on our behalf.
RANDOM HOUSE
is helping with publicity and making a major donation of books.
Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr are the author and illustrator of the Cookie Chronicles series, The Real McCoys trilogy, and the picture books Sunrise Summer, Babies Ruin Everything, and Everywhere, Wonder. When not advocating for local schools, giving talks on creativity, or commercial salmon fishing in Alaska, they live in the hayloft of an old barn on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Read more about us
in the Washington Post!
MATTHEW
Author, Dad,
Tundra Nanny
ROBBI
Illustrator, Mom,
Fisherwoman
ALDEN (13)
Actor, Artist, Entrepreneur
KATO (12)
Athlete, Gamer,
Engineer
AUGUST (10)
All-star Hugger,
Magical Being
JASPER (5)
Shouter, Jester,
Autocrat
DUMBLES (1)
Snuffler, Mooch,
Grumpy Old Man
PRINT MEDIA
WASHINGTON POST 2019
An in-depth profile of our journey from independent publishers to commercial children’s book creators. Click here to read.
WASHINGTON POST 2021
The wonderful Mary Quattlebaum writes about the launch of The Cookie of Perfection and the Busload of Books Tour here.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The official book-world announcement of the Busload of Books Tour is 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.
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.
FAMILY CIRCLE
The Modern Life column profiled our family and the “joys and challenges of raising kids while working from home” here.
NEW YORK TIMES
An interview with the ArtsBeats blog about our indie press Idiots’Books. Read it here.
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
Classified our self-published work in the “Brilliant and Lowbrow” quadrant of their Approval Matrix. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Check it out 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.
The latest on Instagram:
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.
The Daily Minute: 9.27.23
In which we go to great lengths to sate our friend Jill’s demands for thrilling content.