Many of you know Waterson’s creation “Calvin and Hobbes” but what many of you people don’t know is what an amazing person Bill Waterson is.  Waterson fought many times to keep Calvin and Hobbes from becoming a franchised character that you see on T-Shirts and coffee mugs.  He believed it cheapened the integrity of his creations when you took them out of thier original intended meduim.  He fought hard to keep his art just that, Art.  I share in many of Waterson’s beliefs and I also believe these are some of the reasons that Calvin and his furry mate are remembered and revered today.

Check out some of the websites dedicated Bill Waterson here, here, and here

Big Ryan is now scheduling for his Fall shows! 

September brings the Autumn show featuring “Imagination Trips” that explore what happens to the leaves when the weather gets colder!  Chilren get to laugh through stories like “The Great Carrot Disaster” and Wolf and Moose tell “Treat 4 Bear”!  A fun and wild time that Big Ryan only does once a year.

Then, October brings “Big Ryan’s Scary (but not the scary) Tall Tales for Children”  A wildly popular show with Big Ryan classics such as “The Scared Crow” and the seasonal favorite “Timmy”.  Also, Edgar and Charlie (the dog puppets) come out to tell “Sleepover.”  Shedule Big Ryan now to beat the rush when October is here!

Autumn is my favorite time of year – I can hardly wait!  Hope to hear from you soon!

I didn’t get to get any crowd shots – but I thought I would still show you the area the librarian had made up for me.  I thought it was so nice.  Many of the community showed up to celebrate the end of the summer reading program and to listen to some stories.  It was a pleasure and a honor to be the person chosen to celebrate the end of such a wonderful program where the community kids read over 5,000 books.  Great job!

I took the 2 hour trip last Thursday to Southbridge where a large group of very excited young people had gathered to hear some really funny Big Ryan stories!  They heard “Sarah’s Surprise” from my CD entitled “The Kid Inside” and everyone joined in for “Hi My Name is Joe.”  The pictures were taken by my lovely wife who joined me for the ride to keep me company.  Thank goodness, because a 2 hour car ride can get awfully lonely.

   

A rousing Crowd showed up on Monday in Whitman to hear Sarah’s Little Brother Part 1 from my first CD – Hot Mustard and Grandpa’s Milk.  Also as a special treat my Auntie T came from Manchester, NH just to see the show!  It was alot of fun and I will have better pics for everyone later - My Aunt took these and they came out really dark – but I know my mother has some really great shots that I will post later.  Thank you to every one who came and I hope to be back real soon!

 

Quite the crowd gathered at the Library to celebrate the end of the summer reading program with me and a little Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream!  Of course I was the main draw – not the ice cream – wait, who am I kidding?  The kids came out and sat down to hear some of my funny stories, they laughed their way through Abiyoyo and then Wolf and Moose came out to tell their side of things.  It was quite the little party!  Thank you to the Librarian who took some pictures of the event for me.

What a way to end the month of July!  A hundred or so people came to the library to listen to The Bunny Bird and Abiyoyo.  As you can see from the pictures below Wolf and Moose made an appearance as well!  Soon, Fall will be here and Wolf and Moose will get put away again so that Charlie, Edgar and Max – the dog puppets – can come out to share their stories.  But I mustn’t get ahead of myself!  I still have the whole month of August left to tell my summer tales.  I better get going!

 

Usually I put books here that I love so much that I think my fans would enjoy them – well this is no exception – except that it is out of print.  I tracked down a few copies still available right here.  This is an amazing book about a little bushbaby who’s love of figs gets him into trouble with Monitor, a fierce lizard, who gaurds the tree.

Find a copy at your local library – if you love it – get a copy for yourself at the link above.  Maybe with enough interest we can get them to start printing this book again!  Great books should never go out of print!