nErDcamp rEcap

Brace yourself: this post is gonna be long. If you’re like me, you might want to just look at the pictures.

I spent last Monday and Tuesday at nErDcamp in Michigan. What is nErDcamp? It’s a conference for educators focused on reading and literacy founded by members of the Nerdy Book Club (if you don’t know what that is, stop reading this and go here now). Over 900 educators from all over the U.S. and Canada attended the two day conference.

So let me tell you what happened with pictures.

Sunday morning I flew from Boston to Detroit.

Early Morning jetBlue flight

After chilling at the airport for a bit, I hitched a ride with educators Lesley Burnap, Jason Lewis, and Debbie Ridpath Ohi (author/illustrator of Where Are My Books?, illustrator of I’m Bored and Naked – two separate books). We stopped at Bob’s Big Boy for a snack on the way from Detroit to the Hampton Inn in Jackson.

Jason, Big Boy, Lesley, & me

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[Photo by Debbie Ridpath Ohi debbieohi.com]

Debbie did one of her found art doodles (see more of her found art doodles here).

Red Pepper Boat to #nErDcamp

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[Photo by Debbie Ridpath Ohi debbieohi.com]

After checking in at the hotel, we met up with my good friend Jess Keating (author of How to Outrun a Crocodile When Your Shoes are Untied, How to Outswim a Shark without a Snorkel, this October’s How to Outfox Your Friends When You Don’t Have a Clue, and next February’s Pink Is for Blobfish, AND member of #TeamKrush) and her husband who shall henceforth be referred to as #NerdyPhotographer. Along with Debbie, we headed over to the high school where nErDcamp would take place starting the next day. We stopped by the rock for this photo:

Debbie, me, & Jess

Then we headed into the school

the steps into the school

where I dropped off some swag,

Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast Activity Kits

and a little more swag,

Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast Bookmarks

and offered (Jess and Debie) to help.

Jess and Debbie breaking down boxes

We met nErDcamp co-creators/founders/planners/chairs Colby Sharp, his wife Alaina Sharp, and Suzanne Gibbs.

Jess, Debbie, Colby, and me

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[Photo by Debbie Ridpath Ohi debbieohi.com]

We met other conference volunteers (also twitter friends) including Jen Vincent, Niki Ohs Barnes, & Ryan Hanna, before heading to the infamous Olive Garden for dinner to meet up with even more educators (also also twitter friends) Kacie Rodgers, Kurt Stroh, Sara Ralph, Michele Knott, Kathy Burnette, Amy Ralph, Michelle Simpson, Melissa Guerrette, Carrie Davies, Ann King DiBella, and more!

Mingling after my eggplant parm.

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[Photo by Debbie Ridpath Ohi debbieohi.com]

While hanging out in the Hampton Inn ‘bar’ for the evening, I shared Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast with several new friends who hadn’t seen it before. I also took the opportunity to share Dear Dragon and Pirasaurs! sketches, and it was a blast to see these readers’ reactions. And then I went to bed…

only to be woken up at 6:30 by the fire alarm which quickly shut off. When it came back on for the second time three minutes later, I headed to the lobby to check it out and it (apparently it was a malfunction), but I stayed to eat breakfast, only to receive this at 7:17:

I wonder if it was @joshfunkbooks that pulled the fire alarm at the Hampton Inn. #nerdcampmi

— ©olby Sharp (@colbysharp) July 6, 2015

Followed by the #joshdidit hashtag starting to trend (for the record, I didn’t do it). While the alarms continued to blare on and off (until about 8:30), I split a waffle with Debbie,

Sharing a waffle with Debbie

and I had a nice chat with debut author Cassie Beasley (Circus Mirandus).

Cassie Beasley drawing an elephant’s butt

We arrived at nErDcamp and headed to the ‘Green Room’ for presenters where everyone had a fantastic gift bag filled with homemade boutonnieres that Mrs. Sharp made out of an old Robinson Crusoe text, along with a bunch of other great stuff. I met several awesome authors over the next few hours including authors Edith Cohn (Spirit’s Key), Kristen Kittscher (The Wig in the Window), Tracy Holzer (The Secret Hum of a Daisy), Erin Soderberg (The Quirks, Puppy Pirates), Aaron Zenz (Chuckling Ducklings), Ruth McNally Barshaw (Ellie McDoodle Diaries), Louise Borden (Baseball Is …), Leisl Shurtliff (Rump, Jack), Laurie Keller (Arnie the Doughnut), Tricia Springstubb (Cody and the Fountain of Happiness),  Jerzy Drozd (Warren Commission Report), Lisa Graff (A Tangle of Knots), Lauren Castillo (Nana in the City), Philip C. Stead (Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat), Erin E. Stead (A Sick Day for Amos McGee), Matthew Cordell (Wish).

me with Lisa Graff, Lauren Castillo, Philip C. Stead, Erin E. Stead, and Matthew Cordell

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[Photo by Lauren Castillo http://www.laurencastillo.com]

Yeah, I managed to sneak into a picture with a few of these all-stars! Nearly 1,000 people filled the auditorium

Filled to Capacity

for Nerd Talks by Ruth Ayres, Sue Haney, Donalyn Miller, Lisa Graff,

Colby Sharp Live Streaming Lisa Graff’s Nerd Talk

and this awesome 8 minutes from Pernille Ripp,

I wasn’t scheduled until session 2, so I grabbed a quick bite to eat in the teacher’s lounge and hung out with Donalyn Miller’s awesome family. And then I led the “Picture Book Panel” featuring NINE Picture Book Pros: Miriam Busch (Lion, Lion), Larry Day (Nanook & Pryce), Matthew Cordell, Philip C. Stead, Erin Stead, Debbie Ridpath Ohi, Lauren Castillo, Deb Pilutti (Ten Rules of Being a Superhero), and Matt Faulkner (A Taste of Colored Water).

Busch, Day, Cordell, P. Stead, E. Stead, Ohi, Castillo, Pilutti, Faulkner

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[Photo by Aliza Werner twitter.com/alizateach]
And there I am standing at the edge of Debbie’s view from between the pair of Team Caldecott:

Felt honored to be on Picture Bk panel with so many talented authors/illus! #nErDcampMI pic.twitter.com/IG70yaBdRP

— Debbie Ohi (@debbieohi) July 7, 2015

What a thrill it was to lead this panel with such a stellar cast! And it went very well! Everyone got a chance to speak, and we even had a few laughs (I think it was with me, not at me…).

After session 2, I went to see Mr. Schu talk about his favorite books of the year so far. He started with picture books, and had so many on his list, he got as far as … some of the picture books (sorry Non-Fiction, Middle Grade, Graphic Novels).

…

So this post is taking forever to write, and I’ll bet almost nobody is actually reading this far, and it’s Saturday night, and my wife wants to spend some time with me (yay! she loves me!), so I think I’ll just post some pictures with captions for the rest of the way.

Donalyn Miller & Mr. Schu

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Picture by Debbie Ohi
 
Jess Keating as Lauren Castillo’s Troublemaker

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Photo by Debbie Ohi

Hey @MatthewWinner, I found @joshfunkbooks! All ready to #runNerdrun! #nErDcampMI @nErDcampMI pic.twitter.com/F8gvxq7pQX

— Sherry Gick ; (@SherryGick) July 6, 2015

#Team81 (Colby, Lauren, Schu, & Travis Jonker)

Publishing Panel

Publishing Panel Closer Up (I’m drinking water)

Ruth McNally Barshaw’s amazing sketch of everyone on the publishing panel! We got #Barshawed!

Jennifer L. Holm, bunny ears, and me

Check out the shining author star right between Sir French Toast & Lady Pancake! @joshfunkbooks #nErDcampMI pic.twitter.com/R78KP1qMED

— Sherry Gick ; (@SherryGick) July 7, 2015

Nerds in a Car (me, Lauren Castillo, Debbie Ohi, Jason Lewis, Melissa Guerrette, Lesley Burnap)

Melissa Guerrette & Jillian Heise being suspicious

Everyone at Dinner After Day 2

So, all in all, nErDcamp was amazing. I met so many awesome educators and authors and friends.

I’ll end with this tweet (you may recognize one of the images):

#nErDcampMI 2016 will take place July 11-12 in Parma, Michigan. Registration opens early next year. #nerdybookclub pic.twitter.com/oAOUnmrFi4

— nErDcamp (@nErDcampMI) July 10, 2015

See you next summer!