Northwest School receives a visit from Busload of Books
District 27 Title 1 school only one in the state to earn the visit

 

[November 03, 2022] 

On Tuesday, November 1, Author and Illustrator Duo Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr brought the Busload of Books to Northwest School.

Married couple Matthew and Robbi, go by their first names as visit schools. During the 2022-2023 school year, the couple and their children are travelling to all 50 States to visit Title One Schools. At these high-need schools, they are doing assemblies on creativity and storytelling and will give away 25,000 free books.

As they travel throughout the states, Matthew and Robbi, their four kids and one dog are living in a school bus. They converted the bus into a tiny home for their tour. The couches can be pulled out into beds and the children climb up a ladder inside to get to a pop up tent on top. There is a little kitchen area and a table for the kids to sit at to do their schoolwork. One thing the bus does not have is a bathroom.

The bus is very colorful. With a little help, Robbi painted the bus in 28 days. There is a map of the states on one side and each state gets painted when they visit a school there.

At each school, they are doing a book giveaway with each student getting a book that is part of a series. The organization First Book Marketplace helps them get books to schools.

Matthew and Robbi are doing a study on the effects of reading as they travel the country. They are conducting this landmark research project with Washington College.
 

Before the family began their busload of books tour through all the states, they chose schools based on essays sent by teachers. Matthew and Robbi celebrate public school teachers and the hard work they do, which is part of the reason they are doing the tour.

Teachers were asked to briefly share what hosting Matthew and Robbi at their school and their gift of books would mean to them and their students.

Northwest School was the only school the family visited in Illinois. Fourth grade teacher Tammy Dietrich, with assistance from her students, last year wrote the essay that helped Matthew and Robbi choose Northwest School.


On Tuesday morning there were two separate assemblies for the Northwest students. The first was for kindergarten and first grade classes. The second was for the students in second through fifth grade.

Younger students received the book everywhere, wonder.

Older students received the book Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom, which is book one of a five book series by the couple. They are working now on writing book six.

During the first part of the assemblies, Matthew and Robbi talked about how they got started writing books.
When they begin, the duo self-published their work. Matthew authored the book and Robbi illustrated it. They would put the books together on their table, stapling them, and gluing on the cover.

Putting together a book is something Matthew told students they could do too, because making a book is really simple. It is nothing more than a piece of paper that you fold in half. If you want it to be longer, you can staple it together. Robbi said you can write books about anything you want.

Matthew always enjoyed writing and wrote his first book My Friend Jason when he was twelve. Robbi has been drawing since she was a child. They have now collaborated on about 80 books on a variety of topics.

One of their self-published books is about a snake who is afraid of snakes.

The book Sunrise Summer is about the duo’s summer in Alaska as commercial fishermen. Their book Babies Ruin Everything is based on their family.
 

As Matthew writes the books, Robbi creates illustrations to go with the story. They like telling stories where words and pictures work together. The illustrations help provide the descriptions.

Sometimes, when Matthew has no idea what will come out when he sits down to write, he tries to get the creative part of his brain to overtake the skeptical part. A tip Matthew had was “don’t think, just write” and to not “worry if it is bad.”

With the book Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom, Matthew said he started by writing a paragraph that ended by talking about a fortune cookie. From there, he began to develop the story.

While writing, Matthew imagines he is in a bulldozer, which is a metaphor for his process. He gave examples of metaphors he uses in writing. For example, he may describe “long blond hair” as “flaming golden river” or a “ratty old mess.”

When Matthew gets going on a book, he asks himself a question about what is next. As he writes the first draft, Matthew continues asking and answering questions.

For example, Matthew said in Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom, Ben’s fortune cookie says, “live each day as if it were your last.” Matthew said the message inspired Ben to do everything on his bucket list.

The first thing Ben did was eat a cake in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, the cake was one Ben’s dad had put a note on telling others not to eat it. As Ben goes through his list, there are various other problems he encounters.

Soon a character named Janet pops in to help Ben solve problems.

When Matthew sent the first draft in on that book, his publisher told him he needed to add some details and answer some questions.

The tip Matthew then gave was, “You don’t have to get it right the first time. Don’t worry when teachers tell you you need to fix writing.”
 

Once Matthew is done writing, Robbi must figure out what the characters look like as she makes sketches. She must decide whether the character is tall or short for example. Robbi made Ben pointy headed.

For each page, Robbi then did a layout. She sent the publisher her pictures to get critique on them. Robbi was told the cat in the story about Ben looked like a potato and needed to be fixed.

Once Matthew and Robbi have made their corrections and a book is ready for publication, it goes to the printer.

Matthew and Robbi gave students tips on writing. For instance, they said, when you write, you bring your experiences to it. If each student was asked to write a story about a fox, each one would come up with a different story.

Something the duo told the children is that you can make books about any age. It is never too early to write.

Another tip is that two heads are better than one.

The duo then had the students collaborate with ideas for a story.

As they called on students for ideas, one student said the name of the main character should be Lila.

To develop the story, Matthew asked them to give details of what Lila looked and acted like. As the students came up with ideas to provide the details for the story, Robbi “drew” pictures on the overhead computer screen.

Advice Matthew gave the students as they came up with ideas is to ask what may be stopping the character from getting everything. Then it is important to help the character figure out how to overcome the obstacle.



Together, the students helped create a story about Lila the great who fought Bob the Tofu Goddess and the Tomato Dragon.

Question and Answer Session

Students had questions about whether Matthew and Robbi get nervous speaking to schools and why they chose to be an author and illustrator.

Matthew said they used to get nervous but collaborating helps. They love working with kids. Matthew chose to be an author and Robbi chose to be an illustrator because they discovered it is what they like to do.

One child asked the duo what other job they would like to do if they were not an author and illustrator.

Matthew would love to be a burrito tester. Robbi would love to be a musician.

Another question was whether ink runs out when they are printing their books.

When the duo was self-publishing, Matthew said their printer would run out of ink.

Small Group Session



During the lunch hour, 10 students from first through fifth grade had a chance to visit and eat with Matthew and Robbi. Teachers nominated these students. Since there are 12 classes, the students’ names were drawn out of a hat.

As these they visited with Matthew and Robbi, the students told them they found the book funny.

One asked how many schools the family has visited so far.

On this tour, Matthew said they have visited 18 schools already. Over the years, they have visited hundreds of schools.
 

These students were then given a sheet of paper and asked to write down their favorite meals, what makes them happiest, and what they would change to make the world better for everyone.

The duo autographed the books for these students as they went around and talked to each one about what they wrote on their papers.

How Matthew and Robbi Chose Northwest to visit

One student in the small group session asked why they chose to visit Northwest School.

Robbi said they liked the essay Ms. Dietrich and [last year’s] fourth grade students wrote. Plus, the school seemed awesome.

In Dietrich’s essay, she began by saying, “Having Matthew and Robbi visit Northwest Elementary School in Lincoln, Illinois would be so much fun! My own son has devoured two of the Cookie Chronicles books and can’t wait for the third book to be released.”

One thing Dietrich loves is “the repeated similes” in the books. She said, “I am also intrigued with how the illustrations become part of the story. They aren’t just pictures to go along with the story.”

When Dietrich received the FirstBook.org email about the tour, she said “I started to talk more about your books to my students. There is now a waiting list at our school library for the Cookie of Doom and The Real McCoys.”

What Dietrich said the kids like is “the entertaining books combine pictures and texts in a way that motivates students to want to finish the books.” She said many times, students have trouble finishing books that are not a “good fit.” The students also tend to “return books that are too hard or have caused them to lose interest.” With Matthew and Robbi’s books, Dietrich has found they “appeal to a wide range of ages and get finished.”

In addition, Dietrich said, “Hearing about the process of creating a book could encourage our students to read, write and draw more on their own.” She said students would probably be fascinated by learning how Matthew and Robbi “collaborate to make the writing and illustrations complement each other.”
 

Over the 28 years Dietrich has been teaching, she said, “there isn’t an interest in purchasing books through book orders as there once was. Families can’t afford the luxury. A visit by a Busload of Books Tour would give us an opportunity to put a real book in our students’ hands to keep.”

Dietrich’s essay then talked about the town’s history, with Lincoln being the first town to be named after Abraham Lincoln. She said when Lincoln was told the town would be named for him, he said, he ‘never knew anything named Lincoln that ever amounted to much.’” As everyone knows, Lincoln “amounted” to the presidency a few years later.

In closing, Dietrich said, “At Northwest school we hope that your books and talk will inspire our students to be voracious readers just like Lincoln. We want them to know they can amount to anything!”

Students see the family off



In the afternoon, all the students went outside to show their appreciation for the family’s visit and wave goodbye as they prepared to head to the next stop on their tour.

Matthew and Robbi’s four children had gone around to classrooms during the day talking to the classes and showing them how to do origami.

As the family travels, they post daily stories and videos on a blog. To read their blog and find out more about their tour, visit busloadofbooks.com/join/us.

You can also follow them on Instagram @robbi.and.matthew or on Twitter at #busloadofbooks.

[Angela Reiners]