Round-table Discussion at MS 319

I can’t believe our NY week has come to an end already. I can’t help feeling sad!

We’ve so loved visiting all ten schools during our week’s tour. In my last post on this blog I said I would mention some of the schools again, but in truth…all of our visits have been fantastic and the overwhelming reaction of the students has merged the events into one combined wonderful experience.

Our last day on Friday involved two middle schools – MS 258 and MS 319 and both sets of students were a real delight to meet and chat to. Their enthusiasm for our books once again provided a real drive for me to push on and write more spooky, scary books! At the end of a very busy and fulfilling week, my birthday treat of taking in a Broadway musical provided the perfect ‘medication’ to combat the sad feeling that the NY experience was coming to an end.

Kath and I would like to thank Dr Judy Parker and the Carmel Hill Team for making our week so wonderful, and of course, to all our brilliant fans in all of the schools we’ve visited.  We’ve already been invited back for a longer stay next year, so Kath and I are pleased to say ‘Au Revoir’  and not ‘Goodbye’. And don’t forget the fourth Mokee Joe book…remember that nowhere is safe…Mokee Joe is  set to return…and this time to New York!

New York, New York!

After a relatively smooth journey from Monroe, Louisiana to Houston, Texas and onto New York, we are now safely tucked up in our hotel, the Park Central on 7th Avenue. Times Square is minutes in one direction and Central Park even closer in the other. We stayed here in May last year and we love it!

Today is Sunday and the weather couldn’t be better – cool (70′s) and very sunny. We’ve been up to Central Park already and enjoyed watching the softball matches. I even took my running shoes and joined in with the hundred of joggers looping around the park…great fun!

Our hostess for NY, Dr Judy Parker, took us out for a wonderful meal last night and informed us that our school audiences for the week ahead are ‘buzzing’  about my visit. Many of them have already read the new book, ‘Scabbajack’, and thankfully, they love it! Phew…what a relief!  The book isn’t even out yet in the UK, but I’m told that fans back home are pre-ordering signed copies on the website, so that’s OK. I’m also told that one of the NY schools has built a huge model of Mokee Joe. I can’t wait to see it and hope to have photographs to paste on the Blog asap.

It’s my birthday whilst I’m here in NY, May 19th, and my wife, Kath, is treating me to a Broadway Musical at the end of the week. We’ve heard rave reviews about Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury in ‘A Little Light Music’ so we’ve booked to see that. It was either that or the Jersey Boys..but they will have to wait until another time.

That’s about all for now, folks. Keep in touch and watch this space for news of our New York week ahead.