We had some wonderful visitors last weekend! Our friends Alison Morris (of First Book) and her husband Gareth Hinds (graphic novelist) paid us a visit along with author/illustrator duo Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr, their four kids and their Busload of Books!

Left to right: Gareth Hinds, Matthew Swanson, Robbi Behr, Alison Morris and George Brown

Matthew, Robbi and their kids are spending the 2022-2023 school year traveling the country in a school bus/tiny home, visiting Title I schools in all 50 states (plus DC), and giving away 25,000 hardcover books to students and teachers from underserved communities.

They’re also collecting data for a research project being conducted by education and sociology scholars from Washington College to scientifically measure–for the first time ever at this scale–the impact of author/illustrator visits on elementary student attitudes regarding literacy and creativity.

To find out more about the tour and the research project, visit their website.

Robbi, George Brown and Matthew