Comments from two school visits; to a Middle School and a K-8

What a wonderful treat. Thank you so much for having Justin Matott visit our school. It was perfect timing because it connected so well with our unit of study. Their teacher felt Justin greatly influenced student understanding of a writer's life and his approach to the craft of writing. Our middle school students really enjoyed his presentation. One group of students said it was the best assembly they had ever attended. Justin's ability to connect with students is wonderful. Thanks again for a wonderful opportunity
-Yvonne Miller, Library Media Specialist, Sagewood Middle School

Justin's visit here to Excel Academy was fabulous.
Besides all of the logistics working smoothly, his presentations were over the top. He kept the full attention of over 120 4th & 5th graders for over an hour. One minute they were howling with laughter, and the next they silently had all eyes on him.
He managed the same rapport, though on a smaller scale, with about 30 middle-schoolers, which by some may be considered an even greater task! They crowded around him afterwards to ask more questions and get personal advice on their own writing. His message resounded loud and clear: that all kids, even nerds like he was, want to be noticed, and you never know what kind of person they will grow up to be.
I highly recommend Justin Matott for school visits, and feel grateful for his time with us here.
- Andi Johnson, Library Media Specialist, Excel Academy LIS

I need some good jokes!

I need FUNNY, clean jokes that I can share to illustrate punch lines in my presentations and the boys in my newest Gabriel Peters book have a joke off, so you might see your joke in print if you send me an extra good one. Thanks!

WOULD YOU LIKE TO REVIEW BOOKS ON MY BLOG SITE?

If you have a favorite book that you have read and you want a place to share your opinions, this might be your place.
I get asked a lot what books I would recommend. I would like to hear from you about the books you simply could not put down. If you are interested in sharing, just send me an email to justin@justinmatott.com with the title, author name, date it was published and a few sentences about what grabbed you most in the book. I hope to set up a review site for teachers, students, moms, dads, grandparents and any other readers who are interested in learning more about books that will keep one reading.

Caught you reading my books!

This young man was photographed at the Tattered Cover Bookstore reading one of my poetry books and one of my picture books was at the ready on his lap.


Once when I was at Wall Drugs, a famous South Dakota stop, I noticed a wall of photographs of people holding up the Wall Drug bumper sticker all over the world. If you want to appear on my blog, just take a pic reading one of my books and send me a jpeg of it and I will get it onto my site.

Gabriel "blogs" the old fashioned way in the new book

Hi, in my upcoming chapter book THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GABE, the main character and narrator, Gabriel Peters, keeps a journal from which many of the stories in the chapters come. The journal entries are sprinkled throughout the book, along with many illustrations and are intended to add humor and additional insight to the inner workings of a boy's mind (thanks to Lisa Tarr, the wonderful illustrator for this series). If you click on the picture it will be large enough to read. Here is an example of Gabriel's musings.

I was asked yesterday during my school visit, "What's with all of the underwear references?" All of my books (except for my books for grown ups) have underwear in them for the very simple reason that it is a word that makes the youngsters giggle and is a safe word, a word that they are allowed to say and use. Wedgies are funny, yet so uncomfortable and for some reason the abuse of choice by so many big brothers. Poor Gabriel has experienced his fair share and thus, yet another underwear reference!

By the way, I have received several emails lately asking me where I got the name Gabriel Peters. It is a combination of my two boy's middle names, Gabriel and Peter.

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GABE! Stories From the Lower Bunk is almost done!

Hello my friends. If you read my blogs you may have noticed a long period of time since my last posting. I have been busy on several book projects and am happy to report that the second book in the Gabriel Peters series is finally done. All illustrations are done, design is done, editing is done, I AM DONE!!! I expect the book will be available in late summer. Please let me know what you think of the cover. I think it fits well with Go Ask Mom, but want to hear your opinions! Watch this site for some preview of the book to come... CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO MAKE IT LARGE ENOUGH TO READ. Happy reading!