After she read The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man’s Canyon, Maddy S. drew this picture of Lazlo Nackley. Thanks, Maddy! I love his expression!

I had so much fun with this crew tonight. They’re a book group of seventh graders from Lyme, New Hampshire, and they’ve been reading and talking about books together since they were in first grade. This month they chose The Expeditioners and the Treasure of Drowned Man’s Canyon as their read and invited me to come and answer questions and join in their discussion. It made me so happy to see such avid, active readers thinking about theme and plot and character development, and sharing their favorite books with me and each other. They were also really, really nice to my son, whose year was made hanging out with the big kids. Thanks, all. I loved visiting your book group!

Look at these great Explorer’s Vest worksheets, designed by Katherine Roy. I’ll be debuting them at a kids’ writing workshop I’m teaching tomorrow. This one was customized for adventure by a member of the Expeditioners’ household! Come design your own Explorer’s Vest (or newly discovered map of the world) at one of our signings.

One of my favorite things about the process of working on The Expeditioners has been the part where I get to work with the amazingly talented Katherine Roy. I feel so lucky to have her illustrations in the book (and on the book!) 

Here’s a great blog post about her process of creating the cover.