Author Josh Funk got the idea for his hilariously creative book series Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast from his children when they didn't agree on what to have for breakfast. He encouraged students to have a notebook handy at all times for story and character ideas.
Mr. Funk has written many books that have been published and many more that have not been published. He explained to students his writing process and how long it takes for books to go from idea to being printed and sold.
He met with kindergarten, fourth and fifth graders and then first, second and third graders. Librarian Elizabeth Oakes organized the all-day visit.
Mr. Funk read aloud one or two of his books with each group and asked some teachers to help him read in different voices. He also previewed some of his books that are still in production.
He talked about how he came up with his characters and went through an exercise to help students create their own crazy characters. As an example, he called up students to be the characters based on foods they ate for dinner, the occupation they want to be as adults, foods they don't like and a job their parents have. This resulted in characters like Dr. Pizza and Spaghetti Make-up Artist.
Mr. Funk is a software engineer by trade and writes books on the side. He has a series of books based on coding, It's Not fairytales and various foods that go awry in the refrigerator.
