I love school visits!

Yay for author school visits! I recently got to share my love of writing and creativity with the second graders at Geneva Elementary here in Bellingham, AND I guided them in making their very own journals. We had SO MUCH FUN!

I love doing school visits!

These are kinda what the kids journals ended up looking like (they are the examples). Next to a gnome in the Library.

Some of my favorite comments from kids from the day:

“I think your name (kj) could stand for Kitty of Justice. That could be your superhero!”

“This journal I made is potentially very dangerous. I mean, think of all the paper cuts that it could give someone.”

When invited to share what a journal is or could be, one kid said: “My happy place.”

Other delights: I hung out eith lots of gnomes between sessions (the Geneva mascot) and I did a silly walk next to the silly walk sign. A happy happy day! Thank you to my friend Mrs. Ritchie for inviting me!

Happy 4th Book Birthday to The Elephants' Guide To Hide-And-Seek!

It’s been 4 years (and a week or so) since The Elephants’ Guide to Hide-And-Seek became a book! Happy (belated) Book Birthday to to this cheerful book that’s been a joy to share with so many kids over the last few years. And Happy Spring too!

Happy 2nd book birthday To THE ELEPHANTS' GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK!

My first picture book, The Elephants’ Guide To Hide-And-Seek is two years old this month! To celebrate here’s a pic of me when I was 8 years old with another bright yellow book that I made then for my school’s young author contest. I won an award for my grade and decided someday I wanted to be a published author. Yay for dreams that come true!

Happy World Elephant Day!

Happy World Elephant Day! This is a picture from many years ago of of me and my son Oscar in Sri Lanka at an elephant orphanage. We lived in SE Asia for a few years when he was small, we traveled a lot, and to keep him engaged I sought out lots of experiences that would delight a kid. So we had a lot of elephant adventures. This is mostly how I fell in love with elephants and came to write my book, THE ELEPHANTS’ GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK. 

During this particular adventure in Sri Lanka, we learned that elephant dung is great for paper-making! Seeing as I’ve made lots of paper in my lifetime and even often use my own handmade paper in my art, this was particularly interesting to me. The reason elephant dung is great for paper making is that it’s full of munched up fibers—kinda like the elephant’s digestive system acts as a pulp beater.  Gross, but cool! 

The photo album in these pictures is one of my handmade travel journals, I used a batik I bought in Sri Lanka for the cover, and a lot of the papers inside are elephant dung papers I bought there. Also that cute little elephant stuffie is one I bought at a fiber store in Columbo. 

I also wrote a blog post about elephant dung paper-making way back when I went to Sri Lanka. Here’s the link.

Happy World Read Aloud Day! And where to order a signed copy of my book

Happy World Read Aloud Day! Welcome to any students, teachers, or families who are visiting my website after I visit your classrooms! I’m always grateful to chat about writing and to read with kids. If you have follow-up questions, please feel free to email me!

And for any families or teachers who want to order my book, THE ELEPHANTS’ GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK, I’ve made arrangements with my local bookstore, Village Books, to sign copies for anyone who orders through Feb 12th. You can order at this link—when you check out make a note in the comments about how you would like your book personalized or who you would like it signed to.

Thanks for visiting my website! Make sure you check out my section with fun stuff for kids. Happy reading!

Sign up for World Read-Aloud Day!

My name is Kjersten Hayes and I love talking books with kids. I look forward to sharing my picture book THE ELEPHANTS' GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK with classrooms during World Read-Aloud Day on Feb. 3, 2021. Hooray for read-alouds! Teachers or librarians interested in signing up for a free 20-minute virtual classroom visit can get more information and sign-up here. Thanks!

I can sign a book for you too!

I’ve had a few happy firsts this past week or so. Here are a few of them

The Elephants’ Guide To Hide-And-Seek at a bookstore!

Look what I finally got to see for the first time in person at an OPEN bookstore! Two months after it came out, THE ELEPHANTS’ GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK, my first picture book, on an actual shelf, at my favorite local bookstore, Village Books—which is now open because YAY Whatcom County, WA, we made it to phase 2!

I signed and personalized a big stack—so it kind of was my first bookstore book-signing too. Any copies of my picture book THE ELEPHANTS’ GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK purchased now and through the month of June at my local bookstore Village Books can be signed and personalized by the author—me! Village Books offers all sorts of shipping options including media rate (99¢!) or curbside pickup.

A huge thanks to anyone who had planned on coming to my local book celebration that would have been at Village Books—it means the world to me. While it was a bummer to postpone in May and now cancel in June (while VB is open, it’s uncertain when events will happen again), I’m happy that Village Books and I can collaborate in this way for now. And anyone who was holding out for a signed copy—here’s your chance!

Here’s the link to order. During checkout, there should be a comment box where you can make a note that you’d like me to sign your book and who you’d like it signed to. Please know that I’ll be going in and signing them all at once, so any books ordered will arrive in early July.

Another happy first from the past few weeks—I finally got to read my book to a classroom (via zoom)! It was especially sweet for me after having my first in-person visits with classrooms all cancelled this year. The 2nd graders I chatted with all asked great questions and it was a pleasure to spend time with them.

My first author visit—on zoom!

My main goal for this year was to enjoy the moment as I became an author and got to share my first book with kids. While I haven’t been able to do that the same way I’d planned, I’m enormously grateful to anyone and everyone who has helped me make lemonade out of lemons the last few months. Enjoying the moment seems more important now than ever—so cheers, health, and happy reading! For all who have celebrated with me—thanks!

Me with my elephant pals. I like to bring them to zoom events.

Yay for a successful virtual launch party!

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who attended our virtual launch party for THE ELEPHANTS’ GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK! So wonderful to see so many new and familiar faces there. If you missed out, I’ve posted the video below for your viewing pleasure.

The highlight for me was being inspired by all Gladys Jose had to say—I’m thrilled to have had the chance to make this happen with you Gladys! And we even had elephants attending!

My son Lars dressed up!

If you attended (or watched the video later) and would like a bookplate signed by both Gladys and me, send me a message by April 24, 2020 to let us know (US residents only). We’d be happy to send you one! (note they may take a while but we will send if you ask). Books can be ordered anywhere books are sold but here’s a link to my local indie, Village Books—they can ship at media rates (in some cases only 99 cents!).

Download our activity kit—Gladys says the Elephant game was an instant hit with her daughter!

The activities for kids we mentioned during the launch are all posted here on my website, including:

• A fun activity kit made by our publisher

• Our virtual hide-and-seek game, where you can share silly creative hide-and-seek pics

• A link to a Pinterest page with elephant crafts of all kinds

• A link to a curated playlist of silly and wonderful elephant videos

Follow us on social media:

• Check out Gladys’s webpage to learn more about her other books

• Kjersten Instagram: @kjerstenhayes Twitter: @kjerstenhayes

• Gladys Instagram: @gladysjoseillustrates Twitter: @gladysjosedraws

A huge shout out to Joni Sensel for reaching out and offering to help us with tech support. Joni is an incredible writer for all ages. I’m especially a fan of her work related to creativity and grief. Check out her website here.

This image only captures one screen’s worth of attendees—loved seeing how many showed up!

If you want a signed bookplate, let me know by April 24. Happy to send one!

Thanks again to everyone for helping us celebrate our joyful book during a difficult time. Especially because the world is unsure and hard right now, I hope you find some time to play in the middle of it all.

Wishing you enormous fun!⠀

Happy Book Birthday to THE ELEPHANTS' GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK!

Today is the book birthday for THE ELEPHANTS’ GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK, written by me, art by Gladys Jose, and published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky. Hooray! It’s a funny tongue-incheek book about getting in the game despite feeling awkward or unsure.

I learned to write funny books in part because humor has always calmed my own nerves. Laughter helps. So especially during these times, I hope this happy funny book finds some kids and brightens their day.

Cheers!

Also check out my book birthday twitter thread about the making of The Elephant guide.

And maybe I’ll see you at my virtual launch party!

The world turns upside down right as I'm about to send my book out into it

A few weeks ago I was busy planning my first school visits as an author, coming up with creative silly things I could put on the internet to celebrate, and thinking of fun activities for my book launch party (still planned for May 9 at Village Books in Bellingham, but who knows what the world will look like by then…).

How many elephants do you see in the photo? Can you find the “king of hide & seek?” How many elephants are wearing glasses? How many elephants have rainbow ears? How many silly questions about this picture can a person ask?

But now the world has turned upside down. Pandemic is a big word. Somehow in the chaos of the last few weeks, I forgot to post things here I put elsewhere that would have been fun to post. My excuse: my mind is often in a fog, juggling a lot of emotional labor for my family, worries for my community, anxiety for all the small businesses and people at risk for covid-19, and then to top it off trying to reinvent the wheel with how to celebrate my own little dream come true. Even while I mourn not celebrating how I’d imagined.

I originally planned on wearing these yellow chucks that match THE ELEPHANTS’ GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK to a school visit on March 20. It was a bummer to be stuck at home instead but it occurred to me that it would be fun to wear them anyway on that day so I did. It was one little plan I could keep from before.

But here. Here are a few happy things that I managed to pause for in the midst of all of it. My ridiculous elephant collection. My colorful shoes that match my book. My cats playing hide-and-seek.

Cat Hide-And-Seek!

To contribute much needed comfort to my community and world, I present you with a new game to try while in your new situation always-at- home trying not to think about all the hard things all the time.

Pro-tip: cats like their humans to be it.

But once in a while…

They are willing to take a turn.

I made some art last Christmas that unknowingly set the tone for my year, “Even when the world feels sad I will make a joyful noise.”

Christmas art I made, but maybe I can try to do this now too? Not sure, but maybe I can try.

And I threw a bunch of wishing rocks in the water yesterday.

Mostly I wish you well.

Guess I’m hoping for a rainbow even in the rain.

Love to everyone out there. Hope you are healthy, safe, socially distanced but not isolated, and reading a lot. I wish for you all the rainbows I can wish.

Author copies!

Just a few short months until THE ELEPHANTS’ GUIDE TO HIDE AND SEEK comes out (April 7), and I got a surprise package on my porch!

My author copies! And a lovely letter from my publisher! Such an exciting moment.

I especially LOVE the funny peek-a-boo cover under the book jacket.

And these colorful end pages!

It’s a real book!

Advanced Reader's Copies!

Eeeak! Look what I found in a package on my porch! Advanced reader’s copies! Happy surprise and happy me!
Also, I might have cried when I showed them to my family. 💛🐘💛😭😍

Cover Reveal of my first book! Pre-orders too! Happy day!

LOOK! It’s going to be a real book!

Happy happy day! Excited to share the cover of my first picture book, THE ELEPHANTS' GUIDE TO HIDE-AND-SEEK! Isn't it gorgeous?! And yellow just happens to be my favorite color. Yay for Gladys's beautiful art—thank you Gladys and thank you Sourcebooks Kids, I LOVE IT!

And look at this! Even though it comes out April 1, 2020, you can already pre-order it!

Thanks to everyone who already has ordered a copy! Hope you enjoy it!