Numbers, numbers, numbers

On my Shark Party Tour I

• Visited 5 cities (Portland, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas and Atlanta)
• Presented to 17 schools and libraries
• Signed hundreds of books
• Signed a dozen shoes

Kids ask the best questions including “what is it like to be famous?” and “can you make a book about a megamouth (he meant megladon)?” One frequent question was “how many books have you made?” and I need to be better about concrete answers. They want numbers. They want FACTS.

I am fortunate enough to have many books out and more waiting to be made, so the number fluctuates in my mind.

But the firm answer is

• 12 books published
• 5 books on their way

When I present, I include facts about sharks. I prepared my presentation a couple years ago and I read that there were 400 kinds of sharks in the ocean. Except, like my books, that number fluctuates. Due to new discoveries, the number of shark species identified has increased.

• There are 500 different types of sharks (!!)
• I drew 30 different types of sharks for Shark Party

I’m home and looking forward to making progress on my next book deadlines. I still have events through the summer but nothing like a book tour. Over the summer I will

• Visit 3 cities for book events
• Visit 5 cities for personal travel

First up is the Fairyland Book Festival in Oakland this Saturday at 1pm.

Hope to see you there!