Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 (you’re reading it right now)
With the text and art for I’M BORED finalized and the f&gs (the proofs) available, now it was time to start showing the book to people. Even though Debbie had finished the art, Simon & Schuster’s I’M BORED team still had so much behind-the-scenes work to do.
Debbie was mega-excited, for example, when artist friend Benjamin Rabe sent her the photo above, taken at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy. Bologna was only one of several major book fairs where S&S showed off I’M BORED and other upcoming releases.
The Simon & Schuster Foreign Rights team (above) showed the I’M BORED f&gs to their foreign publishers and had meetings to talk through the text and drawings to help decide what translations would work.
Although the editorial offices of Simon & Schuster are in New York City, S&S also has an office in Toronto, Canada — where Debbie lives!
Debbie went to visit S&S Canada to talk about possible publicity ideas on the Canadian side. Here’s Debbie with her S&S Canada publicist, Amy Jacobson, with the I’M BORED f&g:
Debbie also wrote an “I’m Bored” song with her friend, Errol Elumir. The ending is different from the book because they didn’t want to give away the REAL ending! Errol’s 7-year-old daughter Zoe helped them create a homemade book video:
CONTENT MISSING
Debbie made the potato puppet out of a styrofoam water toy. She finds sewing really hard!
Debbie was soooooo excited when her copies of I’M BORED arrived at her house:
Then in September 2012, I’M BORED actually started appearing in bookstores! Like Books Inc. in Berkeley, CA:
And reviews started appearing in publications like The New York Times, which also ended up choosing I’M BORED for its list of Notable Children’s Books Of 2012!
Debbie also had her very first book launch, which was super-exciting. The launch was held at TYPE Books in Toronto:
And she had a big cake (made by Fanta Cakes) that looked like a copy of I’M BORED:
Debbie’s sister (Ruth Ohi, who has published over 50 books) and husband Jeff helped organize the launch. Many of Debbie’s friends and family members came out to help celebrate.
One of the highlights of the launch for Debbie: when her Grade 8 teacher, Mr. Smallwood, made a surprise appearance. (!!!!)
Her teacher had even brought along some of Debbie’s stories from back in eighth grade – he had kept them ALL THESE YEARS.
You can see more photos from Debbie’s I’M BORED book launch here.
Since I’M BORED has launched, Debbie has been having so much fun hearing how readers are enjoying the book. She’s been collecting fun photos in her I’M BORED In The Wild reader gallery.
Here are just a few of the fun photos in Debbie’s I’M BORED galleries:
Debbie is always thrilled when she gets letters from young readers:
If your class at school sends a snailmail letter to Debbie about I’M BORED, she’ll write back with doodles! Here’s information for teachers on how to contact Debbie.
