"The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra" StoryWalk in Florida

In 2021, I was tickled to discover that a Michigan library had chosen The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra for their StoryWalk. 

At the same time I was tickled to discover the StoryWalk concept itself—an installation in which a picture book is presented page by page in a series of displays along an outdoor path so visitors can read as they walk. 

Thanks to Instagram, I've now learned that my little chupacabra is featured in another library StoryWalk, this one in Tampa Bay. Incidentally, Florida is closer than Michigan to the cryptid's natural habitat.

Photos courtesy of the library's Instagram.

Thank you, Safety Harbor Public Library, for sharing the adventure of goats Jayna, Pep, and Bumsie with your community! I recommend that those who take the stroll regularly check behind them...who knows if a chupacabra StoryWalk will attract the real deal?

“The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra” StoryWalk in Michigan

It’s such a treat when an initiative I think is excellent collides with a book I happened to write. 

The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra is currently featured on a StoryWalk that the Caro Area District Library in Caro, MI installed in a nearby park. 

Another StoryWalk is on library grounds.

The library put up both StoryWalks as part of their summer reading program in 2020, when the building was closed due to the pandemic. About once a month, the staff rotates the books.

Thank you, Caro Library. Honored! 

Combining reading and nature is win-win.

Photos courtesy of the library’s Instagram account and the library directly. 

“The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra” eating activity for toddlers

On Instagram, a book-loving mom and dad posted a clever activity they created for their toddler based on The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra. 

It’s so cute, I want to eat it up. Thank you, craffiti_cookbook!

Tropes in "The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra"

At one point or another, most writers researching, exploring the possibilities of their craft, or simply procrastinating end up on a site about narrative tropes, such as TV Tropes.

I take it as a badge of honor that The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra now has an entry. (My bar for badges of honor is not necessarily rigorous.)

There are so many tropes in storytelling and I didn't consciously employ any of the ones named at that link—doubtful I could have even named any of the ones at that link—except for "Shout-Out." I love "Balloon Belly" and "Big Shadow, Little Creature."

I find it curious that "Dedication" is classified here as a trope. Does this site also consider other standard elements of books (table of contents, index, flap copy) tropes?

“The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra”: The Play

In October 2018, the Kershaw County Library in Camden, SC put on a play based on The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra. 

The characters were portrayed by puppets, but I learned of this too late to request photos—the kids took the puppets home!

"The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra" in Spanish

The chupacabra originated in Latino and Hispanic culture; the first chupacabra sighting reported was in Puerto Rico in 1996. So it feels appropriate that The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra (illustrated by Mexican-born Ana Aranda) is now available (via Scholastic) in Spanish. 

As you see, the title has changed in the translation (The Macabre Dinner of Chupacabra). I don't know why. I know they have candelabras in Spanish-language cultures.

The original dedication to my son calls him my "favorite funny little fuzzball." In Spanish, he's referred to simply as my "plush."

Role reversal: goats eating the chupacabra

In my post earlier today, I confessed that I had signed a copy of The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra to two goats. (In the book, three goats drive the action.)

I asked Ali Schilpp, the Maryland librarian who shepherds these goats, if she would send me a photo of the book with the goats, and she went above and beyond:

In the book, as in many of the real-life reports, chucacabras kill goats and drink their blood. In this case, it may be a goat who ends a chupacabra...

"The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra" in Guatemala

On 2/10/18, I flew to Guatemala, which didn't take as long as I was expecting. (Probably because I was comparing it to my last international work flight, to Vietnam.) This was only my second trip to Central America, first time being Costa Rica in 2013 (for a vacation, not to work). 

My book The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra got to Guatemala before me. I went to spend a week speaking to all ages at the American School of Guatemala in Guatemala City, courtesy of the supremely nice librarian Brandon O'Neill, who had several of my books.

Let's zoom in on that partially obscured sign between us.

Before exiting the Guatemala City airport, everyone has to push a button on a small console that looks like a prop from a Cold War doomsday movie. It's attached to a stoplight without the yellow. If the green lights up, you proceed out. If red, you've been arbitrarily selected for inspection. I got green. This guy didn't. 

According to the guide/archeologist professor (no, not Indiana Jones) who took me around the cobblestoned city of Antigua for a few hours, Guatemala is the wealthiest country in Central America. According to strangers on the internet, it's not. No matter—both Antigua and Guatemala City (where I was based) felt clean and safe. However, feels can be deceiving, at least if you're to believe the pickled Texan in my hotel elevator who told me "Don't go out after midnight. Someone will shove a gun in your face and rob you."

Needless to say, I did not go out after midnight. Also because my daily school pickups were between 6:40 and 7 am.

My first talk each day started between 7:45 and 8 am. The school was only 15 minutes by car from my hotel (Biltmore) in the more well-off Zone 10, but because roads are typically one- or two-lane there, one accident can back up hundreds, so the school wanted to get me on the early side. (In the end, none of my five morning commutes took more than 20 minutes.)

The school, as with so many I've had the privilege to visit around the world, was picturesque and meticulously maintained. The jungle gym looked like a beehive.

The school teaches half the day in Spanish, half in English—but I couldn't adhere to that split. I started my talk with "buenos dias," followed by "That's all of my Spanish." The kids laughed, in both languages.

Day 1, presentation 1 was to an auditorium full of preschoolers, kindergartners, and first graders. Five minutes in, the room went dark—but it wasn't a full outage. Weirdly, the microphone still worked… The kids managed to not riot and power was restored within a few minutes.

Because my books skew older, at any given school visit, I typically see preschool only once (if I see them at all) and for no more than 20 minutes. But here, in a first, I spent most of the first two days almost exclusively with that age range. Monday in particular required additional stamina—one 30-minute assembly, one hourlong professional development workshop, and in between, nine classes of chicos! 

The city is in the shadow of three volcanoes, one of which is active. I woke up every day to a hotel room view of one.

But the more frequent danger here is earthquakes. The last big one was in 1976 and killed 23,000. In 1773, the country suffered a catastrophic earthquake and several aftershocks whose effects can still be seen today at the Santiago Cathedral in Antigua.

Other views of the grounds:

These kids were happily exploring. 

I assume their parents were nearby.

Two preschool teachers asked me if I know comic book writer Tom King. I said not personally but he's one of the current A-listers, so I know his work. Turns out they are both cousins of his wife! I was less stunned to meet people in Guatemala who are connected to Tom King as I was to meet two American cousins who work at the same school in Guatemala.

More sights around Guatemala City

A statue/art installation that reminded me of "The Awakening" sculpture at the National Harbor in DC:

Another dramatically posed statue:

How the check came at one restaurant:

More sights around Antigua

Hill of the Cross (with volcano in the background):

Le Merced church:

Saint Catalina Arch:

A market (with Hill of the Cross in the distant background):

A side street:

Adios and gracias. (Okay, so "buenos dias" wasn't really all of my Spanish…)

Teachers eating crickets at NCTE

I covered this in my roundup of a whirlwind of a trip—six states in ten days. But of the many highlights, this 30-minute event was so fun that I had to spin it off into its own post as well:

At my book signing at the National Council of Teachers of English convention, at least ten teachers ate crickets.

Yes, I brought crickets (three flavors: salt and vinegar, sour cream and onion, bacon and cheese) to NCTE. 

During my book signing on 11/17/17, I displayed them tastefully in three Starbucks oatmeal cups and offered any teacher who ate one a second free book. (Though turns out we didn't have enough, so we instead offered bragging rights.) My editor Nancy Paulsen was my right-hand woman. 

The inspiration for this promotional dare was the title character in The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra, whose unconventional appetite includes an insect that is even more repellent to the average human: the cucaracha (cockroach).

The hashtag #bugforbook took over Twitter.

A four-part sequence:

This woman agreed to do it...only if I did it with her: 

It was wonderful that one teacher tweeted that he would do anything to get kids reading, and this teacher expressed a similarly wonderful sentiment:

#notreally 

But Nancy and I were pleasantly surprised at how many people were willing. Huge props to these good sports and others we may not have captured.