Skippyjon Jones

If you haven't heard of Skippyjon Jones you need to get yourself to a bookstore. These books are hilarious and are one of our favorite read aloud books. Skippyjon Jones is a siamese cat who likes to pretend he is a chihuahua. He goes on all of these pretend adventures as his alter ego, Skippito Friskito. I love reading these books to the kids and particularly enjoy breaking into a Spanish accent. I think my Spanish accent is 2/3 Cheech and Chong and 1/3 Nacho Libre.

On Friday night we had the opportunity to go up to Salt Lake to attend a reading of the newest Skippyjon Jones book, "Lost in Spice". It was at this cute little bookstore called King's English Bookshop. It is in this little old house and has a great children's book selection.

The author, Judy Schachner, was so much fun. She is a bit all over the place and was quite entertaining. She told us a little bit about herself and how the Skippyjon Jones books came to be. She then read the book and had the kids laughing. After the reading she pulled out a Skippyjon Jones puppet and let the kids interview him. She is pretty quick and had a ready answer for every question. She illustrates the books as well. She said she actually drew and went to art school before she ever started writing.

We had so much fun and even got to meet her and talk to her for a bit while she signed our books. I loved doing something different with the kids, rather than the old standby of a movie. It was also fun to be together as a whole family and show the kids that we love the fact that they enjoy reading so much. Mike was a great sport, he actually likes listening in when I read the books to the kids. He thinks they are pretty funny too. And the best thing was on the way home the kids told me they thought I read the books even better than she did!