Lincoln Peirce was such a nice author! He had been presenting at schools all day, and autographed until 9 p.m. and then graciously took more time to sit down and chat with me.
I was amazed that the Big Nate comic has been in syndication for 20 years-wow! I was also amazed to hear that he had developed a friendship with a young art school cartoonist who went on to publish the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series–yeah, he mentored Jeff Kinney who gave him the idea to write the Big Nate books, not just the cartoon strip (which has a similar feel to the Diary series but with a unique humor and storyline).
I also was amused that Lincoln Peirce was an art teacher in his early years, but wanted to hang out with the kids more than that grown-up teachers (who doesn’t know a teacher like that?). His collections of Big Nate cartoons include several about school that I think teachers may find funnier than the kids!
At any rate, whether you’ve been reading the comic strip for years or just learned about the Big Nate books-Lincoln Peirce is a great author-so I thank him again for the interview and may his book sales go well!