{"id":20141,"date":"2021-08-23T20:29:46","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T00:29:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=20141"},"modified":"2021-08-26T08:52:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T12:52:59","slug":"czekaj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2021\/08\/23\/czekaj\/","title":{"rendered":"Going Back To School With Jef Czekaj\u2019s \u2018Little Ghoul\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jef Czekaj<\/a>\u201ds latest humorous picture book for kids, \u201cLittle Ghoul Goes to School\u201d<\/a> (Balzer + Bray), conjures a school anxiety dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a little monster, a Little Ghoul, that is anxious for her first day of school and because she\u2019s a monster her anxieties are the opposite of what a human child\u2019s would be,\u201d Czeka says. Her worst fears are that people will be friendly and lunch will be delicious. \u201cIt\u2019s a way to point out anxieties without kids feeling too self-conscious about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a book \u201cto talk about kid anxieties, but in a funny way. My default is make it gross, make it kind of scary,\u201d Czekaj says. The book arrives as many schools are going back to full classrooms this fall for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. \u201cThis one was ironically written before the pandemic, but it seems very timely,\u201d he says. \u201c\u2026With covid, I think everyone\u2019s feeling more anxious\u201d<\/p>\n

Join Czekaj and friends for a release party for the book at the outdoor patio behind Remnant Brewing at 2 Bow Market Way in Somerville on Sunday, Aug. 29<\/a>, from 3 to 5 p.m. It will feature music, books, puppets and prizes. It\u2019s free (except for drinks).<\/p>\n

\""Little<\/a>
“Little Ghoul Goes to School” by Jef Czekaj. (Courtesy Balzer + Bray)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Czekaj, who moved with his partner and their son to Arlington this year after two decades living in Somerville, has illustrated 14 children\u2019s books\u2014including \u201cHip & Hop Don\u2019t Stop!,\u201d \u201cCat Secrets,\u201d \u201cDog Rules\u201d and \u201cAustin Lost in America.\u201d When the pandemic arrived, Czekaj created his DIY kids television show \u201cSequestered Storytime with Jef Czekaj,\u201d<\/a> which debuted in April 2020 on social media and Somerville Community Access Television in partnership with the Somerville Public Library. In 27 episodes (so far), he reads from children\u2019s books by himself and others and performs puppets, original songs, magic and drawing how-tos. (My sweetheart Kari Percival and I, as Wonderland Spectacle Co., have made art and nature videos included in the series.)<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my books I start doodling a character and then I start doodling a character a lot and Little Ghoul was one of them,\u201d Czekaj says. For him, the character stirs a vague memory from childhood, or perhaps an echo of John Stanley\u2019s comics character Melvin Monster.<\/p>\n

\"Jef<\/a>
Jef Czekaj. (Courtesy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Czekaj, himself, struggled with anxieties about school in early elementary school until fourth or fifth grade. \u201cI would get migraine headaches almost once a week or once every couple of weeks.\u201d It could get so bad that he sometimes vomited. \u201cI think I was just holding in a lot. I wasn\u2019t picked on or bullied. School was just too much for me. I was just a shy, quiet kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t really thinking of that when I wrote the book,\u201d Czekaj notes. \u201cBut obviously there was a connection there.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he was in early elementary school, \u201cthey didn\u2019t know what was going on with me,” he recalls, so the adults signed him up for lots of tests, including \u201cbrain scans.\u201d They pulled him out of gym. So he got to stay with his first grade teacher instead and draw. \u201cI was already drawing, but to get that time was super important to me as a kid.\u201d And was a beginning leading him to becoming the artist he is today.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
From Jef Czekaj’s \u201cLittle Ghoul Goes to School.” (Balzer + Bray)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Spoiler alert: \u201cLittle Ghoul Goes to School\u201d ends with everything turning out okay\u2014lunch at her school is actually repulsive and the place is full of monsters. Czekaj relished drawing strange, cute dragons and mummies and gorgons, things with horns and three eyes and oozing slime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe other thing I wanted to put into the book is a tribute to school specialists,\u201d Czekaj says. \u201c\u2026The characters that make Little Ghoul feel better are the art teacher and the librarian.\u201d Roles Czekaj values, but that that seem to be shrinking in schools. \u201cSchool librarians can talk up your book too. So from a marketing standpoint genius,\u201d he jokes.<\/p>\n

The librarian was inspired partly by \u201cactivist cool librarians\u201d and the librarians in the children\u2019s room at the main branch of the Cambridge Public Library, where he often took his son when he was younger. In the story, there\u2019s a Principal Edelman leading a school. At public readings he\u2019s given of the book, \u201ceveryone thinks the principal is named for [retired New England Patriots football star] Julian Edelman,\u201d Czekaj says. In fact, it\u2019s a tribute to his partner, Jacy Edelman, an educator who works for a company that creates software to teach kids programming. \u201cThere are no sports references in the book.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
From Jef Czekaj’s \u201cLittle Ghoul Goes to School.” (Balzer + Bray)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Aug. 29 book release party at Remnant Brewing has a lineup of authors and bands. Peanut of Adventure\u2014Czekaj\u2019s band with Chris Braiotta (of the band Planet of Adventure) and Ernie Kim\u2014will perform Czekaj\u2019s original songs from \u201cSequestered Storytime.\u201d Puppets from the show will also appear. Jamaica Plain children\u2019s book author Vita Murrow\u2014author of \u201cPower to the Princess\u201d as well as a series of books about brave animals\u2014will read and may perform a puppet. There will be a performance by Noell Dorsey, a \u201cclassically-trained opera singer\u201d and lead singer of the \u201clegendary local rock band called Major Stars, a super guitar-heavy rock band. She also does weird experimental vocals stuff,\u201d Czekaj explains. There will be an appearance by Cotton Candy, which is Mark Robinson and Evelyn Hurley, of Teen-Beat records and bands including Unrest, who now cohost the WMBR radio show “Mark and Evelyn\u2019s American Top 41” on Sundays. They sing a cappella renditions of old jingles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always try to do something that will freak out people. That\u2019s kind of my goal,\u201d Czekaj says. \u201c\u2026Going to kids events as a parent can be kind of boring and terrible.\u201d Which, you know, is why he scheduled this one at a place where beer is readily available. \u201cMy background is Allston basement shows and weird noise shows, so I try to bring that to the kids world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The resurgent delta variant of covid \u201cmakes it kind of a weird time to be planning an event,\u201d Czekaj acknowledges. \u201cI\u2019m telling [grown-up] people to not come if they\u2019re not vaccinated and kids should wear masks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previously:<\/strong> ‘Sequestered Storytime’ With Somerville Children’s Book Creator Jef Czekaj<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, nature, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, (hopefully) weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9Greg Cook 2021 or the respective creators.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\"Book<\/a>
Book reelase party for Jef Czekaj’s “Little Ghoul Goes to School,” Aug. 29, 2021. (Courtesy Jef Czekaj)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jef Czekaj\u201ds latest humorous picture book for kids, \u201cLittle Ghoul Goes to School\u201d (Balzer + Bray), conjures a school anxiety dream. \u201cIt\u2019s a little monster, a Little Ghoul, that is anxious for her first day of school and because she\u2019s a monster her anxieties are the opposite of what a human child\u2019s would be,\u201d Czeka […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,107],"tags":[211,802],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20141"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20141"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20181,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20141\/revisions\/20181"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}