Olly Oogleberry Visits Local Elementary School

My trip to NYC in February at the Toy Fair provided lots of amazing experiences and opportunities to meet incredible brands and people, and that included meeting the creator of Olly Oogleberry, Lou Hughes. My husband, an elementary teacher, was thrilled to learn that Mr. Hughes would be willing to come to their elementary school during Young Author’s week and speak to the students.

Young Author’s week for our elementary school is a special week out of every year when the students spend several weeks creating their own books, designing their own illustrations and then showcasing them for all of the parents to see. Mr. Hughes was an incredible addition to the students for this special week, as he himself came up with his Olly Oogleberry creation from his doodlings while in 7th grade! It wasn’t until just recently that he realized where he would take Olly and the potential impact that Olly could have.

Olly Oogleberry is a misfit alien who was sent to Earth to save it from a meteorite. But when he got to earth he was amazed at the places, people, and cultures it provided. Olly takes children across the world on an educational journey of learning about new people, places and culture along with his alien band of friends.

The students just love Mr. Hughes and were fighting over the chance to re-read Olly Oogleberry from the students who bought books. It was a fabulous opportunity at a low-income school for these children to see the inspiration of what can happen from a simple doodle or dream – no matter how old or young you are. Mr. Hughes’ story started in middle school by a simple doodle and has spun into an entire product line of his book, shirts, plush, phone covers, skateboard & more! (you can check out the Olly shop here) He encouraged the students not only to keep their drawings but to create stories out of them. Taking creativity to the next level. He also showed the students how his book was created from simple sketching into beautifully colored pages.

I would personally like to thank Mr. Hughes for taking time out of his schedule to travel to our local elementary school to share with the students about Olly Oogleberry and his journey with his childhood doodlings. Thank you for inspiring our students and encouraging them to know that endless possibilities are out there for them and to hold on to their dreams and creativity!

Share with your friends!