Mitchell Republic: “Matthew Swanson received a positive review Monday morning from one of the L.B. Williams Elementary School students who had just attended an assembly with the children’s book author. “He came up to me after the first assembly and said, ‘Mister, for some reason, you inspired me,’” Swanson laughed. “It was the best.” Swanson and his wife, Robbi Behr, who is also his co-author on dozens of children’s books, spent much of the day hearing examples of that excitement as the pair and their four children made their latest stop as part of the Busload of Books Tour at the Mitchell elementary school. The family is on their way to visit schools in all 50 states to promote reading, creativity and collaboration. The trip revolves around the author and illustrator and their desire to spread the word about reading, to increase awareness of the challenges faced by America’s public schools as well as to take part in an expansive research project to measure how such visits by creators to the classroom impact the schools, teachers and their students. The family is traveling in a bus that has been colorfully painted and decked out to serve as both a promotional billboard and a miniature home for the six of them. The bus grabs the attention of the students, but so do Swanson and Behr, who bring a presentation full of encouragement for reading, creating and working together…”