“Matt Sprouts is the next star of middle-grade comedy! Matt Eicheldinger expertly draws from his life to create this heart-warming and fun illustrated series.” — Jarrett Krosoczka, New York Times bestselling author and National Book Award Finalist

Matt Eicheldinger is a middle school teacher, author, and storyteller. He spent most of his childhood playing soccer, reading comics, and trying his best to stay out of trouble in the mountains of Colorado. Little did he know those moments would ultimately help craft his debut novel.

Eicheldinger’s journey to becoming a New York Times bestseller began in 2009, when he wrote a book based on embarrassing moments from his childhood for reluctant readers in his classroom. The book was a hit within the school, which prompted Eicheldinger to pursue publication. It wasn’t until 2021 when he decided to self publish the book, calling it Matt Sprouts and The Curse of The Ten Broken Toes. The book went out to receive four international awards, including Indie Book of the Year. The book was then picked up by Andrews McMeel Publishing, who released the book in March 2023. The book was an instant New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller.

Eicheldinger is also one of the most well known teachers on social media, where he tells stories and insights from his classroom. A collection of these stories called Sticky Notes: Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments is set to release on October 15th, 2024.

The following are projects set to release in the next year: Matt Sprouts and The Day Nora Ate the Sun (September 3rd, 2024), Sticky Notes: Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments (October 15th, 2024), Matt Sprouts and The Search for The Chompy Wompers (Summer, 2025) and Holes in My Underwear: A Collection of Illustrated Poetry (Fall, 2025).

Matt's Featured Titles

Sticky Notes: Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments

Andrews McMeel Publishing |
Motivational

From popular personality and storyteller Matt Eicheldinger, a collection of 100 true, uplifting short stories that capture the meaning behind everyday encounters, and the small lessons woven in-between.

Every story is important. Every single one.

When middle school teacher Matt Eicheldinger had a student who wouldn’t speak at all, he decided to leave her a sticky note on her desk everyday, each one with a funny cartoon or encouraging messages. Years later, she returned to share she had saved every sticky note he had left to encourage her, leaving Eicheldinger to wonder what other extraordinary moments he missed from seemingly ordinary interactions.

Luckily, he had a way to revisit them all. For the past fifteen years, Eicheldinger has written down moments like this from his classroom, capturing literally hundreds of daily interactions between himself, students, and families.

Sticky Notes offers readers a chance to experience one hundred of these stories that capture friendship, grief, joy, and so much more. Although each story can stand on its own, Eicheldinger offers a new perspective that will help you understand what he has grown to learn over the years: there is always a greater message within the story, we just need to be ready to see it.

Matt Sprouts and the Day Nora Ate the Sun (Volume 2)

Andrews McMeel Publishing |
Children’s/Middle Grade

Matt Sprouts is back for another hilarious adventure! It’s been a few months since Matt defeated “the Curse,” and if you thought that was bad, get ready to meet Matt’s latest challenge—Nora the goat. Have you ever babysat a goat before? Trust us, you do NOT want to do it. Join Matt, his little brother Elliott, his girlfriend Grace, his best friend Eric, and a mysterious kid who lives in the forest in the HILARIOUS sequel to the bestselling book, Matt Sprouts and the Curse of the Ten Broken Toes!

After defeating “the Curse,” twelve-year-old Matt just wants to relax. But Dad has another idea—Matt needs to “build some character,” whatever THAT means. So Matt ends up a pet sitting for his neighbor, Farmer Jed. Easy enough, right?

Wrong.

In fact, it’s downright baaaaaaad.

The “pet” in question is Nora, an old goat with glassy eyes and short tail. Farmer Jed says she’s “special.” Matt’s pretty sure, however, that the most impressive thing about Nora is how far her eyes can roll into the back of her head.

While trying to keep track of Nora and all her mysterious actions, Matt is also helping his girlfriend Grace with her Science Fair project, attending both soccer and Cross-Country practice, and, oh yeah, trying to avoid some scary guy named Jason who seemingly wants to enact perilous revenge on young Matt. More on that guy later.

So much for “time to relax”!

Matt Sprouts and the Curse of the Ten Broken Toes (Volume 1)

Andrews McMeel Publishing |
Children’s/Middle Grade

After accidentally injuring his neighbor, Matt Sprouts thinks he has “the Curse,” a hometown myth that ruins middle schoolers’ lives. To defeat the Curse, Matt decides he needs to solve the mystery—and FAST!—but that’s not easy to do when you’re entering middle school, keeping track of your little brother, trying to defeat the best soccer team, and oh yeah, not breaking any more toes. This book is a New York Times bestseller!

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

USA TODAY BESTSELLER
PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY BESTSELLER

Eleven-year-old Matt Sprouts is in big trouble. He didn’t mean to hurt his neighbor Jenna with that awesome martial arts move—it just happened! Blame it on morning cartoons or Jenna’s lack of coordination. Any­ways, getting grounded is the worst thing that could happen, right?

Wrong.

After the incident spirals into a series of downright unfortunate events, it’s decided that Matt has contracted “the Curse,” a hometown myth that has ruined the lives of middle schoolers before him. And as if the Curse weren’t enough, entering sixth grade proves to be just as mysterious—there’s a strange girlfriend, wacky teachers, and . . . c’mon, can Matt’s toes stop breaking PLEASE?!

Matt decides to take matters into his own hands. Now he just has to break the Curse . . . before all his bones break.

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Author Visit - Students

For his school visits for the Matt Sprouts books, Eicheldinger tells his story of persistence in publishing, how a book is made, and of course, tells plenty of stories that will have kids laughing and repeating them for days. Students will also complete a how-to-draw Matt Sprouts, and learn how to draw themselves in Eicheldinger’s style of cartooning.

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Understanding the Lessons and Impact of Small Moments:

Eicheldinger talks about his journey in education, and how he wrote down something he witnessed in his classroom each day for fifteen years. He walks the audience through some of these stories, and the life lessons he learned from them along the way. Although the talk stems from the education field, it is applicable for anyone wanting to understand how their daily tasks have a great impact than they may realize. These stories are compiled in the upcoming book Sticky Notes: Memorable Lessons from Ordinary Moments.

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The Idea of Perseverance

In this address, Eicheldinger shows his fifteen year journey from his first rejection letter to becoming a debut NYT Bestselling bestselling author. He details there are many inflection points in life where believing in oneself, as hard as it can be sometimes, can yield amazing results, even when the only feedback you are enduring is “no”.

Matt’s Media Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

Matt Sprouts and The Curse of Ten Broken Toes (2021, self published)
Indie Book of the Year
Moonbeam Children’s Award

Matt Sprouts and The Curse of the Ten Broken Toes (2024, Andrews McMeel Publishing)
New York Times Bestseller
USA Today Bestseller
Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller
Selected for Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Program (Summer, 2024)

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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