Timeless Thomas by Gene Barretta

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What do record players, batteries, and movie cameras have in common?

All these devices were created by the man known as The Wizard of Menlo Park: Thomas Edison.

Edison is most famous for inventing the incandescent lightbulb, but at his landmark laboratories in Menlo Park & West Orange, New Jersey, he also developed many other staples of modern technology.  Despite many failures, Edison persevered. And good for that, because it would be very difficult to go through a day without using one of his life-changing inventions. In this enlightening book, Gene Barretta enters the laboratories of one of America’s most important inventors.

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 Timeless Thomas by Gene Barretta is "a glowing tribute to the inventor who continues to influence modern life", according to a starred Kirkus and a "...useful tool to introduce history and inventions to reluctant readers or students…" according to School Library Journal

Reluctant Reader Rant by James Proimos

 

I wrote 12 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU CRASH AND BURN with the idea of telling a lot of story with as few as words as possible.

I was worried that because it was short and funny folks would blast through it and miss some of the deeper themes in the book.  These days it seems to me folks tend to read like they are in a mad race against time.

Much to my surprise, a lot of critics really got 12 THINGS. 

That made me happy.

What I started not to like was the term “reluctant reader” that kept turning up in the reviews.

It seems that if you are a teenager who likes a short, smart, funny books, you are a reluctant reader. 

It is kind of insulting.

Worse that that, I think it turns a lot of kids off to reading all together.

 And that makes me angry.  Very angry. 

I’ll be right back.  I am going to throw stuff around the room.

I’m back.  Slightly out of breath, but back.

The thing is, if you give a kid a book that interests them they will not only read it, they will devour it. 

The problem is not reluctant readers.

The problem is reluctant writers.

Writers reluctant to write the kinds of books I am talking about.

Because if ninety percent of the books out there were short, smart, funny books that were about tiny moments rather than big magic goings-ons, the tables would be turned.

The avid readers would become the reluctant readers and the reluctant readers would become the avid readers.

Now that would be something to cheer about.

Of course, after a while I would feel that the kids who were reading the monster-sized fairy tale novels were being treated like second class readers. 

Which would make me angry.  Throw-stuff-round-the-room angry.

And then I would have to write a rant about that.

And if there is one thing the world does not need to read, it is yet another rant from me.

Mums the Word - Matthew Meets the Man!

by author Travis Nichols

Matthew Meets the Man is set in an unnamed mid-sized city in Texas, similar to my hometown of Abilene. It's a part of the country where much of the year revolves around football. You don't have to be on the team or even be interested in the game. From dances to marching band competitions and beyond, football is the center of attention. I was never into football, but I participated several times in a tradition that I only recently discovered isn't well-known nationally.

In Texas and Oklahoma (and apparently some parts of Louisiana and Arkansas), the most grand and opulent of football-related traditions is THE HOMECOMING MUM. In the '70s, a guy would pin a chrysanthemum on his main squeeze's blouse for homecoming. How quaint. As time passed, the real flower was replaced with a fake, and ribbons and charms sprouted out in greater and greater numbers. Then, the double mum. Then, the triple mum.

Then, stuffed animals. Neckstraps became necessary. I've seen recent photos of mums with LED lights. SPEAKERS. Sure, you can still buy/make a more modest mum for $30 or so, but what's the point? If she doesn't need a back brace after, what does that say about your affection?

I was visiting Texas in the fall, and I took photos of part of the mum-making section at a craft store. Repeat. Part of the mum section. Do an image search online to see more of the glorious madness.

RECOIL IN (SCHOOL-SPIRITED) HORROR. Note: the first image is of pre-charmed mums.

I love telling people about homecoming mums, so I knew early on that I HAD to include mums in Matthew Meets the Man. In the book, to avoid depleting his drum fund, Matt makes his date a skimpy nothing of a mum. His mom sees it and does NOT approve. He adds to it and ends up with something that is on the tasteful end of the spectrum.

Matt's friend Greg makes a mum for his date, and it's a whole different animal. Hint: the illustration takes up a page and a half.

Looking back on my pre-teen and teen years in a football town while writing Matthew Meets the Man was a lot of fun. Sure, I never cared about football, but the traditions and energy that surrounded the games was a great part of growing up. Most importantly, immortalizing the mammoth mum my friend Kip (who, um, in no way is, ahem, er, the basis for 'Greg') made for his girlfriend one year makes me feel like I accomplished something really special with my life.

In your face, Kip. In your face.

AM I REALLY TOMMY GREENWALD?

 

In response to a recent Times article author Tommy Greenwald read, he drummed up a little fodder for our blog:

Patricia O’Brien had five novels to her name when her agent, Esther Newberg, set out to shop her sixth one, “The Dressmaker”… A cascade of painful rejections began… Just when Ms. O’Brien began to fear that “The Dressmaker” would be relegated to a bottom desk drawer like so many rejected novels, Ms. Newberg came up with a different proposal: Try to sell it under a pen name.

Written by Kate Alcott, the pseudonym Ms. O’Brien dreamed up, it sold in three days.

            -THE NEW YORK TIMES, FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Dear Readers:

I sympathize with Ms. O’Brien completely. The publishing world is a jungle, and I’ve never been particularly fond of jungles, what with the mosquitoes and humidity. So when it came time to publish my modestly successful children’s book, CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING, I too decided to use a nom de plume (which is French for “unlisted number”).

I went with Tommy Greenwald because I thought it had a nice ring to it, plus it’s a name that makes you think of a kind, humble, extremely handsome person.

But if I’m not Tommy Greenwald, who am I really?

I’m not quite prepared to tell you.

I will, however, give you a hint: My actual identity is one of the following five people. Please examine the following choices carefully, then decide for yourself who you think I am. You may well be right. And if you’re not right, please be at least assured in the knowledge that you’re wrong.

Here are the possibilities:

MITT ROMNEY – I had to change my name because no one would believe I would spend time on something that would yield so little income.

JEREMY LIN – I had to change my name because people would expect a better vocabulary from someone who went to Harvard.

THE GUY WHO STARS IN “THE ARTIST” – I had to change my name because people think I can’t form actual words.

BARBARA KELLERMAN – I had to change my name -- even though you don’t know who I am -- because I’m Tommy’s mother, and I’m so desperate for him to be successful, I wrote the book in his name.

J.K. ROWLING – I didn’t have to change my name – I don’t have to do anything for anyone, as you well know – but I’m tired of people telling me how bloody brilliant I am all the time, and if I had to go on one more publicity tour (you know I love you, Oprah, but enough is enough), I may well have clobbered someone.

So those are your choices. What do you think? Who am I? And perhaps more importantly… did I really write this Op-ed piece?

Come to think of it, this would make a great mystery! Someone should write a book about it.

ARE YOU GOING TO THE SCBWI NEW YORK CONFERENCE?

NOW IS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A FREE CRITIQUE WITH A BARELY CONNECTED, RELATIVELY INEXPERIENCED MIDDLE-GRADE NOVELIST!

 If you’re going to the SCBWI conference in New York, and you’re looking for something to do for ten minutes, why not spend some time with a lonely writer? Tommy Greenwald, author of the Charlie Joe Jackson series (CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING, the upcoming CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO EXTRA CREDIT), is worried that he won’t know a single solitary soul at the conference, and so he is shamelessly trying to buy companionship by offering a free ten-minute critique to ten budding writers. Tommy will listen to your pitch and accept the first five pages of his manuscript; then, if he likes what he hears and reads, he will send an email to the very few editors and agents he knows, facilitating an introduction. If he doesn’t think it’s quite ready for submission, he’ll tell you why in a totally nice way.

In return, all you have to do is laugh at his jokes and pretend that you guys are old friends.

To enter, just go to tommygreenwald.com and comment on the post.