Chris Grabenstein's Blog
April 7, 2012
Riley Mack's First Review
I always love reading what Lesa Holstine has to say about any of my books. Here's what she posted on her blog about RILEY MACK AND THE OTHER KNOWN TROUBLEMAKERS
It doesn't matter if Chris Grabenstein is writing adult or juvenile mysteries; his books are a hit. Now, he's launching a new juvenile series designed for readers in grades three to seven, ages eight to twelve. Forget those ages, though. If you love a good comic crime caper, try Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers before you turn it over to the kids you love. Remember the moment when Paul Newman puts his finger beside his nose in The Sting to indicate the game is on? Do you miss Donald Westlake's Dortmunder and his co-horts? Kids won't recognize Grabenstein's tributes to these great con men, but you might.
Riley Mack is a seventh grader with an unusual group of friends. There's Mongo, a humongous twelve-year-old, Jake Lowenstein, a techno-whiz, and Briana Bloomfield, a bright girl into theatrics. When Briana calls them to rescue a fifth grader from a high school bully, Gavin Brown, they add that boy, Jamal Wilson, to their Gnat Pack. Jamal has an extensive vocabulary, and a talent for picking locks.
Why the Gnat Pack? Because Police Chief Brown hates Riley and his cronies, referring to them as "Known Troublemakers," and the "Gnat Pack." Riley likes that. "Gnats were tiny menaces, clever little pests with the power to drive grown-ups...crazy." And, Riley and his crew relish the chance to drive the police chief crazy. He is a bigger bully than his son, Gavin.
While Riley's father serves in Special Forces in Afghanistan, Riley has his own assignment from his father. "He'd protect his family, he'd protect his friends, and he would defend those who could not defend themselves." If that means he and his friends have to team up to fool a bully, free fifty dogs from a puppy mill, and foil a bank robbery, they'll do that in their own unique style. Riley Mack will come up with a scheme to utilize the talents of his friends.
Don't be afraid to introduce this group of "Known Troublemakers" to the kids in your life. Riley Mack and his friends are bright kids, defenders of the underdogs. And, the police chief might view them as troublemakers, but it's because he's a crooked cop. Riley and his friends are kids who care for others, and work together to right wrongs.
Chris Grabenstein's Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers is a fun romp. It's funny and filled with great characters. The villains are truly nasty and a little stupid. The group of heroes are appealing characters. Chris Grabenstein has been one of favorite authors since I read his first John Ceepak mystery. He continues to win my loyalty with every book. Now, he's added one of my favorite sub-genres to his repertoire, the comic crime caper. Share this book with a kid you love. But, do yourself a favor. If you enjoy a comic adventure, read it for yourself.
Chris Grabenstein's website is www.chrisgrabenstein.com
It doesn't matter if Chris Grabenstein is writing adult or juvenile mysteries; his books are a hit. Now, he's launching a new juvenile series designed for readers in grades three to seven, ages eight to twelve. Forget those ages, though. If you love a good comic crime caper, try Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers before you turn it over to the kids you love. Remember the moment when Paul Newman puts his finger beside his nose in The Sting to indicate the game is on? Do you miss Donald Westlake's Dortmunder and his co-horts? Kids won't recognize Grabenstein's tributes to these great con men, but you might.
Riley Mack is a seventh grader with an unusual group of friends. There's Mongo, a humongous twelve-year-old, Jake Lowenstein, a techno-whiz, and Briana Bloomfield, a bright girl into theatrics. When Briana calls them to rescue a fifth grader from a high school bully, Gavin Brown, they add that boy, Jamal Wilson, to their Gnat Pack. Jamal has an extensive vocabulary, and a talent for picking locks.
Why the Gnat Pack? Because Police Chief Brown hates Riley and his cronies, referring to them as "Known Troublemakers," and the "Gnat Pack." Riley likes that. "Gnats were tiny menaces, clever little pests with the power to drive grown-ups...crazy." And, Riley and his crew relish the chance to drive the police chief crazy. He is a bigger bully than his son, Gavin.
While Riley's father serves in Special Forces in Afghanistan, Riley has his own assignment from his father. "He'd protect his family, he'd protect his friends, and he would defend those who could not defend themselves." If that means he and his friends have to team up to fool a bully, free fifty dogs from a puppy mill, and foil a bank robbery, they'll do that in their own unique style. Riley Mack will come up with a scheme to utilize the talents of his friends.
Don't be afraid to introduce this group of "Known Troublemakers" to the kids in your life. Riley Mack and his friends are bright kids, defenders of the underdogs. And, the police chief might view them as troublemakers, but it's because he's a crooked cop. Riley and his friends are kids who care for others, and work together to right wrongs.
Chris Grabenstein's Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers is a fun romp. It's funny and filled with great characters. The villains are truly nasty and a little stupid. The group of heroes are appealing characters. Chris Grabenstein has been one of favorite authors since I read his first John Ceepak mystery. He continues to win my loyalty with every book. Now, he's added one of my favorite sub-genres to his repertoire, the comic crime caper. Share this book with a kid you love. But, do yourself a favor. If you enjoy a comic adventure, read it for yourself.
Chris Grabenstein's website is www.chrisgrabenstein.com
February 18, 2012
BACK TO SCHOOL TIME!
For me, every week is "Back To School Time."
This week I'm off to a middle school in Indiana. Next week, I'll be at a middle school in Albany, New York. And so it goes for the rest of the school year. I limit myself to one school visit a week because of LOOMING deadlines. Otherwise, I think I might try to go to a new school every day.
My "mission" is to make reading and writing fun.
First I talk about story structure, using examples from my books. You know, the basics: setting, protagonist, antagonist, conflict, resolution.
Then with suggestions from about 250 eager 5-8th graders crowded into an auditorium, I create an instant Ghost Story right on the spot, using some of the tricks and tools I picked up back in the early 80s when everybody had mullets, thought Miami Vice was cool, and I was doing improvisational comedy in a Greenwich Village basement theatre.
In one improv at a school, when I was looking for a name for our antagonist, a sharp fifth grader yelled out: "Ickleby!"
He is thanked in my newest Haunted Mystery THE BLACK HEART CRYPT as the inspiration for the villainous family's name in that book.
In my travels, I have met all sorts of terrific teachers. One, I remember, taught his students to clap whenever they heard alliteration when someone was reading aloud. Imagine my surprise when I got a clap-clap-clap when I read about my hero Zack Jennings' "famous firebomb fandango fastball."
I remember that, at one school I visited, the librarian asked, "Will you talk to the 8th graders?" Apparently some authors won't. 8th graders can be scary, I guess. So far, I haven't met one I couldn't out-smart-aleck.
Mostly, the kids ask wonderful questions. Why do you like writing so much? When did you first start writing? (That answer is easy -- when I was in middle school and was terrible at sports). How do you make a character in a book? How many books have you written?
Ah, that question always leads us into a nice discussion of things like rejection letters. Yes, I have published 17 books/stories/plays since September, 2005. But, I have written about 27, if not more.
At schools, I have also learned how to eat pizza topped with french fries. Why the name "Bob" is the most popular name for a character in a story. That fart jokes work every time.
My favorite schools to visit are the ones where the students have been studying one of my books in class. Another great teacher I met read The Crossroads to her special needs classes. There is one character in the book, a ghost, whose presence is always preceded by the minty scent of Brylcreem wafting on the air. To make the book more vivid for her kids, she told me she would light a peppermint scented candle right before reading them those scenes.
At a school in North Carolina, the students had been working on The Crossroads for a month before I showed up. They not only had questions, some had even constructed dioramas based on scenes from the book.
And how could I ever forget the school in Maryland where another great teacher dragged in all her Halloween decorations so the cafeteria would look just right for an assembly about ghost stories.
So, number me among those who greatly admire teachers. I buzz into a school, put on 3-4 shows, have a blast, teach a little something about writing, get kids jazzed about creating their own stories, and go home exhausted. They do the same thing every day.
And it was a teacher, years ago, back when I was one of those smart-mouthed 8th graders, who scribbled a red-ink note in the margins of one of my theme papers saying, "You will make your living as a writer some day."
I remember thinking, "Hmmm, maybe I will. Maybe I can."
All because of a teacher.
To learn more about my school visits, please visit this page of my web site:
http://www.chrisgrabenstein.com/kids/...
This week I'm off to a middle school in Indiana. Next week, I'll be at a middle school in Albany, New York. And so it goes for the rest of the school year. I limit myself to one school visit a week because of LOOMING deadlines. Otherwise, I think I might try to go to a new school every day.
My "mission" is to make reading and writing fun.
First I talk about story structure, using examples from my books. You know, the basics: setting, protagonist, antagonist, conflict, resolution.
Then with suggestions from about 250 eager 5-8th graders crowded into an auditorium, I create an instant Ghost Story right on the spot, using some of the tricks and tools I picked up back in the early 80s when everybody had mullets, thought Miami Vice was cool, and I was doing improvisational comedy in a Greenwich Village basement theatre.
In one improv at a school, when I was looking for a name for our antagonist, a sharp fifth grader yelled out: "Ickleby!"
He is thanked in my newest Haunted Mystery THE BLACK HEART CRYPT as the inspiration for the villainous family's name in that book.
In my travels, I have met all sorts of terrific teachers. One, I remember, taught his students to clap whenever they heard alliteration when someone was reading aloud. Imagine my surprise when I got a clap-clap-clap when I read about my hero Zack Jennings' "famous firebomb fandango fastball."
I remember that, at one school I visited, the librarian asked, "Will you talk to the 8th graders?" Apparently some authors won't. 8th graders can be scary, I guess. So far, I haven't met one I couldn't out-smart-aleck.
Mostly, the kids ask wonderful questions. Why do you like writing so much? When did you first start writing? (That answer is easy -- when I was in middle school and was terrible at sports). How do you make a character in a book? How many books have you written?
Ah, that question always leads us into a nice discussion of things like rejection letters. Yes, I have published 17 books/stories/plays since September, 2005. But, I have written about 27, if not more.
At schools, I have also learned how to eat pizza topped with french fries. Why the name "Bob" is the most popular name for a character in a story. That fart jokes work every time.
My favorite schools to visit are the ones where the students have been studying one of my books in class. Another great teacher I met read The Crossroads to her special needs classes. There is one character in the book, a ghost, whose presence is always preceded by the minty scent of Brylcreem wafting on the air. To make the book more vivid for her kids, she told me she would light a peppermint scented candle right before reading them those scenes.
At a school in North Carolina, the students had been working on The Crossroads for a month before I showed up. They not only had questions, some had even constructed dioramas based on scenes from the book.
And how could I ever forget the school in Maryland where another great teacher dragged in all her Halloween decorations so the cafeteria would look just right for an assembly about ghost stories.
So, number me among those who greatly admire teachers. I buzz into a school, put on 3-4 shows, have a blast, teach a little something about writing, get kids jazzed about creating their own stories, and go home exhausted. They do the same thing every day.
And it was a teacher, years ago, back when I was one of those smart-mouthed 8th graders, who scribbled a red-ink note in the margins of one of my theme papers saying, "You will make your living as a writer some day."
I remember thinking, "Hmmm, maybe I will. Maybe I can."
All because of a teacher.
To learn more about my school visits, please visit this page of my web site:
http://www.chrisgrabenstein.com/kids/...
February 10, 2012
My First E-Book Exclusive
So do young readers read books on Kindles and Nooks and other e-readers or are they just for older folks who need that FONT ADJUSTMENT BUTTON BIG TIME.
I guess I'm about to find out. This week, I put my first E-Book Exclusive for middle grades readers (ages 8 and up) in the Kindle and Nook stores. It's a story I have been working on, on and off, for three or four years: THE EXPLORERS' GATE. http://www.chrisgrabenstein.com/kids/...
The book takes its title from the fact that all the gates leading into New York City's Central Park are named after the professions of the working-class people who came into the park when it first opened in the 1870s. That's why they're called stuff like Farmers' Gate, Merchants' Gate, Scholars Gate, and Explorers' Gate.
Yes, I love Central Park and know far too much about it, probably because I have gone for a run through some winding part of it every morning for over ten years. One morning, in early Spring, I went jogging just after dawn and saw dew dropping of the statue of Balto's lolling tongue and thought, "Wow -- it looks like that dog has been out running all night and just now froze back into place."
Being a big fan of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, I started wondering -- What if (which is how so many stories get started) all the statues in the park came to life after dark? All because, back when New York was New Amsterdam, the early Dutch settlers shipped over some clever kabouters (a.k.a. gnomes) from the old country, magical creatures who used to help around the farm, home, and shop; wee people with so much life force, their excess energy is a lot like AM radio waves: at night, it bounces around and animates inanimate objects.
In my telling of the story, as New York City grew from being a wooded island filled with farms into a teeming metropolis, these creatures needed a new woodsy home. And so, some very rich and influential New Yorkers of Dutch ancestry decided to create Central Park as an eternal sanctuary for the kabouters. THE EXPLORERS' GATE tells the tale of Nikki Van Wyck, an intrepid twelve year old girl, who goes on a fantastic modern day adventure in Central Park. She becomes part of a Crown Quest Competition to help the kabouters determine their new king. She also discovers the wildly magical and sometimes frightening things that happen on the other side of the park's gates after dark. (Some of the statues, including the ones with swords, are rooting for the bad guys to win the Crown Quest.)
It's a story I loved telling and re-worked a dozen different times.
It's the first of my (many) manuscripts that didn't find a home with a traditional publisher that I decided to go ahead and publish myself.
Why?
Did I mention that I love Central Park?
I'm hoping THE EXPLORERS GATE will serve as a fun tour guide to all the wonders hidden within the park's low stone walls. In fact, I hope that this coming Spring, I'll see young (and old) people in pointy red hats exploring all the places Nikki explores.
What's with the pointy red hats?
Well, you'll have to read the book to find out!
I guess I'm about to find out. This week, I put my first E-Book Exclusive for middle grades readers (ages 8 and up) in the Kindle and Nook stores. It's a story I have been working on, on and off, for three or four years: THE EXPLORERS' GATE. http://www.chrisgrabenstein.com/kids/...
The book takes its title from the fact that all the gates leading into New York City's Central Park are named after the professions of the working-class people who came into the park when it first opened in the 1870s. That's why they're called stuff like Farmers' Gate, Merchants' Gate, Scholars Gate, and Explorers' Gate.
Yes, I love Central Park and know far too much about it, probably because I have gone for a run through some winding part of it every morning for over ten years. One morning, in early Spring, I went jogging just after dawn and saw dew dropping of the statue of Balto's lolling tongue and thought, "Wow -- it looks like that dog has been out running all night and just now froze back into place."
Being a big fan of NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, I started wondering -- What if (which is how so many stories get started) all the statues in the park came to life after dark? All because, back when New York was New Amsterdam, the early Dutch settlers shipped over some clever kabouters (a.k.a. gnomes) from the old country, magical creatures who used to help around the farm, home, and shop; wee people with so much life force, their excess energy is a lot like AM radio waves: at night, it bounces around and animates inanimate objects.
In my telling of the story, as New York City grew from being a wooded island filled with farms into a teeming metropolis, these creatures needed a new woodsy home. And so, some very rich and influential New Yorkers of Dutch ancestry decided to create Central Park as an eternal sanctuary for the kabouters. THE EXPLORERS' GATE tells the tale of Nikki Van Wyck, an intrepid twelve year old girl, who goes on a fantastic modern day adventure in Central Park. She becomes part of a Crown Quest Competition to help the kabouters determine their new king. She also discovers the wildly magical and sometimes frightening things that happen on the other side of the park's gates after dark. (Some of the statues, including the ones with swords, are rooting for the bad guys to win the Crown Quest.)
It's a story I loved telling and re-worked a dozen different times.
It's the first of my (many) manuscripts that didn't find a home with a traditional publisher that I decided to go ahead and publish myself.
Why?
Did I mention that I love Central Park?
I'm hoping THE EXPLORERS GATE will serve as a fun tour guide to all the wonders hidden within the park's low stone walls. In fact, I hope that this coming Spring, I'll see young (and old) people in pointy red hats exploring all the places Nikki explores.
What's with the pointy red hats?
Well, you'll have to read the book to find out!
