Wednesday, May 27, 2009

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Read all about how terrorism strikes the city of Seaside and what 4 teens do about it. 

My graphic novels RECON ACADEMY are available at Hisbot.com . This is the early online store that will become Hizbot.com, where Boys read. Guaranteed.

RECON ACADEMY is about 4 teens who run a counterterrorism unit out of a secret headquarters hidden deep inside their high school. They battle their archenemy Shadow Cell to keep the high-tech town of Seaside safe for the citizens. 

Nuclear Distraction: Matthew (aka Hazmat) races to stop Shadow Cell's secret attack on Seaside's nuclear power plant and finish in time for a hot date. 




Prep Squadron: Jay is sent on a Recon training mission at the Navy base, not knowing that he's being tricked by Shadow Cell into infiltrating a high-tech weapon hangar. 




Shadow Cell Scam: Emmi has to save each Recon member from the new computers given them for free, which are actually gas time bombs, set to knock out the team while Shadow Cell prepares to shoot down a Navy rocket.



The Hidden Face of Fren-Z: The team responds to a bank robbery call and Ryker uses his super programming skills to stem an attack on the Federal Reserve by Shadow Cell's top hacker Fren-Z.




Also available at Hisbot.com is my illustrated chapter book SUPERMAN: TOYS OF TERROR 

Superman fights the wicked devices of Toy Man to stop the evil ever-child stealing a Metropolis Christmas Parade float full of innocent children. 




All these books are great summer reading for boys and girls alike. They really fit my mission of getting boys to read. They have lots of action and techno-thrills. Buy them for your young readers and - please - let me know what they think of them. 

Monday, May 11, 2009

Wrap Up

Man, it's hard to get back once signed off. Things have been so crazy (in a good way) that I'm just now getting a chance to sit down and finish my IRA story. 

So, I went back to the IRA conference on Wednesday, just pumped up on the reading buzz. Getting exposed to 4,000(?) people all in the same place for the purpose of reading gave me an intellectual contact high. I still feel brainy from it. 

I remembered my camera this time too! First thing, I stopped by the Red Brick Learning booth, where my signing for Stone Arch Books was held on Tuesday. First person I saw was my friend and Stone Arch Acquisitions Editor Michael Dahl. He's the guy wearing the great tie in the picture below. Michael is a terrific guy whom I love discussing boys reading with because he's enormously knowledgeable and very dedicated. 

We don't often get a chance to catch up so I tricked him into going to lunch with me a little later. In the meantime, I kicked around and found that there was a graphic novels for young readers workshop going on and I ran upstairs to jump in at the middle. That's where I met Matthew Holm, c0-creators (along with his sister Jennifer) of Babymouse, a very fun graphic novel series for young readers, which, frankly looks like anyone of any age would enjoy. Very fun presentation of the trials and tribulations of an artist, a writer and a mouse, PLUS a great discussion of kids and reading. One insight Matthew shared was that a researcher told him that kids make no distinction between the multiple communications channels open to them, that a text message is a call is an email. Very interesting. Here's Matthew, making like we're old friends (thanks, Matt):


After that engaging discussion, I ran back downstairs to meet John Scieszka, who was around and signing books somewhere. Lo and behold, he was just feet away from the Red Brick booth, signing TruckTown books at the Simon & Schuster AND.....

Meeting a hero is so much fun. Hope we get a chance to meet again soon. So, International Reading Association is a great organization and the Minneapolis conference was a great event. I can't wait for next year's, which I hear is in Chicago. 

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Me in the IRA



Remember a couple weeks ago, I told everyone that I joined the International Reading Association (IRA)? 

I was wishing at the same time that I could go to one of their conferences because they sounded so in-depth and fun. What I didn't realize at the time was that a) one of the IRA conferences was scheduled for Minneapolis (where I live) and b) my publisher Stone Arch Books had already booked me to sign copies of my Recon Academy books at the conference. 

I was thrilled, jazzed and psyched all at the same time. So I asked my partner Mike to get a splash page posted for our boys reading site hizbot.com, got some cards printed up, forgot my camera at home and headed over a couple hours early on Tuesday. 

I visited a few booths. At the Scholastic booth I met Michelle Kemp, who is an amazingly bright and knowledgable Implementation Specialist. We had a great talk about boys reading and she shared a ton of research materialsat in on a couple workshops - one with John Rocco of Moon Powder and Shrek (he art directed the movie) fame. I heard that John Scieszka of Guys Read was around. John is one of my heroes in the boys reading movement and meeting him would have been a highlight. But I heard the I'd missed him -- bummer. 

I stopped by the Scholastic booth and saw that my Minneapolis writer friend Pete Hautman was signing his new book "How to Steal a Car," I give Pete so much guff when I see him that I don't think he knows he's one of my writing heroes. I admire him so much that even thought I was cutting the clock close, I stood in line (no perks for Pete's buddies) and got a book signed, then RAN the 25 yards to the Red Brick Learning booth (Capstone and Stone Arch partners) where they were sweating my arrival. 

I didn't even notice the LONG line waiting for my signing. I signed 75 books in about 20 minutes, accompanied by the lovely duo Krista Monyhan, Marketing Coordinator and Joan Coughlan Berge, President of Stone Arch Books. What a blast! I think I had a conversation with EVERYONE who dropped by. I love people and that was lots of fun. We were giving away a copy of Recon Academy to each person and I hope we sold or inspired the sale of tons of these books for boys. I know boys will love them. I'm proud to work with Stone Arch. 

Before I left for the day, I was hanging around wondering if there was just one more thing to do before I left for the day. So I left the doorway and walked back into the exhibit hall to the Pearson booth where TA DA John Scieszka was talking about his TruckTown books. I was thrilled, jazzed and psyched all over again. He talked about reading to kids, showed us pictures of his TruckTown creative team's studio at Simon & Schuster then READ one of his new books SMASH CRASH to a group of adults who hadn't had so much fun all day!

I went up and got a book signed and told John about our project hizbot.com and my initiative to personally inspire 1 million boys to read. He said he would link to us through guysread.com when we're ready! I also told him that I forgot my camera and would come back tomorrow for a photo. 

Come back tomorrow for my report (AND PHOTOS) of my Wednesday visit to the IRA conference. That's what we call a setup.  

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

De-Classified

It's happening! The secret underground factory is flinging open the doors and letting the sunshine in! The powerful product we've been working night and day on?
You know I'm dedicated to boys reading I believe that THE biggest issue with why boys don't read is CONTENT. Hizbot.com will be a boys-only online bookstore, with resources for parents and lists of books that boys WANT to read. 

We got our splash page up over the weekend and everything is under construction. Our plan is a full launch with working bookstore on June 1. 

In the meantime, go to hizbot.com and sign in so we can keep you up to date as our launch approaches. We'll also send you "READ LIKE A HERO: The boys' guide to turning a book into an adventure." HERO is our own boys' easy-reading guide that clearly describes to boys the elements of a story, offers 10 easy things they can do to improve their reading and has a book report template they can "steal" and use. 

We'll see you at hizbot.com

Tomorrow, look for my report on my trip to the International Reading Association's conference in Minneapolis. It's been a blast!