How Very Cool Is This? An Interview With Helen Hemphill, the Deadwood Jones Author

Yeeehaaa, partners, Helen Hemphill, the author of that terrific book The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones, has very nicely given us an interview:

Deadwood Jones is a terrific book. Your other books are set in modern times--why did you write about two African-American boys going out west and joining a cattle drive?

I read Nat Love’s autobiography. Nat was born in Davidson County, Tennessee (Nashville) in 1854. After the Civil War, he went west looking for work and adventure. According to Nat, he was the best cowboy ever born. He could out ride and out shoot any man. I loved the bravado of Nat’s voice and wanted to write a character like him. Once I did the research and found out a third of cowboys on the western cattle drives were minorities, I thought the story was one that needed telling.

Your two main characters are thirteen and eleven-year-old boys. Was it hard to get into minds of boys and write about them?

The hardest part was getting the language right. I was writing across race and time. I kept a vocabulary journal and mined words from diaries and narratives of the period. The emotional aspects of the boys seemed to evolve as I did the research and outlined the plot. By the time the actual writing started, I knew these boys pretty well.

The Old West was a beautiful but harsh and dangerous place. Much of the action happens as the characters cross that hazardous land. Would you say that the West is itself a character in your book? (what a grown-up librarian sort of question to ask!)

I don’t know if it’s a character (maybe!), but the difficulty and harsh nature of the land was so much a part of the common experience of the time. I think we tend to forget what a hardship day-to-day living was for pioneers, particularly cowboys. They had to be tough and determined. I didn’t want to gloss over that in my story.

Why is it cool for boys to read/write?

I once heard a writer talk about reading lots of comics and adventure stories when he was a boy. That’s not a bad thing at all. But one day his seventh grade teacher told him that he was reading widely, and it was time he began to read deeply. The teacher gave him a copy of the novel Look Homeward Angel. Reading and writing help us live bigger, richer lives. They help us express our dreams and our opinions and tell our own stories. It’s cool for boys to be part of that.

Did you read comics as a girl? Did you have a favorite character?

I loved Brenda Starr. She was a glamorous Chicago reporter who always had intrigue and adventure no matter what news story she followed. Smart, independent, and beautiful, Brenda had a mysterious boyfriend, Basil St. John. She eventually got promoted to editor and married Basil. I kind of stopped reading after that.

What are your favorite sports?

I grew up in Texas where football reigns, so the game is near and dear to my heart. But I’m also a chump for ice hockey. It’s fast and tough, and the guys have to skate backward.

Which do you prefer—cheeseburgers or pizza? What do you like on them?

To me, pizza is the ultimate comfort food. My fav is thin crust pepperoni with extra sauce. Then, I usually top it off with a Fudgesicle. Ah, perfection.

You seem pretty cool. Could we make you an Honorary Guy?

I would love it. I have two sons and a husband, which makes for a totally male household. Being an Honorary Guy would put me in the club—awesome!

Thanks, Ms.Hemphill! We look forward to seeing you. (DON'T FORGET--she will be at Imaginon to talk about her book and do a writing exercise based on photos of South Dakota on February 5 at 11:00 am) And we will present you the coveted Honorary Guy Certificate while you're here!

Carl

PS--here's a book trailer for Deadwood Jones:

A New Lightning Thief Fan, The Truth About The Last Olympian Excerpt, And Rick Riordan Reads a Portion of The Sword Of Hades!

Hey everyone, 'tis the Great and Powerful CARLMAN, who is now the Greatly Excited Percy Jackson Fan, because The Demigod Files is coming out in a little more than 2 weeks!!! Yippeeee! Can hardly stand the excitement. I'll tell you more in a minute. But first, let's hear from flippy, our newest fan of The Lightning Thief:

the book called the lightning thief is a really awesome book. It's all about this kid named percy is put between this war between posiedon and zues. Zues has lost his prized possesion, the master bolt. So, percy the prime suspect beacause, the gods weren't supposed to have kids so, when zues finds out, poseidon and zues get in a fight, and gods can't steal from other gods so percy is the prime suspect. So percy goes on this adventure to find the real thief. It's a really awesome book:) :)

Thanks, fkippy!! Yes, this is one of my all-time favorite books. The rest of them just get better. The final book in this series, The Last Olympian, will come out May 5.

Now let me digress for a moment. The Great and Powerful CARLMAN, who sees through space and time, knows that several people have visited this blog to find out where to read an excerpt from The Last Olympian. The only place I know of will be be in The Demigod Files, that comes out February 10. Mr. Riordan will put a tantalizing excerpt in that book, but that will the ONLY place!! No place online!! No other blog, website, or fansite!! At least, not as far as I know. The CARLMAN has been wrong before! If you know of another place, please tell me. But on Febraruary 10, you can read an excerpt in The Demigod Files. AND NOT ONLY THAT, in that book you can read interviews with the characters, see a map of Camp Half-Blood, AND read three other Percy Jackson stories--"The Stolen Chariot," "The Bronze Dragon," and a BRAND NEW ONE--"The Sword of Hades!"! In fact, here' Mr. Riordan to tell you about The Demigod Files and read a bit of the new story!!!!!!

Enjoy,

Carl

Announicng A New Blogger!!

Greetings, fellow reader guys in Blogland!! I'm excited to announce a blog I learned about last night. This blog is all about books for guys and the best part is---it's run by a reader boy just like you!! Yes, his name is Ian and he started his blog to tell other guys about books he's enjoyed. Bill I met him at the library last night and he is a really cool guy. Take a look at his blog called Books To Read And Games To Play and support your brother reader guy (and blogger guy)!!!
Carl

Who Will See the Movie Version of Coraline and a New One From Brian Jacques!

Sigh. Looks like there'll be another Sith/Jedi war on the blog. Well, OK, boys, go ahead--just don't slice each into so many pieces that you can't type. If it gets too bad, the Great and Powerful CARLMAN will step in once again and bring balance to the Force by getting us all to read another book together.

In the meantime, Anonymous has written to us again:

Are you planning on going to see the animated movie version of "Coraline";even though the main character is a girl?

AND what's wrong with a Sith liking puppies and kittens? They are probably shape shifters and are really wolves and tigers!

Well, I probably won't. Nothing against Coraline or Neil Gaiman, but I'm not a big fan of horror books or movies. (And I really am glad Mr. Gaiman won that award) My brother blogger and reader Rowdy Roddy at the SMS Guys Read blog says it well here. I mean, he literally SAYS it there because it's an audiofile. If you can't download it, check out the original post here.

Anonymous also turns us on to a new book by the great Brian Jacques:

New book review"Doomwyte" by Brian Jacques
Griv and her crow escort emerged into an immense cave. The sight resembled some infernal nightmare from the brain of a madman. High up in the poisonous, mist-wreathed recesses of the vast ceiling, water dripped from limestone stalactites. Heaps of protruding, decayed and yellowed bones were piled up against the lower walls. The centre of the cavern floor was dominated by a large lake. There was an island in the middle of the lake. The centre of this island was a limestone hill, surmounted by a monlithic statue of polished black obsidian. It was a monumental work, depicting a huge raven, with a snake draped about it's neck. Both the face of the raven and the snake above it, contained eyeless sockets.

This is the lair of Korvus Skurr, a huge raven. A smoothsnake named Sicariss serves as his adviser. They are the latest of their kind searching for the two rubies and two emeralds that originally were the "eyes" of the statue. Many, many, years ago Gonff, the mouse thief stole those jewels.Now Bisky, a young mouse, Samolus, his grandunk (grand uncle), Umfry Spikkle, a hedgehog, Dwink, a young squirrel, and various other Redwall characters work together to battle Korvus and his army of birds and reptiles including the dreaded Balissss, the adder.

Will they solve the riddles and find the treasure? In this the latest book in the "Redwall" series you will find adventure, interesting and sometimes frightening creatures, and above all a very enjoyable story. This is one of those "I just can't put the book down" sort of books. This book will appeal to both guys and girls. (In case you have a sister that likes to read.)

Thank you, Anonymous! I know there are a lot of Redwall fans out there. How about it--have any of you read this one?

The CARLMAN, who brings balance to the Force

Presidents By Memory, Sleeping Freshman, and Deadwood Jones Author In Charlotte!!

This is the Formerly Sick and Sneezing CARLMAN writing to you this afternoon. I spent the weekend in bed with a knock-me-flat cold. Whew! It was a rough one but I'm back and feeling better--good enough to say

GO NEIL!! GO NEIL!! GO NEIL!!!

I am so glad to see a real GUY BOOK win the biggest award a kid's book can get. Congratulations, Mr. Gaiman!

I also came in and found 2 messages waitng for us. First off, Michelle, Aaron's mom has written to us:

aaron can't recite the gettysburg address but he can list all the presidents in order from memory - wanna see? :)

Sure! We'd love to see that. Come on down to Imaginon and let us video you! We'll even give you a prize. By the way, Aaron, did you ever get your free book? We like to take pictures of guys when they receive them.

We also had another good review by cyber kid 303:

Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar is an extremely funny book about Scott Hudson, a freshman in high school. He doesn't like the experience of being a freshman, mainly because of seniors who are mean. Then he finds out his mom is pregnant. This is a good book because it is funny.

We're always looking for good and funny books. Thanks, cyber kid!

And now we have some exciting news--Helen Hemphill, the author of the exciting book The Adventurous Deeds of Deadwood Jones will be here at Imaginon on Thursday, February 5, at 11:00 am. She'll speak about her book and about the Old West and have a writing exercise based on pictures of South Dakota. She's done this for lots of kids and they've all had fun. So come on!! Especially you Bruner Boys, since I know you are getting a copy of her book. And all you other guys too!! It'll be in Studio C in Imagionon on Thursday, Feb. 5 at 11:00 AM.

Carl

PS--to see my review of Deadwood Jones, cllick here.
PPS--After her talk, we'll present Ms. Hemphill with an Honorary Guy Certificate! Don't miss it!!

Breaking News on Baby Animals and Jedi

Hello all,

It is with a heavy heart that I must post this exclusive interview I found on the news this mourning. I must warn you all it is very shocking, so be sure to be sitting when you watch!!!! You should also be warned that the video is a little shaky as the heroic interviewer did this interview during a full scale earthquake!!!!!



Shocking Exclusive News From "The Boys Rule Boys Read" Blog Investigative Team

Now I know this may come as a shock to you all that "Jedi Master Zack" is actually an evil Sith Lord. As for myself, I always had my suspicions. Now Darth Bill's perspective on baby animals is that they are needed and should be taken care of and even loved. I guess this Sith just has a soft spot in his heart for puppies and kittens - plus they are potential sith in the making. Well we tells it like it is here. Shame on you Jedi Master Zack for your views on small animals and your unprovoked attacks on me):

Sad and Shaken,


Darth Bill



P.S. I want everyone out there in the land of Blog to know that I am taking the high road in not telling everyone that in some quarters "Jedi Master Zack" is also known as "Jedi Sweetie Zack." Oh I just told everyone didn't I. Tell you what, forget you ever heard me say it.


P.S.S. Yeah for Mr. Gaimen!!!!! Your books rock!!!!!

Boy Book Wins the Big Award!

Hello guys, the elusive Master Jedi Zack has dug himself out of the piles of books to write again!!!

Every year around this time the American Library Association (sounds like a fun group of folk, right?!) announces the best books of the year in a whole bunch of categories. Normally us Guybrarians see this list shrug and go on with our day, but this year things are different! One of my all time favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, won the Newbery Medal for The Graveyard Book.

Darth Bill wrote about this book in his puppy and kitten post recently. The Newbery Medal is the highest honor librarians give to a children's book, and I must say I'm proud of the choice that was made this year. Read the book!!!