Practical jokes start sweeping through Stoneybrook and the baby-sitters are NOT amused. Especially after Claudia falls off a swing and breaks her leg. She can't help wondering what would have happened if she had broken her arm instead. Could this accident change her mind about being in the club?
Students win a trip of a lifetime to Earth Two, a research facility after winning the state science fair. Three students from one school join other students. Rowan and Tinker are friends. They are not friend with the third student - Amari. Because they three of them are from the same school, they are paired together for their volunteer work.In the swamp zone, they spy a small creature that's unlike anything they've ever seen before. The scientists don't believe the students saw anything out of the ordinary. Rowan and Tinker decide to uncover the truth...but they'll need Amari's help. Can the three uncover the truth about the creature?
This week's topic is foodie books. I do love a book that talks all about food!
Sometimes they do make me want to bake...
Did Al Capone really bury one million dollars somewhere in Florida?
My understanding is that he actually buried keys to safety deposit boxes. (I eliminated that step to make it just the money so that it would be more immediate.) I also made up the treasure map; but the rest of it is true including the niece having him hypnotized and digging up all the land on the estate. (Funny side note – I planned to include the Capone house as part of the story, but the day I went there to scout and research, it was literally being torn down. It was more than one hundred years old, but they picked that day to make me rewrite the plot. Instead, I have they come there as it’s being torn down)
What was your first summer job?
My very first one was selling food at Sea World. (I worked at the Snack Encounter, which was right next to the Shark Encounter.) But every summer after that, I worked at Walt Disney World on the Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes. I would stand in the front of a giant canoe, dressed a coonskin cap and tell bad jokes to guests paddling through the summer heat. (“You see that burning cabin over there? That’s where my girlfriend lives. Well, actually we broke up, so she’s just my old flame. She used to work her but she got fired. It burns me up to think about it.”) It was a great job that taught me a ton about comedy writing. I’m still friends with many of my fellow canoers and we greet each other with the call “Yip-yip-yow,” which played on a recorded loop in the back of the Rivers of America.
That's too funny. I love the "Dad" jokes.
What fun tidbits of research didn't make it into the book?
I hung out with a marine biologist at the University of Miami because the father in the book is a marine biologist at the University of Miami. Late one night, we were with his grad students at the nursery where they try to grow coral and they played Marvin Gaye over loudspeakers to get the coral “in the mood.” I could not figure out a way to work that into the plot.
There was another one that I couldn’t figure out, but have since added it to book two. The Bee Gees lived in Miami Beach and when they drove over the Tuttle Causeway, the sound of their tires going over the seams in the road created a rhythm that inspired the beat of the song Jive Talkin’. Originally, it was even title Drive Talkin’ because of where they first heard it.
I can't wait for book 2!
Do you have a favorite fictional detective/story?
So, so many. My first was Encyclopedia Brown, whose stories inspired me greatly. My favorite author is Michael Connelly and I love his main character, Harry Bosch. My wife and I are addicted to British mystery shows and my favorite detectives there are Christopher Foyle from Foyle’s War, Jimmy Perez from Shetland, and Vera Stanhope from Vera.
Which W would you choose to research?
I am fascinated by character and personality, so for me it would always be Who.
