Almost exactly a month ago, for the low price of $5, I walked out of the Bloomsburg Public Library sale with a bag stuffed with books. I came on the last day, so I was surprised to find such an excellent selection left, from art books to mystery novels to kids' books. I even snapped up one rare book, Farm Ballads, that I found sells for a pretty penny online.
First up in my reading from this pile is The Time Warp Trio. This fun series was published between 1997 and 2006. It was so popular it spawned a television series that debuted in 2005 on Discovery Kids. The shows are now available to watch on YouTube for free. You may have read the books or watched the show back in the day, but me? I somehow was oblivious that the series even existed until I saw these used copies on the library shelf. The covers, designed brilliantly to capture the attention of eight-year-old boys, worked their charms on me. I'm a sucker for the silly titles, my favorite being Viking It and Liking It.
As you can see from my selection above, my set is incomplete and consists of two separate printings. Beggers can't be choosers, and neither can second-hand library book buyers. In the future, I would like to complete my collection with the Puffin editions (bottom row) rather than the Scholastic. I enjoy how the Puffin designs hearken back to EC comics. They scream fun and excitement. Not only do they have more aesthetic appeal to me, but I also appreciate that they are each numbered sequentially. It drives me crazy having to hunt for publication dates. Thankfully, as you see below, some kind soul marked the Scholastic editions for me.
The books are a quick read, averaging around 80 pages with lots of black-and-white illustrations by Lane Smith and Adam McCauley. The plots are simple. Three boys possess a magic book that transports them in time. To return home, they must find the magic book that is thrown back in time with them. Along the way, they and we, the readers, learn a bit about history, but the lessons never get in the way of the adventure. Each chapter ends with a nail-biting cliffhanger. I’ve found the best way to read them is before work while I'm eating my favorite cereal.
My favorite is Summer Reading Is Going To Kill Me. It deviates a bit from the formula and throws the boys not into a different time but into their school's summer reading list, which gets all jumbled up. It's a ton of fun as you find such diverse characters as Dracula and Winnie the Pooh inhabiting the same space. It got my imagination going and made the artist in me want to break out my pencils and begin drawing. Thanks to the reading list at the end of the book, I also plan to seek out some middle-grade writers I have yet to read whose characters play a part in the story.
By the way, even though The Time Warp Trio escaped my notice until last month, I’ve been a fan of Jon Sciesnka and Lane Smith’s picture book work for the better part of two decades. You may have seen The True Story of the Three Little Pigs or The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales? Those are theirs!
John Sciesnka has also created a library of books called "Guys Read.” Troubled by the decline of interest among boys in reading, he set out to create a library of books that might actually get their attention. To help him achieve this goal, he recruited an amazing array of creators including, Dan Pilkey, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Matt Groening, and many others. You can learn more about his mission and purchase this unique library here: jonscieszka.com/guys-read
Fantastic Four notwithstanding, I've always enjoyed teams of three. My favorite series as a kid was The Three Investigators. I've always wanted to be on a team like that. I used to imagine my schoolmates as Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and myself, Bob Andrews. Alas, we never shared their adventures or camaraderie, but it was always something I wanted.
These days, in my spare time, while not working on my novels or cartoon strips (or, you know, my actual day job), I've been dreaming of my own trio of characters. Here's a character sheet sketching out the team: Rhenn, Gil, and Bobby—or, as I call them, RGB.
Oh, and I've also added a fourth character. But she’s an outsider. I call her CMYK, for short.
I hope you enjoy this sneak peek. These guys are still developing and growing in my mind. As they tell me more about themselves, I may share it here with you. Oh, and remember to let me know what you're working on. I'd love to support and promote your work!
Until next time - Always Be Creating!
Bill
Hi Bill. What a fun post and what a great score from your library! I don't dare go to library book sales because I'll come home with way too many books (kind of like you did haha). It's the same reason I can't volunteer at the SPCA. I love the image of you reading your books at breakfast like an 8yo. How do you reconcile reading older books when query letters require recent comps? I feel guilty when I read older books--which makes me sad because, obviously, there are so many fantastic books older than the 3-5 year-old comp books.