THE SUMMER OF MYSTERY - COMING VERY SOON!

The other day I was a judge in a poetry slam at a Middle School. A great experience, but the icing on the cake for me was when a seventh grade boy approached me afterwards to tell me how much he enjoyed my GP series and couldn't wait for the next book to come out. When I told him the next book was coming within the next month he started gyrating and jumping around like it was Christmas! Man Oh Man did that make my day, week and month. I cannot wait to hear from him after he has read the next book!

SO, I am TOTALLY excited to tell you about my new book coming within the next month! I think you will be too! Each chapter begins with a WANTED poster, featuring the main theme of the chapter, brilliantly rendered by my great friend and awesome illustrator David Schiedt!

Kids at the schools I visit always ask me what my favorite of all the books I have published are. I have to say THIS BOOK is my favorite for many reasons: Mystery, Summer, Buddies and THE MOST WANTED POSTERS are just a few of the reasons for me. I had as much fun writing this book as I think my readers will have reading it!

I finally wrote THE BOOK that I would have wanted to read badly as a boy!

SO. If you haven't read the first three in the series, it's time to catch up!

There is an awesome deal at my website right now - BUY 3 BOOKS - GET A 4th FOR FREE! www.justinmatott.com 

Simply add a note if you want the books signed and or personalized for the reader who will receive them.

With book four coming what could be a better way to go? Not just that, but I will make sure you get a 4th book signed by myself AND David Scheidt, the illustrator!

What a way to start your readers out for the summer. The new book is titled THE SUMMER OF MYSTERY - Book 4 in the GP series.

Here is a sample chapter (click on the image to make it larger). Mr. Lattimore was a villian in book three and he will make another appearance in book four as Gabe and his gang try to unravel the mystery behind him. Many other mysteries need to be solved and they are up to the task.

Under a full moon, around a fire where s'mores are being built Mr. Patchett will divulge many answers to the mysteries you've read about in the past. Revealing the back story to many of the mysteries surrounding the neighborhood, those mysteries that comprise the majority of questions I get from the readers of books 1-3.

 

I remember wondering about authors... now, no one needs to!

I have OVER 65,000 blogviews presently on this blog, with 48 "followers", which means a lot of invisible people reading my goofy posts and I say thank you to each of you!

A teacher recently said something to me after an assembly I did in a school which stuck to me.  She said, "It is so nice for the kids... and us... to see a real person behind the books.  I often wonder who children imagine when they think of the people who wrote the books they are reading."  "Hmmm, me too." I thought and wondered if the majority of information they would have about an author would come from the little description on the jacket flaps or if they would search the internet to understand more about the creator of the story they just spent time in.

I recently spent a few hours with Avi http://avi-writer.com/, with 54,800, 000 google hits, that's five times as many as Dr. Seuss, WOW! He is a respected, Newbery winning author and as we chatted, I tried to piece together the books I have read by him with the person he is "in person".  Two different things.  He writes about a wide range of topics and he is a "normal" human being with an incredible way of telling stories.  I would rather have that first hand view of him than an internet POV.

So, I started looking at the "footprints" authors I read and have read leave behind now that so many people get their information off the internet.  Generally speaking you would think the majority of the information we could glean from an author would be in the books he or she has written, but there is SO much to find on the WORLD WIDE WEB, Thank you for that Mr. Al Gore.

I remember really respecting Wilson Rawls, Where the Red Fern Grows, when I was a kid for creating a story that sucked me and made me feel as thought I had been a part of the book the whole time I was turning pages. There are 612,000 google results when his name is searched, even though he died before the internet was invented, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_Rawls, that is if you can believe Wikipedia, which is really one of the most unreliable sites on the internet by the way.   I remember wondering about Dr. Seuss (11,500.000 google results) (http://www.seussville.com/) when I was a kid. SO much imagination! SO many great stories! SO COOL he must be.  I never remember reading anything other than their books.

NOWADAYS authors (self included) are remarking, blogging, LIKING, tweeting every little thought that crosses his or her mind.  The mystery is no more.  It is both good and bad I suppose.  The inner workings of an author's mind, the way he or she comes up with creative stuff that delights can now be viewed daily.  I follow some authors on twitter and know their snacking habits, pet peeves, imaginations gone awry, debacles of relationships, political persuasions, you name it it is out there!  The one thing to remember though, is, if it is not in an author's book with his or her name on it, it might be suspect.  There are twitter tweeters who pretend to be the likes of J.K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman and other celebrity authors and they are tweeting things that are supposedly written by the authentic person.

As I think of the footprints I leave on the World Wide Web, I think there is entirely too much information out there and much of it at my own doing! I must count not one, not two, but three Facebook pages that I contribute to, one "personal" and one "fan page" and one book club: (https://www.facebook.com/justin.matott & https://www.facebook.com/MatottBooks or the Facebook Virtual Book club I host, https://www.facebook.com/groups/190852800976831/   A twitter account https://twitter.com/justinmatott.  A website: www.justinmatott.com. This blog: http://justinmatott-snickers.blogspot.com/.  Another blog for schools http://justinmatottatyourskul.blogspot.com/.  Much on amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=justin+matott many entries and review on http://www.goodreads.com/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=justin+matott, A blog amalgamater called Storylane http://www.storylane.com/justinmatott, but NO PINTEREST.  Come on, a guys got to draw the line somewhere... wait, my assistant has a Pinterest account that she has put up information about my books on.

I am an internet rookie as compared to these other mentioned illustrious authors and they really had very little to do with it.  A simple google of my name shows 15, 400 entries, 364 image results (the vast majority having nothing to do with me), 3 videos (one of which has nothing to do with me), and a map that actually takes you to Matoto, Guinea, . 

One thing to keep in mind is the internet's reliability, or actually the lack thereof.  Don't believe everything you read or see on the internet and don't assume it really comes from the author you follow or admire, unless it is on his or her personal blog and or website.

The proof of this are the pictures included on this blog post.  Each of them come up when you put my name in google and select images.  I promise you, I had nothing to do with any of them.  I don't know why the colorful queen is associated to me.  I don't where the gold dome palace is.  I used to read Winnie the Pooh books to my boys and on occasion called one of them Eeyore when he was being grumpy and I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA who the shirtless guy is. 

So there you have it.  There is a ton of information available about authors on the internet, but the very best information FROM them is contained in their books.

My conclusion; read the books, enjoy the books, sometimes a little mystery is a good thing!

WONDER

I have spent the past ten years visiting schools and often talking about bullying, hazing and character issues and how it relates to some of my own childhood experiences, those of my son and the content of my GP series of books.  I am often asked by teachers for books that would be great read-alouds and I am very careful to recommend books that will bring forth great discussion, compassion and empathy for those different from onself.  As with the main character of WONDER, I can NEVER understand how people can be so cruel as to make and already difficult situation more difficult.   

Wonder is a book told from multiple perspectives about a ten year old boy who is dealing with the perfect storm of genetic facial issues who enters into the scary world of public school for the first time in fifth grade. Having been cocooned for his whole life in the nest of loving parents, an understanding and for the most part empathetic older sister and a loving dog, Daisy, he must now go out into the CRUEL world and find out if he can make it against the odds.  

You will find yourself championing August "Augie" as he encounters wonderful people (Summer, one of my favorite characters) and will weed through betrayal and outright bullies (my least favorite characters).

I don't want to spoil the story in any way, but I will tell you half way through I said aloud, "I sure hope this DEBUT WRITER knows how to end this well.  I don't want to invest in this book both time wise and emotionally to be let down.  I assure you, there is NO let down.

I predict this DEBUT WRITER has penned a Newbery. 

I have had readers come to my book signings and thank me for including them in my books.  Primarily those with speech impediments, I can only imagine how this lovely little girl felt when she knew she was represented with such aplomb, dignity and character.  BRAVO Ms. Palacio, BRAVO!