^B00:00:01 >> Jill Garcia: Hello everybody. Welcome to the national book festival. Are you guys excited? Come on. I am here to introduce Chris Grabenstein, who is a number one New York Times bestselling author from the action-filled Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library. He has several more books in the series, which I'm sure you all are aware, and he also has Welcome to the Wonderland Series, and he's cowritten numerous books with James Patterson like I Funny and Jacky Ha-Ha. Well see, there we go. And Treasure Hunter series. Chris Grabenstein has received many awards including the Agatha Award for Best Children's and Young Adult Novels four times, and from what I can tell, he also has a wickedly fun sense of humor. His newest book is Welcome to Wonderland, Sandapalooza Shake-Up, and he also has a really big surprise for you guys. You're going to want to stick around for this. He's going to be signing at 1:00 over in line 14. Please welcome, Chris Grabenstein. >> Chris Grabenstein: Thank you. >> Jill Garcia: You're welcome. >> Chris Grabenstein: Thank you so much. Thank you guys for coming out. It's great to be here in our nation's capital. They put my slide up on the, I need my slides now. Okay. Do we have any fifth graders here in the audience? Any fifth graders. Up on that screen right now is my picture when I was in the fifth grade. Have any of you been able to figure out which one of those kids I was when I was in the fifth grade? Anybody want to guess who thinks they know? Yes, which one was I? >> On the top row. >> Chris Grabenstein: Top row. ^M00:01:33 [ Inaudible Comment ] ^M00:01:35 On this side. Oh, the guy with the blond hair? No, his hair is blond. What color is my hair? ^M00:01:39 [ Inaudible Comments ] ^M00:01:43 What color did my hair used to be. Black. It used to be black, so you're looking for someone with black hair up there. Yes, which one was I? ^M00:01:51 [ Inaudible Comment ] ^M00:01:54 The second row in the little turtle neck. He's got a receding hairline, looks like he's going bald? No, it's not me. I didn't start going bald until like ten years ago. That kid was going bald in the fifth grade. By the time we got to sixth grade, we all called him Chrome Dome. Now since I mostly write mysteries, I'm going to give you guys a clue right now. When I was in fifth grade, my eyesight was better than it is today. I did not wear glasses when I was in the fifth grade. Who seems to know? Yes, which one was I? ^M00:02:23 [ Inaudible Comment ] ^M00:02:25 The one in the red T-shirt? Oh the one T-shirt, no his hair is blond. Have any of you read any of my books? Has anybody here read one of my books. I'm giving you another clue right now. Have you read my books? Yes, the young man in the red shirt. Which one do you think I am? The one in the red shirt. Yes. That was me in the fifth grade. Let's give this guy a round of applause. So I show you that picture for a couple reasons. One, to prove before my hair started going gray, thank you very much for notice that. Before it started going backwards on my head, I was actually at one point in my life 10 years old and in the fifth grade, and in the fifth grade is when I first started having fun writing. I used to do these little comic books where I'd draw the pictures and make up the stories and pass them out to my friends. And when I was in fifth grade, I grew up in a little town called Signal Mountain, Tennessee, which is outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the local Lions Club had an essay writing contest. I entered and won first prize. That was my first writing award ever. It was a cream puff day in our house. Then I went to Junior High School, and I got the bowl haircut going guys. I recommend that look. It's a good look. You just put a bowl on your head. The chicks dig it. And I worked on the school newspaper, and I had a really good English teacher. And her name was Mrs. Garrett. Are there any teachers here today? Teachers, you have the power. Let's give a round of applause for teachers. They don't get enough love in this country. Let's hear it for teachers because Mrs. Garrett, my own goal, whenever we did a homework assignment, I wanted to make Mrs. Garrett laugh, because I wanted to write like Art Buchwald or Dave Berry or somebody, just to make her laugh. And she liked my essay so much that she wrote in the margins of one of my papers, you will make your living as a writer someday. And when a teacher tells you something, you know it has to be true, because teachers everywhere, take a solemn vow to never ever lie to children. Isn't that right teachers, you all remember that day in college. You had to raise your right hand. Plus, you know, my parents, if they said, oh Chris, you're so talented, you could be a writer, I would have said, you're my mother and father, you get paid to say nice things about me. But when a teacher tells you something, you go, ooh, maybe that's true. Maybe I've got a little talent. So by eighth grade I had made up my mind that I wanted to be a writer when I grew up, and I can prove it, because my mother saved my eighth grade composition book, and every year when I was in school, we had to write the same essay. What do you want to be when you grow up? And I used to say I wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer or a chemical engineer like my father, but in eighth grade, inspired by my seventh grade teacher, this is what I wrote. But now my mind wanders to a new thought, to be a comedian or a writer is my quest. If this flops, I would be content to be a millionaire and run Grabenstein's department stores if I could ever fit the name on a sign. Got a B plus on that. I'm looking for a retroactive A minus at least. I got a B plus on that. So now, I am living my eighth grade dream. These are all the books I've written so far for guys your age. I start out writing a bunch of ghost stories called the haunted mystery series. And then I wrote the island of Dr. Libris. Some of you have read the island of Dr. Libris, that's one of my favorite. And then this guy named James Patterson called up. He needed a little help and said, could you help me write a couple books. And I said, yeah, sure Jim, what the heck. He was actually, James Patterson and I go way back to 1984. He was my first boss in advertising at the Jay Walter Thompson Advertising Agency. So before we wrote about treasure hunters or funny kids or houses filled with robots, we wrote about flame broiled whoppers for Burger King. Good times, good times. So we've got I think 22 books tog, and some of you have read Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, is that right? Ooh, thank you. Any of you from Virginia, because it won a book award in Virginia. So, thank you all, you Virginians. Thank you very much. And that book was turned into a movie on Nickelodeon. A little bit of advice, never write your book report based on the movie. They're always a little bit different. Read the book please. And that was kind of fun because it starred this kid, Casey Simpson, who stars in that Nickelodeon show Ricky Dickey Donkey Dorky Dooky-- ^M00:07:03 [ Inaudible Comment ] ^M00:07:05 That's it, I can never remember the name of the show. And also Brianna Edie was in the show, and I got to go out to Hollywood and got to be on the set with everybody. And it was a lot of fun. There were great actors. And then I got to go to the movie premiere and walk the orange carpet because it was Nickelodeon, everything is orange. So that was great and, but now I'm going to share with you guys before, we're going to go to questions right away because I know there's a lot of questions. I'm going to share with you guys some coming attractions for next year. First off, James Patterson and I have a new book called Max Einstein, the genius experiment, all about a girl named Max Einstein. I think it's the first book endorsed by the Einstein estate, so it's kind of exciting. And then, for you Lemoncello fans, in October there's going to be a three-book box set that comes out, and inside that box set there will be a bunch of bonus puzzles and stuff that you can play, because we're always getting asked, can I have some more rebus puzzles, so there will be some bonus puzzles in there. And then, the fourth book in the Welcome to Wonderland series comes out in April, and it's called beach battle blowout. And then James Patterson and I have another book next April called Cat Versus Dog, which was a lot of fun. But now, for the first time ever, I can announce that there will be a fourth Lemoncello book. [applause] No one in the world has seen this cover until today. Until today. This is big. So this is Mr. Lemoncello's all star break out game. [applause] And it will be coming out in, I think in May. I never know when these things are coming out. It's coming out in May, and how many of you read the third book? How many have read--so that was all about nonfiction. The fourth book is all going to be about the power of fiction. That's why there are windows, doors, and mirrors on the cover because if you read a book, you get to live someone else's life and walk in their shoes for a little while. So Kyle and his friends are going to be in something called the fictionasium in the fourth book. So that should be a lot of fun. So I didn't want to yammer all day long. I'm going to have some questions from you guys, because I know a lot of you have questions. They have two cool microphones here, so why don't you line up on the microphone so I can hear your questions. I'll get some water too. ^M00:09:25 ^M00:09:29 Yay. Yes, sir? ^M00:09:32 ^M00:09:36 Oh there you go. I think I just heard it come on. >> What was your inspiration for Mr. Lemoncello's Library. >> Chris Grabenstein: Mr. Lemoncello's Library was inspired by the fact that when I was a kid librarians were all about protecting the books from the children. You'd go into a library, and they go, shhh be quiet. You'll wake up the books. Or get your sticky fingers off the books. And then I started doing school visits when my haunted mysteries came out, and I met all these really kind of fun librarians, and the library became the center of activity in schools, and I said, where were these librarians when I was growing up. And then I went on a school visit to a school in Brooklyn called PS10. It's in Brooklyn, New York. It was made out of red brick. It's three stories tall, been there since 1932, forget about it. So I say, it looked like ordinary school, but then I went upstairs, and they had a brand new library. And I asked the librarian how did you guys get this brand new library in your otherwise kind of old-fashioned building, and she said, oh, a very generous millionaire donated it to us. So that day on the subway ride home I took out my writer's notebook and my pen and I wrote down the two magic words that have started every book I've ever written, what if, what if a very generous and somewhat loony bazillionaire donated a library to the town where he grew up, and that's how the whole thing got started. Good question. Thank you. We'll go over here now, yes. >> How much books do you have? >> Chris Grabenstein: How many books have I written? Thanks to my friends at the Library of Congress, they just told me I have 62 books in the Library of Congress because I started out writing books for adults, and I wrote like nine or 12 mysteries and thrillers before I started writing books for kids. So I have 62 books in the Library of Congress. I'm going to go over there and look at them some day. It's kind of exciting. Yes? >> Have you ever had, have you ever had writer's block? >> Chris Grabenstein: Have I ever had writer's block? No, and if I was doing my school presentation, I would show you how to never have writer's block. Do you ever have writer's block? >> Yes. >> Chris Grabenstein: Here's the problem. We all sit down and try to make what we wrote perfect the first time through. Well, you know that book Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library? >> Yeah. >> Chris Grabenstein: I worked on that book for two years, and I rewrote 50 percent of the entire book at least eight different times. >> Wow. >> Chris Grabenstein: So nobody gets it right the first time, and if you quit trying to make it right the first time, you will never ever ever ever have writer's block again. So remember, the first draft is just for you. Give yourself permission to write a really bad, terrible, stinky, no good first draft, and you'll never have writer's block again. >> Okay. >> Chris Grabenstein: There you go, yeah? >> What was the inspiration for Charles Chiltington? >> Chris Grabenstein: Charles Chiltington. Well, when you write a book that you have to have two characters at least. One is the protagonist. That's the hero. You're going to follow them through the story, but they've got to butt heads with an antagonist. So I tried to make Charles the opposite of Kyle, where go you remember the very first time you meet Charles Chiltington? Where was he? Do you remember where he was? >> In his study. >> Chris Grabenstein: In his library in his house. So does he even need a public library? No. He has all the money in the world, so Kyle's attitude is knowledge not shared remains unknown. Charles Chiltington and his family think knowledge is power. I'm not going to share it with anyone. So when you write a book, it's almost like you're doing a wrestling match, and you got to have a good guy and a bad guy, and they're going up against each other. So that's where Charles came from, and he was based on every snobby person I've ever met in New York City. >> Thank you. >> Chris Grabenstein: And we have a lot of them. Yes? >> What was your inspiration for The Great Library Race? >> Chris Grabenstein: The Great Library Race. I wanted to, you know, I was with a teacher. I get a lot of my ideas when I go on school visits, and I was with a librarian or a teacher who picked me up at the airport or whatever, and she said, I wish you would do a book that taught kids that research means you go back and you re-search. You don't take the first answer you find. And when she told me that, the little lightbulb went off in my head. What if in this game they discovered some fake news about Mr. Lemoncello, would they believe the first they found, or would they dig deeper and find the truth? So I wanted to do a fun story about research and how to do proper research. Good question. >> Chris Grabenstein: Oh, yes. Over here. >> What's it like to be a successful author? >> Chris Grabenstein: I'll let you know when it happens, no. [laughter] I never think of myself that way. I just have a lot of fun writing stories and making stuff up, and it's thrilling for me to see this many people have read my books. So, yeah, the first time my book became a New York Times bestseller, we did a little dance. I think it was the happy dance. So that's kind of exciting, and it was fun to see a movie. Because my mom, who is 92 years old, she said, I remember when you were a kid, I said one day I'm going to see your name on that TV screen, and I did last night. So that kind of stuff is cool. But thank you for calling me successful. Thank you. Yep? >> How long does it take you to write a book? >> Chris Grabenstein: Too long. No. How long does it take to write a book? I write faster than most people, which is why I do eight books a year, but each book probably takes about six months to a year. I can write the first draft in four or five months, but am I done when I do the first draft? No. I have to rewrite it to make myself happy. Then I show it to my wife. And I rewrite it to make her happy. Then I show it to my editor, and an editor is like a teacher, and they'll read your paper, and they'll send you a letter. It's known as an editorial letter, and the last one I got was 13 pages long, and there's always one paragraph that goes, oh, Chris, you're such a genius. This is going to be a great book, great book. And then there's 12 pages of, but you might want to think about. Then it wraps up with a, but you're a genius, it's going to be a great book. They call it the compliment sandwich. They put the compliments on either end like bread, and then they stuff it with all the meat. And so will go back and forth. My wife and I just finished writing a book together, and we did six major rewrites on it, and now it's all done. So it's a fun process. I'm lucky I've had really good editors who only want to make the book the best it can be, so it's a fun process. Yes? >> I love writing, and I wanted to know what was, what was the age you were when you first wrote your first book? >> Chris Grabenstein: My first book? Well, I wrote, I've been writing since I was ten years old in the fifth grade, then I moved to New York City, and I did improvisational comedy with a troupe. We had a guy named Bruce Willis in our troupe. He shaved his head, moved to California. We don't know what happened to him. And I did that for like five years, and then James Patterson hired me at J. Walter Thompson, so I wrote commercials for almost 20 years. Then I started writing movies and stuff. My first book was published two days before my 50th birthday. So it's a really good sort of second career or third career for anybody who thinks about being a writer, because the average age of every New York Times bestselling author is 56 years old. So I still had six years to go. So I was 50 when the first book came out, but I didn't get started till late. You know, I didn't think I could write a book until, again if there's any aspiring writers here in the adults, read Steven King's book on writing. That's what inspired me to think I could do it. Yes, over here. >> What's your favorite of the Mr. Lemoncello's Library books? >> Chris Grabenstein: I love them all. They are my children. It's like asking me to pick her favorite son, and she had five boys in seven years. She'd pick me. I guess I love them all. Probably the first one would still be my, will have a special place always because it was the first book of mine that anybody ever heard of. I was at a book festival in Atlanta, Georgia, and I had 30 books published, but Mr. Lemoncello came out, and it was a New York Times bestseller. I think it's won 42 different state book awards, and they introduced me as, here he is, debut author, Chris Grabenstein. It was like the first book anyone ever heard of, so that will always have a special place in my heart. >> Thank you. >> Chris Grabenstein: Yes? >> When you wrote your eight grade composition, what you wanted to be when you were older, did you really expect like that you would be an author now? >> Chris Grabenstein: I didn't think I'd be an author. I knew I would probably be a writer, because I wrote skits for my friends to act in, and I acted in a lot of plays, which is another good thing, any of you guys want to be writers, see if you can work with the drama club or act in plays, because that's all about dialogue and character, but I thought I might be a writer, but I thought I would work in journalism, which is what I studied in college or television or advertising, because I had to make a living. It's very hard to make a living as an author when you start out. Yes? >> When you won the essay contest in fifth grade, was it a cake day at your house? >> Chris Grabenstein: Well, you've read the second Lemoncello book. That's good for you, because in the first Lemoncello book I talked so much about balloons that every school I visit, they'd have balloons. So, when I was a kid, if one of us did something exciting like got in an honor society or won the science fair, my mother would make these cream puffs. So we literally called them cream puff days, and I remembered that when I was writing the second book, and I said, I'm going to establish cake days for Kyle. That way when I go visit a school, there will always be sheet cake waiting for me, and there has been, and that's why I've gained 20 pounds. Okay. Yes? ^M00:19:03 >> How hard was it to write a lot of books? >> Chris Grabenstein: How hard was it? Well, at first it was really hard. Have you ever given anything to your teacher and they've given it back to you and said, you can do better than this. Have you ever been rejected? >> No. >> Chris Grabenstein: Oh, well I was rejected for four years. I quit my job in advertising. I was living off my savings, and I wrote my first book. It took a year. We sent it out to every publisher in the New York, and guess what they all said? No, we're not going to publish this. You have been rejected. And then I wrote another book, took another year, and they all said, you have been rejected again. Then I worked for a third book for a third year and got rejected again. But fortunately during this time I had Chinese food for dinner, and one night I cracked open my fortune cookie, and inside was a slip of paper that said get knocked down seven times, stand up eight times. So I took that fortune cookie, and I taped it on my computer, and I kept going. And my fourth book that I wrote four years after I started was the first one that got published. So, yeah, there's a lot of rejection along the way, but if you love doing it, it's a lot of fun. Yes, over here? >> So in the Nickelodeon movie for Mr. Lemoncello's Library-- >> Chris Grabenstein: Uh-huh. >> We watched it in class, and we all, whenever we stopped it, we all were like, no. And then we, the next day our teacher was like only if you be good, then you can watch it, and so we all tried to our best, and we got it. And one of my favorite parts was the hover books, and also loved the part when, what's his name? >> Chris Grabenstein: Charles or Kyle? >> Ky-- >> Chris Grabenstein: Kyle's the main guy-- >> Who's the mean guy? >> Chris Grabenstein: Kyle and Akimi. >> Akimi, I think. He set off all the things. >> Chris Grabenstein: Yes, they set it all off. >> So, yeah, and-- >> Chris Grabenstein: It was a fun movie. It was kind of nice to be used as a reward. I'm boosting education. But you know what I like even better? I hear stories that sometimes teachers will be reading the book aloud and the bell will ring and it's time for recess, and the kids will go, we don't want to go to recess. Read us another chapter. So that's good. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. Thank you so much. We'll go over here because I just got like five minutes left I see. Yes? >> Why did you decide to do a silly book instead of a normal book? >> Chris Grabenstein: Why did I decide, you've known me now for 15 minutes, and you're--I've been a silly person my whole life. When I was a kid, we didn't have books in school. Well, we kind of did, but it was all things like Red Badge of Courage. We had something called SRA. Anybody else old enough to remember SRA, the color-coded essay? So we didn't get to read books like you guys did, so when I was a kid, I read Mad Magazine. I got my first subscription to Mad Magazine when I was ten years old, and I would watch Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons, and that made me a permanently silly person for the rest of my life. So I don't think I can write a serious book. Yes? >> So what gave you the idea of making a book about robots? >> Chris Grabenstein: A book about--whenever I write with James Patterson, he comes up with the ideas, and he gives me like a really big outline, so that was his idea, and I suspect though, when we were kids, because James is about ten years older than me, but when we were kids, there was a cartoon show called the Jetsons, and we were all promised robots were going to be taking care of everything and we'd be flying hover cars and stuff. So I think he just said what if there was a house that was filled with all those robots that we were promised. So that was his idea. I don't know exactly where he got that one, but most stories start with a big what if. Yes, over here? >> Have you ever thought of teaming up with different authors? >> Chris Grabenstein: Have I ever thought about teaming up with different authors? Well, I've known James Patterson since 1984, and I have now teamed up with my wife, and we've written a book together, and she's much more attractive than James Patterson, I will say that right now. [laughter] Yes? >> How much of James Patterson's books do you write? >> Chris Grabenstein: I work on, the way he does it, he comes up with the whole story, which to me is more than 50 percent of a book. He'll give me like an 80-page outline, and then my job every month is to send him like 10,000 words. Then he gets on the phone, and the best ones are great, keep going. The worse conversations are, do you have a pen and a pad of paper, because that means he's got like lots of notes. So then I'll make those changes, and I'll go back and forth like four times. So I basically write the first draft based on his outline, and then he does the final draft all by himself. When the book I Funny came out, there was two characters named Zits and Useless, and I went, who are they? Oh, Jim made up those names. So he is, the guy, I've worked with him since 1984. He is a workaholic in the best sense of the word. He's always up at 5:00 in the morning. He writes every day. The man is a maniac. Yes? >> Hi, in your opinion, what's the best book you've written? >> Chris Grabenstein: What's the best book I've written. Ooh, that's a tough one, because I do love them all. I think that's better for you to decide. Because some of them are different, like the I Funnies and the Wonderlands might appeal to kids who--well when I was a kid, they called me a reluctant reader, and I loved books with illustrations because you would read a page or two and go, ooh, a picture, I can take a break. And then you'd read two more pages and see a picture. So I love those because they reach some kids I otherwise wouldn't. The best book, I don't know. Like my first one, The Crossroads, I wrote for kids, I just reread that recently. It's pretty creepy, so I like that one a lot too. I like them all. No bad books is my motto. Thank you. Yes, over here? Oh, probably the last question I think here, yes. >> How do you work together with James Patterson? >> Chris Grabenstein: Very well, don't you think? No, we, he does the outline, and I execute and send him pages, and then he does the final draft like that. So we're not in the room. I will do one more question over here, and then I'm going to wrap it up. >> How do you think of the clues for the books? >> Chris Grabenstein: Oh, yes. Everyone thinks I'm a genius for coming up with all those puzzles and stuff, but you know what? It's like a teacher, when they write a test, they know the answer they're looking for when they write the question. So all the puzzles are usually designed to deliver a clue or an answer that I know, so then it's up to me to work backwards. Whenever you write a mystery or a puzzle mystery, work backwards. Know what the ending is, what you want, and then you can come up with the most complicated fun riddle in the world to get that answer. Well, thank you guys so much for coming out today and being the first to see the new Lemoncello cover. That's kind of exciting. Thank you so much. Oh, I know, someone--who's coming, and then I'm going to be, at 1:00 I'm going to be in line 14, I think, yes. ^E00:26:13