I’m a sucker for a good time travel story. By my count only a few have ever won the Newbery (is it two or three? You decide). Fewer still have won the National Book Award in the youth category. Even so, they live in a special place in my heart. So to hear that a book has the title The Book That Proves Time Travel Happens . . . well that’s a near impossible title to resist, is it not? This week on Fuse #8 TV I interview Henry Clark, but only after I tell you the terrible secret lurking in your copy of Go, Dog, Go.
By the way, this episode was very fun to record. Too fun, in fact. Under normal circumstances I can remember to thank my sponsor and to place their title card at the end of each episode. This time I was so wowed by the prospect of coffee cups and what have you that it completely skipped my mind. So a big hearty THANK YOU to Little, Brown for Mr. Clark’s presence. Here is the slide I forgot to project:
And here is SLJ’s info:
As you can see, all the Fuse #8 TV episodes are archived here.
A tip of the hat to all parties involved!
What We Found in the Sofa and How It Saved the World by Henry Clark - now, THAT is a title. It's the kind of title that will make some kids - and adults - snatch the book up.
Most readers will get exactly what they want - an adventure pitting kids against an evil alien who is plotting to mwahahahahahahaha TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!!! and maybe the entire universe.
River, Freak and Fiona live on the edge of Hellsboro, as a section of their small town is called. Underground coal fires have turned a huge portion of the town into a nightmarish landscape surrounded by tall chain link fences.
One day, a sofa appears at the end of the driveway of an abandoned mansion. The three search in the sofa and find a coin, a double-six domino, and a zucchini colored crayon. So which of these items will save the world?
The new owner of the mansion, an odd man named Alf, enlists the three friends' help in flushing out the criminal behind the chemical spill that created Hellsboro. Is this fiend merely an industrialist with no conscience or is he - dum, dum, DUMMMMM- an evil alien? Alf makes no bones about the extra-terrestrial nature of this megalomaniac - a person so evil he beheaded his own daughter.
What follows is pretty exciting - with mind controlled henchpersons that dress up as dogs, furniture that thinks for itself, underground portals, slingshots and a whole bunch of narrow escapes. Enjoy. (Foe grades 4 and up.)
Betsy, I’m so glad I’m now following your blog regularly now. I’ve been missing out on so much good stuff and now I won’t be! LOVE Fuse #8 TV
Terrific interview. And you know, it’s hard for me to believe or accept the fact that, although Are You My Mother? was one of my favorite books as a child, I have NEVER read Go, Dog, Go!” I must rectify that!