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Latest published book … EL PERRO CON SOMBRERO You wrote it because … In doing my school visits to promote my book series Scary School, I visited many dual immersion and spanish-speaking schools and saw the need for bilingual picture books that could be used to teach either English or Spanish to early learners.

Author Showacse

By Julia Drake, Julia Drake PR
Published: October 1, 2011

SCARY SCHOOL

By Derek The Ghost (aka Derek Taylor Kent)

A Harper Collins Hardcover published on June 21, 2011

Price: $15.99/Pages: 144/ISBN: 978-006196092

“Kent takes school integration to a new level with breezy tales of ‘learning, horror, and mayhem’ at a grade school attended by a mix of humans and monsters.” — Kirkus Reviews

Synopsis

HarperCollins is proud to present SCARY SCHOOL by Derek Taylor Kent, a brand new series of three books for middle-grade readers (ages 9-12). The first book of the series had been released June 21, 2011.

Narrated by recently deceased eleven-year-old Derek the Ghost, SCARY SCHOOL details the spine-tingling and outrageous happenings at a school where monsters and normal kids tread the halls together and just making it to lunch with all your limbs intact is considered a good day. Teachers include Ms. Fang, a 850-year-old vampire, Dr. Dragonbreath, who just might eat you before recess, and Principal Headcrusher, who… well, the name says it all. Things get extra scary this year when the school is chosen to host the annual Ghoul Games – a junior-olympic event between all the “scary” schools in the world. The winners get to eat the losers! Faced with their superior monster opponents, it’s do or die for the normal kids at SCARY SCHOOL. Together they hatch a plan that will change the future of SCARY SCHOOL forever.

Original, funny, and delightfully scary, SCARY SCHOOL teaches kids to find laughter in fear, to stretch their imaginations, and to discover that your smarts will always prevail over bullies.

****

Praise For Scary School

“This is a laugh-out-loud offering that should find a broad and appreciative audience among boys and girls alike.” –– Booklist

“This hilarious look at a school unlike any other will likely become a staple in homes and libraries across the country.” –– Cracking the Cover

“So be prepared to shiver in fear!  Of course, you’ll also be laughing your head off.” –– Books Kids Like

“This is a perfect book for getting ready for school.” — KidsReads

“Fun and packed full of adventures.” — MyLittleMe

Derek Taylor Kent Bio

Derek T. Kent is the son of Melanie Taylor Kent, a world-renowned artist and Los Angeles icon. Derek started writing children’s books at the age of 13. His first published book, RUDY THE BEAST, has recently been optioned by renowned film producer Colin Callendar. His other book, MICHAEL JORDAN’S MAGIC SHOES, became a one-man-show that Derek wrote and performed at UCLA’s School of Theater before touring with it across the nation. Kent has also written and produced many children’s plays with sold-out runs at the Westside Playhouse and Culver City Public Theatre and has acted in many stage plays, musicals and films. He’s been a mentor at many summer camps and children’s programs, overseeing creative storytelling and arts & crafts activities. In his spare time, Derek teaches Children’s Writing and Young Adult writing for

Author Showcase

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: October 1, 2011

Derek is an eleven-year-old ghost who haunts the classrooms and hallways of Scary School, writing down all the spine-tingling often hilarious things that go on there. Despite his ghostly state, Derek still enjoys reading comic books and hopes to one day become a master ninja. If that doesn’t work out, he will continue to share the fun of this very special, very secret school, so all kids can experience the scariest school on earth. Derek the Ghost communicates through the first-time ghost whisperer Derek Taylor Kent, who is a writer and performer in Los Angeles, California.

TCBR: I read that you started writing children’s books at the age of 15. What or who inspired you to do so?

Derek the Ghost (A.K.A. Derek Kent): Since I was able to write at the age of seven, I loved writing stories. I also loved words, so I was the weird kid who would read the dictionary during reading time in class. By the time I was ten I started writing funny poems and skits and I started my first book of funny poetry, which continues up till this day. As I was writing poems constantly, I always wanted to take it to the next or learn something new once I felt I had gotten good a particular form. By the time I was 15, I thought that the next step would be to write a full-length story in poetic form. At that time I got somewhat obsessed with Dr. Seuss, so I wanted to see if I could write in the Seussian style but also make it a epic fantasy book series I had in mind. For about 10 years I worked on this epic fantasy series with the goal of having my mother (a well-known artist) illustrate them. Unfortunately, they art could never get finished, so when I was 26, I put aside maybe a dozen illustrated children’s books I had written and decided to focus on a novel where I wouldn’t be dependent on illustrations. At that time was when “Harry Potter” was first getting being, and a very similar thing happened to me as did with Dr. Seuss where I became a bit obsessed with it and wanted to test myself to see if I could write something similar. That became my first novel, which is now called Rudy and the Beast: Book 1 – My Homework Ate My Dog, which would ultimately transform into a lighter, funnier book at the suggestion of an editor at HarperCollins.

Scary School is your third and newest book. In their review, Book List said: “This is a laugh-out-loud offering that should find a broad and appreciative audience among boys and girls alike.” What else can you tell us about your book? How scary is Scary School?

Ha-ha. Well, I guess how scary it is depends on how squeamish you are. There are some six-year-olds who love it and say it wasn’t too scary, but my mom (who’s in her 60s) says she can’t read it at night because she gets too scared!  I certainly wouldn’t call it a horror book. It’s about 70% comedy and 30% horror (and horror is Goosebumps-style horror). In fact, it’s much more of a parody of the whole horror trend. I tried my best to have three laugh-out-loud moments on every page to soften the more frightening aspects. At the same time, I didn’t want the readers to feel coddled and safe. I want them to be on edge that anything can happen at Scary School and that nobody is truly safe, which I think adds t