I am excited to welcome Glen Downey, author of Into the Fire, a middle-grade book. Here’s a synopsis from Amazon: “It’s been a year since Alice Booker disappeared — a year since she went to work one morning at the Byron County Library and never came back. Her son, Max, is still trying to come to terms with her disappearance when he strikes up a unusual friendship with Becky Smart, a tough new kid at Lincoln Middle School that everyone quickly learns not to mess with. When Max discovers there’s been a fire in his mom’s old office at the library, he and Becky form the Book-Smart Detective Agency to investigate. What they discover about the fire, and about the strange circumstances surrounding it, plunge them into a mystery that is almost too impossible to be imagined.”
WOW! As kids, can you remember wanting to be a detective? I can–I used to love to play Charlie’s Angels! But I digress. I got to ask Glen some questions about his new book and his writing career, so here we go. . .
Margo: Welcome, Glen, to Read These Books and Use Them. I’m excited to talk to you about your latest children’s book, Into the Fire. From the synopsis above, we know it has some mystery and adventure. How would you describe your book?
Glen: Into the Fire is the first installment of The Book-Smart Detective Agency series. At its heart, it’s a book about relationships: the lost relationship between Max and his mother, Alice, who disappears about a year before the novel opens, and his unique relationship with Becky Smart, the new kid at school whose tough exterior is not quite what it seems. It’s also a book about the insatiable curiosity of young people and about how brilliant they can be when given the opportunity to think for themselves. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it’s a story about the power of books and reading, although to understand this fully, one needs to read the story.
Margo: Yes, of course! I am imagining it has something to do with the fact his mom is a librarian. . .(smiles) What age reader is it appropriate for and why?
Glen: When I came up with the concept for The Book-Smart Detective Agency, I wanted the series to be for middle-schoolers. This is a group of kids that I’ve worked with for many years as an educator. Into the Fire really speaks to kids in Grades 4-8, and its two protagonists are in Grade 7 and 8 respectively. I feel strongly, though, that teenagers and adults will enjoy the book as well.
Margo: I think that is true more and more–we are all reading each other’s books. What made you want to write Into the Fire?
Glen: I wanted to write a novel for young people about the special power of books and reading. As a kid, I was an avid reader; and as such, I was often encouraged to read books that would “challenge” me. I distinctly recall a conversation with a school librarian when I was a young lad who was bemoaning the fact that I seemed interested in books that were “below my reading level.” I can remember thinking at the time (not saying, of course, but thinking) that this was rather bad advice. I spent countless hours reading books like Two-Minute Mysteries, Encyclopedia Brown, Choose Your Own Adventure stories, Fighting Fantasy game books, comics, and the endless manuals and tomes of fantasy ro
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