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Charlie Bumpers vs. the Really Nice Gnome

by Bill Harley & Adam Gustavson, illustrator

Peachtree Publishers     3/01/2014

978-1-56145-740-3

Age 7 to 10   167 pages

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“Charlie Bumpers has his heart set on playing the role of the evil Sorcerer in the fourth grade play. He’s even got the laugh down pat: Mwa-ha-ha-ha! But his dreams of villainous stardom go up in smoke when he finds out that Mrs. Burke has cast him as the Nice Gnome! Determined to rectify this terrible injustice, Charlie concocts one plan after another, but nothing seems to work.

“To make matters worse, his dad has assigned chores to all the kids in the family and Charlie’s job is walking Ginger – the diggiest, sniffiest, and poopiest dog in the universe. Can Charlie deal with these challenges without causing havoc all around him?”

Opening

“Are you ready, thespians?” Mrs. Burke asked. “Are your desks cleared?”

The Story

Charlie Bumpers vs. the Really Nice Gnome is the second book in this early reader series. The first was Charlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year, who happened to be Mrs. Burke. This time around Mrs. Burke’s Empire—her term—will be acting out a play for parents and others . . . at night! Since Mrs. Burke read The Sorcerer’s Castle t the class, Charlie has been set on playing Kragon, the evil sorcerer. Kragon has the best line in the whole play.

“You horrible people! My plans are ruined! My dreams are ruined! I am ruined!”

Mrs. Burke handed out the scripts. At the top was your role. Charlie couldn’t believe his eyes. Mrs. Burke gave him the role of The Nice Gnome. Charlie would rather be on the stage crew and move sets around than be The Nice Gnome. The problem, as Charlie saw it, The Nice Gnome was ridiculously nice and Charlie does not want to be a nice guy. He did not want anyone laughing at him. He had to get out of this role.

Review

Charlie has a dilemma. Playing The Nice Gnome in Mrs. Burke’s fourth grade class play would be horrible. He tries to ask for a new part. Charlie even tries rewriting his role. Just as in book one, Charlie must somehow make it through Mrs. Burke. Last time he was afraid she would remember the shoe that almost hit her. Now, he must face her about a terrible part. Mrs. Burke is the perfect character to deal with Charlie’s angst. She is stern, maybe a little too stern, but tempers this with kindness that the kids rarely see. Mrs. Burke is a good teacher and a good role model. She also reminds me of most every elementary teacher I ever had. Except for maybe her exploding fingers that get everyone’s immediate attention.

Charlie also has some aggravation at home. Charlie thinks it is unfair that his job means walking Ginger first thing after school, while older brother Matt can read a video game magazine. Little sister Mabel—AKA Squid—wants to walk Ginger but is too young and unable to control the dog. Matt refuses to help or switch jobs with Charlie, but he does make a point of reminding him to walk the dog. The three siblings are realistic in their attitudes toward one another. They pick on and at each other, but run to the rescue if someone else picks on them.

The actual play is the best part of the story, as it should be. At times silly and then hilarious, Charlie comes to an understanding about The Nice Gnome and Mrs. Burke. Charlie’s part has him on stage as Samantha Grunsky’s helper. Samantha is bossy and a know-it-all, and she sits in the chair behind Charlie. Charlie’s best friend, Tommy, has the other fourth grade teacher.

I enjoyed Charlie Bumpers vs. the Really Nice Gnome. The story is a fast read, due mainly to my refusing to stop turning pages. Getting to the play was worth the wait. Kids will enjoy Charlie and will be able to identify with him. Charlie Bumpers vs. the Really Nice Gnome has several scenes kids will find hilarious such as Charlie dealing with a neighbor woman whose lawn Ginger prefers to use for “his business.” The illustrations wonderfully capture Charlie’s fourth grade frustrations. Included are the first six pages to the next book in the series: Charlie Bumpers vs. the Squeaking Skull.

.Learn more about Charlie Bumpers vs. the Really Nice Gnome HERE.

Buy Charlie Bumpers vs. the Really Nice Gnome orCharlie Bumpers vs. The Teacher of the Year at Amazon—B&N—Peachtree—your local bookstore.

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Meet the author, Bill Harley at his website:  http://www.billharley.com/

Meet the illustrator, Adam Gustavson at his website:   http://www.adamgustavson.com/

Find other early readers at the Peachtree Publisher website:   http://peachtree-online.com/

CHARLIE BUMPERS VS. THE REALLY NICE GNOME. Text copyright © 2014 by Bill Harley. Illustrations copyright © 2014 by Adam Gustavson. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta, GA.

COMING FALL 2014

 Peachtree Publisher’s Book Blog Tour

Charlie Bumpers vs. the Really Nice Gnome

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Monday, 3/24 

Sally’s Bookshelf

Tuesday, 3/25

 The World of Peachtree Publishers
Wednesday, 3/26 

Shelf Media Group
Thursday, 3/27

 Kid Lit Reviews     YOU ARE HERE!
Friday, 3/28 

Geo Librarian

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I am excited to have two-time Grammy Award-winner, storyteller, musician, and writer Mr. Bill Harley with us today. Mr. Harley has won several national awards for his writing, including the Parent’s Choice Award and an award from the American Library Association.  Mr. Harley’s latest children’s book is Lost and Found, published by Peachtree.

Bill Harley

Lost and Found

Peachtree Publishers

website: BillHarley.com

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1. Your new children’s book, Lost and Found, is based on the items we lose, though not always find. What was the idea that sparked this story?

I’m always interested in places where kids are exploring terrain without supervision, or going to places they don’t usually go, or where they have interactions with adults that are not structured like typical adult/child interactions. Justin’s interaction with Mr. Rumkowsky is out of the bounds of typical experiences for a kid. And there was a period when one of my sons was coming home with stuff he had found in the lost and found box. He was more interested in other people’s stuff than the stuff he lost. Mostly, though, the first draft was one of my writing experiments – self-imposed writing assigbments -  where I had to come up with a story in a day. I tinkered with it from there.

2. Are any of the characters based on you?  Perhaps Justin or, possibly Mr. Rumkowsy?

I think I’m probably pretty much identifying with Justin – a kid just trying to get through childhood as well as he can, and at the mercy of many people around him – a little afraid or uncomfortable with authority and power – he’s getting it from all sides, but finds out it’s not as monolithic as it seems. I would have to think about how I’m Mr. Rumkowsky…

3. You have written eight picture books and two middle grade novels, most of which are funny. Which do you enjoy writing the most, picture books or middle grade novels, and how important is humor in your writing?

Humor plays a big part of many of my stories, although some of my books (e.g., Night of the Spadefoot Toads) have a more serious tone. It can sometimes be a weakness to go for the laugh, and that is where my weakness is, I guess. If my main job is to make an eight year old laugh, it’s a pretty good job. And humor and laughter open people up a little bit, so something else can get it inside.

Because I’m interested in story, the novels are a little more interesting to me right now. But frankly, the trend in publishing, where picture books have gotten shorter and shorter in terms of text, causes me problems. As an oral storyteller, I have a lot of stories that are not really novels, but can’t be told in less than 1000 words. I live somewhere between, and over the years I’ve had many editors say they like the story but it doesn’t fit into any format they can use.

Bedtime for Frances would never get published now – too much text. I even wonder about the length of some of Seuss’s work. But because I’m very interested in how story works, I need some more time and space (well, all writers love their own words and feel the same…) – I like it when seeds laid at the beginning bear fruit later, after the reader or listener has forgotten they are there. You can see that in Lost and Found – it’s important to know that Justin’s mother went to the same school, and that she had a similar hat. Then we have to talk about something else for a long while, so the reader kind of forgets that.

4. What keeps you writing for children?

I have to eat. Actually, this is not the greatest way to make scads of money. At least, from my experience. But I actually find children genuinely interesting and open to the world – the line between reality and fantasy is pretty porous, so they accept that anything might happen, if the rules are laid out clearly. I’ve spent my life wandering around the geography of childhoold, so it’s my home.

5.  For what did you win the two Grammy Awards?

Two of my spoken word recordings for children – Blah Blah Blah, and Yes to Running, which is the audio of a concert I did for Montana Public Television.

6. You were quoted as saying  you believe that all children should be given a ukulele at birth.  What does this mean, and what are the babies to do with the ukulele?

Well, they’re supposed to play it. Music is about the expression of feeling, and community – it opens us up to the world, and makes us more alive. I use the ukulele as a metaphor for exposing children to music because it is kid-sized and, if you can keep it in tune, it is pretty simple to play – there’s immediate gratification. As someone who works a lot with music, I am not so concerned with how well people sing, but that they sing.

7. Getting back to Lost and Found, Justin finds all sorts of things in the lost box but his hat. One of those other things is a dangerous looking animal, with sharp teeth, that  looks like it wants to bite Justin’s nose right off his face?  What animal is this?

That is totally Adam Gustafson’s wacky brain. He says it’s a flying badger, but I’m not sure.  It is just the kind of thing I was hoping the illustrator would come up with. To my mind, Adam’s work reinforces the idea of what a good picture book is – the words provide the spark to the illustrations, which deepen and influence the story – and sometimes move the story forward. We’ve had a contest on my web page about what that creature is, and it is stunning what people have come up with (see here http://www.billharley.com/whatisit.htm)

8. Justin’s elementary school had lost and found items stacking up for many years. Did the box ever contain a circus animal?

Could be. What did you have in mind? I made some suggestions to Adam (not the flying badger), but it’s quite possible there are things in there that neither Adam nor I are aware of.

9. For those aspiring to be a writer, can you tell us about your favorite writing place?

I need a quiet place with no distractions, because I’m very easily distracted. I do most of my writing in my little one room studio/office behind my house. It was originally built as a cottage-industry candy factory. Now, I have one desk where I write, and one other space on the other side of the room for my music – a computer where I record, and where the instruments are hanging.

It would be better, probably, to have a computer that has nothing but my word processing program on it. I usually put on some music, but it has to be instrumental, and it has to be pretty steady in dynamics – Bach works, or small ensemble jazz that’s not too much bebop or too dissonant. What’s more important is that I try to write first thing in the day, before the rest of the world intrudes. Like interviews.!

10. Do you have any advice for the kids who read your books?

It depends on what the question is. I guess I write books and tell stories and sing songs because I want them to carry those things  – story and reading and music – with them through life. The most interesting people I know are people who read a lot – their minds are always working – and if we can get people hooked on early enough, they’re probably going to lead pretty interesting lives. So, read something, play something.

11. Anything you would like to tell the kids about yourself?

I’m not done yet. I have a hard time sitting still. That’s good and bad – depends on what I do with it.

Mr. Harley, thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I greatly appreciate it. Have fun on your book tour. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to write a review about your new book, Lost and Found. The review is available after midnight tonight.

 Lost and Found
.Bill Harley
.Adam Gustavson
.Peachtree Publishing
.978-1-56145-628-4
.No. Pages: 32   Ages: 4 to 8
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If you would like to learn more about Mr. Bill Harley, and is career, here are the  links.

Website:  http://www.billharley.com

Newsletter:  http://www.billharley.com/current_newsletter.asp

Activities for grades K to 8: http://www.billharley.com/resources.asp

Illustrator, Adam Gustavson’s website:  http://www.adamgustavson.com/

Peachtree’s Fall Releases:  http://peachtreepub.blogspot.com/p/fall-2012-frontlist.html

How I love me a good ecological book! We're all about saving the planet here in the Snow household and thus when I get my hands on a book that has environmental aspects to it, especially for kids, I shout it out to all of you!

Night of the Spadefoot Toads is written by Bill Harley and though blessed with a rather unique title, really a great example of a subtle way of explaining to middle graders how important saving our environment is, for both humans AND animals.

Ben Moroney, our main character, has just moved with his family to Massachusetts from Arizona, having to start fifth grade in a new town he has no interest in being in. Ben loved the desert, loved studying the wildlife that existed in it and enjoyed the local museums that allowed him to stare at snakes all day long. He hates the cold rainy lifestyle in Massachusetts and worries that he will never make real friends at school, eventually finding an unlikely friend in Mrs. Tibbet's one of his teachers. She invites him onto her property, exploring habitats with him, and introducing him to the Eastern Spadefoot toads, a local endangered species.

Ben finds out the Mrs. Tibbet's house is set to be sold to land developer's and he is determined to try and stop them, wanting to save the habitat of the toads, all while trying to make friends his age and dealing with the loss of his Arizona life.

Harley's book is a great stepping stone to conversations with kids about saving the earth and that it doesn't necessarily need to just be done by adults, but really can be started right at home. Ben was a likable character with realistic feelings about moving across the country and wanting to do the right thing all the time, but sometimes slipping up. This would be a very nice selection for libraries...use it on your Earth Day display!

Also includes some additional resources for "Toad Lovers and Vernal Pool Savers."

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon.

Night of the Spadefoot Toads
Bill Harley
218 pages
Middle grade fiction
Peachtree
9781561454594
October 2008