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Today I have the privilege of introducing you to Jeff Baron, author of I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN, the charming and hilarious middle grade novel about an ambitious kid with an admirably clever but potentially disastrous plan to make it in Hollywood.  Jeff’s own work for the theater has been has been published and performed all over the world, but Sean Rosen’s story is his very first novel. Want to know more about Jeff?  So did we! Read on…

Which was your favorite book from childhood, and what are you reading right now?

I loved the Hardy Boys books. I read them all and then I read my cousins’ Nancy Drew books.  I liked starting a book already knowing the characters and then getting to know them better and better. With every book I love, I don’t want it to end.  With a series, it doesn’t end for a long time.

I know I’m late to the party, but I’m finally reading the Harry Potter books.  My friend Melinda, who’s 12, told me I should read them in order, and then when I finish each book, I should watch the movie, so that’s what I’m doing.  The only problem is Melinda always asks me what part I’m up to, then she wants to tell me what happens two books from now.  She should wear a sign around her neck that says SPOILER ALERT.

What is your secret talent?

I love to write music, even though I don’t know how to play any musical instruments.  I’ve always written words to songs, even songs that got published and recorded, but I always worked with composers.  My secret desire was always to write the music myself.  Sean Rosen has the same desire, but he’s braver than I am.  He also never studied music, but he puts the songs he writes on his website (www.SeanRosen.com) for the whole world to hear.

Fill in the blank: _______ always makes me laugh.

Dogs always make me laugh.  They’re always their goofy selves, and never try to act any cooler or smarter than they are.  I wish humans were more like that.

My current obsessions are…

Figuring out how things work, especially computer programs, electricity and plumbing.  I rely on those things all the time, and I love being able to fix things myself.

Any gem of advice for aspiring writers?

Read everything you write out loud, whether it’s a short story, a history paper or an e-mail.  It’s the closest you can get to being inside your reader’s head when they read what you’ve written.  I always do it, and I always catch something that didn’t quite make sense, and I always make changes that make it sound better.

Finish this sentence: I hope a person who reads my book…

I hope a person who reads my book will see from Sean Rosen’s experience that it’s good to dream big and go after what you want.  There are always bumps along the way, sometimes big painful bumps, but getting past them makes you stronger and more likely to succeed.

Tell us more about how I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN was born.

I was sitting on the beach, and I had an idea.  What if a kid with a big entertainment idea and no connections whatsoever, tried to sell his idea to Hollywood.  How would he break through?  Having done that myself (though not as a kid), I know what a closed world Hollywood can be.  I thought this story might make an interesting movie.

The next day I was back at the beach, and now I thought, “Could this be a book?”  I had never written a novel, and it was a little bit scary to even think about.  But as a writer (I was already a screenwriter and a playwright), you learn that the things that scare you usually make the best stories.  So I spent a little time thinking about who this kid was, and then I just started writing.

Sean Rosen begins the book by saying, “I have an incredible idea.” At that point, I didn’t know what Sean’s idea was, but just writing those words on paper (I write by hand) got me started, and Sean just took over.  I heard his voice in my head, and fortunately, he never stopped talking.  I just wrote it down.

I loved spending time with Sean and his family and friends, and when I finished and showed it to my cousins who are Sean’s age, they felt that way, too.  Then I read chapters of the book to seventh grade classes, and when they liked it, that gave me the courage to try to get it published.

Thanks Jeff!  And if you missed yesterday’s post, be sure to check out Jeff’s editor’s take on the delightful, wholly original I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN.

Kicking off our Winter 2013 New Voices series is the middle grade debut novel I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN, by Jeff Baron.

Sean Rosen has a really good idea. So good, in fact, that he’s not going to tell you exactly what it is. What he is going to do is pitch it to a major entertainment company. But first he’s going to take his grandmother’s advice and go on a “trial run.” That trial run has some surprising results in this hilarious story about a middle school kid who, with the help of his manager Dan Welch (not his real name), sells a movie idea to a major Hollywood studio.

This a totally funny, fast-paced, and original novel that we think will appeal to fans of Jack Gantos and Carl Hiaasen. But enough from me– I’ll let Jeff’s editor Virginia Duncan, VP and Publisher of Greenwillow Books, tell you a little more…

“Sean Rosen is my hero!”—Lincoln Peirce

“I Represent Sean Rosen is the best book I’ve read in a while. Equal parts Hollywood satire, Louis Sachar‒style deadpan fable, and old-fashioned tale of American gumption, it introduces us to a character who is surprising . . . and quietly heroic. . . . I happily represent Sean Rosen.”—Ned Vizzini

The manuscript began: “I have an incredible idea. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what it is.” Well, that was enough for me. I was hooked. And when Sean Rosen named his fictitious manager Dan Welch after rummaging around his kitchen for a snack (yogurt? grape juice?), I was sold. Sean Rosen’s “fries-texting” (spelling out a dinner table message using french fries) his mom? Icing on the cake.

I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN is a bit different, and it is perhaps not your usual middle-grade fare. But it is an adventure nevertheless. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through. What was this kid going to do next? What was going to happen next?  How was Sean going to convince a major Hollywood studio to buy his movie? Does Sean even have a movie to sell? Would Sean take the deal? How was Sean going to survive middle school? How would Sean dodge Collectibles Dan Welch (a real guy who, unfortunately, shares Sean’s imaginary manager’s exact name). And what was up with his friend Brianna?

Jeff Baron is a great new voice, and he’s thought a lot about voice. It is the voice of this novel that made it irresistible to me. I love the piece Jeff posted on the Greenwillow blog recently about voice. You can read it here.

One of Sean Rosen’s claims to fame in the book is that he produces podcasts—it’s his hobby. What fun that you can actually hear Sean’s voice and listen to his podcasts at www.seanrosen.com. You will want a donut! (And I hope you’ll want to read I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN.)

-Virginia Duncan

Thanks Virginia! And stay tuned for tomorrow, when we’ll hear from Jeff himself.