Today at There’s A Book we have a wonderful author visiting, David (D.J.) Steinberg, author of many wonderful books including The Adventures of Daniel Boom aka Loud Boy Series and The All Aboard Poetry Reader Series. I’m very excited to share with you today just exactly where David started on his reading journey, as it’s not the “typical” author path you hear so often. So, without further babbling on my part…

Q: What book initially got you reading as a child?

A: True confession: I almost flunked first grade because I couldn’t read. My mom, a schoolteacher, made it her personal challenge to teach me. She emptied out the kids’ section of the library every week and drowned me in books. Ironically, even when I couldn’t read, I loved those books. I would sit and study them. In some ways, because I couldn’t make out exactly what the pages said, I was even more drawn to the pictures, searching for details and clues.

My favorites were books by cartoony illustrators like Syd Hoff, H.A. and Margret Rey, and especially Dr. Seuss. We owned a copy of Seuss’s “The Sneetches and Other Stories,” and while I am not sure I can credit any one book with launching my reading career, that book definitely held a big place, and I still count it as one of my favorite books.

Q: How did you become interested in graphic novels?

A: When I was 9 or 10, I received a box from Ricky, the teenage kid down the block, whose mom I guess had forced him to clean his room. The box was filled with his old comic books and Mad magazines, and it became my portal into a new world. At school, I was still a painfully slow reader–I labored through the stuff I had to read, but after my bedtime, by nightlight, I poured through the pages of this new comic book collection. The dramatic pictures, the neatly choreographed narration and dialogue, eased me through story after story, craving more. I spent my allowance money on new comics, and started writing and drawing my own.

Many years later, I witnessed comics finding a new form as “graphic novels.” The quality of the art and printing were jaw-dropping, and I was thrilled to see that bookstores and libraries were giving these creations the kind of respect that comic books never got. About a decade ago, I had a “light bulb moment.” All the graphic novels at the time seemed to be for teens, yet there was effusive literature about the problem of reluctant readers in the grade schools. Knowing the place that comics held in my own life of reading, I wondered why nobody had created a graphic novel series specifically for the pre-teen crowd?

Today, of course, there are many terrific graphic novel series geared toward this age. I guess I wasn’t the only one with this idea. But I am proud to have “Daniel Boom AKA Loud Boy” on the shelves alongside those others, and I am especially proud every time I hear from a teacher or parent that some child who would never step foot near a book before, has been hooked for the first time into reading by my Loud Boy series.

“Thank you so much to David for stopping by! I love that your journey into reading wasn’t conventional and that even your mom, a teacher, had to get a bit creative to find a way to reach you. Your story is inspirational, no matter how you look at it and your books are wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing your talent with the world!”

Please make sure to check back a bit later for a special sneak-peak into the latest from David Steinberg, The Adventures of Daniel Boom aka Loud Boy: Grow Up!, a review and a giveaway courtesy of Media Masters Publicity.

Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

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