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I have always been interested in
hidden worlds. Ever since I was little I used to believe that the gateways to
these worlds were closer than we thought. One day while exploring the woods
that surrounded our farm in Missouri, I found the remains of an ancient house
that had been blown away in a tornado. The only thing left was a bit of the
foundation and a set of stone steps leading to an invisible door. I often
imagined as I stood there that if I just took one step forward I’d find myself
in a dreamland—a place where magic existed and adventure called.
The imaginations of my youth
have carried over to adulthood and I see myself wanting to return to those
places I dreamed up. I want to still believe in the existence of magic and find
the rabbit holes leading to wonderlands. At heart I am just a kid—the same boy
who stood on the stone steps of a vanished house wishing it was something more.
I write middle-grade because I write the books I would have wanted to read when
I was a kid.
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What makes middle-grade books so
exciting is that they are the books that carry a reader from the boundary of
childhood into adult. They are bridges—doorways to something new. Mostly I
write these stories for myself—the inner child that never wants to leave the
stone steps. I also write for the kids that I know, like me, are dreamers, wanting
to find magic in the most unlikely of places. Middle-grade books are truly
written with the heart of children in mind.
