spiral bound

When I was little, our family was good friends with another family... The Reniers. Our parents were good friends, and therefore, us kids hung out quite a bit. There were two boys, and two girls... Kelly (my brother) and Aaron, and Katie and myself. I have memories of swimming in hotel pools with them, riding on the back of an elephant at a zoo with them, and listening to Weird Al songs. However, as we got older, we all sort of lost track. Mrs. Renier (Hackbarth now) would send us letters/cards every Christmas, but we rarely got to see them, especially the kids. I don't know when I last saw Aaron or Katie... I'm guessing it was at least 10-15 years ago.

This Christmas, I received a book from my parents entitled "Spiral Bound" written by Aaron Renier. How cool is that? It's a graphic novel - Aaron's first - and it's doing pretty well. It had recommends on the back from Lemony Snicket and Dav Pilkey (one of Aaron's good friends, and author of Captain Underpants), as well as someone from Nickolodeon. So cool. And I have a signed copy. Fun, fun...

As most of you know by now, I have had an overwhelming interest in children's books over the past 6 months. I don't really know where it came from, or how it came about, but it's been a pretty strong interest in children's lit. Recently, I've had the incling to write a children's book (I had written one in fourth grade...hahahah... but the idea did not resurface again until recently!) Anyway, Aaron's book has given me a bit of inspiration to possibly pursue the idea a little more... Don't know if I will or not... Only time will tell.

However, I just wanted to tell you about Spiral Bound. I have yet to read it, but it looks pretty slick. It's available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com if anyone is interested... It's got fun illustrations, and it just looks like it's a good adventure story.

So check it out. "Spiral Bound" by Aaron Renier.
And to Aaron... Thanks for the autograph, additional sketch, and the inspiration to take a crack at it.
Much luck to you in the future.

(PS - This is my 200th post. Craziness)