Author Richard Levine sent me a copy of his first book,
Two Kids, for me to review. He also graciously agreed to answer my off-the-wall questions after reading the book. I hope you enjoy reading about Two Kids and learning more from
Richard Levine.
Two Kids (Firedrake Books, 2014) is about, well, two kids. DC is tall and gawky–except when on a tennis court or softball field. She moves to Westwood with her family and becomes frieds with Rob, who is shy and awkward–except when he’s making up headlines for his life. The two friends share a wacky sense of humor and a vivid imagination that allows them to see more than just the world around them.
Two Kids is a quiet book, and more episodic, that tells the story of a friendship. Most of their adventures revolve around friends and family. How do you deal with a dad who is so strange he must be from another planet? How about a little sister who must be channeling the devil itself with her mischief? Some of my favorite scenes include their explorations of the Overhill property and their visit to Swinburn Island (beware of the birds!) There’s an unforgettable ride in a small airplane and a fishing trip where some of them end up all wet. Not all goes smoothly, though. Each of them faces a heartbreaking tragedy during the course of the year, but through it all DC and Rob hang together.
Before you read Two Kids for yourself, enjoy hearing from Richard Levine!
1. Fishing and flying play a part in several key scenes. What adventures have you had fishing or flying?
I’m not really a fan of fishing, as I find the idea of hooking fish for fun troubling – for food, of course, is a different matter. I have, however, been out on party boats; in fact, once when my two daughters were young, like the kids in the book, we went out fluke fishing on the Long Island Sound. Also on the boat was my mom’s second husband, who was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s at the time, and, I suppose, provided the inspiration for the old man in the book who goes overboard.
I don’t have any experience flying in small planes, but years ago a friend of ours did learn to pilot small planes and once flew his whole family out to visit us in northwest New Jersey, landing his rented plane in a small air field. When they took off to go home later that day, it was windy, and the plane wobbled on take-off, seeming to just barely make it over the tree line. Watching that plane take off was pretty scary – as was, I later learned, being inside the plane!
2. DC is tall and gawky (except on the softball field, of course) and frequently stumbles into embarrassing situations. What gawky scenes have you fallen into?
I’m of average height, and growing up pretty much always was – so I was never gawky or gangly, and always had good control of my limbs. D.C., however, of course, is another story – gawkiness was just one of those attributes I could give her (there’s so much freedom in writing fiction!) that would contribute to her uniqueness or singularity, and that I could have some fun with in writing the story.
3. Rob likes to create headlines for the events in his life. What headline would you write for something in your life right now?
Hmm. How about: Retired Doc Wows with Debut Novel. That would be a nice headline, daydreamy like Rob’s headline about winning the New York City marathon: The Kid Wins! Kenyan Second.
4. One of my favorite places in Two Kids is the Overhill property. It reminds me of all the hours I explored the woods and pond of fields surrounding my grandma’s house as a kid. Where is your favorite place to explore?
I suppose my favorite natural place right now is a local rail trail that’s been reclaimed as a park; it’s a trail that runs alongside a stream that feeds into a lake on which water lilies float and swans glide effortlessly. I go jogging on the trail regularly and, while doing so, have come across all sorts of additional wildlife – deer, squiggly snakes, egg-laying snapping turtles, and once even a slowly moseying bear (yes, we have black bear in northwest New Jersey!). Another time, while jogging there, a grey heron flew directly over my head, schooling me on how big those birds really are — truly pterydactylish! Although not quite like the book’s more secluded and expansive Overhill property, it’s still a beautiful place to jog, walk, or roam.
5. What is your favorite kind of frog?
Definitely the dart poison frogs, because they’re so cute and colorful — but because they’re so toxic, they remain my favorites just so long as the terrarium glass that separates them from me is thick enough.
6. What was your journey with this book–from writing to publishing?
The journey was long, as I’m afraid the answer to this question will be. I got the idea for the novel several years ago, but my first draft was way too brief – a fact brought home to me when one of my daughters read it in an hour. The novel then ballooned to 400 pages, way too long. When friends, family, and others who read it suggested ways to improve it, my first reactions were always defensive — but in the end, I would generally come around. Motivated by the incorrect belief that the novel was “close,” I revised it no fewer than umpteen times (often a section that I had once thought well-written would make me cringe upon re-reading it later). If I had been smart enough early on to recognize how far from “close” it really was, I might well have just given up. But I was blind to that and kept on revising, with the notion of trying to make every word chosen, every sentence and paragraph crafted, just right. When I thought I had finally gotten it right (again, mistakenly), I self-published it with the title, Island Eyes, Island Skies, but months later, revised it some more, and re-published. It received some nice reviews, and was even listed with just four other books under the heading, Children’s Fiction, on a book list in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month compiled by the Cuyahoga County Public Library (Cleveland region) in conjunction with the Maltz Museum. Late last year, Nikki Bennett, an author and blogger who had given it a nice review, founded a new publishing company, Firedrake Books, and agreed to publish my book. She had some thoughtful suggestions about improving it, some of which I, of course, initially resisted. Ultimately, I came around and made the changes she suggested as well as some additional ones, including the new title. Firedrake published Two Kids this summer, and after all the work and many revisions, I believe it’s finally the book I set out to write several years ago.
I first saw All the Bright Places (Alfred A. Knopf, 2015) sitting on the nightstand in the guest bedroom at my brother’s house on top of a stack of books. Of course I had to go through the stack and see what was there. (It had been left by a librarian friend of my brother’s who didn’t have room in her luggage to take it with her.) This ARC, though, is the one that caught my eye. It looked interesting with the sticky notes of the front cover and the blurb on the back intrigued me. I had plenty of other books to read, though, so I put it back down and left it closed.
I was captivated by The Kneebone Boy (Scholastic 2010) from the very first page–actually from the back cover, which gives an excerpt that introduces the narrator: “I was the one voted to tell you ths story because I read the most novels, so I know how a story should be told. Plus, I’m very observant and have a nice way of putting things, that’s what my teacher, Mr. Dupuis, told me. I can’t tell you which Hardscrabble I am–Otto, Lucia, or Max–because I’ve sworn on pain of torture not to. They said it’s because the story belongs to all three of us, and I suppose they’re right, but it seems unfair since I’m doing all the work. No one can stop you from guessing, though.”
