I think librarians are so important because they help kids imagine a better world with the books they have on the shelves. How important are librarians like The Mac in Booked? I found she ends up reading for like hours and by the time she's finished she's got to go to bed with no more screen time. I tell her for every 15 minutes of TV you've got to read one chapter of a book. Apparently we need one in the house because we need it for the news.

We had to read books! I tried to do that in my house but my wife wouldn't let me. My daughter likes to watch a lot of screen time, she's got an ipod, she watches TV. Nick is paid 5 minutes of TV for every page read of his book by his dad in Booked. What message do you have for children and teens who think they don't like reading? I like to tell a stories that are powerful and emotional in a few lines.

I love the rhythm, the rhyme and figurative language and I like how you can say so much in so few words. And I think that's why I write novels in verse now, because I love all the white space. So I started thinking reading can be fun and cool, maybe I'll read more poetry and that's how I found my way back to loving reading. Many of the books I read as a teenager were love poems. In my father's garage I started finding books on poetry which were awesome because they were short. Why do you write verse novels? What do you think is the power of poetry?

Nobody said, give him a book he'll love so I was much like Nick in booked. So at aged 12 I hated books! I did not like books anymore because people were making me read books I didn't want to read. The papers he wrote at grad school to get his doctorate. I hated reading the encyclopedia! And then, get this, he made me read his dissertations. And then when I turned 11 my father started making me read the encyclopedia. Doctor Seuss, Fox in Socks, Eggs and Ham. And when I was little, I read books that were really fun. When I grew up I had parents who emersed me in books. Kwame Alexander, interviewed by Emily Drabbleīooked is about a boy that loves football and hates reading, were you anything like your main character Nick when you were growing up? Read an abbreviated version of the interview below: Check out his hilarious and insightful interview. We were so lucky to have Kwame Alexander, the amazing author of Booked, Rebound and The Crossover, in the office.

Rebound by kwame alexander