Bio
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| That shirt, that hair, that light fixture, that wallpaper! That was me in the 1970’s.
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Here I sit at age 49 — my birthday is 2/1/61 for you trivia buffs at home — and one of life’s surprises is that I never grew up. At least, not in the way I imagined I would. I’m bigger and older and (a little) fatter, sure. Now I must carefully trim the hair that grows out of my nose and ears (no one had warned me about that!). But I still like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I find that I still care — deeply, foolishly, insanely — about the score of professional baseball games. I mean to say: I care the same way that I cared when I was ten years old. I used to think that we were supposed to “grow out” of those childish things, discard our younger selves like an old pair of jeans. But now I know that people don’t grow that way. I’m still that kid. I am the youngest of seven children. I was born during a snowstorm. I grew up in Wantagh, Long Island. I had four older brothers, two older sisters, and a perfectly satisfactory pair of parents whom I called “Mom” and “Dad.” When I was quite young, with everyone else off to school, I used to draw pictures and make homemade comic books that I sold to friends and neighbors. Was I dreaming of becoming an author? No, absolutely not. I fully intended to play baseball for the New York Mets. But I did enjoy making up stories, creating my own little worlds. In a way, I had my own publishing company, complete with door-to-door product distribution. When you think about it, I pretty much do the same thing today. I’m still making up stories. It’s my job.
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| Here’s all seven kids in my family: Neal, Bill, Barbara, Al, John, Jean, and me, as my mother still says, “the baby.”
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Those childhood years were important to me. And I bet they are pretty important to you, too. I don’t think of children as unfinished products, like minor league baseball players hoping to get to the “big leagues” of adulthood. Somehow we’re all the same, young and old alike; or, I guess, we’re just not nearly as different as some folks pretend. I still remember being a kid. I still feel those feelings. And it’s not like I’m looking back on thirty, forty years and watching what happened to some other person. That was me, the same “me” that I am today. When I write books for children, I often call upon those childhood memories, those feelings, that person whom I was. And what I discover is that he’s always there, whispering in my ear, that ten-year-old kid. Still me.
Anyway, the years rolled by and I went to college in Oneonta, New York. I graduated in 1983. I worked as a waiter for a year, then was hired as a copywriter for Scholastic publishers in New York. I worked on the SeeSaw Book Club, writing blurbs about literally thousands of children’s books. It was during this time when I first “met” authors (through their books) such as James Marshall, Arnold Lobel, Maurice Sendak, Bernard Waber, Eric Carle, Joanna Cole, William Steig, and many more. This experience inspired me to write books of my own. My first picture book was called MAXX TRAX: Avalanche Rescue, published 1986, and no longer in print. It was about super-powered trucks. But it was also about being the youngest, the smallest, the one who wasn’t included in the “big kid” games. You see, I knew those feelings from my own life. For this book, I gave those feelings to a truck named “Little Brother.”
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| Here’s a sample of my early work. Notice that I wrote the numbers backwards, and taped the book on the wrong side. I guess I’m just a lefty from Long Island after all!
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Since then, I have been fortunate enough to publish a variety books, ranging from movie adaptations to Hello Readers, nonfiction books about sports and animals, even a book for teachers. I have written under various pen names, including Mitzy Kafka, James Patrick, and Izzy Bonkers. I have even been a ghost writer for other people who were too busy to write their own books!
I’m probably best known for writing the “Jigsaw Jones” mystery series. But I’ve been busy with a number of other books. Six Innings came out in March, 2008, and I’m proud of it. It’s being published by Feiwel & Friends, in hardcover, and the whole process has been a great experience for me. I was thrilled when it was named an ALA Notable Book; finally, after all these years, the librarians and reviewers had taken notice of my work.
Along Came Spider (Scholastic) came out that same year and was named to the New York Public Library’s list of “100 Books for Reading and Sharing.” Like Six Innings, it deals with friendship under duress. And, hey, isn’t it always? The Spring of 2009 saw the publication of a hardcover picture book, Mighty Casey, again with Feiwel & Friends; it’s a twist on the classic poem, “Casey At the Bat,” featuring the hilarious artwork of Matthew Cordell.
Bystander (Feiwel and Friends) came out in Fall, 2009. It’s an important book for me, as it deals with bullying in a Middle School. Hopefully readers will find it tense and exciting and see their world realistically conveyed. It was named a 2009 Junior Library Guild Selection and earned many favorable reviews, including this starred review from School Library Journal: “Preller has perfectly nailed the middle school milieu, and his characters are well developed with authentic voices. The novel has a parablelike quality, steeped in a moral lesson, yet not ploddingly didactic. The action moves quickly, keeping readers engaged. The ending is realistic: there’s no strong resolution, no punishment or forgiveness. Focusing on the large majority of young people who stand by mutely and therefore complicitly, this must-read book is a great discussion starter.”
In the summer of 2010, we’ll see the publication of two new hardcover books. First out, there’s A Pirate’s Guide to First Grade, a picture book. The illustrations are by Greg Ruth and he is a big-time talent. Kirkus Reviews called it “good fun, me hearties!” and I agree. I had to study up on talking like a pirate to write that one. In August, Scholastic will publish Justin Fisher Declares War!, a middle-grade book (ages 8-12) that is set in the same school as Along Came Spider. It reprises some of the same characters in minor roles, while shifting the focus to entirely new ones. It’s the same world, it’s just gotten a little bigger. This light-hearted, humorous tale should be an easy, breezy read.
I’m currently writing my first true Young Adult novel, tentatively titled Jude Adrift. It’s set on Long Island — with many scenes at Jones Beach specifically — and features 16-year-old characters. Right now, today (May, 2010), I can say that it’s been my happiest, most rewarding writing experience. But I’m not done yet, so enough of that! (It’s bad voodoo to talk about a book before it’s finished.)
In the meantime, I live in Delmar, New York (near Albany), with my wife, Lisa, and three children: Nicholas, Gavin, and Maggie. We have two cats and a golden doodle named Daisy. And that, dear readers, is entirely far too much about me!