The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael by Bonny Becker and Mark Fearing

Hello, Bonny Becker! Welcome back to Watch. Connect. Read.! I have fond memories of the time you Skyped with my first graders. Good times!

Please tell us about the scene Mark Fearing illustrated on The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael’s cover.

Twas the thirteen of November, a stormy night,

when the Thirteen bus hove into sight.

Something about it didn’t seem right…

But Michael McMichael boarded.

That’s the scene that opens the book and that Mark has on the cover.

What was the most fun thing about writing The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael?

For sure it was the word play. The story has a specific rhyme scheme and believe me I mined the thesaurus and dictionary for every word I could find that rhymed or near rhymed with “boarded.”

How will you celebrate The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael’s book birthday on July 10, 2018?

I will burn my lists of words that rhyme with “boarded.”

Please finish these sentences:

Mark Fearing’s illustrations are frightfully good.

Story is something that makes you think and feel but doesn’t tell you exactly what to think and feel.

Mr. Schu, you should have asked me…Was there a specific inspiration for The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael and I could have told you. Yes, indeed! It was the Robert Service poem, “The Cremation of Sam McGee”.  My dad would read that poem to us when we were kids and I wanted to write something like that: funny and macabre with deliciously chewy words.

Thanks, Mr. Schu!

Thank you, Bonny! 

Look for The Frightful Ride of Michael McMichael on July 10, 2018.