Bo and Mzzz Mad - Hardcover

Fleischman, Sid

3.38

34 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060293977 ISBN 13: 9780060293970

Publisher: Greenwillow, 2001

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When Bo Gamage is orphaned, he unexpectedly finds himself amidst the Martinka clan, with whom his family has been feuding for years, and as sparks and barbed insults fly between them, an encounter with two bandits, Wizard of Oz and Hildy, shows them that if they all work together, they might be able to follow their dreams.

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About the Author:

Newbery Award-winning author of The Whipping Boy, Sid Fleischman is surprised that he grew up to be a writer. "I had a childhood much like everyone else's," he writes in his newly published autobiography, The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer's Life. "What went wrong?"

But his childhood was not so typical after all. Born in Brooklyn, he grew up in San Diego during the Great Depression and decided in the fifth grade to become a magician. Just out of high school, he traveled widely in vaudeville and with a midnight ghost-and-goblin show. "I was on the way to becoming a writer. I just didn't know it."

After wartime service with the U.S. Naval Reserve, he finished college and worked as a reporter on the San Diego Daily Journal. When the paper folded in 1950, he turned to fiction writing. One of Fleischman's novels was bought for a major motion picture, and he was offered a contract to write the screenplay.

"My young children led me into writing children's books. They didn't understand what I did for a living. Other fathers, they learned, left home in the morning and returned at the end of the day. I was always around the house. I decided to clear up the mystery and wrote a book just for them." Today he divides his time between writing films and children's books.

Fleischman says that when he knew very little about writing, he wrote very fast. Now it takes him longer: three months to a year to complete a short book, and sometimes much longer if he can't figure out how to get his characters out of the jams he has put them in. "I write my books in the dark. I don't like to know what's going to happen next until I get there. It sustains my interest. I'm anxious to get to my desk each morning to find out what is going to happen."

Fleischman finds ideas lurking everywhere. His novel The Thirteenth Floor began with the superstition that there is something evil and magical in the number thirteen. The Ghost in the Noonday Sun arose from the folk belief that anyone born at the stroke of midnight has the power to see ghosts. The problem for the writer, he says, is not so much in finding an idea as in figuring out what to do with it. That may take years.

As a children's book author Sid Fleischman feels a special obligation to his readers. "The books we enjoy as children stay with us forever -- they have a special impact. Paragraph after paragraph and page after page, the author must deliver his or her best work." With more than 35 books to his credit, some of which have been made into motion pictures, Sid Fleischman can be assured that his work will make a special impact.

Sid Fleischman writes his books at a huge table cluttered with projects: story ideas, library books, research, letters, notes, pens, pencils, and a computer. He lives in an old-fashioned, two-story house full of creaks and character, and enjoys hearing the sound of the nearby Pacific Ocean. He has always lived by the ocean and now lives in Santa Monica, California.

From Booklist:

*Starred Review*
Gr. 5-7. His father is dead, and child welfare officials are itching to put him in a foster home, so 12-year-old Bo Gamage decides to take up the strange invitation he's received from someone associated with his mother's family, the Martinkas. Unfortunately, the Martinkas have been feuding with the Gamages for generations. Bo's new life gets off to a rocky start when he disembarks from the bus in Queen of Sheba, California, and encounters his cousin, the energetic, disdainful Madeleine, "Mzzz Mad," who immediately sets him on edge. Relaxed Aunt Juna smoothes things over--until crotchety Grandpa Charlie Martinka makes an appearance. Paw Paw, as he's called, has no use for Gamages. To him they're cheaters and sneaks who stole a treasure map from his family. After an oddly disturbing scene involving Paw Paw, Bo, and a snake (it's not clear whether Paw Paw is testing Bo's courage or being hateful and irresponsible), Bo decides he's had enough. Then, two strangers show up, and he changes his mind. A less talented writer might not have been able to bring the novel's several story lines together. But Fleischman does a first-rate job, using some clever twists and snappy repartee. Interchanges between Bo and Mzzz Mad are great fun, and the characters--from lonely, angry Bo to the surprising ruthless young thieves--are a sturdy bunch. Even the secret of the map is unraveled with panache. Add to that a shot of genuine suspense, and you have a quick, enjoyable read that will fly off the shelves. An endnote explains how the author pieced together real stories to make his own book. Stephanie Zvirin
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