Mike: I’m here with author Eric DelaBarre, the author of “Saltwater Taffy”.  We are going to do a short, little interview to talk about the new book and the adventures that he has been involved with. Welcome, Eric! It is good to have your interview here.

Eric: Hey, Thanks Mike! Looking forward to it.

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Mike: If you could tell us first a few things about yourself before we start about your book, tell us so we can know about you a little bit better.

Eric: I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada and played in the band, and did a lot of theater and also played sports. And I moved to (???) college and got a degree in Marketing but I have a minor in Theater and minor in Music and left college early and took a job with (???). Eric: One of my main message to kids is to make sure that you’re in grips of a dream, you’re always pursuing some type of dream not just “I have to do my homework… I have to do this book report…” or something like that. I can get that message across to kids that you know time really clicks by fast. So that’s kind of one of my big messages to kids, to make sure that you’re going after your dreams on a daily basis and you should be doing something to further that dream every single day.

Mike: Ok, so let’s talk about the book and being an author. So what inspired you to write the book and any struggles while you were writing it so may be (???) two first things.

Eric: What inspired me to write this book was my Mom, you know ever since I left Law and Order, most of the content I have created has dealt with some version of crime because Law and Order is a crime show and everything I’ve written so many cop shows scripts and cop show ideas, to venture outside of that it was sort of my guilty pleasure to sit around and think of an idea and all I have to do was think about my childhood because I was kind of a mischievous little kid, my brother and I got into not real trouble but we were you know in a true definition, we were kids. And we played a lot, you know we weren’t TV junkies because back then it wasn’t as big as it is now and gaming hadn’t even invented.

Palm was the big game and I remember having my first ((???)) machine I wish I still had it it’ll worth a couple of thousand dollars. So, my desire to create some type of G-rated content, I was sick and tired of seeing things like The Cat and the Hat is  which is a perfect.. I mean when they made that movie I was thinking “Oh man!

This is awesome its going to be right down in the middle of Fairway” for you know, a G-Rated movie for kids. And what did they do, the studio, infused you know the wrong kind of tone, in my opinion. [3 min] There were sexual under tones, the humor was above board so you know it’s trying to entertain adults.

And you’re not supposed to entertain adults, you’re supposed to entertain the child, I mean the classic like Cat and the Hat to be ruined like that was just… it just broke my heart and so I think I sat down and my brother called and said “Eric, you got to create something for my kids” and at that time, his kids were 10 and 12 because there was nothing.

And nowadays, kids go from something like Spongebob to Twilight, there is no in between its like they’re growing. There’s a lot of parents that are concerned what kind of contents their kids are consuming.

And so my desire to create “Saltwater Taffy” was to create a family friendly, awesome adventure. Because this…you know, we have one Mom blogger, I think her website is mommypants.com or something like that and she blogged about it this morning after writing a review and she said that you know one thing it was great she would read this with her family at night and instead of watching movies together, they would read together and so that’s what I am out here -

You know I am here in Denver today and I’m travelling around the country going to New Orleans tomorrow then Dallas, Seattle and I’ve been in Las Vegas and Phoenix and (???) just all over the place. That’s what I am trying to do, I am trying get kids back to the reading table, believe in your abilities not your disabilities every chapter and that’s something that lacks in our society, I mean Twilight is teaching my kids what, nothing!

Mike: What I liked about your book is, first of all, one of the biggest thing is fiction is you know adventure. You know adventure is typically very common with boy readers, high energy, fast paced creative problems that are…always you know, the plots changing and quick movements and I know that’s one of the big parts of your book.

Eric: Yeah, absolutely! When I did..when I sent them to do the research for “Saltwater Taffy” I went and talked to booksellers, I went to Children’s Book World in Los Angeles, I went to Barnes and Nobles, I went to Borders.

I did a lot of you know, Indie Bounce Store in Los Angeles and talked to them I said “You know, I am looking for something with adventure for twins” and the looks on you know, the bookseller they were like -

Well, you know we don’t really have anything like that because most of that stuff for that market after that age group is dealt with, you know, frustration and angst and confusion”, and I’m thinking -

Well ok, that stuff is definitely there for my kids, you know, for that age group but there’s got to be room for adventure. There’s got to be a room for, you know, a story of self-discovery. You know, we have nine teachers of the year around the country and librarians like yourself that are [6 min] just coming to this book and saying, you know, finally something that is not only a perfect book for reluctant readers but we’re finally met a sort of crossing over to the adult market, where adults are reading it.

Because it is just a great adventure story about growing up. And I set it in 1972 because I was 7 years old in 1972 and back in 1972 there was nothing of the internet, there were no cellphones. I didn’t have to incorporate cellphones into my story and if you see things like (???) and all the other stories that are out there for the young adults, its all about cellphones its all about, you know, texting.

And I think that we’re more becoming connected, we’re becoming disconnected from our hearts and our souls. And, you know, I have this thing that I call the heart compass, you know my stories about buried treasure and finding buried treasure but that compass, that heart compass, is something that if the kid can tap in to that place where they feel that really great about themselves, they’ll never be alone again, they’ll never feel fear, they’ll never have to worry about  what anyone thinks of them because when you’re worried about what anyone else thinks about you, what they’re thinking about you, you know, you’re thinking about what they’re thinking about , what they’re thinking about what you’re thinking about, it’s like a ((???)) movie you know. You don’t even know what you just said because….and that’s what happens to kids.

You know, they get so confused in their minds that they don’t even know how they feel about who they are, so they look outside of themselves and they start to look at the media which is – oh my goodness that is a dead end there and then they look at some of the actors that are their age and then they look at the you know, pop stars which undoubtedly blow up and end up in some type of rehab.

We need more role models for our, you know, young children and our twins that will say you know what, believe in yourself, don’t believe in me because I know how to sing and go on tour and I’m the next big thing. And you know  I wish all this kids, The Jonas Brothers and all the Biebers of the world all the best but you know, if you look at history and you look back at Lindsay Lohan where she was like this young starlet and she ended up in rehab. And you know, that’s not a role model for children at all. You know, and after they took the wrong way, they bypassed the core values of what it is to be in that position and they are looking for the bling and life is not about the bling.

The bling is later man!

Whatever it is that you do, you know, I have been speaking with (???) Angelo Girls Club in Phoenix, and I often go around the rooms when I am talking  to  school kids and club kids like this [9 mins] and I said “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

And I had a lot of kids saying “I don’t know, I don’t know,  I don’t know” and it’s like well have you even thought, I mean, because you can change your mind a million times by the time you reach my age and your age and you know, you might as well have some kind of plan and then one little girl said “I want to be a billionaire” and I said you have to understand something that’s not what you want to be, that’s a result of doing what you love because when you love to do something you never have to work a day in your life and the money, just you’re rewarded with all sorts of treasures when you love what you do because you’re essentially, I guess, sharing your gift and talent with the rest of us. And when you share your heart felt gift and talent with the world, success is yours, that’s not even a question its just a slam dunk.

Mike: Yeah and how…can you give me a summary of the book, we hadn’t really talked about that. If you had to picture a couple kids, you know, sitting in front of you, how would you summarize to what the book is about?

Eric: I say, you know, its basically a story about 5 friends that find a treasure map one 4th of July weekend. And they go on, they embark on this treasure hunt and during this they run into obstacles everything from, you know, one-legged junk yard man to an overbearing town bully, you know, to the crazy old man living on top of the hill.

They try to outwit and outsmart all this people and figure out, you know, it’s sort of a race to the finish adventure where you know, the last, I would say a hundred and fifty pages of the book, you can read in literally an hour or two hours because its just one thing happens after the next, after the next, after the next. Because you know, the thing about teens and twins is their (???) attention span is somewhat fractured from all of the texting and gaming and phone calls and all the video games out there so you really have to give them that sense of adventure and never let up so…

But yeah I like to call it…

one teacher called it Stand By Me meets the Goonies and I think that’s a perfect combination and because who doesn’t love the Goonies, I mean come on, every kid love that.

Mike: I know, throw in some pirates and treasures and you got a good package all together there, that’s great.

Eric: I know, I am so excited I’m heading to New Orleans tomorrow and I have a book signing at Octavia Books in the French Quarter and the woman that owns the bookstore, her name is Judith Lafit, and she is a descendant like a great, great, great granddaughter of some crazy lineage of our bad boy (???)….

So I can’t wait to tip her [12 min] and say wow! you’re related to John Lafit I mean come on, how cool is that?

Mike: One of the things, you know, with boys reading too is boys often prefer short chunks of text, and I love that your book have short chapters and its really broken apart into small chunks which so many boy and girls in general and maybe reluctant readers really prefer so that’s a really appealing technique for a lot of parents and teachers out there that might have a son or daughter that is struggling with reading because they can have a sense of accomplishment there getting thru the book like hey I made thru chapter 27, you know..

Eric: Absolutely! Well I mean I don’t know about you but you know  I’m reading a book, I like reading John Grisham, you know I read, Stephen King and a couple of other authors but I’m always like how many more pages in this chapter, you know.

I always peek, I can spend another 15 minutes, I can finish this up but you know having chapters that are from 8 to 12 pages long not only it is you know, perfect for, I mean everybody is busy, we’re getting more and more busy in this life of ours, in this society of ours so to get somebody to sit down and actually read a book when they could get in on tape or they could watch the movie or you know, some other interactive way is a struggle.

So with having short chapters everybody’s got 15 minutes before they go to bed at night and its a perfect chapter book for parents to read and in fact I encourage whatagreatbreak.com

We have one of the pages is dedicated to the parents and I say look, you have a 12 or 13 year old in your house and here’s the thing and because you and I both know that I was a 12 years old once and I knew that when I got to be 14, I didn’t want anything to do with my parents. I was too cool for school. So, I make it my plea to parents is, let’s make a memory now, let’s read this book together now because in a few years, your kids is going to be out of your house, your little baby is going to be off to college.

I mean 5 years now, clicks by so darn fast, because we have so much going on in our society that, you know, make memories now. Make friendships now because tomorrow is going to get busier and busier so make memories now and I love that. So those quick chapters really help.

Mike: Yeah, no kidding. And I like what you said too, about trying to tap in to reading a book with your child for parents because once, you know, my kids are now in middle school and high school and I know once you get to that age is they’re so independent. And middle school, 6th you know, 6th, 7th to 8th grade its one of your last chance [15 min] to read a book together, I mean page by page.

You know one of  the techniques I use with my daughters too is that we don’t read it page by page together everyday or every other day whatever. We talk about it everyday, I think that’s another technique that a lot of parents can do out there so the kids absolutely have no way ever that they would sit and read it with you, you know aloud or whatever. At least you could read and touch base day to day, ok what happened, what happened now.

That discussion I think is critical to connect the reader with the book and parents, you know, parents that do that, engage their child with books so much better instead of just hand it to them – hey read this book, or whatever. Ok, so if parents or teachers want to get hold of your book when was it published and where can they find it?

Eric: Pretty much you know, it came out January 11 (???) and I mean you can basically go to whatagreatbook.com and can you find all the major retailers that are carrying it. I also encourage mom and dad to definitely go out and support Indie Book Shops, anywhere that you can buy a book, its there.

Mike: Well, I am so excited to finally get a chance to talk to you. I greatly look forward to the movie and I wish you all the best in your travels and most importantly I respect and appreciate your mission and I wish that there would be more people out there with similar goals I have talked to you  and keep up the good work, way to go.

Eric: Thanks a lot Mike and keep reading out there.

Mike: All right, ok Eric thank you so much. Bye bye

Eric: All right buddy!

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