The TeachingBooks Blog
In this original Meet-the-Author Book Reading, you’ll hear Brendan explain his personal inspiration for co-writing Virals (Penguin 2010), the first book in the Virals novel series. Sneak peak: it involves Potcake dogs!
For me, it was the sheer number of fields in which Roget developed a working knowledge, and in which he also had significant influence. Roget was interested in just about everything and wrote papers, articles, and books on subjects ranging from botany to mathematics and optics to public health. Today, when most people super-specialize in a field or a skill set, this may seem unfocused. But in Roget’s time, when there was no such thing as a professional scientist, this broad intellectual life was encouraged and admired.
The whole thing started in 2008, when I was working as Congressman John Lewis’s press secretary during his primary campaign.
In an effort to build awareness about the remarkable books written for children and teens across the globe,every two years the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) selects one author and one illustrator as the winners of the Hans Christian Andersen Award. This recognition is considered by many to be the world’s most prestigious in children’s publishing. Maurice Sendak, for example, is the only illustrator from the United States to ever win this award.
