about the book
Coop is different. He doesn’t use his phone to talk, he doesn’t use email, and really, in honest appraisal, doesn’t have friends. Coop’s only thrill is the thrill of being underground, and the only person he has ever really cared about is Pat, his younger brother.
Pat O’Toole has always idolized Coop, so when Coop and their parents have a huge fight and Coop runs away, it devastates him. A year passes. One day a package shows up for Pat at school. After being reprimanded for using the school address as his personal address—which he didn’t actually do—Pat gets the package and discovers it is from Coop!
Inside is a digital voice recorder with a cryptic message. Coop has found the Community, a group of people who live only underground in New York City. Pat starts to realize how messed up his brother is, and vows to follow his directions, find the Community, and bring his beloved Coop home.
about the author
Roland Smith grew up in Portland, Oregon. When he was five, his parents gave him an old manual typewriter. Though he couldn’t read or spell, he loved the way the clacking keys sounded and crisp how the black letters looked against the clean white paper. Now years later, he is pretty good at reading and spelling and still loves the clacking keys and the way those crisp black letters turn into whole stories
The way his life has gone is kind of ironic. He wanted to write and that lead him to work with animals. While studying English at Portland State University, he spied a notice on the school’s job placement board for a part-time opening at the children’s zoo. He was hired. One day two Agoutis (large South American rodents) escaped. Roland not only found the critters, but he caught them and brought them back to the zoo. His boss was so impressed that he offered Roland a full-time job.
What started out as a part-time temporary position turned into a twenty-year career that had Roland working with animals from around the world. Eventually, those marvelous animals led him back to writing! More than 35 books so far! His first book, Sea Otter Rescue, was about the sea otters and birds lost in the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
After publishing several books for adults, middle grade readers, and the picture book crowd, Roland left the zoo so he could write full time. He and his wife, Marie, live on a small farm south of Portland, and most days you can find him hard at work clacking those computer keys in his basement office.
When he is not writing, Roland travels, doing research for his books or talking to students at schools about the animals and writing he is so passionate about.
Sources:
Author website
Author video interview
Author video
Book trailer: Beneath
Also by Roland Smith:
Above (Beneath, Book 2). Scholastic. 2016.
Edge (Peak, Book 2). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2015.
Mutation (Cryptid Hunters, Book 4). Scholastic. 2014
The I, Q series. Cherry Lake Publishing. 2008-2014.
Chupacabra (Cryptid Hunters, Book 3). Scholastic. 2013.
The Storm Runners series. Scholastic 2011-2012.
Shatterproof (39 Clues : Cahills Vs. Vespers, Book 4). Scholastic. 2012.
Tentacles (Cryptid Hunters, Book 2). Scholastic. 2009.
Peak (Book 1). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2007.
Elephant Run. Hyperion Press. 2007.
Cryptid Hunters (Book 1). Hyperion Press. 2005.
Jack’s Run. Hyperion Books for Children. 2005.
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