about the book
The Theta Project Lab Note #316 prepared by Dr. Xiang Libris, PsyD, DLit
After an exhaustive search, I have found the ideal subject for our first field test, which will commence as soon as Billy G., a 12-year-old male with a vivid imagination, arrives on site. His mother will be busy. His father will be away. He will be bored. Billy is perfect.
Billy Gillfoyle is spending the summer at Lake Katrine with his mother, a math professor, while his dad continues working as a TV ad man in New York City. Dad is fun and awesome; mom is brilliant and serious. Billy thinks they are perfect together. But they don’t seem so convincing lately. They have been arguing a lot, and Billy is afraid the split could be permanent.
Billy is also miffed about spending the summer in the middle of nowhere. The log cabin is ugly primitive; there is no TV, DVD, Xbox, or computer; and stupid security cameras are everywhere. The first thing Billy does is hang his swim trunks over the creepy spy camera in his bedroom. The property belongs to a prof at mom’s university, a mysterious guy named Dr. Libris.
With his mom immersed in her dissertation, Billy is left on his own. While out exploring, he spies the small island that sits in the middle of the lake. It floats above the water in a fog bank, spiked with evergreens surrounding a rocky peak in the center. The island also belongs to Dr. Libris. Billy quickly makes friends with the next-door neighbors, Walter and his little sister Alyssa.
Unfortunately, he also meets the local bully, Nick. Definitely not friendly.
Desperate for something to do, Billy tackles the doc’s private bookcase of leather bound classics. While reading about Hercules, Billy hears the clash of swords coming from the island! When he rows across, he discovers the unbelievable—Hercules is indeed there—and Billy somehow conjured him up in his imagination! Every time he reads, the story’s characters come to life on the island. It is seriously crazy when Zeus, Robin Hood, Tom Sawyer, and the Three Musketeers collide with modern heroes, video game creatures, and game card wizards!
When Billy brings Walter and Alyssa out to the island, the kids become embroiled in the adventures. When Walter lands in the clutches of an evil Space Lizard comic book character, it is up to Billy’s imagination to save his friend from certain doom! Through it all, Billy wonders if he is going bonkers or if mysterious Dr. Libris is behind everything!
But more importantly, can he use the island to bring his parents back together?
about the author
Chris Grabenstein was born in Buffalo, New York, and moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, when he was ten. He was the middle child of five boys and grew up playing board games. It was Chris’s only chance to beat his older, more athletic brothers fair and square.
Terrible at sports, Chris figured out that he could “be cool” by being a good writer. He loved making his classmates laugh at his stories, and his eighth-grade teacher predicted that one day he would make his living as a writer. She must have been clairvoyant!
Encouraged by that teacher, Chris set out to learn all he could about writing. He wrote a lot of plays and stories while in college and then bought a one-way ticket to New York City. He arrived with little cash, seven suitcases, and the Smith-Corona typewriter he got as a high school graduation gift.
For five years Chris worked odd jobs while performing improv in Greenwich Village and on the college tour circuit. He then worked in advertising for twenty years. He got his big break writing for The Muppets and then turned to writing adult mysteries and screenplays. He also co-wrote novels for younger readers with famed author James Patterson.
Chris is now the author of more than 20 books. “With The Island of Dr. Libris, I am hoping to excite young readers about the power and awesomeness of their own imaginations. I want them to take nothing and turn it into something. To take old ideas, toss them together, and create something new. And, when they write their own stories, maybe some of them will decide they want to become authors…too!”
Chris lives in New York City with his wife J.J., his dog Fred (who appeared on Broadway), and his two writing-assistant cats: Parker (who head butts Chris’s computer-mouse hand) and Phoebe Squeak (who purrs when she approves of Chris’s prose).
Sources:
Author website
Author page : Goodreads
Author video interview
Author interview: Penguin Random House
Book Trailer: The Island of Dr. Libris
Also by Chris Grabenstein:
Beach Party Surf Monkey (Welcome to Wonderland, Book 2). Random House Books for Young Readers. May 2017.
Home Sweet Motel (Welcome to Wonderland, Book 1). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2016.
Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics (Mr. Lemoncello, Book 2). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2016.
Riley Mack Stirs Up More Trouble (Riley Mack, Book 2). Harper Collins. 2013.
I Even Funnier : A Middle School Story (I Funny, Book 2) with James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. 2013.
Riley Mack and the Other Known Troublemakers (Riley Mack, Book 1). Harper Collins. 2012.
Daniel X : Armageddon (Daniel X, Book 5) with James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. 2012.
I Funny : A Middle School Story (I Funny, Book 1) with James Patterson. Little, Brown and Company. 2012.
The Black Heart Crypt (Haunted Places Mystery, Book 4). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2011.
The Smoky Corridor (Haunted Places Mystery, Book 3). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2010.
The Hanging Hill (Haunted Places Mystery, Book 2). Random House Books for Young Readers. 2009.
The Crossroads (Haunted Places Mystery, Book 1). Random House. 2008.
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