about the book
Thirteen-year-old Johnny Cannon has troubles, and they are mounting faster than his poor family’s bills—and that is pretty dang bad.
Sixth grade is hard, and Johnny ain’t worryin’ much about gettin’ decent grades. The teacher says the way he’s goin’, he’ll end up changin’ tires at the Gas and Go. Johnny tried tire changin’ but he ain’t no good at that neither.
Another problem is pretty Martha Macker. Johnny’s got his heart set on her but she don’t even know he exists. And Johnny’s best friend Willie is a negro and here in Cullman, Alabama, in 1961, being friends with a blackie is just something a white kid doesn’t do. Nobody wants the Klan knockin’ at your door holding a burning cross, and jawin’ about who you call a pal.
Since there’s no money for food, huntin’ is the only way there to get any dinner on the table. If there’s one thing Johnny is good at, it’s huntin’. But today he spent hours lookin’ for a tasty critter and some Texas stranger with a hand gun suddenly stepped out into the clearing and shot his meal! Turns out the Texan is a friend of the family and is goin’ to add a whole passel of new troubles to Johnny’s list.
The Texan is a military type and he wants Tommy, Johnny’s older brother, to go on a secret mission to Nicaragua for the Air National Guard. That will leave just Johnny to care for his dad. His pa has been a slight touched ever since returnin’ from WWII and now he’s gotten all secretive, tinkerin’ with all sorts of radio stuff in the back yard.
If Johnny thinks that sounds bad, just wait—there’s more!
The bank is foreclosing on the house. Tommy goes missing in action. Pa just might be committing treason. The CIA is banging at the door. The Klu Klux Klan is not happy. And Johnny suddenly finds himself involved in President Kennedy’s Bay of Pigs invasion! Now tell me, if you were a sixth grader and in this mess, what the heck would you do?
about the author
Isaiah Campbell was born and bred in Texas and he has the cowboy hat to prove it. Although he never wears the hat, he keeps it none the less. He spent his childhood reading Dickens, Dumas, and Stan Lee. Maybe a whole lot more Stan Lee than the others, but his dream was to be a writer some day. Also he dreamed of being bitten by a radioactive spider and slinging super-hero webs. Fortunately at keast one of these dreams actually panned out.
Since he wasn’t destined for a spidey suit, Isaiah devoted fifteen years of his life to teaching students and young adults in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and new recruits at Fort Lenard Wood in Missouri. While inspiring others to write better, he practiced by authoring articles aimed at the teen culture for various magazines. At some point, he realized he should take his own advice, sat down, and started writing his very first novel. It was all about robots, a team of super-heroes, and JFK’s Bay of Pigs invasion.
His agent sent the manuscript out, and Isaiah received rejection after rejection…after even more rejections! He was sure his novel was perfect and didn’t want to change it. He felt it was a matter of integrity. Finally after another round of rejections, Isaiah realized his integrity was just stubbornness and that all those editors might have had a few good points. Isaiah rewrote the whole manuscript in six weeks, this time getting rid of his darling robots, his wonderful super-hero team, and even JFK. A few weeks later The Troubles of Johnny Cannon was on its way to being a real book!
Isaiah and his cowboy hat currently reside in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with his wife and three children. He still occasionally searches the classified ads for a bulk sale on uranium and spiders, but so far, he still has had no luck attaining that second spidey dream.
Sources:
Author website
Author guest post: Project Mayhem
Author video: talks about background and inspiration
Also by Isaiah Campbell:
The Struggles of Johnny Cannon (Johnny Cannon, Book 2). Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. October 2015.
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