Betty Birney’s Blog

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It was January, 2003 and I was on (groan) jury duty. It was a messy, confusing (though absolutely fascinating) trial that was supposed to last 9 days and went on for over 3 weeks. Since Humphrey has a family audience, I’m not going into the details of the crimes.

We had a great jury. All but three had college degrees and a number of them had advanced degrees. We had a teacher, a computer expert, a professor, a social worker, and a high end chef. And a children’s book writer – me. One of the frustrations of jury duty is that you spend so much time sitting in the jury room and so little time in the courtroom hearing testimony. Twelve people with nothing in common except the trial – and that’s the one thing you can’t discuss. The personable chef was popular because another thing we all have in common is food. Eleven of the 12 of us started eating together daily, exploring areas of downtown we didn’t know, taking walks.

One day, we came into the jury room for a break and I called my husband on my cell. He said to call my agent, Nancy Gallt, right away, which I did. She told me that Susan Kochan of Putnam’s had made an offer on The World According to Humphrey. I didn’t know then how lucky I was to have Susan choose it because she’s the perfect editor for Humphrey. Naturally, I started jumping up and down – literally jumping for joy. When the call was over, my fellow jurors were dying to know what happened and they were as excited as I was. I celebrated my first sale of a middle grade with the kindness of strangers.

As we drew closer to the end of the trial, the testimony got even murkier. A mute person testified. We had a rebuttable witness to prove another witness was lying. We had a witness arrested outside the courtroom and a noisy, scary inmate fight in the elevator outside the courtroom. Our deputy ran out with gun drawn. We had a witness heartbreakingly sobbing, long-winded DNA experts, lots and lots of police – it happened that the victim was the sister of a police officer. When we finally started deliberations, it turned out my fellow jurors were as confused as I was. We really worked hard for 2 1/2 days under intense pressure to come to a conclusion because one of the 12 (the one who didn’t go to lunch with us, a stockbroker) was going to “walk” as he had an out of town wedding. That would have meant starting deliberations all over again with the remaining alternate; the other alternate had been dismissed.

We ended up with a hung jury on the most major charge. We all agreed  about what the accused had done but a technicality in the way the law was written became a point of contention. We read that law over and over. The social worker broke down in tears when we knew we were hung. “But he’s soooo guilty,” she wailed.

Still, I respected the people who couldn’t say “beyond a reasonable doubt” because of the wording of the law. (Think Casey Anthony.) We found him guilty on the other three felony counts which sent him to jail for a number of years, probably ruined his life, broke his family’s heart, etc. But he had done those things and none of us had the slightest doubt because he had admitted it on tape. (Admitted it because he didn’t think what he did was wrong. We strongly disagreed.) The prosecution was thrilled that we found him guilty as they knew it was a complicated trial. The family of the victim and the police detectives involved thanked us profusely.

I still think about them all: the jurors, the judge, the family of the victim, the family of the accused.

But I was thrilled to go home  -  a juror no more. I was now a middle grade novelist!

Three months later, at a party, I learned that Nancy had sold The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs to Caitlyn Dlouhy of Atheneum. It was a very good year.

I had the voice for Humphrey, I knew the setting and characters – I was ready to roll – almost.

I had one big problem: I don’t have (and never have had) a hamster. Rather than getting a hamster and totally alienating my beloved dog, Desi, I did tons of research. I read books – one was especially helpful because it delved into how a hamster thinks.  The internet was great because people who really love hamsters have lots of info and pictures and I learned why they were so lovable.  Then I had a brilliant idea and I called up Desi’s vet at Studio City Animal Hospital, explained the problem and was told to come on in. They’d bring in some hamsters and I could ask all the questions I wanted. Camera in hand, I headed down to their office. Judy, who assists the vets, turns out to be a Hamster Rescuer. She brought in two of her rescues (she has as many as 17) and was as knowledgeable as the vet herself. I did have to ask, “You rescue hamsters from what? Who’s out to get hamsters?” It turns out that when pet shops have hamsters that aren’t  perfect, they don’t want them. They call Judy and she takes the unwanted darlings and tries to find a home for them.

I learned a lot about hamsters and got a close-up look. If you really want to know something, it’s great to ask an expert. People are usually happy to share information, especially about something they love. The little hamster pictured was rejected from the pet shop because one eye didn’t open. He was one of Judy’s favorites and the inspiration for the third book, Trouble According to Humphrey, when Humphrey goes to the vet’s office and meets a one-eyed hamster named Winky! Kids are always asking me to bring Winky back and so I will.

There was one more thing to do before writing: outline. I rarely do a fancy outline like this any more, but I’m glad I did it for Humphrey. In my life as a children’s TV writer, part of the deal always involved writing a full (detailed) outline before getting the go-ahead to script. You get paid in steps so you get more for the script than the outline. However, my friends and I always used to secretly say that was funny, because the outline was harder to write than the script — and if you had a great outline, the script almost wrote itself. Now my “outlines” are mostly notes and lists and don’t look pretty. But I have to say, after years of thinking about Humphrey – and with this detailed outline – I wrote the book quickly and with ease, because in essence, it was already written in my head. Each morning I’d lie in bed and think about the chapter I was writing that day. (Amazingly on this book only, I wrote a chapter a day). I could see it play out like a movie — and then I’d get up and write it. No wonder Humphrey has had such a charmed life. So I wrote it and revised it a bunch of times (I revise a lot) and I handed it in to my agent, Nancy Gallt. And then … well, as they say in T.V.: stay tuned.

In my last post, I talked about the years spent taking notes on a story looking at a classroom through the eyes of a classroom pet. A lot of that happened in 1996. I didn’t actually write the book until 2002. One reason is that my primary career was writing children’s television, so children’s fiction took a backseat for many, many years, though it was my number one goal.  The idea about Humphrey took shape and my notes seemingly reflect a book very similar to the published The World According to Humphrey.  But what delayed the actual writing of the book wasn’t that I didn’t have time for it. It was because there was one key element that I hadn’t figured out yet: Humphrey’s voice.

Numerous  times during the years after 1996, I would try to sit down and write the opening of the book.  I’d immediately stop because I had a terrible problem: I didn’t like Humphrey! I’m not talking about hamsters in general. It was this particular Humphrey I didn’t like. He sounded like a a persnickety, know-it-all, slightly superior adult! At the time, I didn’t know exactly what I’d gotten wrong but each time this happened, I’d just put Humphrey aside and think, “Not ready to write that yet.” That was actually a good thing, because if I try to write something before it’s had time to simmer and ferment for a long time, it never works out. 

If I hadn’t been working on other books as well the T.V. writing, I might have wrestled with the voice at the time, but instead, I just put it aside.

And then, everything changed in 2002 when I got an agent. A wonderful agent!  I’d made a few sporadic but not too serious efforts in the past. But Nancy Gallt decided to take me on and everything changed. She focused on trying to sell The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs.  But now that I had someone to help me sell my work. I got more serious and motivated than I ever had been before.

Other things were going on in 2002. My son would be graduating from high school and going off to college in Boston – about as far away from Los Angeles, where we live, as you can get in the U.S. I was excited for him and happy about his choice but I also knew this was going to be pretty darn tough. So I decided to focus on the positive and throw myself  into writing the hamster book. It was do-or-die time for Humphrey. 

In March of 2002, I gave the opening another try. I look at my failed efforts and I suddenly “got” it: Humphrey was a kid! Instead of being a grumpy grown-up, he’d have a light, breezy, fun kid’s voice. And then I wrote: “Today was the worst day of my life.”  I usually rewrite the first line (or first paragraph)of a book after I finish it, but in this case, the first sentence of The World According to Humphrey remained. I think it’s a pretty good first line … if someone said to me, “Today was the worst day of my life,” I’d definitely want to know what happened.

The rest of the writing on this page is rough and not so great. As you can see, if I can’t think of the right word or name, I sometimes use **, knowing I’ll fix it later. Then I don’t get bogged down. Ms. Pickett was the original name of Ms. Mac. A lot of what’s on this page ended up a few pages later in subsequent drafts . But the best thing that happened on this page was that as I wrote, without premeditating it, Humphrey got the word “squeak” and “speak” mixed up and he repeated a word three times – both hallmarks of Humphrey’s way of talking.

Readers often ask me why Humphrey repeats things three times. I answer  that it’s because it makes him seem small and excitable. The truth is, it was an unconscious (or subconscious) choice. Yes, it probably looked ordinary, but March 10, 2002 turned out to be a very good day for Humphrey and me!

  Today is the release date for the newest Humphrey book, School Days According to Humphrey. I barely mention a new book to family and friends any more – it doesn’t feel like big news to them. Just another Humphrey book. But reflecting on this seventh book, to me it almost feels like a miracle.

Everybody wants to know how a book gets written. Students, teachers, librarians, readers and most of all authors.  I want to know how a book gets written because it often seems random and in my experience, no two books get written the same way.

So here’s the story of Humphrey’s  journey into print:

I had the idea for Humphrey long ago when my son was in elementary school.  As I’ve recounted many times, I was in my son’s science classsroom and that teacher had the room lined with cages and tanks with all kinds of animals, from cute, furry hamster to lizards and turtles and most notably, a boa constrictor named Lumpy. The teacher liked to wear Lumpy around her waist. The kids loved Lumpy - perhaps he deserves his own book!  Other parents may have been thinking about their kids’ grades or trying to win points with the teacher … but being a writer, I stood there and wondered what those animals thought about what they saw and heard in the classroom. And I immediately thought it would be fun to write a book looking at a classroom through the eyes of a classroom pet. Fun for me to write and fun for kids to read.

Over a number of years, I took notes and even occasionally made a stab at an introductory chapter. I worked on the book sporadically when the spirit moved me and I had a rare bit of free time. At the time I was writing numerous television shows for children, often more than one at a time, and had a child of my own to raise. But I always came back to my classroom pet idea, because I thought it was fun and something kids would like. It was something I would have enjoyed reading when I was growing up.

A little backstory: I had grown increasingly frustrated with television and knew I wanted to write children’s books. As time went on, I set a goal to concentrate less on scoring a random episode of a show and concentrating on 1) creating my own shows, 2) developing other people’s shows 3) writing children’s books. I hoped to end up my career as a children’s book writer. But I surely couldn’t give up television as I needed the income. And everybody knows you can’t make a living writing children’s books. At least that’s the conventional wisdom and it’s mostly true. By the way, I did create many shows and got network development deals. None got on the air but I did make money off the options, bibles and pilot scripts I wrote. I also did a lot of development on other people’s shows (which means writing the series bible and pilot).  In 1994 I had my first picture book published: Tyrannosaurus Tex. In 1996 I had a second picture book published: Pies in the Oven. Both were with Houghton Mifflin and were sold without an agent.

My first scribbling about Humphrey was this: The story of a pet (hamster or mouse) that lives in a classroom but goes home with a different student each weekend. Except for the mouse, that’s a pretty accurate description of the book. I toyed with having each chapter is an incident in a house where the pet stays, but when it came to writing the book, I guess I realized that I had to show the set-up of a problem in the classroom and that, most importantly, Humphrey had to have his own arc, his own problem to overcome.

For a while, I wrote a few thoughts about once a month. So the second note includes this statement: Every time he thinks he has human behavior all figured out, something at the next house throws his theory off. Not exactly the way the books unfold, but Humphrey is, first and foremost, a student of human behavior.

A month later,  my notes include Humphrey (he had a name now), worrying the lock open and getting out of the cage. Here I wrote:

-What is his purpose?

-cure a problem a kid has

-get a parent to pay attention to kid’s problem

-help another pet

-remind kid of something important.

A few sentences later I mention the no-nonsense teacher who became Mrs. Brisbane and said: Last chapter, the teacher has to take Humphrey home. Which, of course, does happen at the end of the first book, The World According to Humphrey. I say first book, but at this time, I only expected to write one book because Humphrey didn’t start out as a series.

A month after that, I made a list of character traits. Six of the eight I wrote down remain core characteristics of Humphrey’s character. A few days after that note, I decided that Mrs. Brisbane would be flawed, at least in Humphrey’s eyes.

No notes for three months. Then I listed some potential problems for the students to have.  Of the four I wrote, I’ve used three so far and the fourth is still viable. One was the shy girl who never speaks. Speak-Up-Sayeh is always a favorite with readers.

Six months after my first note, Aldo comes in to clean! He’s remained in every book. Of course, now he’s also going to school to become a teacher.

Humphrey was definitely taking shape. During this period I also researched hamsters and I researched other books with hamster characters (there weren’t many then) to make sure there wasn’t anything too close to it.

Here’s the deal: these notes were started in 1996. The World According to Humphrey came out in 2004. I actually wrote it in 2002.

In my next post, I’ll share what happened in between.

I’ve had quite a lengthy hiatus from blogging but Humphrey does keep my wheel spinning busily! To catch up a bit, here’s the latest Humphrey news:

School Days According to Humphrey will be released in hardcover June 30. It’s already out in the U.K. as School According to Humphrey. For a preview of the first chapter (with British punctuation and spelling), here’s the link to Tesco’s Book Club, which features a sneak peak. Click on the cover at this link:
http://kidsbookclub.tescomagazine.com/

I’m thrilled that School According to Humphrey has been shortlisted for the IBW Award in the children’s category. IBW stands for Independent Booksellers Week and I love indie bookshops!http://independentbooksellersweek.org.uk/award-page/

Humphrey is now on the Illinois Bluestem Award list at http://www.islma.org/pdf/BluestemMasterList2012.pdf
This list is a little different from other state lists. The award is designed for students in grades 3-5 who are ready for longer titles than found on the Monarch list, but not quite ready for the sophistication of some of the Rebecca Caudill titles. Named in honor of Big Bluestem which is the state prairie grass, the award may include both timeless classics and current titles, as well as books that have appeared on Monarch and Rebecca Caudill lists. Some of my favorites are on the list with The World According to Humphrey. Humphrey has won seven state awards, a Christopher Award, two Children’s Crown Awards and has been on 22 or 23 state lists – I’ve kind of lost count!

Trouble According to Humphrey was named an Honor Book for this year’s Children’s Crown Award. The World According to Humphrey and Friendship According to Humphrey previously won. Adventure According to Humphrey is on the list for the coming year. http://www.childrenscrownaward.org/

Yippee! Summer According to Humphrey, which recently came out in paperback,  is a bestseller in the Scholastic Book Club. http://kidscreen.com/2011/06/16/scholastic-lists-this-months-bestsellers-5/  But wait! there’s more!

One of the brand new Humphrey’s Tiny Tales books, My Pet Show Panic, is a Richard and Judy book club book this summer! This is huge in the U.K. and the books will be featured at all the W.H. Smith Stores. People in the U.K. really love Richard and Judy’s choices and the fact that The World According to Humphrey was on their first children’s list really got it off to a blazing start there. You’ll find it at this link, at the bottom of the page. http://www.richardandjudy.co.uk/childrens-current-reads/Summer-2011/98

And just a few weeks ago, Humphrey’s Tiny Tales: My Summer Fair Surprise was released in the UK. Next up will be Humphrey’s World of Pets, a pet care guide coming out in U.K. in October. And the next Tiny Tales book is called My Creepy-Crawly Camping Adventure – my favorite so far!

More good news : I am constantly asked in emails and snail mail if there will be more Humphrey books. I’m HAPPY-HAPPY-HAPPY to say there will. And I’m equally pleased to say I’ve finally got the time to do some serious work on a non-Humphrey book – a goal I’ve fallen behind on.

Next up: updating the website!