Michael Buckley is the author of the popular children’s books series “Sisters Grimm” and “N.E.R.D.S.”
As he described his diverse life’s journey at the eighth James V. Brown Library Author Gala in Williamsport PA, he finished with a serious message about the importance of the school librarian’s impact on his impressionable young mind and how libraries are the “secret to America.”
“It was like a lightning bolt,” he said, of the inspirational spark provided to him by the librarian at the school in Akron, Ohio. He called her the single most important impetus behind his searching out other books, using his inherent comedic skills and eventually becoming a children’s book author.
“She changed me overnight,” he said, describing himself as a reluctant reader as a child who was force fed books such as “The Yearling” and “Little House on the Prairie,” which were noteworthy works, but didn’t help to invigorate his page-turning.
The librarian gave him a copy of “The Mouse and the Motorcycle: by Beverly Cleary, and it was anything but grueling.
The book was funny, full of adventure and most importantly – it was pointless.
“I thought, ‘maybe there’s another book like this,’ ” he said. He said he literally became a reader overnight.
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