Welcome to our first author interview!
Meet Rob Buyea, author of Because of Mr. Terupt.
Rob is an elementary school teacher who is a writer at heart. He was inspired to write after seeing the wonderful work his students were doing. At first, he wrote short stories, but one day he had an idea that really excited him. He joined a writer's group, and eventually shared his work with the world.
These questions were asked by our fourth grades. Enjoy!
Other than Terupt being a dollar word,
is the name symbolic in any way?
No. I sat down
with some letters that I knew would total $1.00, scrambled them around, and
came up with Terupt. I knew when I started the story that the
teacher's name needed to be a dollar
word, and that Luke would reveal it at the very end.
Who would you like to play Mr. Terupt when the movie comes out? What about the other characters?
Who would you like to play Mr. Terupt when the movie comes out? What about the other characters?
No idea for Mr. T. Somebody that's good-looking, I guess. I
like how you make it sound as if it will be a movie, though.
The power of positive thinking! Is there going to be a sequel? If so, when does it come out?
YES! Mr. Terupt Falls Again will be released on October 9th. You
can go to my website and pre-order it now.
How come Mr. Terupt didn't have any family in the story? Do we get to find out what happened to him before he became a teacher? What's his backstory?
The answers to this are in the next
book. I'm glad you're asking.
Do you have other books you are working on, and, if so, are they for children or adults?
Yes, I do have others. I'm
working on another middle grade novel right now.
How did you come up with the idea of Mr. Terupt, and why did you write it from the perspective of the students? Why not from Mr. Terupt's point of view?
The kids came to me as voices.
They were in my head and started telling me the story and giving me
ideas. I was able to use a lot of real-life experiences from my classroom
days as an elementary school teacher to jumpstart ideas. I had loads
of fun changing the real events and making them better for the
story. I was excited to be each of the kids and tell their stories.
Are you still teaching or is writing now your full-time job?
I'm still teaching, but this year i'll be teaching less as I'm trying to
do more with my writing and school visits.
Happy Reading!
Rob Buyea
WOW!! I'm so impressed guys! What great insightful questions and how exciting that you were able to get answers. You are doing a great job with your blog, keep up the great work. Make sure to thank Ms. Isaacs and Mrs. Littleton for all their work too!
ReplyDelete