Diary of a Wimpy Kid Is Back In ‘The Long Haul’!

The Wimpy Kid is back in The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney. Releasing in November, The Long Haul is about a family road trip gone wrong.

A family road trip is supposed to be a lot of fun . . . unless, of course, you’re the Heffleys. The journey starts off full of promise, then quickly takes several wrong turns. Gas station bathrooms, crazed seagulls, a fender bender, and a runaway pig—not exactly Greg’s idea of a good time. But even the worst road trip can turn into an adventure—and this is one the Heffleys won’t soon forget.

For more on the new book, check out these videos from Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney.

‘Maze Runner’ Author James Dashner Will Pen Prequel

Boys’ Life Fiction: ‘700 Feet of Terror’ by Eric DelaBarre

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Illustrations by Rich Kelly

[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ere I am, miles from home, alone and buried alive. My name is Tracer Finn, and I’m almost 14. Other than common sense, I don’t think anything can prepare a snowboarder for the sheer violence of an avalanche. It was 700 feet of terror and louder than a derailing freight train. If it weren’t for my helmet, I would probably be dead.

Then again, maybe I was dead and didn’t know it.

It was just before five in the morning when my mom pulled into the school parking lot to drop me off to catch the team bus. I would love to say that I was a member of our school’s state-champion snowboarding team, but I was not.

Because the team had only 20 active members, 10 boys and 10 girls, Coach Parker came up with an idea to help offset the team’s travel costs. If you were a student in good standing and had a permission slip from your parents, you could catch a ride to the ski resort for 20 bucks.

As we pulled into the parking lot, my mom thought I might have had the pickup time wrong because the parking lot was empty. This move, however, was by design. My design. If I’ve learned one thing about being an incoming freshman, it was to never draw attention to yourself. A surefire way to set off a geek alarm is to have your mom drop you off in, of all things, a minivan.

“I knew the backcountry was off-limits and way beyond my skill set, but I was feeling confident … until I saw the ‘AVALANCHE TERRITORY’ sign.

No, I knew what I was doing with the early drop-off, so I quickly said goodbye, grabbed my snowboard and jumped out.

If I’d had a clue that it might have been the last time I’d ever see my mom again, I probably would have ignored my pursuit of “cool” and sat with her until the team bus arrived. Now I’ll never know what we might have talked about. I’ll never know what kind of laughter we might have shared together, because if there was one thing we knew how to do, it was laugh.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t’s hard to imagine anything like this would ever happen, but now that I’m buried alive and freezing, I can’t help but wonder why we push away the people who love us the most so we can appear cool to others. Fitting in with the crowd and the pursuit of cool meant nothing to me right now.

Right now, I was freezing to death.

“GET UP, TRACER,” my mind interrupted. “You have to move or you are going to die!”

Here I was, crouched in a fetal position, surrounded by tons of snow, and my mind is ordering me to do something that I’d already tried a dozen times before? I can hardly breathe, let alone move.

To think all of this could have been avoided was maddening to me. In a single moment, my life changed. And for what? I thought. To fit in with the crowd and have the other kids say, “There goes Tracer Finn, a no-fear freshman”?

[dropcap]M[/dropcap]y moment of stupidity presented itself at the top of the double black-diamond run Wicked. Earlier that morning, I decided to follow some of the guys on the snowboarding team. I knew they were more experienced than I was, but since I was able to keep up with them and most of their moves, I was proud of my decision.

That is, until Rusty Larson, our 17-year-old reigning state champion, decided to show off for some of the girls.

One by one, the older guys followed Rusty and ducked under the hazard fencing, which blocked access to the mountain’s treacherous backcountry. I knew the backcountry was off-limits and way beyond my skill set, but I was feeling confident … until I saw the “AVALANCHE TERRITORY” sign.

Exploring the backcountry was one thing, but exploring avalanche territory was something I wanted nothing to do with. When I was about to turn around in retreat, I locked eyes with Julie Nagle, the prettiest girl on the snowboarding team.

Up to this point, I wasn’t sure if she even knew I existed, but when she smiled at me, I could feel my heart skip a beat. How can you turn back now? I thought. I knew if I did, I would soon be known as “Tracer Finn, that chicken freshman.”

Taking a deep breath, I smiled back at Julie, slapped the “Avalanche Territory” sign and dropped into the deep powder of the backcountry. The slope was steep and despite all the powder, I was already moving fast — too fast.

Suddenly, the trees closed in around me as the run got tighter, which forced me to keep the nose of my board pointed straight downhill. Then, I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach — where were the board tracks from Rusty and the other guys?

Thinking fast, I leaned toward the backside and made a cut to the white-powder clearing of the backcountry. Like a cannonball, I shot out of the trees and began to glide across the snow of a steep gorge.

My board finally stopped chattering the way a board chatters when you are pushing the limits, so my idea was working. That is, until everything turned terribly wrong when a giant shelf of snow gave way and closed on me like the jaws of an angry lion.

Looking up for a possible escape route, I saw 700 feet of terror barreling down on me. A wall of snow hit me like an NFL linebacker, lifted me high into the air and slammed me down so hard I could hear the sickening sound of the air rapidly exiting my lungs.

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]f I had only ignored my ego in that critical moment when I saw the avalanche sign, I might be sitting on the chairlift with Julie instead of being buried alive. Who knows, I might have found the courage to ask her for her phone number and send her a text … wait … DUDE! Your phone is in your jacket pocket! Maybe you can call for help?

My fingers were so cold, they barely answered the urgent commands from my brain, but slowly they began to wiggle and tunnel into the small pocket of air in the middle of my crouched position.

Before long, I felt the leather dongle of my zipper pocket. Grasping the now-frozen dongle between my gloved index finger and thumb, I began to pull open the pocket. Each opening tooth of the zipper echoed like a clap of thunder throughout my coffin of snow.

Reaching in, I could feel the top of my phone. I would need to drop my left shoulder to grab it, but that was easier said than done. Summoning every bit of strength left in my tired muscles, I shot my shoulder down and toward the air pocket. The move suddenly caused the snow to collapse in around me. Before I knew what was happening, I was tumbling down the mountain again.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hen, as fast as the chaos began, it was over. I was, once again, surrounded by the deafening silence of the backcountry, but something was different. My arm moved. Reaching up, I cleared the snow from my goggles and felt the warm afternoon sun hit my face. My nightmare was finally over. I was alive.

Lying there for a long moment, I began to wonder … how long had I been buried? Was I even buried at all, or was this simply the end of the initial avalanche? During the chaos of tumbling, maybe I hit my head and my mental chatter was simply a dreamlike state of unconsciousness?

The only thing I knew for certain was that my life would never be the same. From this moment on, I would always obey the rules whenever I set out on an adventure. I would always listen to my instincts and never, ever, ever try to impress someone in the pursuit of cool.

Eric DelaBarre is the author of Saltwater Taffy. The award-winning adventure novel follows the lives of five friends as they uncover a treasure map that once belonged to the ruthless New Orleans pirate, Jean Lafitte. The discovery thrusts them from one treasure hunting adventure to the next as they try to out-wit, out-think and out-maneuver everyone from the one-legged junk-yard man and an overbearing town bully, to the creepy old man living at the top of the hill.

Saltwater Taffy is a race to-the-finish adventure that grabs the reader and never lets go.

New Book Trailer for The Quantum League

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Author Matthew Kirby’s newest book, The Quantum League is an incredibly thrilling novel, filled with science, spies and even magic.

We talked to Kirby about the book here. Now, we have a brand-new trailer for it. Take a look:

Author Jasper Fforde Talks ‘The Eye of Zoltar’

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Meet author Jasper Fforde (no — that’s not a typo!). If you like magic, hilarity and crazy action, you might want to give The Eye of Zoltar a look. It’s the third installment in Fforde’s Chronicles of Kazam series. We asked him to tell us about the book — and a whole lot more.

What advice would you give to aspiring young authors?
Write, and write NOW. Think long term. Writing is a skill to be learned, not a gift that will ooze out effortlessly. It may take 10 years to get published, and that 10 years needs to start as soon as possible. The one piece of advice I would have given the younger Jasper would have been to start writing earlier. I began when I was 27, and was published at 39, seven novels later. Listen to your aged relatives. Listen to other people’s aged relatives. Ask questions. Find out about stuff — any stuff. World affairs, history. BE KNOWLEDGEABLE. Know the difference (and want to know the difference) between “dog’s” and “dogs” and “there” and “their” and “lesser” and “fewer.” If you’re old enough, get a part-time job somewhere that has a lot of people of very different backgrounds — a fast food joint is a good start, or Saturday mornings in a shoe shop or hardware store — and just listen to people’s lives. Take notes about stuff, keep a diary, try to figure out why people do the strange stuff they do. Read, watch TV, go to the theatre, see movies. Converse. Do stuff. But most of all, write.

What can you tell us about your latest book, The Eye of Zoltar?
The Eye of Zoltar is the third in the Chronicles of Kazam series and is set in the Ununited Kingdoms, a modern-day world that mixes cars, TVs, magic, despotic kings and dragons. Jennifer Strange works for Kazam, a company that rents out wizards to do mundane jobs like loft conversions and unblocking drains. In an earlier book she defeated a powerful wizard named Shandar who was attempting to rid the world of Dragons, and now he’s back to try again. To stop him, they need a Magical Jewel named “The Eye of Zoltar” which is apparently hidden in the land next door — the Cambrian Empire, a lawless, dangerous place where tourists flock to engage in something called “Jeopardy Tourism.” With a princess disguised as a handmaiden, a wizard who can only do magic by depleting his own life force and a rubber dragon named Colin, Jennifer Strange must go in search of a Sky Pirate, the legendary graveyard of the winged serpents known as Leviathans, and battle Railway Companies, flesh-eating slugs and unstoppable Hollow Men. It’s a lot of fun.

Most of the books you’ve written have been for an adult audience. What sort of experience has it been for you to write for a youth audience?
Children can and do understand very complex ideas: Betrayal, loss, happiness, camaraderie, jeopardy, danger, unfairness. Normal school life, in fact. I tend to write the same but make the protagonists younger and cut down on the number of subplots and allusion, which is something only really gained by age. A story for children needs to crack along at a fair pace, too — no weighty exposition. They get bored far more easily — and will have no qualms in telling you so.

Your books are filled with absurdist humor. From where do you draw your inspiration?
Everywhere. To take an example from The Eye of Zoltar, I was tracing Jennifer’s journey on a map in present day Wales, and it takes them past a little town named Llangurig. I did a quick Google search to see if there was anything remarkable I could use, and there was — the railway to Llangurig only ever had one train before the line was pulled up; something to do with a contractual obligation. The entire “Battling Railway Companies” chapter and subplot grew out of this one fact. I take a small nugget of information, then simply exaggerate, and add human greed and contrariness. Usually works!

Besides your own books, what are the top five books that you would recommend to young readers?

The Little Prince by Antoine de St-Exupéry. A warm, lyrical tale about a prince who lives on his own planet, and about his journey to earth to try and find answers about life. Also warns about the danger of Baobab trees, and how to draw pictures of snakes eating elephants.
Fantastic Mr Fox by Roald Dahl. Or anything else by him, really. Always engaging, and always a bit subversive. Great fun.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Rollicking tale of pirates, evildoing, treasure and life at sea. Unputdownable from almost the very first word. “Long John” Silver remains the best villain in children’s fiction, hands down.
Holes by Louis Sachar. Delightfully surreal stuff from beginning to end.
Stig of the Dump by Clive King. Barney discovers that living in the chalk pit at the bottom of the garden is Stig, a caveman. Despite not having a common language, a strong friendship develops.

Random Question: We understand you’re into aviation. What can you tell us about your interest in it?
My dad was a pilot during World War II, and although he never flew after 1945, I was always fascinated by it. I’ve had a pilot’s license since 1985, and own and fly a vintage aircraft built in Kansas in 1940. I’ve even visited the site of the old factory (now a GM truck engine factory) and will happily talk about airplanes for hours — but I don’t, because it’s hideously boring if you’re not interested. Flying. It’s the reason birds sing.

Boys’ Life Fiction: ‘The Secret of Grady House’

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By Maureen Crane Wartski | Illustrations by Greg Newbold

[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]ou know the Grady house is haunted, right, Evan?”

Icy prickles ran along Evan’s spine as JB Whortley pulled a key out of the cracked flowerpot by the front door.

Old Mr. Grady fell down the stairs and hurt himself yesterday, and the ambulance took him to County Hospital. My dad’s supposed to pick up his mail and stuff, so I’m doing it for him. We’ll have a real close look at the ghost — unless you’re too scared.”

“I’m not s-s-scared.”

Evan hated that he stammered when he was nervous. He hadn’t had time to make friends in his new school, and JB and his sidekick, Milo, were always trying to make his life miserable. For the millionth time, Evan wished his dad’s work hadn’t moved the Forresters to this small town in Texas. He wanted to be back with his pals in his school’s naturalist club in Greensboro, N.C.

The door of the Grady House creaked open.

“He’s scared,” Milo mocked.

If he refused to go in, they’d just torment him more. Evan winced as a floorboard groaned underfoot, but he followed JB into the pitch-dark hall.

Suddenly a ghoulish scream filled the air. Evan’s heart almost stopped. There couldn’t be such things as ghosts … Could there? Again the fiendish laughter pealed. Evan wanted to run, but his legs had turned to mush.

JB started to laugh as Milo came into the hall chortling, and Evan could have kicked himself for falling for their trick. But just then an eerie, cooing sound echoed through the house. JB and Evan looked at each other.

“What’s that?” Milo gasped. “That doesn’t sound human …”

“Let’s get out of here!” JB yelled.

The two boys flew out of the house. Evan started to follow, but then slowed on the rickety porch steps as the strange cooing noise began again. It didn’t sound evil or even scary — it sounded sad.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he thought stayed with Evan all the way home, and it was his last thought before he fell asleep. Next morning at breakfast, Mr. Forrester mentioned that he was going to stop by County Hospital to see how their neighbor was.

“That’s a good idea. It’s too bad about Mr. Grady,” his mother said. “I hear that he used to be a famous scientist before he retired due to worsening eyesight. He’s written many books about natural history.”

Maybe he’d read one of them! Impulsively, Evan asked, “Can I come with you, Dad?”

Somehow, he managed to stay out of JB’s way during the school day, and later he and his father drove to County Hospital. He’d hoped to ask Mr. Grady about the eerie cooing noises, but when he saw the old man, he realized that Mr. Grady would have a hard time talking. The old man’s jaw was bruised and discolored, and his right arm was in a cast.

Mr. Grady was asleep when they looked in. Saying that they should come another time, Mr. Forrester left the room. Before Evan could follow, the old man opened his eyes and, seeing Evan, beckoned him closer. When he approached, Mr. Grady whispered something that sounded like, “Save Barney!”

Those strange cooing noises, Evan thought.

“Is Barney inside your house, sir?” he asked. Mr. Grady nodded, then winced in pain. “Do you want me to go inside your house and … and save Barney?” Evan persisted. Another nod. Then the old man’s eyes closed again.

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen his father dropped him off at home, Evan wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to go into that dark, silent house. He could wait and discuss this with his parents, but his mother was running an errand, Mr. Forrester was back at work and Mr. Grady was counting on him.

Voices behind him made him whip around. JB and Milo were walking down the street, pointing at him and grinning. He couldn’t back out now, not in front of them! Evan found the key in the big flowerpot by the door and let himself in.

The light switch in the hall wouldn’t work. Into the dark wafted that eerie, cooing sound. Evan’s stomach lurched, but he followed the sounds to a big, dusty room. There in a corner stood a large cage. Two round, glowing eyes were staring at him from the cage.

Evan began to laugh with relief. The eyes belonged to a small capuchin monkey.

“Hi, Barney,” he said. “Want to come home with me?”

Holding Barney’s cage, Evan left the Grady house. He saw that Milo and JB were still there, staring at him with their mouths half open. Ignoring them, Evan took the monkey home.

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen they learned what had happened, Evan’s parents were happy to help.

“One thing’s for sure,” Mr. Forrester said as they all watched Barney happily chewing on a corn cob, “we need to get some of the neighbors together and fix up those front steps. They’re not safe.”

Evan visited Mr. Grady in the hospital the next day and told him that Barney was fine.

“My dad says that we’ll keep him until you’re well enough to take him home with you. My school isn’t far, so I’m going to walk down here each day and give you a progress report. My dad will pick me up.”

Mr. Grady was alert and able to talk today.

“I appreciate it,” he said. “I’ve been thinking. I’m going to make a call to the Wildlife Refuge Center in Kendalia. They’ll take Barney. I’m no longer able to care for him properly.” He looked sad, and Evan understood. It was hard to say goodbye to old friends.

“I understand you’ve made a move yourself recently,” Mr. Grady went on. “Your father told me when he stopped in this morning. He said that you’re something of a natural history buff yourself, aren’t you?”

When Evan nodded, Mr. Grady went on. “I was your age when the ‘bug’ caught me.”

He began to talk about how he had sat by a pond for hours observing salamanders, and Evan burst out that he’d done that, too! When Mr. Forrester came to pick Evan up, they were deep in talk.

“You’ll come tomorrow?” Mr. Grady asked as the Forresters were leaving, and Evan nodded a glad “Yes.”

[dropcap]E[/dropcap]van and Mr. Grady’s visits continued. Evan wasn’t exactly sure why, but JB and Milo now left him alone. They hardly mattered, though, because he was busy. He was bursting with ideas he needed to discuss with his new friend, one of them being the naturalist club he was planning to start at school.

One afternoon, Mr. Grady announced that he was being discharged from the hospital.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I have several projects that I started before I retired. I never got around to finishing them because my eyesight was getting worse, and I didn’t have an assistant to help me.” He paused. “But if you’re interested, perhaps you could come over to the house after you finish your homework. Your dad thinks it’s a good idea, and the housekeeper I’ve just hired will give us snacks and the energy to work hard.” He paused. “What do you think? Partners?”

Evan’s whole face lit up with a smile. He couldn’t find the right words to say, but that didn’t matter. Mr. Grady was holding out a hand, and Evan shook it joyfully.

Partners!

Enter BL’s 2019 “Say Yes to Reading!” Contest!

• Read the winning book reports from 2017

Write a one-page report titled “The Best Book I Read This Year” and enter it in the Boys’ Life 2019 “Say Yes to Reading!” contest.

The book can be fiction or nonfiction. But the report has to be in your own words — 500 words tops. Enter in one of these three age categories:

8 years old and younger
9 and 10 years old
11 years old and older

First-place winners in each age category will receive a $100 gift card from Amazon.com. Second-place winners will receive a $75 gift card; third-place winners, a $50 gift card.

Everyone who enters will get a free patch like the one on this page. The patch is a temporary insignia, so it can be worn on the right pocket of the Scout uniform shirt. Proudly display it there or on another item such as a vest, plaque or trophy! In coming years, you’ll have the opportunity to earn other patches.

The contest is open to all Boys’ Life readers. Be sure to include your name, address, age and grade in school on the entry.

Send your report, along with a business-size, self-addressed, stamped envelope, to:

Boys’ Life Reading Contest
S306
P.O. Box 152079
Irving, TX 75015-2079

Entries must be postmarked by Dec. 31, 2019 and must include entry information and a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

A Sneak Peek at ‘Fantasy League’ by Mike Lupica

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If you’re a fan of football, or fantasy football, Fantasy League by Mike Lupica is the perfect book for you. It’s a fun, funny and educational look at fantasy sports from the perspective of a 12-year-old named Charlie Gaines. Charlie, like lots of middle-schoolers, is obsessed with sports.

Especially football. Charlie’s favorite hobby is playing fantasy football. He’s got too many leagues to count, and spends most of his time studying players, teams and stats. One day, his exceptional talent gets noticed by the owner of the L.A. Bulldogs. What happens next sets Charlie off on a one-of-a-kind, dream-come-true adventure.

Earlier this week, author Mike Lupica sent two exclusive videos to Boys’ Life, giving us the scoop on his new book. Take a look:

More about Fantasy League from author Mike Lupica

Learn a few expert fantasy football tips

Here’s the official synopsis:

Twelve-year-old Charlie is a fantasy football guru. He may be just a bench warmer for his school’s football team, but when it comes to knowing and loving the game, he’s first-string. He even becomes a celebrity when his podcast gets noticed by a sports radio host, who plays Charlie’s fantasy picks for all of Los Angeles to hear. Soon Charlie befriends the elderly owner of the L.A. Bulldogs — a fictional NFL team — and convinces him to take a chance on an aging quarterback. After that, watch out . . . it’s press conferences and national fame as Charlie becomes a media curiosity and source of conflict for the Bulldogs general manager, whose job Charlie seems to have taken. It’s all a bit much for a kid just trying to stay on top of his grades and maintain his friendship with his verbal sparring partner, Anna.

Read an Excerpt From The Rule of Thoughts

Calling All Maze Runner Fans!

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Are you a Maze Runner fanatic? You’re in luck. The movie based on the bestselling novel of the same name hits theaters Sept. 19.

We’ve got a look at the The Maze Runner trailer, too.

In case you missed out on the book, here’s the gist of the story:

When Thomas wakes up trapped in a massive maze with a group of other boys, he has no memory of the outside world other than strange dreams about a mysterious organization known as W.C.K.D. Only by piecing together fragments of his past with clues he discovers in the maze can Thomas hope to uncover his true purpose and a way to escape.

It’s a scary, adventurous, thrilling, mysterious, edge-of-your-seat thriller that will not disappoint. That said, the movie — and the book — are for older audiences. I recommend the book only for kids 12 and older. If you’re wondering whether you’re ready to tackle the book, visit Common Sense Media first to learn more about the book. Or feel free to ask me any questions in the comments section.

And the movie will likely be rated PG-13 for violence, and some mild language. Even so, aside from some scary moments, the trailer is approved for all audiences.

Want more news about the Maze Runner? Check out our interview with author James Dashner.

BL: What draws you to writing for a younger audience?

J.D.: There was just something magical about reading when I was a youth, and writing for them is the only true way I can return to that magic.

BL: When you were younger, which authors were your favorite?

J.D.: I loved Judy Blume, Madeleine L’Engle, and the Hardy Boys books.

BL: Aside from your own, do you have a favorite young adult book or series? New or old?

J.D.: My favorite of all time is the Ender series by Orson Scott Card. (For those interested: Ender’s Game the movie will be released in Nov. 2013. Watch for a Boys’ Life story on the movie-making process.)

BL: You’re also involved with Infinity Ring, an epic, sprawling time-travel tale, comes out. This seems to have a lot of moving parts, with a multi-platform experience for readers. What is the series all about?

J.D.: Infinity Ring is a story about an alternate reality of our world where “Great Breaks” in time have caused the modern day world to be in really bad shape, plagued by things such as rampant natural disasters and a ruthless government. The main characters find themselves involved with an ancient society that sends them back in time to correct those Breaks in history.

BL: After the final book in the Infinity Ring series, what’s next for you? Or have you even gotten that far into planning?

J.D.: There will be a new young adult series with Random House, as well as other stories I have up my sleeve. Many fun things to come!

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