[ Music ]
>> In memory of Dick Robinson
and sponsored by the Institute
of Museum and Library Services.
>> Guy Lamolinara:
Hello, I'm Guy Lamolinara,
and I'm from the Literary
Initiatives Division
of the Library of Congress.
And I have the privilege today
of being here with Dan Gutman,
who is the award-wining writer
of books for young people.
And I also want to
welcome our audience
to the 2021 National
Book Festival,
and to please remind you to
start asking your questions now,
and during this 30 minute
presentation we'll try to get
to as many of them as we can.
Dan Gutman's new book is
called Houdini and Me.
Welcome Dan, and
thanks for joining us.
>> Dan Gutman: Hey, Guy,
thanks for having me.
>> Guy Lamolinara:
Absolutely, our pleasure.
Dan, one thing I'm very
curious about is why you chose
to write about Houdini?
He died in 1926, and I don't
know, do young people know
who he was, or was that
one of your objectives
to let people know
about this guy?
>> Dan Gutman: You know, I
didn't have to let them know,
Houdini is one of those few
people that everybody seems
to know, like even like kids
in first and second grade,
they know people like,
Babe Ruth,
Marilyn Monroe, JFK.
And everybody seems to know
Houdini, so it wasn't a matter
of having to introduce
kids to Houdini,
I think everybody
knows about him.
But, what happened Guy, is that,
I live in New York
City, and I'm fascinated
by famous people and
where they lived.
I think it's kind of cool to
like walk by a building and know
that some really famous
person lived there,
or some really famous
event took place there.
So, I was walking
down the street,
when I walk down the street
and I'll see things like this,
I hope you can see this.
Babe Ruth lived in
my neighborhood,
you know, a long time ago.
And I could go to the hardware
store and see that, oh, look,
Edgar Allan Poe lived in my
neighborhood, you know, cool.
And, I can go to my local
Italian restaurant and see
that George and Ira Gershwin,
Georg Gershwin wrote 'Rhapsody
in Blue' in my neighborhood.
And, I'll just give
you one more, Guy,
also in my neighborhood lived,
for the first four years
of his life, Humphrey
Bogart lived here.
But, none of those people
really inspired me to want
to write a book about
them, until I was walking
down the street one day,
eight blocks from apartment,
and when I saw this.
Yeah, Harry Houdin
spent the last 22 years
of his life living just
eight blocks away from me.
And, I didn't know much
about Houdini at the time,
of course I knew he was
like a famous magician
and escape artist, but I like
to write historical fiction,
and I thought, "Hmm, that
could be an interesting story."
And so, I walked up the steps to
take this picture of this plaque
on the wall, and as soon
as I walk up the steps,
I'm taking the picture,
and this guy comes out
and starts yelling at me.
He says, "This is
private property.
This is a one-family
home, I've got young kids,
please leave me alone.
Don't bother me anymore
and don't ever come back."
[ Laughing ]
So, I felt terrible, and
I slunk out of there, and,
but, it didn't prevent
me from writing the book,
so, I wrote the book, anyway.
>> Guy Lamolinara: You mentioned
Babe Ruth, Humphrey Bogart,
what was it about Houdini
that intrigued you?
>> Dan Gutman: Oh,
well, I think the think
that intrigued me most
is the famous story that,
before he died, he told
his wife Beth, he said,
"If there is a way
for me to come back
from the dead, I will do it."
And if anybody, like Houdini
could escape from handcuffs,
from shackles, from
straightjackets, he could escape
from anything, but he couldn't
escape form his own death.
And I thought, [snaps fingers],
pow, that's a book idea.
I could find a way, I could
write a story about a kid
who say, lives in Harry
Houdini's house on 113th street
in Manhattan, and the kid,
say, somehow finds a way
to communicate with
the spirit of Houdini
from beyond the grave.
And, if the kid and Houdini were
to switch places, as Houdini did
in his famous Metamorphosis
trick,
then I could have a
really interesting story.
The kid could end
up in the 1920s
and find himself hanging upside
down the way Houdini would have.
And Houdini would come to the
21st century and see what it's
like when hotdog doesn't
cost $.05 anymore.
So, that was really what kind
of inspired the whole story,
and made everything
kind of fit together.
>> Guy Lamolinara: That's
a perfect transition
to this question from
Elaina, she says,
"If Houdini really
did come back to life,
what's the first place
you would take him to
or thing you would show him?
What do you think he would
most, find most fascinating
in the world, or
specifically in New York City?"
>> Dan Gutman: The first thing,
before you said New York City
I was going to say, well,
I'd take him to Washington
D.C. to the Library of Congress
to see the Houdini Papers there,
he'd probably want
to take a look --
>> Guy Lamolinara:
That's the right answer.
>> Dan Gutman: -- at that.
Gee, that's a good question, I'd
have to give it some thought,
but, I'm sure he'd find the city
to be unrecognizable since 1926.
I mean, hey, the Empire State
Building hadn't even been built
at that time.
>> Guy Lamolinara: That's true.
Here's a question from
Theresa, "You have written
so many fun books for
kids, how do you still come
up with new ideas
after all these years?
"
>> Dan Gutman: It's easy
when you have the brain
of an eight year old.
Like,
I was not a big reader
when I was a kid.
I thought reading was
boring and hard to do.
And,
my mother was really
worried about me, you know,
she used to buy me comic books,
hoping it would get
me interested
in reading, and it didn't work.
And it wasn't until I was
in about fourth grade or so,
that I became a big sports fan.
And suddenly, I wanted to know
everything about sports, so,
that's what got me into reading.
And I think that because
I wasn't a great reader
as a child, I think I,
relate well to kids, especially
kids who are reluctant readers.
And, that's why I think my
stories seem to click well with,
kids who are, especially
boys, who very often,
are reluctant to
embrace reading.
>> Guy Lamolinara: What do you
think Houdini's relevance is
for kids today?
>> Dan Gutman: Hey, Guy, I
didn't know you were going
to ask me the tough questions.
[ Laughing ]
Well,
I guess I would probably
say that,
the word escape,
is sort of relevant
at all times.
You know, escape rooms
are very popular,
or at least they were
before the pandemic started.
And everybody, I think it's
almost human nature to,
think that some other
reality is better than the one
that you live in, you know,
the grass is always
greener on the other side.
So, if we could escape
from where we are
into something else, I think
that's a really an attractive
notion to people.
And maybe that's why
Houdinin's name and everything
about him has stood the
test of time, because,
he really invented the art of,
escapology.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Right.
Okay, here's a question
that I hope is easier,
this is from Maria, and it's
for her daughter, she says,
"Which of your books is
your favorite and why?
Her daughter loves the Weird
Schook Series, by the way.
>> Dan Gutman: Oh, thanks Maria,
and tell your daughter
I said, "Hi."
Yeah,
My Weird School is
my bread and butter,
I've been doing this
series now for 17 years.
And, Maria, your
daughter will love this,
the next book actually come out
on October 19th, my birthday.
And it's going to be called,
Mrs. Barr Has Gone Too Far!
So, you can look for that one.
But,
it's not my favorite
of all my books,
I'll tell you my favorite.
My favorite is one that you
probably never heard up,
because it wasn't
very successful.
Hang on a second,
let me find it.
There, wait a minute,
I'm not prepared, Guy!
Okay, my favorite --
>> Guy Lamolinara: That's
okay, take your time.
>> Dan Gutman: -- of all
my books is this one,
it didn't sell very well,
it's called JOHNNY HANGTIME,
and it's a story about a kid
who is a Hollywood stuntman.
And he's always jumping
out of windows, you know,
and having himself set on
fire, and it's real exciting.
I think this was my best
book of all my books,
but it didn't sell very
well and it's hard to find,
but I hope you look for it,
because I'm really
proud of it myself.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Okay, I hope,
she can find that books.
Here's another question
about your writing.
It says, you write such
a variety of series,
Baseball Cards, Weird
School, Wait!
What?, how do you decide
what you will write next?
Is it publisher driven,
reader riven [phonetic],
or is it writer riven, driven?
>> Dan Gutman: It's
writer driven.
Yeah,
I know some authors, they
feel most comfortable like,
doing all their stories like
in a school, for instance, or,
all their stories for fourth
graders, for instance.
I get bored easily, I've
got a short attention span,
so I like to write, like, I
like to write picture books
for little kids, kindergarten
kids, like Rappy the Raptor.
He's a rapping raptor who raps,
and I like to write
My Weird School for,
you know, beginning readers.
I like to write sports books
like my Baseball Card
Adventures such as,
Honus & Me, for, you know,
third, fourth, fifth graders.
And, you know, for more advanced
readers I do a series called the
Genius Files.
It's about these two kids,
their names are Coke and Pepsi,
and they're traveling
cross-country,
with their parents
over summer vacation,
starting in San Franciso,
and they actually end
up in Washington
D.C. and back again,
and there's five
books in the series.
This is for,
I'd say, you know, older,
more advanced readers.
And,
I guess I,
keep it fresh by always
doing something different,
and,
I think that's also
human nature to crave,
crave novelty.
So, I always do something
different, and that's what,
that's how my ideas,
come from.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Can
you tell us a little bit
about Houdini's life,
how did he get his start?
And, what was his fame
and popularity like?
>> Dan Gutman: He was one of the
most famous people in the world
in the 1920s, actually.
He was born in Budapest,
Hungary, his family came
to America in the late
1800s, they settled
in Appleton, Wisconsin.
And actually, there's a
Houdini Museum in Appleton.
And, at some point, the
family moved to New York City,
and he spent most of
his life living here.
And, he, you know, he would,
do,
Vaudeville he would
do acrobatics.
He was very athletic as a
person, so he did all kinds
of interesting tricks.
And,
he wanted to separate himself
from all the other people,
like circus performers,
he got the idea of like,
picking locks, you know,
and escaping from handcuffs.
And he mastered the art of
escaping from handcuffs,
which was pretty
amazing in his time
until everybody started
copying him.
So, he thought of more,
more and more elaborate ways to
escape from things, to the point
where he was having himself
like locked in a big trunk,
he'd climb in the trunk,
he'd be locked up, shackled,
and then they'd take the trunk,
and they'd throw it in a river.
And it would sink to the
bottom, and like thousands
of people would gather
on the sides
of the river thinking like,
"There's no way he's going
to get out of this,"
and he amazingly,
got out. And he slowly built
his fame by just traveling
from town to town doing that.
Of course, there was no radio,
there was no television,
there was no internet, of
course, he had to go from town
to town doing these
amazing tricks.
And, little by little his fame
built, and until he became,
literally, one of the most
famous people in the world.
>> Guy Lamolinara: There's
a 1953 movie of Houdini
with Tony Curtis and Janet Lee,
and I have to tell
you it was always one
of my favorites as a child.
Can you tell us, how
accurate is that film?
>> Dan Gutman: I don't
know, I have seen that film,
and I don't know
all the details.
I do know that the,
ending of the movie
is not accurate.
In the ending,
of the movie, if I recall, he's
doing his famous water trick
where he's hung upside down in
a huge tank of water, and he,
I think he drowns in it I guess,
am I right about that, Guy?
But --
>> Guy Lamolinara: I
think you're right;
I haven't seen it in a while.
>> Dan Gutman: -- yeah, but
that's not what happened,
in real life.
In real life, he was
in Montreal, I believe,
doing his show in
the fall of 1926,
and he had broken his foot
doing a trick, but he insisted
that the show would go anyway,
so he was in a bad state.
And after one of
his shows he was,
laying in the Green
room there, you know,
laying on a couch propping
his foot up when some,
a college student came into the
dressing room, and he was a fan.
And he said, "Mr. Houdini,
I've heard that you have the
amazing ability to be able
to take a punch to the
abdomen, a really hard punch,
is that true?"
And, Houdini said,
"Yeah, yeah, it's true.
"And the guy said, well,
would it be okay if I were
to punch you in the stomach?"
And Houdini said, okay, and
before he had the chance
to like, clinch up his stomach
muscles, the guy hauled off
and slugged him like
four or five times.
And it ruptured his
appendix, actually,
and instead of seeking
medical help he just decided
to tough it out.
And, the,
whatever went wrong
spread throughout his body,
and he died of, I think
it's called peritonitis ,
if I'm not mistaken?
>> Guy Lamolinara: Peritonitis.
>> Dan Gutman: Yeah.
So,
the true story is that he
got punched in the stomach
and he died, nine days later,
I think it was in Detroit
if I'm not mistaken,
[inaudible].
So --
>> Guy Lamolinara: So, I can
see why they changed the ending,
why they changed that
story for the movie.
>> -- It's more dramatic
to have him drowning --
>> Guy Lamolinara: Yes.
>> Dan Gutman: --
doing one of his tricks
than what actually happened.
>> Exactly.
>> Guy Lamolinara: That's right.
Okay, here's a question
from a librarian,
and I always ask the
question from the librarian
since I work at a library.
"Can you tell us,"
She'd love to know ,"If
libraries played in role
in your life, even
though you said you didn't
like to read as a child?"
>> Dan Gutman: I love libraries.
I always say the
greatest invention
in history was the
public library.
Doesn't Benjamin
Franklin get credit
for that one, if
I'm not mistaken?
In any case, yes,
when I was a kid,
I remember I would
go to the library.
I grew up in Newark, New Jersey
and I would go to the library
after school to do my
homework there with my friends.
And,
they would always make me laugh,
and the library would
"Shh," shush everybody.
And,
everybody would stop
laughing except form me,
and then I'd get kicked
out of the library
because I couldn't
stop laughing.
So,
I love libraries, and I,
do a lot of library
research online
and in-person for my books.
My books that require a lot
of research, some of them,
my books do not require
much research.
But, the Houdini book,
I got lots of books out of
the library about Houdini.
I went on You Tube and
searched for videos of him.
When I'm writing about a
historical figure I try and find
out everything I can find
out about that person,
either through library
research, Googling stuff.
Or sometimes I went to,
actually, the Houdini Museum
in New York City to get
some information as well.
So, I,
if not for libraries,
I don't know what I'd be doing,
I wouldn't be doing this.
[ Laughing ]
>> Guy Lamolinara: You've
written a lot of books
from history, like you've
written about Lincoln,
the Titanic, Pompeii, the
duel of Hamilton and Burr.
What draws you to writing
about things in the past?
>> Dan Gutman: Yeah, it's
funny, I was a psychology major
in college, and I never took a
single history class in college,
and I don't know
why, but I never did.
And then,
since college I've really
become interested in history,
and fascinated by it, so
I write about it a lot.
And, like I do this series
called FLASHBACK FOUR,
which some of,
the librarians out
there know about.
And it's,
a time travel thing
where, these kids travel
through time with a camera.
Photography was always my hobby
growing up, I loved photography.
And I thought it would be
cool if I had some kids travel
through time with a camera,
and take photographs of things
that were never photographed
before.
Like,
Abraham Lincoln delivering
the Gettysburg Address,
like the Hamilton-Burr
duel in 1804.
Like,
the eruption of Pompeii
in the year '69,
and things like that.
So, I think it's a,
nice way to teach a little
history lesson to kids
without really letting them
know they're learning something,
you know?
Just tell them a really
great story and kind of sneak
in the historical information,
so they find something
out without really realizing
that it's actually educational.
Oh, I shouldn't have said
that, I just ruined it.
>> Guy Lamolinara:
You're probably very good
at getting your kids to
eat their vegetables too.
[ Laughing ]
>> Dan Gutman: Well,
my kids are older now.
My kids, I'll show
you my kids, Guy.
Here's my kids, they're now,
my son Sam is,
31 years old.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Yeah.
>> And my daughter Emma's 26,
so they love their
vegetables now, anyway.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Are
they fans of your books?
>> Dan Gutman: They were
when they were little, and,
I wish they would still
ready them, but you know,
they're adults, so
I don't expect them
to ready kids' books anymore.
Although, I will say, you're
never too old for a good story,
and I get a lot of emails,
from grown-ups who enjoy
reading my books too.
>> Guy Lamolinara:
I want to talk
about your Baseball
Card Adventures book,
especially about the
Honus Wagner book.
>> Dan Gutman: Yeah.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Can you
tell us about that one?
>> Dan Gutman: Yes.
>> Guy Lamolinara: There it is.
>> Dan Gutmam: Yeah, this,
I wrote this way back
in 1995, actually.
And,
I think baseball was more
popular then, than it is now,
in fact. And I knew that a lot
of kids collect baseball cards.
And also, I knew that a
lot of kids are fascinated
by time travel stories.
So, I thought, what
if I combined the two,
and wrote a story about a kid
who had the power to travel
through time using a baseball
card like a time machine?
That would make a great story.
So, I thought, you know,
what card should I use?
And my first idea was
to use a Babe Ruth card,
because he's the most famous
player whoever played the game.
But, then I thought, nah, that
was too obvious, you know, so,
I thought, well, let's
write about somebody
who had a baseball card that
was different in some way
than all the other
baseball cards.
And that gave me the idea
to write about Honus Wagner,
who's 1909 baseball card is the,
most valuable baseball
card in the world.
And in fact, you might have seen
in the news recently that one
of these cards, I think
I have a picture of it
in the book somewhere?
No, I guess not.
One of the Honus Wagner cards
sold for like $6 million dollars
at auction this summer.
So, I wrote a story about a kid
who finds the most valuable
baseball card in the world,
and then he goes on an adventure
with the great Honus Wagner.
And, it's part of a
12 book series of,
the kid, he can use any
baseball card really,
so he goes on an adventure
with Jackie Robinson,
with Ruth, Shoeless Joe Jackson,
Sachel Paige, Willie Mays,
Roberto Clemente,
and several others.
>> Guy Lamolinara:
That's a wonderful idea,
you can never end with ideas for
who'd you want to write about.
>> Dan Gutman: It
could have never ended,
but I decided to
end it actually --
>> Guy Lamolinara: You did.
>> Dan Gutman: --
after 12 books.
I felt like I'd told all the
great baseball stories I had
to tell, and I decided to
move on to other things.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Okay.
Here's a question from Beverly.
"Do you have a formula
for writing humor?"
>> Dan Gutman: Hey, Beverly.
A formula,
no, I wouldn't say so.
Formula. I think anytime
you have a formula,
it's not going to be that funny,
because once people know
what the formula is,
they can predict what's
going to happen next.
So, I try and, you know,
always have a surprise ending,
always surprise the reader,
and try and take
the reader on a,
sort of a roller coaster
ride, ups and downs,
but I wouldn't say a formula.
I will say I have a
system, and my system is,
you know, a lot of authors,
they probably just sit at
their computer and start typing
into a blank screen, I can't
write that way, I'm a planner
and I plan out my stories.
And what I use is I use file
cards, you know, I just,
I'll be brainstorming
about a book idea,
and I'll just start
thinking of ideas.
And I'll put one idea on
each file card, and then,
once I have like 100, sometimes
200 cards, I'll lay them all
out on a flat surface, and
I'll start grouping the cards
together that go together, and
little by little I sort of,
weave together a story
that makes sense
from start to finish.
And,
this is actually my outline
for the Houdini book,
and you can see the, what I
wrote on this first file card,
"I was born in Harry
Houdini's house,"
and it just so happens that,
wait a minute, that,
that' the first sentence
of the book.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Ah.
[ Chuckles ]
Okay.
>> Gutman: So, I will, you
know, I will outline my story
in the file cards,
then I'll sit down,
and I'll take the first card,
off the pile and I'll
start to write the book.
And in the beginning, I just
throw the ideas on the screen,
I don't care if spelling's
wrong or if the grammar's wrong,
it doesn't matter,
I can fix it later.
And every day I'll,
just sit down at my
computer and I'll look
at what I wrote the
previous day and I'll,
fix it, I'll smooth it
out, I'll improve it.
And eventually, I will reach
the point where I'm looking
at my screen and I can't find
any more changes to make,
and that's how I know
my book is finished.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Do you
have a regular schedule
for when you write,
or do you just write
when you feel like it?
[ Laughing ]
>> Dan Gutman: I'm laughing
because, it would be nice
to have the luxury of just
writing when you feel like it.
But, I'm a morning person
and I generally get up
and I do my writing between,
you know, eight and noon,
and by the time lunchtime
comes my brain is shot,
I can't really think any more,
and I can't do any
more writing that day.
But, as you probably
know, what we do,
writing is only part
of it, you know?
I'm running a business,
I'm doing a lot of emails,
I'm doing research,
I'm making phone calls,
I'm doing business work.
So, that's what takes
up the rest of my time,
and often it takes up more time
than the actual writing
takes up, at least for me.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Do you think
we have any modern day Houdinis,
and if we do, who are they?
>> Dan Gutman: Well, there's
a lot of great magicians
out there, I'll say that much.
You know, I could just throw out
the names that everybody knows,
like David Blaine, and
who's that other guy?
There's a bunch of people in
Las Vegas who do amazing magic.
I don't know if,
there's an escape artist
out there really anymore,
I'm not sure that, that
art form is done anymore.
Maybe because, you know,
with special effects
and everybody interacting
with screens,
you can Photoshop anything, and
maybe somebody that's escaping
from a trunk that's
thrown in a river.
People would just say,
"Oh, that was Photoshopped
or that was faked somehow.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Right.
>> Dan Gutman: But,
he did it for real, and
people had to come and
see it, they had to come
to his show to see it.
It's a different world now.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Do
you have any advice
for aspiring young writers?
>> Dan Gutman: Absolutely.
Sure. Don't be boring!
But, my biggest tip for
young writers is this,
you got to read my books,
My Weird Writing Tips.
>> Guy Lamolinara:
Ah, there you go.
>> Dan Gutman: It's not
some boring writing book,
it's a My Weird School book, so
it's funny and silly, and crazy,
but it will help you
with your writing.
And for those kids out there,
I'll give you one tip right now,
okay, which is, I
write about in my book.
And, this is something I
kind of discovered on my own,
I don't know if anybody
else does this, but,
here's the trick, the tip.
When you're writing something,
okay, look at your screen
and take your first draft
and read it out loud.
And, that's not the trick, the
trick is while you're reading it
out loud pretend to
be somebody else.
Pretend to be your best
friend or your mom or dad,
or your school librarian,
or a complete stranger.
And while you're reading
what you wrote almost
through somebody else's eyes,
you can see the mistakes
that you made, and you can
see how your writing could
be better.
And that's something
that I do in my writing,
and I think it would
really work with anybody.
>> Guy Lamolinara: You said
you majored in psychology
in college, what turned
you to being a writer?
>> Dan Gutman: Well, it's, yeah,
it's funny, I was a psych major
and then I even went
to graduate school
for two years studying
psychology, until I decided
that it just wasn't for me.
And,
I loved photography
as I mentioned to you,
but I wasn't really that
good at photography.
And writing for some reason,
always came naturally to me,
so I decided that
I was going to,
move to New York and I was going
to become a starving writer
where all the starving
artists lived.
And, initially I was,
it didn't cross my mind to
write for children, I was trying
to write for adults, I was
trying to write, you know,
like newspaper, humorous
newspaper essays
like Dave Barry.
I was trying to write
screenplays,
books for adults, all kinds
of stuff, magazine articles,
I was not successful
at any of those things,
I was rejected a thousand times.
And then, my son Sam was born
in 1990 and I started reading
with him, a lot of
children's books, you know,
for the first time
since I was a kid.
And I thought, hey, nothing
else had been working,
let's try writing for kids.
And as soon as I started
writing for kids I felt,
this is what I'm good at!
This is what I should
have been doing all along.
So, I switched to
writing for kids
and I've been doing
it ever since.
>> Guy Lamolinara: We have
time for one last question
and I'm wondering,
can you tell your fans
and the audience we have today,
what we can expect
next from Dan Gutman?
>> Dan Gutman: Well, you can
certainly expect more My Weird
School books, because the
publisher has asked me
to more of them.
And, I'm starting to do some
graphic novels now, Guy.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Ah,
>> Dan Gutman" Like the first
My Weird School Graphic Novel.
>> Guy Lamolinara: -- are
you illustrating them?
>> Dan Gutman: Oh, no, no, no.
We have a wonderful
illustrator named Jim Paillot,
who is amazing.
>> Guy Lamolinara: Okay.
>> Dan Gutman" And
it's My Weird in color!
It's so much fun,
I've been doing them.
And I'm doing a series of
biographies about where I focus
on the unusual things about
the person's life like,
Albert Einstein was a Dope and
Muhammad Ali was a Chicken.
And,
the next one is about Amelia
Erhart, which just came out.
So, that's the kind of stuff
that I'm working on now, and,
I really enjoy doing what I do.
I can't see myself retiring,
I'll just keep doing it until,
kids don't want to read my
stuff and publishers don't want
to publish it anymore.
[ Laughing ]
>> Guy Lamolinara: Well,
it sounds like so much
fun, I envy you, Dan.
And I hate to say this, but we
are at the end of our half hour.
Thank you so much for joining
us, it's really been a pleasure.
>> Dan Gutman: Thank you,
Guy, and can I just mention --
>> Guy Lamolinara: Did you
have one more thing you wanted
to say?
>> Dan Gutman: I just
wanted to say that if,
people out there wanted to find
out more about me, they could go
to my website, which is
just www.dangutman.com.
They could follow
me on Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram.
And,
I thank all of you out
there for reading my books
and sharing them
with your children.
I thank you, Guy and the Library
of Congress for having me on.
And I hope everybody out
there reads lots of books!
>> Guy Lamolinara: Yes.
>> Dan Gutman: But
especially mine, okay?
[ Laughing ]
>> Guy Lamolinara: Dan, it
has been such a pleasure.
>> Dan Gutman: Thanks a lot.
Thank you guys!
>> Guy Lamolinara:
Thank you so much.
Yes.
And I'm going to ask your
audience, I want to thank them
for their wonderful
questions, and please continue
to enjoy the book festival
at loc.gov/bookfest.
Thank you, again, bye-bye.
>> Dan Gutman: So long!
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