Today I would like to share some of my new favorite books. Written by Lynn D. Garthwaite and illustrated by Craig Howarth, the series is about a boy named Dirkle Smat and his friends Bean, Toonie, Fiddy, and his brother Quid. They have an Explorers Club and share history, new creatures, fantastic worlds, and being smart (and getting out of jams) with us. I love these books. They are early chapter books, with great line drawing illustrations.

These books are so fun! They are adventurous, they are cool! They also find a few different things, that aren't human and not a Yeti, or a Pegasus, or an ancient Viking Shield. But luckily they figure things out. I like the whole group of friends. They seem to get along well and work together. I like that they have fun every day and explore.

There are three books so far in the Dirkle Smat series.

Dirkle Smat Inside Mount Flatbottom:
This book is fun! There are adventures - the kids go on a trip into this dark cave where there are these new creatures. I can't tell you who the creatures are because you need to find out for yourself. I learned that people should be kind and leave new species alone. If they are friends, though, they can come back once in a while.

Dirkle Smat and the Flying Statue:

This is so cool! The statue comes alive. The view is so pretty and I like where they went. It is important to explore new areas of the world. The brother almost died - but with teamwork (and a scarf), he is saved. I wish that the pegasus talked. I wish that Dirkle and his friends had talked with the Pegasus. I love the cover, it has watercolors on it and I love watercolors. Great technique!

Dirkle Smat and the Viking Shield:

There was a cool Viking shield that was important to their town. It was lost! Dirkle and his friends made a submarine and found it under the lake. They saved it! There were funny pictures in this one, you'll see! You will laugh like I did. Those crazy fish.

I can't wait for the next book. Please hurry, Lynn!!

We talked with Lynn about her books, the characters, and more. Here's what she had to say...

WE: How did you start writing?

LG: I first started writing stories when I was about 10 years old.   At that time my best friend Karen and I were big fans of the tv show “Star Trek” and we would pretend to be the characters from the show and make up our own episodes.   We spent hours in the neighborhood and the woods, finding spots to pretend our spaceship had landed and we’d make up aliens that we’d fight or make friends with…

And some days when I’d go home later I’d write the stories down because we had so much fun.

I worked in a children’s library for many years and absolutely loved talking to kids about books and about writing stories, so it seemed only natural that when I decided to start writing books myself, that I’d write children’s books.   I decided to write the kinds of books I liked to read when I was young – adventures and mysteries.   If a story had a hidden room or a secret compartment, or maybe a magic button that would change something into something else – I was completely drawn in.  

I hope that kids get lost in my stories and want to keep turning the pages to find out what happens next.   And if they really enjoy the book, they’re going to want to go back to the bookshelves and keep reading all kinds of books.  When you find a book you like – it’s pretty cool!

WE: Please tell us about your Dirkle Smat books...

LG: Dirkle and his friends were an idea I had about six years ago.   At first I thought I was going to do a series of picture books, with each book a short adventure story.   But as I began writing the first one, I found that I had a much more involved story in my head and I needed more words to say it.   So it turned into an early chapter book, and the series evolved that way.

Right away I outlined about ten more stories for the series – so I knew I was going to keep going with the adventures.

WE: Why don't you make 1,000 more books? I want to read more!

LG: Stay tuned – there are more on the way!   The fourth book will take the Explorers on a time travel adventure where they’ll solve the mystery of a mix-up that happened in their town more than a hundred years ago.   I’m going to keep writing Dirkle Smat adventure books until someone tells me to stop.

WE: Why did you name him Dirkle Smat?

LG: For some reason, right away I decided that I wanted my characters to have really goofy names.   I thought that if I did that, kids would laugh and get curious about the books, and perhaps remember them better because the names were so silly.   So I just started wondering what name would fit that character and over the course of a few days I just kept it in the back of my head, thinking about it while doing all of the other day-to-day things.   One day, while cooking dinner, the name “Dirkle Smat” just popped into my brain and I knew that it was the name I was going to use.

The names of the other characters kind of happened the same way – my brain just works in goofy ways.

WE: How do you come up with Dirkle and the Explorer Club's adventures?

LG: In some ways I based the Explorers Club adventures on my own childhood.   My friends and I were always exploring the woods and fields behind our house and making up our own adventures, pretending we were running into aliens, or sea creatures living in the pond, etc.   We just used our imaginations and that’s how we’d spend our summer days.

We never went for a ride on a flying statue or anything – but in our imaginations we were going to some pretty fantastic places.

WE: What is up next for Dirkle Smat?

LG: Book four will be the time travel adventure I mentioned.  When I was writing that book I couldn’t decide if I wanted the Explorers to have an adventure in the future, or in the past, so when I was doing author visits at schools I would ask the students for their input.   By a very large margin, students would vote for me to send the kids back to the past – so that’s how that was decided.   They’re going to discover something and be very tempted to try to change history - - - so you’ll have to read it to find out how they handle that challenge.

WE: Why did Bean not plan for enough air in the submarine?

LG: That was a pretty small submarine, so the air tanks were pretty small too.   They didn’t know how long it was going to take them to find the buried shield, so he filled the tanks as full as he could and they just hoped for the best.   If they hadn’t found the location of the shield on their first try, they could have gone back to the surface and tried again on another day with freshly filled tanks.

WE: Bean is always making things, every day - why does he? Did you base his character on someone you know?

LG: Bean wasn’t really based on anyone in particular, but it seems that every group of Explorers needs someone who can fix things, or invent things, or who just knows how to use every gadget.    When he grows up he’ll probably be a smart scientist who also knows how to fix everything around the house.

WE: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

LG: When I talk to kids I like to point out that, whether they know it or not, they’re story tellers too.   Anytime you see someone in a crowd and start daydreaming about where they got that weird looking hat, or if the two kids with him are twins because they really look alike, or if the lake you’re driving past might have ancient creatures living below …. you’re telling a story!    Stories begin in your imagination, and the good news is that anything is possible in your imagination.   Never stop imagining, and never stop reading.   I think that the reason I like to write is because I love to read.   Reading other stories helps me come up with my own ideas and makes me want to write them down.

WE: For the illustrator, Craig Howarth - how did you visualize Dirkle and his friends?

CH: First, Lynn (the author) gave me some pretty good character descriptions to work on, and then I also watched some kids of about that age and picked up some character traits and dress codes. I also felt that the story names should reflect the image to some degree. For instance - Dirkle is more "glamorous and strong" than Bean, which sounds more "nerdy and eccentric."

WE: Where can we find more about Dirkle Smat?

LG: My son designed my website for me!

We’re going to be adding something to the site very soon - - - “Where on the Planet is Dirkle Smat?”    The books have been traveling with some friends to some pretty amazing places (Brazil, Maui, Dominican Republic, Italy) and we’re going to have a map that shows all of his travels.  Check back later this summer for that, and it’ll keep changing as we add more travels.

Right now the books are only available online at places like amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com …   I’m working to get the books to the attention of the bookstores so they’ll stock them on their shelves.

Feel free to print out the bookmarks on my website.   Toonie Oobles would love marking the place in whatever book you’re reading.

WE: Thanks so very much, Lynn! We LOVE your books, and can't wait for the next one!

For more information, please see:
http://dirklesmat.wordpress.com/

L Forteau (7) is the Special Children's Reporter for Wandering Educators.