Listen along as The Story Seeds Podcast host Betsy Bird chats with Chris Grabenstein (author of The New York Times best-selling Mr. Lemoncello's Library series). They go behind the scenes and talk about what it was like growing Jasper’s giant story seed about Zeta Zingone, the 74 foot tall boy detective on Episode 3, “The View From the Top.” 

On this bonus episode, Chris shares tips and exercises on getting your imagination unstuck. He also talks to Betsy about his writing career: starting from the school newspaper, to his jobs in advertising creating commercials for Burger King with his buddy (and boss at the time) James Patterson, to finally becoming the best-selling author of books for kids. 

Books and Media mentioned in this episode:

• Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series by Chris Grabenstein
• Donna Cody: A Tall Tale by Jeanie Murphy
• Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs
• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
• The John Ceepak Mysteries series by Chris Grabenstein
• The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein
• Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lesardo by William Joyce
• Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol
• Welcome to Wonderland by Anson Seabra
• I Funny series by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
• Treasure Hunters series by James Patterson, with Chris Grabenstein & Mark Shulman
• Jackie Ha-Ha by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein
• House of Robot series by by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein
• Shine by JJ Grabenstein & Chris Grabenstein

Call to Action

Kids: Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at [email protected], or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the  kid in you!). You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari. 

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here. 

Show credits: Matt Boynton and Ania Grzesik of Ultraviolet Audio for the sound mixing, design, and score of our bonus episode. Theme music is composed and performed by Andrew VanWyngarden. And, our host is Betsy Bird. 

The Story Seeds Podcast is a creation and production of Literary Safari www.literarysafari.com