Conflict on the sidewalk

Two years ago this month, I made someone angry. And that was the part of the story I left out when I blogged about it.

For some reason, I feel now is the time to tell the rest of the story.

Bryant Park in New York City was culminating its summer outdoor screenings with Superman: The Movie. I learned that a week before the show.

I contacted the Bryant Park Corporation to ask if I and an established bookstore could sell Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman before the screening. The book had come out only a month earlier, was (and still is) the only standalone biography of writer Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and seemed like perfect synergy with the crowd that would be coming to the movie that night: young parents with young children. And the book was not a chintzy souvenir that wouldn't survive to the next yard sale. It was something of educational and entertainment value, a behind-the-scenes story of the very passion that drew people to the movie that night.

But Bryant Park said no. Had I contacted them earlier, they said, we might have been able to work something out. And they said they did try to find a way to make it work even with the short notice. But they usually didn't allow vendors during the films so attendees would not feel bombarded. Besides, the park would be too crowded.

I tried to convince them that attendees would not be offended by such an innocuous (and thematically apropos) product. In fact, I suggested the venture only because I felt those particular attendees would actually be appreciative to learn about the book. I said we wouldn't be barking at passersby; we'd simply give them the option of drifting over if they wanted to. I explained that all we needed was a table (which we'd provide) and the footprint to place it on. We would not be in the way.

Bryant Park said they own even the sidewalks surrounding the park so I was forbidden from setting up a table there. However, I learned from a list maintained by the Department of Consumer Affairs that Bryant Park doesn't own all of that sidewalk. The city approves part of it for vendors. So I contacted a bookstore friend and they were keen and kind to partner with me. I told them Bryant Park had declined me but they said they'd done this before and, essentially, the list is the law. However, I did also e-mail my Bryant Park contact to tell him about the list. He wrote that I still could not sell there. When I clarified what the list said, he didn't respond.

The afternoon of the screening, with that list in hand, we asked a Bryant Park police officer if we could set up our table in a spot that was both authorized and unobtrusive. He looked at the list and said yes. So we did. The bookstore was wonderfully supportive.

Maybe it's self-serving salesperson delusion, but somehow it seemed heartfelt to promote that book just before that movie screened. The book had come about because I love Superman and I love Superman because I read many Superman comics as a kid and I read those comics because I became fascinated with the character in Superman: The Movie. It felt like I had to have the book there, at that event in the city in which the film was shot and the character was first published. And the gracious crowd bore that out.

We started at about 5 p.m. and sold for two hours. It was not the kind of synergy people expected to see. That is part of what made it special. And not a single person complained to or questioned us.

Until a bit before the movie began. That's when a woman and man I didn't recognize came up to me. The man introduced himself and it was the Bryant Park staff member whom I'd contacted by e-mail. He and his colleague were steamed—pretty close to livid, actually—that I'd set up there even though they told me not to.

And even though I agreed to their request. Yes, when he told me by email that they owned the sidewalk, I did agree not to set up there. But when I found out that they actually did not own that portion of the sidewalk, I was no longer beholden to him—objectively, anyway.

He told me that the sidewalk technicality didn't matter—I still broke what he had taken as a promise (though I as a rule don't use or agree to that word). And he was right. I did go back on my word to him, but I wasn't betraying him legally. I felt badly that I ended up doing what he asked me not to, but it was within my right. I apologized for upsetting him but not for selling.

It's a moral question that Superman would've answered differently. If Superman gave his word, he would not go back on it even if he was lied to (or unintentionally misinformed). The bookstore continued to try to assure me that I acted appropriately and the park staff was out of line to speak to me the way they did.

What do you think?

Book on the bayou

I was honored to learn that Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman is one of the titles nominated for the 2011 Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Awards for grades 3-5. New Orleans is high on my list of places to visit. Maybe I'll hitch a ride by holding on tight to Superman's cape. Thank you, LA!

My first trip to Australia...

...in any form: Kids' Book Review, a blog from Down Under, has kindly run an interview with me. Here's an excerpt:

What other genres [besides narrative nonfiction and humor] have you written in? I’ve written books with a scientific bent and even a couple of math books—buyer beware! I rarely had a mind for math. (On the first day of 7th grade, we were given a printed schedule of classes and I was thrilled that math was not on it—until a friend told me that “algebra” is math.)

One of the people I eventually want to write a book about is an Australian. Perhaps Kids' Book Review hasn't heard the last from me!

Even a two-year-old knows just his silhouette

A two-year-old I know (okay, live with) proved something today.

He looked at this cover

and knew who that silhouette is. Granted it's possible he somehow remembers that the book does indeed involve the Man of Steel, but while he's seen the cover every so often, he's had relatively little exposure to the inside. (And though I don't expect there will be any question, no, he can't read.)

Batman may have a more iconic silhouette (maybe because he appears in it more often)...

...but fun to learn that Superman can hold his own.

"Know Your World Extra" play 5

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

"I did not help"

A good friend (and fellow author) e-mailed me these photos of books displayed at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles in conjunction with an exhibit about Jewish comic book writers and artists:


Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman was seated in the front row! I was thrilled...but skeptical. I asked my friend if she had been kind enough to perhaps move books to give mine place of pride.

"This is exactly how it was arranged," she said. "I did not help."

I did not question.

"Know Your World Extra" play 4

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

The plays will be posted in no particular order.

"Rescue in the Bermuda Triangle"

My first graphic novel is newly out. Rescue in the Bermuda Triangle is an adventure on the high (and deep) sea that incorporates facts about the region in the Atlantic Ocean where mysterious ship and plane disappearances have been reported for centuries.

I was honored that Joe Staton was one of the illustrators. He is one of the comic book artists whose work I noticed as a kid.

I love certain kinds stories involving the supernatural (ghosts yes, vampires no; Bermuda Triangle yes, crystal skulls, no) and really enjoyed writing a nonfiction book wrapped inside a fiction one. I especially enjoyed the "wink" of the bookend story and the fact that the editor allowed me to let the reader come up with an explanation for what happens at the end of the Bermuda Triangle portion...

"Know Your World Extra" play 3

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

The plays will be posted in no particular order.

Man of Steel, Land of Enchantment

I was excited to learn that not only Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman but also several other nonfiction picture books (including the luminous The Day-Glo Brothers by friend Chris Barton) were nominated for New Mexico's 2010-2011 Land of Enchantment Book Awards. (That link may be temporary.)

Two other books on the list I read and highly recommend:

• the swaggering Bad News for Outlaws, sporting one of my favorite covers in recent memory
• the charming Pippo the Fool from Charlesbridge, the publisher of my 2012 Batman/Bill Finger book

"Know Your World Extra" play 2

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

The plays will be posted in no particular order.

The original gimmick book

Those who know anything about Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator and original writer (and designer) of Batman, probably know he was known for using what he called "gimmick books."

They were those simple composition books with the speckled black and white covers:


Bill would jot down any bit of information that intrigued him. When he needed inspiration for a story he was to write, he'd search through his growing collection of gimmick books.

I recently learned of another American great who beat Bill to the gimmick book by roughly half a century: Mark Twain.

According to the article on Twain in the 8/9/10 Newsweek: "In little leather-bound notebooks that he carried with him all his life, he set down dialogue he overheard, story ideas, weather conditions, anything that caught his fancy."

The story I heard says that after Bill died in 1974, his son Fred offered the gimmick books to DC Comics, publisher of Batman...but DC declined.

Alas, that means, most likely, that Fred then threw them out.

"Know Your World Extra" play 1

I wrote several short, teen-centric plays for a now-defunct Weekly Reader publication called Know Your World Extra. I was given a much-appreciated amount of freedom in terms of plot and execution and got to explore some rather quirky concepts.

While I disagreed with a few of the final edits—tweaks involving humor or characterization that I feel try a bit too hard to sound kid-hip—overall, I was fond of how they came out.

As such, I asked my Weekly Reader editor for permission to post the plays here for elementary and middle school teachers in search of activities to ease students back to school, and he kindly gave it.

If you'd like permission to reproduce any of them for classroom use (or any other kind of use, for that matter), that will be fine and great, but first please e-mail me so I can put you in touch with the person who can grant that permission (and also probably send you better scans than mine!).

The plays will be posted in no particular order.

Jerry Siegel as Superman?

First, a note to regular readers: I apologize for posting so infrequently since early July. I moved several states away and it's taking longer than anticipated to get organized...plus I'm preparing something big that will hopefully make up for these silent weeks.

In the meantime...

I came across a surprising message board post in a thread about the casting of actors as superheroes for movies. To be specific, the thread asks if it's still possible to cast an actor who does not resemble the comic book character he is playing, as this particular poster says Tim Burton did when choosing Michael Keaton for Bruce Wayne in 1989.

The poster goes on to speculate about the possibility of casting an "ordinary" looking person as Superman...perhaps a person who looks like...

What if someone had taken the character idea of Clark from the novel It's Superman! [by Tom De Haven] and we would've had a Superman who was an average guy (let's say like Jerry Siegel, his creator, kinda like his appearance in Boys of Steel)?

(This statement has been lightly edited for punctuation. Sorry, I can't restrain myself.)

An interesting if unlikely thought. And I was blown away by the casual mention of Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, as if any reader would know it without elaboration! I know this is not the case, but like Jerry Siegel, I am allowing myself to dream. Thanks anonymous speculator!

Superman saves family...

...from becoming homeless.

This not only makes you feel good but also makes you wonder how many more copies of Action #1 are out there, waiting to be discovered.

Jerry Siegel wrote to "The Buyer's Guide" in 1975

These letters about (and one by) Jerry Siegel are from The (Comic) Buyer's Guide #109, 12/19/75.

Garden State Children's Book Awards 2011

Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman has been nominated for the 2011 Garden State Children's Book Awards in the non-fiction category. Thank you, New Jersey!

Finger Tip #10: The most startling Finger

A short biographical sketch of Bill Finger appears in Green Lantern #1 (1941). In it, Bill is referred to as an “only son.” This colored my thinking for a while, but then I realized that “only son” does not automatically mean “only child.”

Turns out Bill had a sister, younger than him, born in 1918.Bill was born in Colorado but his sister (if I had the timeline correct) would’ve been born in New York. Yet searching in 2006, I found no record of her in the New York City Birth Indexes of 1918-1920. A reference librarian told me that it was rare for someone not to appear in the index.

So I made a list.

reasons why Bill's sister may not be in NYC Birth Indexes:

• she was not born in NYC, although that seems unlikely
• her paperwork got lost in the influenza epidemic of 1918
• her family didn’t file her birth (could she have been born at home?)
• she was born under another name (i.e. to a family member or friend, and the Fingers immediately adopted her?)
• the name I had for her was actually her middle name or nickname
• she was not who I thought she was

Then I checked the Death Indexes from 1930 to 1982. (I didn’t note why I stopped with 1982.) She didn’t appear in any of those, either.

reasons why Bill's sister may not be in NYC Death Indexes:

• she is, but under a married (or otherwise changed) name I don’t know
• her death went unreported
• she died after 1982
• she died outside NYC
• she isn’t dead

In other words, all I confirmed is that no one with the name of Bill’s sister died in NYC between 1930-1982.

But then, half a year later, through totally different circumstances, and to my own great surprise, I tracked her down.

And she was alive.

I noted at the time that there were “probably no other people I could find that I would be as excited about.” Yet that had less to do with what she told me than with how I found her.

I can’t yet say how I learned of her, how I found her, or what she told me. As we get closer to the July 2012 publication of the book, I will share the story.

In the meantime, what I can say is that she was, in one sense, my biggest find in that she was the still-living person who knew Bill the earliest.

7/9/12 addendum: Because of the way the earliest biographical sketch of Bill Finger was worded, I originally thought Bill was an only child. Then I learned he had a younger sister. Then via the 1940 census, which was made public in April 2012, I learned Bill had a second younger sister...Gilda, born about 1930.

Finger Tip #9: The most mysterious Finger

In researching Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator and original writer of Batman, I found a lot of Fingers.

Only one Finger gave me the finger (figuratively).

Here’s what went down:

Bill’s family was Jewish and living in the Bronx for most of Bill’s formative years. During my research, a Bronx historian told me that when Bronx Jews left the Bronx, most went to either New Jersey or Florida. I started with Florida.

On 8/19/06, I cold called dozens of Floridian Fingers. I was proud that none hung up on me. But one was a strange flamingo indeed.

After I got out my clumsy introduction (“Hi, I’m an author of children’s books researching the co-creator of Batman, whose last name is also Finger and who was from the Bronx…”), she said her family was also from the Bronx. But she didn’t want to say more before speaking to “the men,” who weren’t there at the time. She suggested I call back midweek, which I did.

And so began the dodge.

I got the machine, multiple times. But on 8/29/06, she answered. And so deepened the mystery.

She said that “they” were also working on a book and that “the lawyer” advised her to be polite but not to help me. This, of course, seemed to confirm that she was related to my Finger. I asked for her e-mail so I could send her background on me that I hoped would assure her I was legitimate, but she said “not at this time.”

Yet she did say I could try back in a few weeks at which time she would see if there was anything she could tell me.

I said I doubted our books would be competition because mine would be in an all-ages picture book format (the inference being that hers would not). I said that I’d found some members of the extended family that I’d helped reconnect and could do the same with her, but she said they knew everyone they wanted to…

…which suddenly confirmed that she was not family. If she truly was from the branch I wanted, I most likely would’ve already heard about her from the others I’d found. But when I asked them about her, none knew who she was. Learning that she had not been in touch with anyone I had made me feel better.

I asked her name, figuring she would keep mum like she did with her e-mail, but she said did give me one. (And it checked out online.)

On 9/20/06, I called again. This time her husband answered. He said she wasn’t home and he didn’t know about the Bill Finger issue because she was working on that.

I left two voice mails over the next few months. No one called back.

On 1/6/07, I called again. The husband was courteous but said he didn’t think his wife was “interested” or else she would’ve “dealt with me by now.”

Interested? I wasn’t selling something. I was merely looking for information.

The next day, I mailed her a letter to explain myself better than I felt I’d been able to do on the phone. I also sent several of my books. I did not hear back.

I left my last message on 7/2/07. But in recounting this story, I now feel like I should try again…

How you found me: part 6

This is the sixth installment of some of the zaniest search terms that have sucked people to this blog:

• things children don’t want [MTN: I write books for young people. Therefore, this is not confidence-boosting.]
  
• vomiting first week at school [MTN: I would think this would fall under the category of the first bullet.]
  
• an event coordinator checklist for a city fair
• ocean state wacky packages
• shave on yahrzeit
• the best picture books for older readers of all time [MTN: Is “of all time” misplaced...or does s/he really mean to refer to readers throughout the full span of history?]
• things for bored teenagers to do in Cleveland
• non-boring presentation for companies
• Marc Tyler Nobleman Visa commercial [MTN: I'm unaware that I made one.]
  
• a 12-year-old boy trying to steel a older black ladys purse [sic, and I don't approve (of either the idea or the grammar)]
  
• how do people grow to 6'10" [MTN: No idea. Want proof? Meet me.]
  
• nobleman can’t tell the difference between work and play [MTN: I wonder if this was my wife's Google...]
  

Dear I Don't Know Your Name

In researching Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman, I mailed a letter to a person whose name I didn't know. All I did know is that I needed to reach the people who currently lived in the Cleveland house in which Jerry Siegel had been living when he dreamed up Superman in 1934.

This having been the simpler days of 2005, I didn't yet know the easy ways I could have used to find out the names (and phone number) of the people who lived there. So I used postal mail, sending my letter to "Resident":

August 1, 2005

10622 Kimberly Avenue

Cleveland, OH 44108-2740

Hello, My name is Marc Nobleman. I'm a writer who has published more than 50 books for young people. I recently sold a picture book manuscript to Random House about Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who, as you probably know, were the teenagers who created Superman in the 1930s.

Is it right that Jerry Siegel lived at your address at this historic moment? If so, I would like to take a few photographs of the exterior of your house to help the illustrator create more accurate drawings for the book. I live in Connecticut but will plan a short trip to Cleveland in the fall for this purpose.

Also, do you know if the house exterior looks the same as it did in the 1930s? And I know Jerry used to work in his attic bedroom-is the structure of the interior the same as well? If so, would you permit me to take a few photographs inside that room? 

You may contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx--just give me your number and I will call you right back so you don't have to pay long distance charge. Or you can e-mail me at xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.com. 

Seeing this now, it's odd that I posed certain research questions to the current residents when I'd already confirmed the answers; further, if I hadn't, there would've been better sources.

I did not hear back. And my trip didn't end up happening until January 2007. In preparation, I wrote another letter (so apparently I had still not learned what now seems like basic research strategies!). This one, however, I planned to place on the doorstep along with a couple of the books I'd written:

January 30, 2007 

Hello, My name is Marc Nobleman. I’m the author of more than 60 books for young people; I also write for Nickelodeon Magazine. Recently I wrote a children’s picture book about Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who, as you probably know, were the teenagers who created Superman in the 1930s. It is due out in early 2008.

The book is not yet illustrated. I live in Connecticut and flew to Cleveland today (Tuesday, January 30) to take photographs of Superman sites.

Could I come by sometime between now and Friday morning to take a few photos of your house? One of the key scenes in my book shows Jerry working in his attic bedroom, so I need images of both that room and the view from its window. These photos will NOT be published in the book—they are ONLY to give visual reference to the illustrator.

I am in town only until Friday morning, February 2. Please call my cell at xxx-xxx-xxxx if you will allow me to do this. I promise this will take only a few minutes—I don’t want to get in your way. 

P.S. If you have kids, I will send you more of my books as a small gesture of thanks for your kindness.

I've already told the story of what happened next.

Cos Cob Elementary School

Here's a simple way to determine the quality of an elementary school: pay attention to what's on the walls in the halls.

I usually don't blog about topics not directly related to my work, but I must make an exception to praise the school that shepherded my daughter through kindergarten. (Well, I do speak in schools, and this one was one of them, so in that sense it is related.)

This school, in Cos Cob, Connecticut, impressed me in numerous and perpetual ways:

• getting kindergartners to go up on stage and speak before an assembly...in the third week of school (they had to share one thing they wanted to learn during the school year; my daughter said "how a spider spins its web")
• keeping a journal to track their own development in words and art month by month throughout the school year
  
• emphasizing character by asking parents to give their children a "drop" when they acted kindly, but not just by saying "please"—the acts had to go beyond the expected; the drops filled a bucket (in the form of a wall hanging) that was half the size of a car; that's a lot of kindness
• running an in-depth lesson on the post office, including a field trip to one and the designing of their own postage stamps; plus they both wrote and asked to receive letters
• encouraging students to both eat healthily and bring their lunches in reusable containers

Among many other facets.

Credit goes to the progressive and challenging teacher our daughter had as well as the wonderfully attuned principal and other visionaries on staff, including the art teacher and the librarians.

But again, we knew the school was top-notch even before all this happened.

We saw the hall walls.

They're brimming with dynamic creations, the kind of projects that let children freely express rather than fill in predetermined lines. And it's more than the art itself—it's that the school takes the time to exhibit it.

It's a museum with a gymnasium.

Villains for a change

I wrote a book about Superman. I’ve got another in the works about Batman. But I’m not only about superheroes—or even good guys in general. A story—and, by extension, a writer—is only as good as its/his villains.

In a story I wrote for READ, the Weekly Reader literary magazine for teens, the focus was villainy. That is clear from its title alone: “Villainopedia.com.” Earlier this year, I posted the opening of the story.

Now I’ve been given permission to post “Villainopedia.com” in its entirety. Enjoy but (as you know) please don’t reuse in any way unless you first get your own helping of permission.







In my original version, the ending was morally ambiguous. Brett agrees to go with Travis to document Travis’s imminent crime—though he also says he plans to turn Travis in afterward.

My editor accepted it at first but another editor there felt that Brett needed to be more explicitly good. I found a way to make that work without compromising who I thought my characters were, but I still like the first ending because in it, both Brett and Travis showed sides of both good and not-so-good.

And doesn’t that sound more like you and me and the rest of us?

READ. By All Means.

The title of this post is the title of a recently announced Scholastic global initiative to emphasize to children the importance of reading.

"READ By All Means" includes a "Reading Bill of Rights" which includes the line "We believe...that young people need to learn to read nonfiction for information and literature for imagination."

I immediately signed up as a supporter and hope you will, too. However, while I feel this Bill of Rights line is true in what it says, at the same time I feel it may inadvertently reinforce a problematic belief that some kids have: nonfiction is only about information. More to the point, some kids believe that information—and therefore nonfiction—is dry.
I know the line was written to be practical and punchy, not exclusionary, and I realize that kids won't be reading this Bill of Rights but rather benefiting from adults heeding its call.
I also know I'm reading too much into this, and likely sounding petty for nitpicking over word choice when a critical larger task is at hand.

However, that task is to motivate young readers...and that compact description of nonfiction will not get some of them pumped about it. While the line doesn't say nonfiction is not imaginative, it almost implies that by saying literature is. (Also, "literature" includes nonfiction. I believe the word here should be "fiction.")

Yes, we do read nonfiction to pick up information, but also to ignite the imagination. Well-written nonfiction can be as entertaining and breathtaking and harrowing as fiction (while still being informative). Of course Scholastic has long demonstrated this by the books they publish. But it doesn't come across in that Bill of Rights line.

What would I suggest as an alternative? I don't know that a single word could replace "information" and serve the purpose. Perhaps the whole line could be reworked to something like "...learn to read fiction to discover imaginative new worlds and nonfiction to discover real worlds we never knew." Not as punchy, I know, but maybe it makes up for it with playfulness.
Scholastic made it to their 90th anniversary by doing something right, again and again. No matter my little quibble, I'm confident their noble initiative will be a success.

Meanwhile, those who write true stories for young people will continue to work hard to shed the image of nonfiction as being purely academic.

By all means.

Finger Tip #8: More than a hand

I’ve found enough Fingers to make a hand—halfway through a second, actually.

When I began researching Bill Finger, uncredited co-creator of Batman, I thought it would be relatively easy to find people from his family. I’d never heard of anyone else with the last name “Finger” and therefore assumed it must be uncommon.

However, I now know that it’s not sound logic to base judgment on what I have personally heard of. I quickly learned there are a lot of other Fingers out there.

In 2006 and 2007, I talked to a mob of them—and a few were indeed related, mostly cousins. (Some of the key Fingers—most significantly Fred, his only child—died before I started my research.)

Tellingly, some of the relatives did not know that a cousin had a significant role in the creation of Batman; some had never even heard of a cousin Bill.

Granted, this branch of the Finger family was big (some of the cousins are a generation or more apart in age). But that still surprised me. One cousin said her father had told her that one of her cousins had done the Green Hornet. (She later figured out that her father meant Green Lantern, indeed another co-creation of Bill’s.)

To date, I’ve found seven Finger relatives still named Finger (and others who were born Finger but now have married names, plus family on his first wife’s side). I’ve also encountered several more Fingers who are not related but who were nonetheless helpful in some way, or simply kind to hear me out long enough to say “Wrong Finger branch.”