There are few authors I love as much as Phil Bildner. Phil was a teacher, so he gets it. He gets how hard we work. He gets how much a note from an author can mean to a student. He gets what a positive portrayal of classroom life can mean in his books. Yep. He gets it. So I already love him for that, but then he writes this Rip & Red series and I loved it. I mean really loved it. Loved Mr. Acevado, loved the friendship between these kids. Loved that the books are just realistic fiction, hanging out at school, on your teams, and with your friends kind of books. The kind of books that each one of my students can see themselves in.
That would be enough reason to love Phil, right?
But then, my students started reading the books. And loving them. And they'd tweet Phil and he'd always, always, tweet them right back. We tweeted out one day that we were learning about point of view. Phil sent me a Voxer message on my lunch hour explaining how he thought about point of view as he wrote so I could share it with them.
Seriously?
And then two boys I had in fifth grade (two years ago) tweeted him that they couldn't wait for book two, Rookie of the Year. He sent it to them via my email.
What???
They read it and told him what they thought. This year, when they entered my room as seventh graders, they (Spencer and Logan) were looking for books on the first day of school. Spenc said, "Hey, Mrs. S., what about that cool author. You know, Phil? What has he written lately?" Two years later, he still matters to these kids.
There, that would surely be enough, right?
But then, there's my son, Liam. Who struggled a bit to find his reading groove. Who read A Whole New Ballgame in my fifth grade class and immediately declared it his favorite book. Who read the first copy of Rookie of the Year when I brought it home from NCTE in 2015. In the summer of 2016 I saw Phil's cover reveal for Tournament of Champions. I showed Liam and he flipped. He couldn't wait to read it. He tweeted Phil and Phil sent him the manuscript. Seriously? Who does that? Phil made Liam (and Spencer, and Logan, and countless other kids) feel special. Though miles away, through text messages and tweets, and -- most importantly -- his books, Phil connects with kids. So for those reasons, and a million more, I'm thrilled to share the cover of the next book in the Rip & Red series with you today...Most Valuable Players. Look for this one in the spring of 2018, which my students will tell you is way too far away. With that, let me share some words from Phil.
***********************************************************
Phil: Sometimes the universe speaks to us in wondrous ways.
When Mary Van Akin, the rockstar publicity manager at Macmillan, emailed to tell me the cover reveal for the fourth book in the Rip & Red series would be on Katherine Sokolowski's, Read, Write, Reflect blog, I did a little happy dance around my living room.
In the email, Mary asked me to send Katherine a few paragraphs introducing the latest installment. I told her I would the next morning, even though I hadn't given much (any) thought into what I was going to say. Fortunately, a perfectly timed Facebook message -- within minutes of Mary's email -- from Peggy Schuh took care of that. Peggy's a retired public middle school math teacher who now mentors new teachers in North Indianapolis.
As a
g
rand
mother and mentor for beginning teachers
,
I want to thank you for your Rip and Red series. I have teachers in
three
different
e
lementary schools and
three
different m
iddle
s
chools. I've spoken with the librarians at each of the schools
,
and as a result
,
they have ordered the series.
M
y
ten-
year old
g
randchild
--
who is quite the basketball player
--
absolutely loved the books. He's wondering if there will be a
b
ook
four
where we find out what kind of dog Rip gets. His vote is for a
B
assett
H
ound since he has one!
Mason does play
-
by
-
play all the time when
he's
playing
,
and we think your depiction of that and the game strategy is right on!
Thanks!!
Creating
the Rip & Red series has been the highlight of my writing career. It's an indescribable feeling knowing that these characters have touched so many lives.
Book four in the series is called MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS. It will be out next May. Today, I'm thrilled to share the cover with you.
Oh, in the Rip & Red books, Rip's real name is Mason. When he plays basketball, he loves doing the play-by-play. When I first read that Facebook message, I thought Peggy was referring to Rip, but she was actually referring to her grandchild, Mason.
Boo-yah!
Phil
***********************************************************
Thanks for letting me reveal the cover to the fourth book, Phil! I can't wait to show it to my seventh graders today. And friends, if you haven't experienced the Rip & Red series, remedy immediately. Much love for these books coming from my students, my son, and me.
