A Muppets Sensibility with John Patrick Green

John Patrick Green, cartoonist of Weather or Not (First Second), joins Matthew to talk about the journey of a new school year and never having exactly the same class again.

Listen along:

About the book: Weather or Not by John Patrick Green. Published by First Second.

Multiple-time New York Times–bestselling sewer-surfing super-sleuths Mango and Brash are back in the ninth volume of the mega-smash-hit InvestiGators series!

The InvestiGators’ latest case is a dairy disaster! The city's water supply has been replaced with milk and the newest feline agents, the InvestiGatos, don’t seem to be complaining. What’s with the simian scientists and why is the rain green?! All will be revealed in this sticky volume of InvestiGators!

Collect all the books in the #1 bestselling InvestiGators series:

• InvestiGators

• Take the Plunge

• Off the Hook

• Ants in Our P.A.N.T.S.

• Braver and Boulder

• Heist and Seek

• All Tide Up

• Class Action

• Case Files

• Weather or Not

More:

Visit John Patrick Green online at www.johnpatrickgreen.com 

Learn more about Boyds Mills and their upcoming programs by visiting www.boydsmills.org. 

Transcript:

NOTE: Transcript created by Descript. I've attempted to clean up any typos, grammatical errors, and formatting errors where possible.

John: As an author, when you're creating something, you want it to be successful, and you kinda have, sometimes you have to plan for success. It's almost, you have to will it into existence in a way, right? 

Matthew: That is the voice of John Patrick Green, cartoonist of Hippopotamister, Kitten Construction Crew, and co-creator of Teen Boat with Dave Roman. But if you have a kid in elementary school, chances are they already know the name well as the creator of the incredibly popular InvestiGators series. John’s latest book is called Weather or Not (First Second) and it is the ninth book in this bestselling series. 

Welcome back to the Children’s Book Podcast, where we celebrate the books and creators who help young readers feel seen, supported, and understood. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Boyds Mills, positively impacting kids by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inspire children to become their best selves.

I’m your host, Matthew Winner—teacher, librarian, writer, and a fan of kids.

It is not often that I get to interview someone so widely read in our elementary school library!

Here are a few of the things I learned in this conversation: 

NUMBER ONE: John did not grow up loving school. He jokes that it felt more like a prison he was being held in until the requisite age. School is not everyone’s favorite. But I’m glad that John’s books surprise and delight and connect so many readers and make school that much more eventful.

NUMBER TWO: The InvestiGators series has a really quick development cycle. Gotta catch those readers before they age out! John’s making 2-3 books a year with the help of a colorist and, for the Agents of S.U.I.T. series, a co-writer. The joke output must be monumental!

And NUMBER THREE: John’s sense of humor comes from a Muppet sensibility. I think that comes through most clearly when you read an InvestiGators title, where so much of the humor comes across through dialogue and through ridiculous set pieces.

So, a little about Weather or Not (First Second) from the publisher:

“Multiple-time New York Times–bestselling sewer-surfing super-sleuths Mango and Brash are back in the ninth volume of the mega-smash-hit InvestiGators series!

The InvestiGators’ latest case is a dairy disaster! The city's water supply has been replaced with milk and the newest feline agents, the InvestiGatos, don’t seem to be complaining. What’s with the simian scientists and why is the rain green?! All will be revealed in this sticky volume of InvestiGators!"

I will not hold you here any longer.

Please welcome John Patrick Green to the podcast.

John: Hello, everyone. I'm John Patrick Green. I'm a cartoonist. I'm probably most known for The Investigators series that I write and draw, as well as the spinoff series, Agents of S.U.I.T., that I co-write. And I've also done a number of other graphic novels, some with collaborators like Teen Boat, which I illustrated with Dave Roman, and I've also done some early reader graphic novels such as Hippopotami-ster and Kitten Construction Company. 

Matthew: No doubt. I'm so glad you're here, John.

It's so nice to reconnect. It's been since Hippopotami-ster that we chatted. It's been a while. 

John: Oh, wow. I didn't realize. [00:01:00] That was like close to 10 years, 

Matthew: I think. Listen the show's been around for 14 years and it's been a journey catching up with people because you're a different person now than you were 10 years ago.

A- as am I. But it's just neat to be able to catch up with you here in the middle of Investigators. Yeah. Before we go further, though, I'd love to ask you, John, what's giving you hope today? 

John: That's a good question. I'd say, Aside from a good cup of coffee, I feel like my recent acquisition of some cats, they give me, I, I guess a bright smile to a certain degree.

Matthew: How did you come to acquire some cats? 

John: They came with my partner. They had some cats you know- You can't ask someone else to not include their pets, right? So- Here 

Matthew: they are. Well- 

John: Yeah ... but they're great. They're kinda [00:02:00] old. So old pets have health issues- Sure

That are a little, but other than that, I'm not nearly as allergic to cats as an adult as I was when I was a kid, so that's pretty good. That's good 

Matthew: news ... 

John: but also, yeah, it depends on the cat too. 

Matthew: Yeah. 

John: But they, they cheer me up every now and then. And also frustrate the heck out of me because they won't leave me-

Let me, they won't let me alone so I can actually draw my book. 

Matthew: I have the same issue with my dog, that I love that I'm her person, but there are times when she is my literal shadow, and I need to not be followed so closely. But I love her, but maybe not so close. 

John: Yeah. 

Matthew: I digress. I'm glad you're here, pets and all.

John, I recognize that there's probably a couple people out there that- are writing books but don't live in a school library like I do, and so they might not be familiar with your work. Do you mind sharing a brief book talk of The Investigator Series for people that haven't encountered it [00:03:00] yet? Sure, yeah.

John: So Investigators is about these two alligators who wear vests and they solve crimes. And that is basically the elevator pitch. But the alligators, their names are Mango and Brash, and they are a special type of detective. They are agents of SUIT, S-U-I-T. It stands for Special Undercover Investigation Teams.

And so they are, just one duo that work for this larger organization of detectives. They are the A-team, as it were. But, A for alligator. Whether or not that determines how competent they are at solving missions is up for debate. But Mango is the silly alligator, basically, and Brash is the serious alligator.

So it's got the usual kinda odd couple antics as they try to solve crimes together. [00:04:00] 

Matthew: It's so fun. It's such a beloved series in my library. I'm positive in every other library. And John, you know I do a Kid Lit podcast, so publishers send me stuff in advance. And so to get Whether or Not, the, to get the book Whether or Not a full, I don't know, like month before school ended and the kids were when is it gonna go in our library?

When can we check it out?" And I'm like hold on, I'm reading it. I'm gonna talk to the author," has been... It's just been really great. I love being in this position of- not only getting to talk to you and folks like you about making the things you make, but also getting to, to be on the other side with your readers all the time.

So Whether or not is book 10 in the proper Investigator series, right? Do I have that number right? 

John: You... numerically, yes. However, 

Matthew: Well- 

John: This is one of these things where [00:05:00] canonically this is not like there's a big canon or whatever, but technically it is book nine in the narrative because the one that, the book that came out last year that was, labeled Investigators, it was Investigators Case Files, and that was separate sort of thing.

So of course, if you look online at retailers or whatnot, they'll say that was book nine and Whether or Not- Oh, sure ... is book 10. But that Case Files was done with a co-writer and a different artist, and it doesn't really further the larger narrative of the whole series. So for me Case Files was its own thing, and Weather or Not for- is the ninth book 

Matthew: so- 

John: And for anyone that couldn't tell, Weather is the, climate, the weather 

Matthew: Climate 

John: Yeah.

Matthew: The ninth book, but also you've got a handful of Agents of S.U.I.T. series, and you've just got a lot going on. How... I talked to you before [00:06:00] Investigators was a thing, and now you've got a whole lot of books. How's it going, John? How's it going? Did you ever predict that you'd be a person who has 15 books in a universe or something?

John: No. I was, of course, as an author, when you're creating something, you want it to be successful, and you kinda have, sometimes you have to plan for success. It's almost, you have to will it into existence in a way, right? 

Matthew: Sure. 

John: And my publisher, when they asked me if I had an idea for a series that could run for multiple books.

And they initially were like, pitch us three books. We want a three-book series." And I pitched five books because I figured if they buy them all, then I get job security, for the next- Sure ... next number of years. And if they if they don't, then big deal. If they just take all three then whatever.

If they're like, "Ah, [00:07:00] we'll think about the other two later on." So from the start when I pitched it and they were like, "Yeah, we like this. We want all five. Give us all five," I wasn't sure that it would go even, you know- Yeah, ... longer after that. But- You know, once we knew, I think it was probably while I was making the fourth book, the publisher was like, "Hey, we want more of these.

When you're done, when you're done with the fifth one, we're gonna want more of these as soon as possible." And they were like ... I was already doing two of them a year. I was writing and drawing- Yeah ... two Investigators books a year, and they were like, "And is there any chance you can do three books a year?"

Matthew: Whoa. You're keeping up with that Dog Man pace at two books a year. Three is wild. 

John: Yeah. Yeah. At this point with the spinoff series, the Agents of S.U.I.T. spinoff, we have a co-writer and a different artist for those. And so it's still two books a year, but it's one in the [00:08:00] Agents of S.U.I.T.

series, then one in the Investigators series. So I'm still now only writing and drawing o- one, by myself, basically one a year. But I o- still only have the same amount of time that I did- Sure. ... because other, managing the other book and other things interfere. But yeah, my publisher is they're hungry for more 'cause I guess, the kids out there- Kids are

are hungry for more, I 

Matthew: mean, when you have a book as ubiquitous as Investigators, and I say that meaning I see it at Walmart and Target and on end caps at Barnes & Noble and things like that, which is amazing. And w- our shelves are all always empty of Investigators, or they're falling apart and I gotta buy new ones, and that's wonderful, too.

It m- it to me feels like it, one must just beget the other. The readers are reading all seven of the books, and now they're reading all eight, and now they're reading all nine. And that's a, it's just a terrific thing, and I'm so glad to see you being there. And I would love to imagine, too, that you're probably getting to meet [00:09:00] more kids, right?

Has this series helped bring you in front of more readers as well? 

John: Yeah. I- 

Matthew: Good ... 

John: fortunately, my publisher, Macmillan, they put me on, book tours- 

Matthew: Cool ... 

John: twice a year for each book release. And typically those are in the fall. February is when Agents of SOOT comes out, and then usually September is when Investigators- Oh

comes out. And so they'll send me- So back 

Matthew: to school and- 

John: Yeah ... 

Matthew: conferences. This is 

John: great 

Matthew: timing. 

John: Yeah. So they'll send me on all these school tours, which are always great. But at the same time it's like I'm going to a school and I'm doing a an assembly with 200 kids or whatever, and I don't know of them how many are familiar with the books 'cause they're in a- they're at school.

They're being held prisoner basically right? So they have to listen to me talk about my books. And granted, yeah, a lot of them do like the books, but I think l- [00:10:00] plenty of times as I'm doing those and then I do a Q&A at the end of my presentation and I'll call on some kids, and some of them will just be like You make books?

And it's so yeah, my whole presentation was about that. So there are still some that are there that I meet that I know aren't familiar with the series. But then this year, Whether or Not came out in June. So school was already out. But my publisher put me on a tour, and it was mostly bookstore events and other public events that people could come to.

And so I met a lot more parents at this one than I usually do. But the thing was, like I'm doing shows at a library that is maxed out capacity or some tiny little theater somewhere, and everyone there is- They're all coming 'cause they know you ... a super fan. Exactly. That's right.

They come and they show up and they'll have, like, all ... I [00:11:00] think this point there are maybe 12 or 13 actual physical books if you add all- To get 

Matthew: signed? They bring 

John: in the stack? Yes. They'll bring them all. God, that's so cool. And then of course ... the problem is a lot of times the stores will say things like, there's a two book or minimum- Okay

on signing," because otherwise it would take ... right now, when I do one of those events, at the end, the signing often takes close to two hours just to- Sure ... so it's one hour for me to talk and do Q&A and then another close to two hours of just being there and signing. And that's even with a limit.

But I usually tell people "Oh, if you really want the rest of them signed, just get back in line." 

Matthew: Do you ever- ... do you ever just pre-sign book plates stickers? 

John: Yeah, I've done that before. Sometimes I will do that for events where they know they're going to have some orders or whatever after or some people that they know can't make it.

Matthew: Yeah. 

John: But usually I ... most of the time it's ... i'll [00:12:00] sign the books in person. I will sign books in advance. I'll sign stock at stores. Sure. And but I haven't I haven't really done as many book plates as I have in the past. I have a stamp. I like the- Oh, that's cool.

Sure ... I have a stamp with the alligators so I stamp all the books and sign it. 

Matthew: Nice. You're figuring it out, and your readers- Yeah. ... are just gonna keep seeing you and keep seeing you. I said to you before that you're one of the most beloved series in our elementary school library. We circulate heavy, as you would imagine, Dog Man books- and Narwhal and Jelly books. We love Ben Clanton in our library, and Babysitters Club, Raina and all the group that are doing Babysitters Club. I remember meeting you- I feel like I remember meeting you back with Dave at SPX- ... ages ago. I wonder when the ideas for Investigators first came to you.

You were already making books with First Second. Hippopotamus is with- Yeah ... First Second. But you said they, they had approached you about about doing a series or pitching a [00:13:00] series. And I didn't do my homework ahead of time to- ... to reread Hippo- I have a theory. I'm like, I wonder if the Investigators were in Hippopotamus or somewhere in the background, and I'm just like, "Oh, it was a tertiary character that became their own series."

But I would love to ask you w- where Investigators came from. 

John: It kinda, like most ideas, it didn't really come from one place. I'd say the place it came from the most was just the opportunity to come up with it. Because my publisher my editor, she was... This was back in 2018. I had just finished the art for the second Kitten Construction Company book.

And so I turned that in, and my editor was maybe a month away from going on maternity leave. And I'm like, "I need to sell my next book to her before she's gone for six or more months." 

Matthew: Oh, 

John: sure. It's 'cause then that's just lost time that I could've been [00:14:00] working on a book that had the, was green-lit, right?

And so because Hippopotamister had done well, it was a, it earned out, within the first year. It was, people liked it. It got good reviews, et cetera. I was like, "Oh a sequel to that would be probably an easy sell." And so I pitched Hippopotamystery, which is gonna be... So the premise of Hippopotamister is the hippo and his friend, the red panda, they had left the zoo to try out different jobs.

And ultimately, at the end, they come back to the zoo, and they fix up the zoo. And then the second book was gonna be, oh, the hippo and the red panda have to solve a mystery about, like, all the animals start slowly disappearing. And so that was the premise for the sequel to Hippopotamister, and I pitched that.

And, Calista, my editor, she was like, "Oh, yeah, Hippopotamystery. Love it. We'll buy it." And they did, and they gave me an advance. But at that, in that same conversation, like right after that, she was like, "By [00:15:00] any chance do you have ideas for a chapter book graphic novel, for slightly older kids, like seven-year-olds kind of age group?"

And I was like yeah sure, what are you looking for?" And she was like y- have you heard of Dog Man?" And I was like yes, I'm familiar with Dog Man." I had worked on the, some of the books for Scholastic doing production work. I did font design and whatnot- Oh, cool

before, so that they had a font that looked like Dav Pilkey's font for the foreign translations and stuff. And I, so I was re-lettering the foreign versions of Dog Man at that time. And she was like, "Yeah, something for that age group. And I was like, this was maybe a Thursday. I was like, "When do you want ideas?"

And she's "Monday." She's she was like, "I should've asked about, asked you about this three months ago. And I'm going on maternity leave in a month, so I'd love to get this, g- figure something out." So I basically took the weekend to just, see what I could come up with, and I [00:16:00] reached out to Dave Roman, the aforementioned Dave Roman that I did Teen Boat with.

Because of the tight deadline, I was like, "Hey, Dave, do you wanna brainstorm ideas with me? Because they want a series that could be made really quick." And he was like yeah, sure. But why don't you..." D- I'm... He was like, "I'm busy, so you get the ball rolling,John." And so I went to a folder that Dave and I had of ideas that we had been brainstorming that we had never used.

These were actually ideas that were gonna be for a show for PBS or something. 'Cause we had a contact there that wanted us to, pitch them ideas. And these were all ideas that we never used, and one of them was called Animal Investigators And the premise for that was that it would be a show about kids who go undercover as animals to solve animal crimes or whatever, like they would pretend to be animals in the animal world and whatnot. And it had a very like [00:17:00] educational sort of theme to it, 'cause it was supposed to be for s- close to preschool, like very r- you- young. So there would be a whole like, like kinda Dora the Explorer, kind of thing, where it's oh, it's entertaining, but you're learning and whatnot.

And I looked at that, and off the top of my head, I was like that concept requires having to figure out how to draw the protagonists in new animal disguises every single adventure over and over." And and I don't particularly like drawing humans that much. I draw... I find it more fun to draw the animals themselves.

So I was like why not just animals?" And I'm looking at it, and it's and the word investigators is right there, which immediately, reminds me of the old joke, what do you call an alligator that solves crimes? And I was like, "Okay, just that. I will pitch Investigators to my editor. It's investigators, it's alligators that wear vests and solve [00:18:00] crimes."

And and at the same time, I pitched other ideas. I... There was... I actually had a book, an idea for a book called Cracker Dile that was like a totally different thing. It wasn't about a villain or anything, but it was a story idea and a, about an animal cracker that was a crocodile that I never used.

And so I pitched that, and I pitched a concept called Doctor Copter about a doctor that turns into a helicopter. And and then, when my editor got back to me and she said, "I think Investigators, that's the one that has the most legs. Do a full pitch And I was like okay, when do you need that?"

And she's "Eh in, in a week, by any chance? Can you get it..." And which is very fast to kinda develop a whole pitch. 'Cause you have to come up with at least three books worth of storylines. That's it. Yeah. They wanted to know what the series would look like. And so I asked her to rank all the other...

it was 20 ideas that I pitched. I asked her to rank those. And and like all the best ones, I just threw those into [00:19:00] Investigator. Dr. Copter was a separate idea, but he became a side character. Side 

Matthew: character, 

John: yeah. Pop and Lock is the older guy who has- Cracker barrels ... the robot dog.

Yeah. Exactly. They all just became folded in because I had to develop something really quick. And that's what kinda created the, this weird world, is that they were all just separate ideas that kind of by the requirement of deadlines and expediency, I just mashed them all together.

Matthew: Sure. And I love that not only are you mashing ideas together, but you have such a fondness for portmanteau characters. 

John: Yeah. 

Matthew: Which is great. It gives you a very distinct voice. Again, back to Teen Boat there are- Your books are just jam-packed with humor, but also a lot of this portmanteau stuff, a lot of play on words, which is terrific, and I think it, it gives it a unique voice.

It sets it apart from the [00:20:00] other books. I know that seeing the success of Dog Man, a publisher could be like, "We want something like that. That'd be great," but of course, they don't want Dog Man. Dog Man already exists. They want something else. And so that you're writing a thing that I feel like because of the language ends up being even from possibly slightly older than our Dog Man readers, they read everything, but makes it really fun.

I think they ... You end up ... I have to imagine being, like, real good pals with all the English teachers in the building- ... because you're playing and playing with ... gosh, in, in Weather or Not, you're playing with a climate primatologist. Like, all of that playing on words with the names we have for things- and then being so on the nose with that's what its name is, therefore, that's what the job that this character's going to have. I think that there's perhaps even a straightforwardness to your approach in these books that makes the humor work really well, and I think just ... If I may, I [00:21:00] think it probably makes your readers feel real smart.

Just because of- 

John: I 

Matthew: kinda- ... the little puzzles. Every name, Jon, is like a little puzzle to figure out why is it called that? Oh, because th- think of it, this book, we have The Investigatos, and- 

John: Yeah. 

Matthew: How much I love ... I meant to ev- I didn't ever put it in any of my questions to you, but I wanted to just outright tell you- I love that in The InvestiGatos the pair that are cats- that one of them fully speaks Spanish, and it is never ever translated. 

John: Yes. 

Matthew: But the other character, the other cat, fully understands and just responds to the rest of the world yes and-ing the Spanish-speaking cat. That sort of approach, I bring this up a lot because this is what makes me connect with books as a librarian, is when I see that the author really respects their audience.

You're not ever trying to go slow and explain everything. You know that they're with you 'cause you've given enough clues in the illustration, [00:22:00] and just the context around it that works. I... Tell me about jokes for you. I don't know you personally to know that is this your second language is just speaking in puns?

John: It might b- it might be. That's 

Matthew: not a bad thing. 

John: No it certainly isn't. I'd say for me, I spent a good portion of my life both willingly and as, circumstance would have it, as a bit of a hermit or a recluse. And I think that's where a lot of my humor comes from.

And but of course, being isolated, 'cause when I was a kid, I was sick a lot, and so I'd be home from school all the time and just missing and not socializing a lot. And, you end up internalizing a lot of your personality that way, and things that you find funny or whatever, it becomes very self- driven.

And and then as a professional, I, [00:23:00] long before the pandemic, I was working remotely as an artist, where I'm just at home doing my thing in relative silence, drawing designing on the computer, whatever. And so I wouldn't say that I have been known as being like a, like a class clown or anything like that or necessarily someone who is a comedian just because I mostly work alone.

But this gives, these books give me an outlet for the things that I just find funny. I've never really done... teen Boat was a funny book, but it was also a collaborative book, and it was a little more of a tongue-in-cheek kind of parody/satire of afterschool specials and teen movies and stuff.

And Investigators is purely more of a... I guess the closest thing I would compare it to, at least from my youth anyway, is a Muppets sort [00:24:00] of world and environment and- Yeah ... sensibility, because it is something that is very appealing to younger audiences. But there's plenty of adult humor.

And by adult, grown-up humor, where it's like there's, there'll be jokes on concepts or, everyday grown-up life that kids might not get right away. And maybe a, an adult will explain it to them. But the kids will get it eventually. And I knew that with this series or these books, that kids are going...

If kids like them, they are gonna read them over and over again. 

Matthew: Yeah. 

John: And what better incentive for them to keep reading than to throw at them as many jokes as I can, and layered jokes too. They'll get the first part of the joke the initial time they read it, and then they read it again and again, and they'll notice the other jokes that are in there.

And when it comes to that sort of humor, the puns and the wordplay, I [00:25:00] think that comes from- as a, like I was still like an inquisitive kid when I was little, always questioning teachers like when I would go to school. It's "Why is it like that? Why... Explain that. Why does that work?

Like why does the English language like make no sense?" 

Matthew: Sure. 

John: Things like that. Why are you teaching rules like I before E except after C when there are n- like over 900 exceptions to that rule, and there are only 44 words that follow that rule? Like it's... There are things like that I just ultimately find funny.

English is a very silly language because, m- so many of the words are borrowed from oth- other languages. So you'll have one word that's spelled one way and pronounced one way, and then another word that is like one letter off and pronounced completely different. And so seeing those words and hearing those words to me is just funny on just this is what life is when it, it comes with some things are just not really [00:26:00] gonna make much sense other than people will say, "That's just how it is."

And so they... I can't help but just laugh at that sort of stuff. Yeah. And I kinda love- bad jokes, which aren't just puns. Puns, of course, are based on the fact they're, like, jokes that will make you groan or very silly or obvious. But jokes that almost don't work, but because of that they're extra funny because of how clunky they are.

So yeah, I, I've just lucked out in that I've managed to create this world where there's really no rules to what kind of humor I can throw in there and get away with. And I knew from the start that I was gonna have talking protagonists- Yeah ... in, in contrast to Dog Man. So I was aiming for oh, I don't wanna get the kids that are reading Dog Man.

I wanna get the kids that have finished reading Dog Man- Yeah ... and now are looking for something a little more [00:27:00] challenging or whatever. And if, what's the wor- what's the worst thing that happens if a kid doesn't get a word? They're gonna they might just s- look it up maybe and figure out what 

Matthew: the word 

John: means.

Yeah. 

Matthew: They look it up. They ask. They have a conversation with their grownup. I have a kid that I tutor who The Investigator Series is her favorite series, and Mom, Val, said, "It's one of the only graphic novels that I've caught her laughing at the book, and I've leaned over her shoulder and started reading along-

and I'm enjoying it, too." And so th- that, that to me feels like a massive compliment that you're able, in a graphic novel, to draw in that grownup reader the same way that we aim to in picture books, that the child is reading and the grownup's reading with them. That's a pretty cool thing. I do wanna say before I let you off this topic, though of language w- that in Weather or Not, I did not know that there's a joke about diluting things-

[00:28:00] diluting the milk, diluting the, the- Yeah. F- for when people read it, when they do, it's- ... the main plot line to start the book is there's milk in the faucets instead of water. Yeah. What is going on? But I didn't realize, it, you put it in there that one of the scientists says that, "Actually, diluting milk can be really great for plants."

I was like- ... what? So that was fun to learn that. But apropos to you saying- going on with a joke and not letting it go. I felt that with Dr. Simeon Simeon- ... when he had the frustration, I'm looking at it in the book right now just so I can absolutely quote it back to you.

The climape, the climatologist that his institution was called the Meteorology Institute, which is TMI, The Meteorology Institute, and he want- he really wanted it to be The Ape Institute, TAI, and it happened to be sandwiched between a Thai Kickin' and a Thai [00:29:00] Kitchen, and I'm like, "This joke will not stop."

And it was wonderful, John. And to n- to know that You're letting the reader just stay with it, or if they're not connect- connecting they keep moving through it. But that But it's so wonderful to hear how aware you are that, one, comics get read over and over. You're already aware of that.

That's not a new thing to tell you that a kid doesn't read a graphic novel one time, they read it many times. B- but to know that your intention in this really dense language is, "I want... No one's gonna get it on the first pass. I want you to come back and get it more, and I want you to grow up and come read it again and realize I didn't understand that joke the first time, but this is a super funny thing that was happening all along."

That's a really wonderful skill you have. That's a great bit of craft going on there, and [00:30:00] I wanna just give the compliment to you that I think you're... N- no one else can do that. You're very- ... uniquely suited to be able to pull that off, and you do it really well, man. I hope, as tired as your hands may get, I hope we have another 10 Investigators coming.

Or make it 11 so we have an even 20. That'd be nice. But I really do hope that in this time in making comics for kids that you are seeing things change and seeing things continue to grow for the better and become m- kids that didn't think they were readers, of course were readers. They just needed to find the right format- and you're helping them engage in that format. I just... I really do I really am rooting for you. That's what I want you to know. 

John: Thank you. I appreciate it. 

Matthew: As are the millions of readers that you have. So we are on summer break, but I'm gonna ask you this question because I do have a wonderful habit of bringing these messages back to my readers.

John, I'm gonna ask you that I will see a library full of children soon. Is there a message I can bring to them from [00:31:00] you? 

John: I'd say... I'm trying to think of something good and pithy and relevant or whatever, it could be as simple as, "Hang in there," or "Eat your vegetables." But I think they would probably, they might possibly just wanna know what's next for The Investigators.

And I can say I, I am about three-fourths the way through the pencil art for the next Investigators book. I'm just doing the cover art as well. So that's gonna be a very exciting adventure for Mango and Brash. And and there will be more Suit books as well. We're working on book s- seven?

Six? Seven? Six? Six. One of them. Six. Six is the one that we started drawing. Seven is the one that we're beginning to script. Yeah other than that, keep reading and hopefully the more you read... Like, when I was a kid, I loved reading things [00:32:00] that interested me, because there's a lot of it out there.

Kids might not realize oh yeah, anything that you're interested in, there's gonna be books about it. And reading those things just are part of what fostered my imagination and making me a better storyteller and whatnot

Matthew: Thank you to John Patrick Green for joining me on the Children’s Book Podcast. 

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And on that note…

Be well. And read on.