We’re pleased to welcome author and poet Brian P. Cleary for a Skinny Dip this month. His books have made kids guffaw and chortle, all while learning parts of grammar or math! Impossible, you say? Not for Brian, whose brain just works this way.
With more than three million books in print, he’s in high demand for school visits where his sense of humor engages students with the curriculum and having fun with words and writing. (Check out the details about Brian’s author visits.)
Open up If It Rains Pancakes: Haiku and Lantern Poems, You Can’t Dance to These Rhythms: What are Algorithms?, and Chips and Cheese and Nana’s Knees: What is Alliteration? for a high energy ride through poetry, coding, and language.
The book I wish everyone would read:
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
The best way to stay fit:
Walking. It’s easier on your joints than running, and you can wear fun hats while you do it.
My philosophy:
Pay as little interest as you can, leave a few fries on your plate, and try to err on the side of generosity when you can.
One habit I keep trying to break:
I like Coca-Cola more than I should. While I’m not trying to break it, I am attempting to manage it.
I don’t believe in:
Guilty pleasures. If you want to lip-synch along to George Michael’s Faith while ordering takeout when you’ve got actual food in the fridge, guilt is not going to sweeten the deal—just go for it.
The movie I watch when I want to laugh:
The In-Laws, 1979, with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin.
I’m currently reading:
Chango's Beads and Two-Tone Shoes [William Kennedy]
My toughest lesson has been:
Coming to the understanding that most people aren’t like me.
My heroes are:
Babe Ruth, Bruce Springsteen, Maximilian Kolbe, Jackie Robinson, Dorothy Day, Dorothea Lange, Ben Webster, Rosa Parks, Woody Allen, Tom Waits
The bravest thing I’ve ever done:
I’ve given the Heimlich four times, and hope to never do it again.
I wish I could tell my 12-year-old self:
Enjoy that hair.
I yearn to:
Wake up and magically know how to play several instruments.