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The narrative distance between the angel statue of The Christmas Box and a boy with the power of electric shock may seem vast.
Not so much, it turns out, if you have the pen of Richard Paul Evans.
Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25, Evans' first foray into the young-adult genre, comes with all the stuff early teens sometimes daydream of. Vey, a ninth-grader grasping his way through an Idaho adolescence without a father, is a character almost custom-built for teenagers to identify with.
Vey has a massive crush on the school cheerleader — with "big brown eyes the color of maple syrup" — but also underdog status thanks to his Tourette's syndrome. He's also endowed with the power to transform the body's electrical currents into an effective weapon. Evans' story finds its feet not only in Vey's budding romance, but the attempt of outside forces intent on harnessing his power to sinister ends.
Evans, 48, launched his book tour for Michael Vey early this month in New York City, with successive stops through Utah. He spoke by phone from Houston.
Why write a young-adult title when you've done so well with adult readers?
I wrote it for fun. Also, the young-adult fiction market right now is very dark. It's very dysfunctional. That atmosphere seemed to hit a pinnacle with Hunger Games, a book in which we have children hunting children. With Michael Vey, I wanted a young-adult title different than those that were succeeding. As a parent, I knew what parents would like and what would work. I think back to the time R.L. Stine was writing Goosebumps. His books had a tension that worked, but they were also really sweet. They didn't keep anyone up at night.
Your book features an especially violent scene of school-hall bullying. Were you, or anyone you knew from childhood, ever bullied?
Oh, yeah. I was never picked on by three boys at once, but definitely by individual boys. Oddly enough, it didn't happen until my family moved [from Arcadia, Calif.] to Utah. I remember walking out of Avalon Theater on State Street in Salt Lake City with a group of friends and we were surrounded by a gang of kids. I was 9 years old at the time. Welcome to Utah.
Michael Vey showcases a lot of advanced science for a young-adult novel geared toward the early teens. Did you want readers to become more interested in science?
A lot of it was based on my son Michael. For him, the science discussed in Michael Vey would be simple science. He reads Popular Science magazine and sits in front of the Discovery channel. What we found after testing in three different schools in three different cities — about 500 students — was that the book was wildly popular with students. Science teachers in those three schools — Churchill Junior High, Kaysville Junior High and a school in Dayton, Ohio — reported that students were more interested in science after reading the book. Several English students increased their grades from, in some cases an F to an A, because the book made them more interested in reading. … Also, I like hearing that the book has more boys reading. One amazon.com customer review read: "My son used his video time to read Michael Vey. Need I say more?"
Has anyone given you a hard time about being published by Mercury Ink, Glenn Beck's Simon & Schuster imprint?
No. Glenn definitely polarizes people. But he did not write the book. He just enjoyed it. No matter what side of the aisle you're on, you can enjoy the book. Glenn's been very supportive, and I appreciate all he's done for the book.
You seem to relish slathering a cynical attitude on your book's central character. To what extent was he a composite of other teenagers?
Michael was very much me. I was small for my grade. I have Tourette's syndrome. So it wasn't difficult getting into his voice. It was just a matter of remembering what it was like.
What were some of your favorite books growing up?
A definite favorite was Andy Buckram's Tin Men, by Carol Ryrie Brink, about a boy who builds some robots who become his friends. At the time I was very lonely. For two years I focused my energies on building two robots. They were cannibalized over and over. As a kid, you only have so many electronic motors and parts, but they were always progressing. One was just a mechanical arm. It looked like the arm on "Silent Running," but it worked. It could reach out and grab things.
Do you see similarities between building a robot and constructing a story that works?
Absolutely. It's all discovery. It's all motivated by the joy of creation.
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Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25
By • Richard Paul Evans
Publisher • Glenn Beck's Mercury Ink, an imprint of Simon & Schuster
Details • 336 pages, $17.99