Adam Henderson and his three best friends — Lewis, Emily and Finn — are a unique group. They don’t quite fit in with the athletes, thespians, student council, artists, or any other clique around, so they all feel very lucky to have found each other. They somehow survived middle school together and are about to embark on the greatest adventure imaginable.

They call themselves Trackers, and they use their varied and incredible skills to find people who don’t want to be found. One might ask how a group of kids could do such a thing. As Adam so precisely puts it, “Because here’s the thing about the digital age: Everyone leaves a trail.” Adam is the leader, and he happens to be a technological genius. He fixes computer problems that even his dad, who owns a computer repair shop, can’t figure out. Adam’s room at the back of the store is filled with every digital component available to the public, along with his very own inventions. But he can’t do it alone; he needs Lewis, Emily and Finn for their talents and skills as well.

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Patrick Carman:
Hello! Patrick Carman here, looking forward to your questions. Nice to be back in the hood!

Salem oregon:
Hey, Patrick- I am a teacher’s aid here at Crossler Middle School. We are reading your book Skeleton Creek in a lower level reading class ( reluctant readers! ) and the kids simply LOVE this book. They literally beg the teacher and I to keep reading. I love the Poe references and just how scary this book is! I can’t wait to meet you Thursday when you come here, will you please bring some books so I can buy one ( could you possibly sign it too ? ) after your presentation.

I am 51 and yet I am afraid of your stories too, exceptional writing too boot! Sincerely, Jim Henry

Patrick Carman:
I’m happy to hear you and the students are enjoying a good scare. And you’re not alone, many teachers and reading specialists contact me about the project and how it’s helping non-readers turn some pages. TRACKERS, the new book just out, is the same format but it’s a spy novel…so it won’t scare you!

Salem, Or:
Have you ever gotten in trouble for putting a real person or incident in your books, and the person recognized himself/herself?

Patrick Carman:
I don’t often put people I know in the books I write, but I did put my two cats in The Dark Hills Divide. In the story I made them both evil and then kill them off…so…I felt sort of bad for about five minutes. They didn’t mention it. The only other book where someone I actually know shows up is Thirteen Days to Midnight, and I’m not telling who those people are! They’ll have to guess.

Read the rest of the live chat – www.statesmanjournal.com

ALABASTER — One Thompson High School sophomore got a chance at stardom when he was selected to be one of the stars of an online and print video-book project by a production company in Walla Walla, Washington.

Urijah Sailes, 15, answered PC Studio’s online casting call for teenagers to star in an ambitious new fiction media convergence project which would consist of a print book that contains access codes to a website coinciding with the story, Patrick Carman’s Trackers.

“I was nervous at first even though I wasn’t in front of lots of people,” Sailes said. He and his sister Alexis filmed his audition video with a webcam and submitted it to the studio’s website.

Almost 600 prospective actors from all over the country auditioned online and at in-person casting calls in the Pacific Northwest. Four people were chosen to play the parts of the teenage trackers and were flown out to Walla Walla in July 2009 to begin filming.

Read the rest of the article – www.shelbycountyreporter.com

Patrick Carman fell in love with reading and storytelling while he was a kid in school in Salem. Now he’s 44 and the author of many best-selling books for young people, including the “Land of Elyon” and “Skeleton Creek” series and one book in the “39 Clues” series. He took time from his national tour — which includes several stops in Salem — to answer questions for the Statesman Journal about his latest books and his life as a writer.

Statesman Journal: Can you tell us a little about the plot of your new books?

Patrick Carman: The first is “Thirteen Days to Midnight,” a superhero novel for the 12-and-up crowd. It’s dark, it’s got a love story and maybe most interesting for readers of the Statesman Journal, it’s set in Salem. My old high school makes a major appearance (Sacred Heart Academy), the Enchanted Forest has a sizzlin’ scene and the Oregon Coast gets its moment. If you’re looking for a wild ride through familiar territory, I think this might be your book. You might even find yourself on some of the pages.

The other release is called “Trackers,” which is appropriate for anyone age 9 to 99. I’m really aiming to meet the changing demands of young, distracted readers with “Trackers,” so the story is told through a collage of videos, text and websites … I’m using a lot of tech, but there’s a method to the wired madness — the destination with “Trackers” is always the book.

Read the rest of the article – www.statesmanjournal.com