Patrick Carman, an author of best-selling children’s books, returned Friday to the school where his life as a storyteller began.Young readers around the world know him as the author of the “Land of Elyon,” “Atherton” and the “Skeleton Creek” series. He’ll be on “The Today Show” later this month to discuss his upcoming “39 Clues” book with Al Roker.But for most of Carman’s 45-minute presentation at Four Corners Elementary, he didn’t mention his books, the importance of reading or how to write well. He simply held a couple hundred kids rapt with stories about his childhood on Boulder Drive SE, a few blocks away.Carman asked the kids to picture his best friend in fourth grade, Gary With the Big Hair, “like Barbie doll with a bowling ball for a head.” He spun a long, involved tale about how he and Gary tried to rip a Stretch Armstrong toy in half by tying it to a bike and making Gary pedal like crazy. Only instead of ripping, the toy yanked Gary and the bike back – “And Gary was lying on the pavement, staring at the sky, but my mailbox was destroyed!”The kids loved it. Sequels followed: What Carman’s mom had to say about the mailbox. What he and Gary did next with the toy. What they did, even more mischievously, with a toy Evel Knievel motorcycle.Then Carman told them the “magic trick” taking place: that every person in that room was imagining what Gary With the Big Hair looked like, and every picture was different.”That’s the magic of learning to read books,” said Carman. “You can pick up a book at the library that 500 people have read and it will be different for all of you.”Carman has been creating a steady stream of those books since 2001. He’s receiving serious attention now for his “Skeleton Creek” series, which lures reluctant readers by using two media – the book and online videos – to tell a suspenseful story.But in the packed gym of Four Corners, storytelling needed no videos, no books, not even a pencil.”I’m really looking forward to reading ‘The Dark Hills Divide’,” said fifth-grader Kaitlyn Rutherford as students headed to lunch. “I really want to be an author or an illustrator.”Another fifth-grader, Zenock Lemusu, said he was thinking about keeping a journal of sketches and notes, like the one Carman had shared. “He was really fun and I like his true stories,” he said.bcurtin@statesmanjournal.com or (503) 399-6699

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