It was so, so, so, so, so, so fun. I absolutely adore Maureen and Lauren, and we had a great time coming up with all the little threads that would weave through the story (like tin foil man). Writing “A Cheertastic Christmas Miracle” might have been the most fun I’ve ever had writing a story; I was inspired by Maureen to try to make it as zany as possible and inspired by Lauren to try to give it real heart.

Yes! mental_floss is this wonderful trivia magazine founded by some hardcore nerds who truly believe in the power of making people smarter, and I love that magazine and their awesome web site and their books. In fact, I co-wrote (occasionally with my brother Hank) several of their books, including Cocktail Party Cheat Sheets, What’s the Difference?, Scatterbrained, and The Genius Instruction Manual. I also used to host and executive produce episodes of mental_floss on YouTube, which you can check out here.

For audio, you can search the web sites of NPR and WBEZ. 

You can search Booklist Online to find some of the hundreds of reviews I wrote for Booklist (or you can sign up for a membership and read them all). In the New York Times Book Review, I’ve reviewed The Book Thief, The Hunger Games, The Dead and the Gone, and Chris Raschka’s The Purple Balloon.