Ten Reasons to Read The Real McCoys: Two’s a Crowd by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr
Matthew: Hello, I’m Matthew Swanson, author of The Real McCoys series.
Robbi: And I’m Robbi Behr, the illustrator.
M: We are married. We have created many children.
R: We have created four children. Does that count as many?
M: Oh yes. In fact, I was going to say “so many.”
R: I appreciate your restraint.
M: We are here to talk about Two’s a Crowd, the second book of The Real McCoys, a critically acclaimed, densely illustrated middle grade mystery by Robbi and me.
R: “Critically acclaimed”? Where is your restraint now?
M: Our editor Erin insists that we put our best foot forward.
R: How about “kids seem to like it, and so do a handful of adults who write reviews?”
M: I can live with that.
R: What were we talking about again?
M: Two’s a Crowd. We are supposed to tell these people ten things about it.
R: Will it be a problem if we only come up with nine?
M: If that happens, I will dig deep and heroically come up with a tenth.
R: This is pretty much why I keep you around. Alright, let’s do this thing.
1) THIS BOOK IS THE LOVE CHILD OF A GRAPHIC NOVEL AND A CHAPTER BOOK
R: That seems like an inappropriate way to describe a children’s book.
M: Yes, but I thought you’d like that.
R: I totally do. And it’s so true! But I’ll let you explain what we mean.
M: Two’s a Crowd is a densely illustrated 336-page illustrated novel with a ton of interaction between image and words. It has some of the conventions of graphic novels but is technically part of the new genre of “hybrid” novels, according to the cutting-edge librarians we know.
R: It’s not broken into panels, for example.
M: And it has a running narrative that could stand on its own without the illustrations. But there are some speech bubbles, and lots of hand lettering, and illustrations that bleed into the words and that literally knock the characters over from time to time.
R: Bottom line is, there are lots of illustrations and lots of words.
M: Almost 1,000 illustrations! Robbi also did the page design and typesetting. She basically created a 336-page picture book.
R: Robbi did not sleep for six months. Alright. Next item!
2) IT IS FUNNY
R: That’s really more of an opinion than a fact.
M: Fair enough.
R: But yes. WE think it’s funny.
M: What in particular do you find funny about it?
Robbi: I think it’s mostly in the way you say things. The way you say things is not normal.
M: Is that a compliment?
Robbi: Absolutely. I think funny comes from being pleasantly surprised. For example, at one point you write “It’s as if Emily has told me she’s about to share a slice of pizza with a werewolf.” To me, trying to imagine what that actually looks like is funny. Until I read the manuscript for this book, I hadn’t read a metaphor anywhere involving both a werewolf AND a piece of pizza. And then I got the pleasure of drawing Emily as the werewolf in conversation with Moxie as the piece of pizza. For some reason, it cracks me up every time I read it.
M: You are very gratifying.
Robbi: I can’t help it. The book is full of moments like that.
Matthew: Alright. I guess you have either proven or entirely disproven point number two. Onwards.
3) IT’S HEARTWARMING
M: Ok, so what is heartwarming about this series?
R: I think Moxie is so well-intentioned but also so flawed that she just makes you love her. And she manages to be wildly overconfident while also being quite aware that she’s not perfect. She’s such a walking disaster that your heart aches with her every misstep. But she believes in herself and what she’s doing so deeply that you’re always rooting for her to succeed.
M: I think you did it! I also think the relationship between Moxie and her little brother Milton is worth mentioning. At the beginning of Two’s a Crowd, Moxie doesn’t think much of Milton, but as he helps her puzzle through the book’s mystery, she comes to realize how smart and insightful he is. And how much she needs him.
R: I also have a soft spot for the screaming muffin on page 224.
M: And how is the screaming muffin heartwarming?
R: It’s not, really, but I wanted to bring him up and wasn’t sure where else I was going to be able to fit him in. I’m sure he has his own heartwarming backstory somewhere.
M: Ok, so we’re already going off the rails here. What is the fourth thing?
4) IT HAS A STRONG FEMALE ROLE MODEL.
R: This is true. Her name is Principal Jones. She is all business and no nonsense and tough and capable and very good at her job. She runs a tight ship at Tiddlywhump Elementary. And yet she’s kind and thoughtful and isn’t dismissive of Moxie’s shenanigans. She loves Moxie, but knows Moxie needs a little tough love and gives her some. PJ is the absolute best.
M: She really is.
5) IT HAS SHINY DELIGHT ON THE COVER
R: I love shiny delight!
M: Should we tell them what shiny delight is?
R: It is shiny! And delightful! I love to run my finger across it!
M: “Shiny delight” is how Robbi refers to the glossy varnish our art director Natalie used on the cover of Two’s a Crowd to draw attention to the most important design elements. It is not actually called “shiny delight.”
R: SHINY!
M: It is called an “aqueous coating” or some such thing.
R: DELIGHT!
M: I think it’s time for the next thing.
6) KIDS CAN’T SEEM TO PUT THESE BOOKS DOWN
R: Apparently, this is true.
M: We created this series because it was exactly the book we wanted to make. We are delighted with how it turned out. But the question remained: would actual kids like it?
R: Since book 1 came out last November, many people have sent us photos of kids refusing to put down the book while eating breakfast and other photos of kids standing on one leg and holding the book with one hand while using the other hand to put on a sock. Seriously. The parents sending these photos also suggest that this is not typical behavior for their children, so it isn’t just that we happen to know a bunch of people with weird kids.
M: And then there was the boy who showed up to our talk at the Texas Book Festival dressed like Milton.
R: that was the absolute best!
M: My favorite story is from a mom of a family who was vacationing in Orlando who wrote and said that she literally had to yell at her daughter to “Put down that book so that we can go to Disney World.”
R: That is literally my favorite compliment of all time.
M: I would like to dwell on this item forever, but maybe should we do the next thing?
7) IT HAS A VOCABULARY FOCUS
R: Hm. Don’t all books have “a vocabulary focus”? That sounds like marketing speak.
M: I guess it’s librarian speak. It’s from one of the reviews. But all it means is that Moxie loves words, even ones she doesn’t quite know the meaning of.
R: Kind of like you.
M: Yes. Also, Moxie can’t spell her way out of a paper bag.
R: Kind of like you.
M: Yes. THE POINT IS, kids will encounter a lot of great words in this book. There’s a glossary in the back, with some of my favorite words from the book, as defined by Moxie herself. But the book’s website has an online dictionary with many more words.
R: Whenever a kid sends a word to us, Moxie defines it, and we add it to the dictionary.
M: I am very excited about this. I hope they keep doing it.
R: Yes, please send Matthew some vocabulary words for Moxie to define so that I don’t have to deal with his crushing disappointment (it usually involves baking him a carrot cake, and I seriously don’t have time for that).
M: The book’s website, in case you’re wondering, is www.realmccoysbook.com.
R: I see what you did there.
8) THIS BOOK HAS A COMPANION SERIES
R: It has a companion series!
M: Yes! While I was writing The Real McCoys, I came up with the Annabelle Adams, Girl Detective series. Annabelle is Moxie’s hero and role model. She is a 12-year old James Bond-esque super detective, with adventures that are loopy and weird and unexpected. There are 58 books in the Annabelle Adams Series, and Moxie has read them all 37 and ½ times.
R: I love the titles. “Not Chinatown, Actual China.” And “The Really Bad Breakfast.” And, my personal favorite, “John Hancockamaimie.”
M: So anyway, one day while chuckling over something I had written about Annabelle, Robbi shouted across the room that I should just write an Annabelle Adams book and see what happened.
R: What happened is that he sat down and wrote the whole book in about two weeks.
M: This is true. It was so much fun.
R: It might be my favorite thing he’s ever written. It’s so weird.
M: I love it, too. And so over the past year, we’ve published it chapter-by-chapter on The Real McCoys website. Which, in case you missed it before, is www.realmccoysbook.com.
R: I see what you did a second time.
9) SO FAR, THIS SERIES HAS EARNED FOUR STARRED REVIEWS
R: This is very exciting to us but sounds kind of braggy.
M: I think we should talk about it just a little. It’s kind of a big deal.
R: We will discuss it clinically, just stating the facts! No brags! We keep trying to teach this lesson to our kids, so if it comes off braggy, please let them know so they can give the lecture back to us.
M: Ok, so here’s the facts: reviewers at Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, and School Library Journal gave starred reviews to book 1. And School Library Journal just gave another star to book 2. Both books are Junior Library Guild selection. That is all.
10) MORE MOXIE IS ON THE WAY
M: Yes, I’m excited to say that we are currently putting the finishing touches on the third book in the series. It’s called Wonder Undercover.
R: Matthew put his finishing touches on the words for book three about a year ago. Right now I'm scrambling to meet my next deadline for the final art.
M: In Book 3, Moxie has to go undercover to infiltrate the insidious Wonder Scouts in order to help her sworn enemy investigate the dastardly doings of her other sworn enemy. It’s delicious.
R: I love the story. There are a few wonderful screaming muffin and werewolf pizza moments that remind me why I love to work with Matthew.
M: And I love what Robbi is doing with the illustrations. She’s found a new gear.
R: Unfortunately, my new gear takes longer than the old gear did. Once again, I am getting not much sleep these days.
M: I have stocked the pantry with plenty of fortifying snacks.
R: Key factors to my success.
M: Alright, well that was ten reasons.
R: We did it! Although I think we had to dig pretty deep with the Shiny Delight.
M: I think it’s pretty clear the shiny delight was part of your agenda from the very beginning. As was talking about how kids refused to stop reading the book while eating breakfast or putting on their socks. I think that was kind of braggy.
R: Come on, those were stone cold facts.
M: Once again, we are going off the rails. It’s time to wrap this up.
R: Alright. Thank you, everyone, for listening to our ten things, including the two that we have established were maybe kind of braggy.
M: If you want to know more about us, follow us on Facebook or Instagram where we post a new 60-second video every single day.
R: Do not come looking for insight.
M: We are utterly bereft of insight.
R: I can promise they are almost never braggy.
M: You can also check out our site, or our shop to browse our wares or hire us to speak at your boat christening.
R: We have never spoken at a boat christening.
M: But we absolutely would.
