Adam Selzer
Encyclopedia
Adam Selzer is an author, primarily of young adult and middle grade novels. His first novel was How To Get Suspended and Influence People, a 2007 Random House novel which was included on the Chicago Public Schools 2007 Summer Reading List. It was also nominated for a Cybils 2007 Young Adult Fiction award, and, in 2009, made national news after attempts were made to have it removed from an Idaho library; it was included in the American Library Association
's Banned Books Week
packet in 2010. It was followed in 2008 by another book, Pirates of the Retail Wasteland, which teenspace called "as invigorating and smoothly satisfying as a good caffe latte.". Like his previous book, it was named a Book Sense Pick for summer, 2008.
In September, 2008, Random House published I Put a Spell On You, which is about a spelling bee, but is based on Watergate. The Horn Book called it "scathingly funny.," and The Bulletin of Children's Books compared Selzer to Andre Clements and Gordon Korman. It was nominated for a 2009 Great Lakes Book Award and became a noted choice for classroom reading. His 2009 book, Andrew North Blows Up the World, was his first for younger readers and was hailed as "a work of comic genius."
In 2009, Adam's editor at Random House asked him to write a book based on "I Thought She Was a Goth," a song he had written a decade earlier. The resulting book, "I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It," was released in January 2010. to acclaim from trade reviewers, who described it as "smart," "original," "hilarious," and "a scathing parody of the paranormal romance genre.". Film rights were optioned by Disney Channel Original Movies His next scheduled book, announced in March 2010, is tentatively titled "Tangled Up in Blue," and will be published by Flux.
His first nonfiction book for Random House was The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History, which began to garner acclaim before it was even released. and was selected as a Junior Library Guild selection. Critics frequently compared the humor to that of The Daily Show
and Mark Twain
Most of his books (and many of his songs) take place in Cornersville Trace, a fictional suburb of an unnamed midwestern city. Many of his characters and places are named after polka bands, such as Whoopee Norm Eddlebeck and the Dairyland Dutchmen, Myron Floren, and The Van den Berg Orchestra, among others.
In addition to his book work, Adam works as a historian, tour guide and ghost investigator in Chicago. In 2009, his first adult nonfiction title with a major publisher, Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps, told stories of his life in these fields, He stepped down from his position with Weird Chicago Tours after the Halloween season in 2009., but continues work as a folklorist and historian with a blog charting the folk process in children's street culture
including ghost stories popular among children.
Production on the film At Last, Okemah!
began in April, 2009. Adam co-wrote the screenplay with director Michael G. Smith, adapting it from a script he had first written "during class in high school." It premiered September 13, 2009 at the Chicago International Reel Shorts Fest, at which is won an Audience Choice award.
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
's Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week
Banned Books Week is an annual awareness campaign that celebrates the freedom to read, draws attention to banned and challenged books, and highlights persecuted individuals...
packet in 2010. It was followed in 2008 by another book, Pirates of the Retail Wasteland, which teenspace called "as invigorating and smoothly satisfying as a good caffe latte.". Like his previous book, it was named a Book Sense Pick for summer, 2008.
In September, 2008, Random House published I Put a Spell On You, which is about a spelling bee, but is based on Watergate. The Horn Book called it "scathingly funny.," and The Bulletin of Children's Books compared Selzer to Andre Clements and Gordon Korman. It was nominated for a 2009 Great Lakes Book Award and became a noted choice for classroom reading. His 2009 book, Andrew North Blows Up the World, was his first for younger readers and was hailed as "a work of comic genius."
In 2009, Adam's editor at Random House asked him to write a book based on "I Thought She Was a Goth," a song he had written a decade earlier. The resulting book, "I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It," was released in January 2010. to acclaim from trade reviewers, who described it as "smart," "original," "hilarious," and "a scathing parody of the paranormal romance genre.". Film rights were optioned by Disney Channel Original Movies His next scheduled book, announced in March 2010, is tentatively titled "Tangled Up in Blue," and will be published by Flux.
His first nonfiction book for Random House was The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History, which began to garner acclaim before it was even released. and was selected as a Junior Library Guild selection. Critics frequently compared the humor to that of The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
and Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
Most of his books (and many of his songs) take place in Cornersville Trace, a fictional suburb of an unnamed midwestern city. Many of his characters and places are named after polka bands, such as Whoopee Norm Eddlebeck and the Dairyland Dutchmen, Myron Floren, and The Van den Berg Orchestra, among others.
In addition to his book work, Adam works as a historian, tour guide and ghost investigator in Chicago. In 2009, his first adult nonfiction title with a major publisher, Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps, told stories of his life in these fields, He stepped down from his position with Weird Chicago Tours after the Halloween season in 2009., but continues work as a folklorist and historian with a blog charting the folk process in children's street culture
Children's street culture
Children's street culture refers to the cumulative culture created by young children. Collectively, this body of knowledge is passed down from one generation of urban children to the next, and can also be passed between different groups of children . It is most common in children between the ages...
including ghost stories popular among children.
Production on the film At Last, Okemah!
At Last, Okemah!
At Last, Okemah! is a 2009 short film directed by Chicago-based independent filmmaker Michael Glover Smith, based on an original screenplay by novelist Adam Selzer and Smith. The film had its world premiere at the Chicago International REEL Shorts Festival on Sunday, September 13th, 2009, where it...
began in April, 2009. Adam co-wrote the screenplay with director Michael G. Smith, adapting it from a script he had first written "during class in high school." It premiered September 13, 2009 at the Chicago International Reel Shorts Fest, at which is won an Audience Choice award.
Novels
- How to Get Suspended and Influence People, Delacorte Press, 2007 [ISBN 978-0-385-73369-4]
- Pirates of the Retail Wasteland, Delacorte Press, 2008 [ISBN 978-0-385-73482-0]
- I Put a Spell On You, Delacorte Press, 2008 [ISBN 978-0-385-90498-8]
- "I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It", Delacorte Press 2010 [ISBN 978-0-385-73503-2]
- Andrew North Blows Up the World, Delacorte Press, 2009 [ISBN 978-0-375-89375-9]
- "Extraordinary: The True Story of My Fairy Godparent, Who Almost Killed Me, and Certainly Never Made Me a Princess," Delacorte Press 2011 [ISBN 978-0385736497]
- "Sparks", FluxFluxIn the various subfields of physics, there exist two common usages of the term flux, both with rigorous mathematical frameworks.* In the study of transport phenomena , flux is defined as flow per unit area, where flow is the movement of some quantity per time...
2011 (writing as S.J. Adams) [ISBN 0738726761]
Nonfiction
- The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History, Delacorte Press 2009 [ISBN 978-0-385-73650-3]
- Your Neighborhood Gives Me the Creeps: True Tales of an Accidental Ghost Hunter, Llewellyn Press, 2009 [ISBN 978-0-7387-1557-5]
- Weird Chicago: The Book (with Troy Taylor and Ken Melvoin-Berg), Whitechapel Press, 2008 [ISBN 978-1-892523-59-4]
- Weird Chicago Presents: The Murder Castle of H.H. Holmes (mini ebook) (editor), Whitechapel Press, 2008
- "Fatal Drop: True Tales of the Chicago Gallows" White Chapel Press January, 2009 (under the name William Griffith)
- "Bobcat Nation: Life among the Dylan Fans" A Goon Attack Press (ebook) October, 2004 [ASIN B004GKMP5I]