Q&A with Allen Kurzweil
Q: How did it feel returning to the character of Leon Zeisel?
A: Actually, he returned to me. There was a lot of unfinished business he felt needed tending. Specifically there was the regrettable presence of Henry Lumpkin, aka "Lumpkin the Pumpkin," a character that shares an unsettling resemblance to a bully I endured in grade school. (The guy is now serving 48 months in a California penal institution, but that's another story.)
Q: Your son provided some of the inspiration and colloquial critiques for Leon and the Spitting Image. Did he help you with the second book?
A: He sure did! Leon and Champion Chip, like Leon and the Spitting Image, is dedicated to my in-house editor (and son) Max. He was the one who insisted we visit various potato chip factories (for research purposes only), he insisted on accompanying me to the annual snack food convention in Florida (again for research purposes), and he was right by my side when it was necessary (yes, for research purposes) to launch twenty pounds of potatoes (one by one) across our back lawn, all so that the technical details surrounding the Extermitater that appears in Chapter 39 held up to scientific scrutiny.
Q: Your former teacher, whom you dubbed "The Hag," was the inspiration for Miss Hagmeyer in Leon and the Spitting Image. Who was the inspiration for the wacky science teacher Mr. Sparks?
A: Wacky? Is he that wacky? He's certainly more "normal" than Leon's fourth grade teacher. At least Mr. Sparks doesn't walk around wearing a wig that's attached by Velcro!
Q: Why potato chips?
A: It's the only snack food I could think of that substantiates Einstein's consideration of the shape of the universe. (For a more detailed answer, I refer you to Chapter Forty of Leon and the Champion Chip).
Q: All of us want to know: What happened to Miss Hagmeyer? Will she be making another appearance in your books?
A: I hope for Leon's sake, she won't appear in the next Leon book, since the third installment will take place over summer vacation!
For more information on this author please visit his website at www.allenkurzweil.net.
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Added 2005
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