Synopsis
Her name’s Moxie. Moxie McCoy.
Bold, opinionated, and haplessly self-confident, the world’s greatest fourth-grade detective faces her biggest challenge! When someone kidnaps beloved school mascot Eddie the Owl, Moxie is on the case—but she’s forced to fly solo now that her best friend (and crime-solving partner) has moved away.
Moxie must interview her classmates—both as potential new best friends and as possible suspects. She finds clues and points fingers but can’t save the owl on her own. Enter Moxie’s little brother, Milton. Quiet, cautious, and boring as a butter knife, he’s a good listener.
Can the Real McCoys form an unlikely alliance and solve the crime of the century?
Bursting with interactive illustrations on every page, Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr’s The Real McCoys delivers clever storytelling, laugh-out-loud humor, and heartwarming insight. This is the first book in a series.
Bold, opinionated, and haplessly self-confident, the world’s greatest fourth-grade detective faces her biggest challenge! When someone kidnaps beloved school mascot Eddie the Owl, Moxie is on the case—but she’s forced to fly solo now that her best friend (and crime-solving partner) has moved away.
Moxie must interview her classmates—both as potential new best friends and as possible suspects. She finds clues and points fingers but can’t save the owl on her own. Enter Moxie’s little brother, Milton. Quiet, cautious, and boring as a butter knife, he’s a good listener.
Can the Real McCoys form an unlikely alliance and solve the crime of the century?
Bursting with interactive illustrations on every page, Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr’s The Real McCoys delivers clever storytelling, laugh-out-loud humor, and heartwarming insight. This is the first book in a series.
Praise for THE REAL MCCOYS
"Readers will breeze through this ingenious combination of text and art, eager for Moxie and Milton’s next case." —School Library Journal, starred review
"Swanson’s witty text is enhanced exponentially by Behr’s bold, original artwork to create a uniquely told whodunit with wide appeal ... An exceptional book." —Booklist, starred review
"An exceptional middle-grade read packed with giggles for young sleuths who love to explore a little off the beaten path." —Kirkus Reviews
"This clever, funny, delightful book is just what this crazy world needs. The surprising and inventive interaction between text and illustration shows that two brains are, indeed, better than one--especially when they belong to Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr." —Andrea Beaty, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ada Twist Scientist
"Readers will breeze through this ingenious combination of text and art, eager for Moxie and Milton’s next case." —School Library Journal, starred review
"Swanson’s witty text is enhanced exponentially by Behr’s bold, original artwork to create a uniquely told whodunit with wide appeal ... An exceptional book." —Booklist, starred review
"An exceptional middle-grade read packed with giggles for young sleuths who love to explore a little off the beaten path." —Kirkus Reviews
"This clever, funny, delightful book is just what this crazy world needs. The surprising and inventive interaction between text and illustration shows that two brains are, indeed, better than one--especially when they belong to Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr." —Andrea Beaty, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ada Twist Scientist
Guest Post:
CHARACTER
DEVELOPMENT
When you develop characters do you already know who they
are before you begin writing or do you let them develop as you go?
Matthew: Hello folks. Matthew Swanson here. I’m the
author of The Real McCoys.
Robbi: And I’m Robbi, the illustrator.
Matthew: We are married.
Robbi: And we have four kids.
Matthew: We collaborate on everything, from diaper
changing to towel folding to corn shucking.
Robbi: Corn shucking? Is that something we do?
Matthew: Yes. Not very often, but when it happens, we do
it together.
Robbi: This is such a red herring. If you’ve done
something maybe twice and you just happened to do it together, I’m not sure it
can be considered representative.
Matthew: To be honest, I’m not sure we do much
towel-folding either.
Robbi: We definitely do diaper-changing, but I have to
say, I feel like you mostly take the lead and I only pop in if it’s a real
disaster. Is that collaborating?
Matthew: This is a fair point. But I think the idea is
that we do a lot of stuff together. So I’m not going to go back now and think
of better examples. I think these people get the gist.
Robbi: Alright. So what are we doing here today?
Matthew: We have been asked to talk about how we develop
characters. Shall I go first?
Robbi: The words come first in our process, so that makes
sense.
Matthew: The truth is, for me, there is very little
planning or thinking involved. When it’s time to write, I feel like a balloon
that is full of too much air and there is a hole in the balloon and the air is
shooting out without any specific shape or agenda. The air makes an awful
screeching sound as it escapes from the balloon, and I try to channel that
sound into words. I am listening too hard and typing too fast to do much
thinking. Which is why I’m able to occasionally write something worth reading. Whenever
I think about what I’m writing, it ends up being boring and stuffy and serious
and completely unreadable.
Robbi: That is, indeed, the truth. I have read many
pieces of writing that Matthew has tried to think his way through. Boy howdy.
Matthew: Your turn.
Robbi: Well, my process has very much to do with how
Matthew writes the character (obviously). I read his writing pretty closely,
and we actually do a lot of collaborating before I start drawing anything. And
now that I think of it, I realize we mostly just end up talking about the
spirit of the character. Most of the time, Matthew doesn’t do much actual
describing of his characters in the writing itself – like how they look or what
they’re wearing or how tall they are or if they have glasses or anything like
that.
Matthew: I cannot be bothered with such trifling details.
Robbi: So I get to decide all of that. Which is kind of
fun. In projects we’ve worked on in the past, it’s even gotten to where I’ll do
some character sketches only to discover that he had imagined a character as a
boy and I had imagined it as a girl. Which is to say, it’s pretty special as an
illustrator to work with a writer who is so incredibly vague about certain
things. Though, strangely, I seem to have a knack for being able to draw what
Matthew sees in his head (gender notwithstanding), even when he hasn’t let me
in on it.
Matthew: That’s true MOST of the time. But not always.
For example I wrote a book about a dragon named Bill. We went through the whole
sketching process and everything was good. And then Robbi inked the finals, and
all was well, but then I went away with the kids for a long weekend so that she
could add the watercolors, and when I got back, Bill was pink! PINK!
Robbi: What’s wrong with pink? He’s so handsome in pink.
Matthew: I love pink. Pink is often appropriate. And Bill
is exactly the sort of dragon who should be pink, but it’s the kind of decision
that has a big impact on that feel of the book, and I’m delighted that Robbi is
the kind of illustrator who will make such a bold decision. I guess what I’m
saying is, first I wrote the character, but left him not fully developed, and
Robbi took it from there. I think her contributions were every bit as important
as mine to determining what the reader thinks and feels about Bill.
Robbi: It’s all really quite collaborative.
Matthew: Much like how we shuck corn.
Learn
more about Robbi and Matthew on their website (robbiandmatthew.com) or on the
Robbi and Matthew Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/robbiandmatthew/).
ABOUT THE
AUTHORS
WE LIVE AND WORK AND MAKE STUFF TOGETHER IN THE HAYLOFT OF
AN OLD BARN ON THE EASTERN SHORE OF MARYLAND.
Combining Robbi’s illustrations and Matthew’s words, we run two small presses— Idiots’Books (illustrated picture books for adults) and Bobbledy Books, (a picture book and music club for kids). Together, we have published more than 60 volumes, including titles with Macmillan, Chronicle Books and LB Kids. We speak, teach, and run workshops on collaboration and creative entrepreneurship (with appearances at TEDx, Mom 2.0,Alt Summit, and ICON7). And we blog about our ongoing adventures in creative mishap.
ROBBI BEHR is an illustrator/print maker/commercial salmon fisherwoman who earned a BA from Williams College and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. When she is not drawing stuff or eating ice cream or watching sappy late-90s chick movies, she is, in all likelihood, fast asleep.
Combining Robbi’s illustrations and Matthew’s words, we run two small presses— Idiots’Books (illustrated picture books for adults) and Bobbledy Books, (a picture book and music club for kids). Together, we have published more than 60 volumes, including titles with Macmillan, Chronicle Books and LB Kids. We speak, teach, and run workshops on collaboration and creative entrepreneurship (with appearances at TEDx, Mom 2.0,Alt Summit, and ICON7). And we blog about our ongoing adventures in creative mishap.
ROBBI BEHR is an illustrator/print maker/commercial salmon fisherwoman who earned a BA from Williams College and an MFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. When she is not drawing stuff or eating ice cream or watching sappy late-90s chick movies, she is, in all likelihood, fast asleep.
MATTHEW SWANSON is a writer/art director/blues harmonica player who has so far failed in every attempt to be swashbuckling. He managed to secure a BA from Williams but was summarily rejected from every MFA program to which he applied—thus emboldening Robbi to remind him almost daily that he is a master of nothing.
Photo Content from Matthew
Swanson ans Robbi Behr
Giveaway:
--Giveaway is open to International. | Must be 13+ to Enter
- 20 Winners will receive a Copy of THE REAL
MCCOYS by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr.
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