Back to Featured Interviews >>

MEET BRUCE HALE
by Bonnie O'Brian

What books influenced you most when you were growing up?

Bruce Hale

The first book that really made an impression on me was TARZAN OF THE APES, which my dad started reading to me back in 3rd grade after our TV died.  This book captured my imagination and set me on the path to becoming an avid reader.  From there I went to more conventional children’s book fare, like STUART LITTLE and A WRINKLE IN TIME..

When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career?  (or a career in illustrating? Or just art in general?)

In college I was, of all things, an Economics major.  But I worked as the head cartoonist for The Daily Bruin, UCLA’s college newspaper, and had dreams of becoming a cartoonist.  I barely wrote at all in those days.

Was your first book accepted immediately? Or did you experience a number of rejections?

I experienced a GREAT number of rejections on the way to getting published.  Although I self-published five books in Hawaii, I kept on sending stories to major publishers and collecting rejection letters.  It took me eight and a half years to get published.  Many of the stories I wrote were dreadful.  Even the first Chet Gecko book, THE CHAMELEON WORE CHARTREUSE, was rejected 12 times before a publisher accepted it.

What are the topics of some of your books?

I’m best known for the CHET GECKO MYSTERIES, which details the adventures of a 4th grade private eye and his partner, Natalie Attired.  I’ve also written SNORING BEAUTY, a fractured fairy tale, and the UNDERWHERE series.  This last one is a hybrid of comic book and novel, concerning the adventures of three kids and their cat in a world beneath our own.

Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?

I’m primarily a fiction writer.  I find nonfiction limiting, as I like to make stuff up.  However, I have worked as a magazine journalist, so my first writing was nonfiction.

What kinds of things inspire you to write?

Deadlines and funny ideas.

Have any of your books earned special recognition?

My book THE MALTED FALCON was an Edgar Award finalist, and MURDER, MY TWEET won the Little D Award for Humor Writing.

What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

When I visit schools, I want to accomplish two things.  First, I want to get kids excited about reading, to help them see the fun and inspiration that books contain.  And second, I want them to get a sense of their own potential, to know that they can dream big and attain their dreams.  After all, if I went from being a reluctant reader to being an author, what can THEY do?

What other jobs you had before you became a writer/illustrator?

Before becoming a full-time author-illustrator-speaker, I held a variety of interesting jobs.  I worked as a gardener, deejay, English teacher (in Japan), actor, and corporate lackey.