Jennings, Richard W. 1945–

Personal

Born October 25, 1945, in Memphis, TN; married Linda Siggins (a nurse), 1987; children: five. Education: Rhodes College, B.A. (English). Religion: Methodist.

Addresses

Home—Overland Park, KS. Agent—George Nicholson, Sterling Lord Literistic, 65 Bleecker St., New York, NY 10012.

Career

Rainy Day Books, Kansas City, KS, cofounder, 1975—; Kansas City Magazine, Kansas City, editor, 1987-88; Bernstein-Rein Advertising, vice president and creative director, 1988-98. Cochairman, Kansas City Book Fair, 1984.

Member

Authors Guild.

Awards, Honors

First place award, Southern Literary Festival, Southwestern-at-Memphis, 1967; Booklist Editor's Choice, 2000, for Orwell's Luck; Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Top Ten Fiction Titles designation, 2001, for The Great Whale of Kansas; William Rockhill Nelson Fiction Award honorable mention, 2002, for My Life of Crime.

Writings

MIDDLE-GRADE NOVELS

The Tragic Tale of the Dog Who Killed Himself, Bantam (New York, NY), 1980.

Orwell's Luck, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2000.

The Great Whale of Kansas, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2001.

My Life of Crime, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2002.

Mystery in Mt. Mole, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2003.

Scribble, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2004.

Ferret Island (originally serialized in the Kansas City Star, 2005), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2007.

Stink City, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 2006.

Feature columnist for Kansas City magazine, 1990-2000.

Sidelights

Richard W. Jennings has added several unusual volumes to the array of books available to middle-grade readers. Praised by Booklist contributor Michael Cart as a "absolutely captivating tale … about everyday magic," Jennings' novel Orwell's Luck tells the story of a preteen girl who attempts to heal an injured wild rabbit, only to have the tables quickly turn when the rabbit, Orwell, starts communicating with her through coded messages published in the middle-school newspaper. "Quirky details and a warm, precocious twelve- year-old narrator add up to an engaging and imaginative novel," wrote a Publishers Weekly contributor, the critic adding that Jennings' story delves into both the philosophical and the practical. Noting that the novel's "Christian symbolism is sometimes obvious," a Horn Book contributor praised Jennings' narrator, writing that the girl's "always-searching mind poses lots of good questions." In School Library Journal, Judith Everitt dubbed Orwell's Luck "a challenging and thought-provoking" read and commented that "Jennings writes with natural grace and has a clear understanding" of the way a preteen views the world.

Jennings continues in the same unique vein in The Great Whale of Kansas, a novel in which his "refreshing style and distinctive voice are once again in evidence," according to Horn Book contributor Jonathan Hunt. In this novel, an imaginative and curious eleven year old living in Melville, Kansas, makes an incredible find while digging holes in his yard. He finds a set of mysterious bones that draws him into the field of paleontology, as well as fame, as he attempts to make sense of his find. Described by Booklist contributor Ilene Cooper as "odd yet engaging," The Great Whale of Kansas

"will captivate children who naturally allow for mystery," the critic added. Noting that Jennings "doesn't talk down to readers," School Library Journal contributor Ellen Fader cited the book in particular for its "full cast of intriguing, supporting characters."

A mistreated classroom pet is the catalyst for Jennings' quirky comedy in My Life of Crime. When sixth-grade loner Fowler Young discovers that the third grade's class parrot is being ignored and mistreated, the boy steals the bird, then blames the theft on an unpopular fellow student. As he attempts to avoid detection, the young do-gooder is pushed into increasingly extreme—and increasingly absurd—measures. Although maintaining that Fowler's narration is sometimes overly mature in its irony, Gillian Engberg concluded in Booklist that "Jennings' humor is often irresistible, especially in the purely silly details" of his story. Fowler plays out as an "impulsive, appealingly bird-brained hero," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor, the reviewer calling My Life of Crime a "buoyant, briskly paced novel."

Dubbed "possibly the most outrageously imaginative" of Jennings' novels to date by Booklist contributor Stephanie Zvirin, Mystery in Mt. Mole follows twelve-year-old Andrew on his search for the missing assistant principal of Mt. Mole Middle School. The disappearance of Mr. Farley is not the only unusual occurrence; equally odd is how unconcerned the rest of the town is with regard to his absence. The oddly shaped mound of earth that has given the Kansas prairie town of Mt. Mole its name has also been issuing a strange rumbling sound. While more than distracted by his current love interest, the engaging Georgia Wayne, Andrew methodically pursues his sleuthing, uncovering more mysteries than he anticipated. In Kirkus Reviews a critic deemed Mystery in Mt. Mole "a wry, witty, and always intelligent work that's as individualistic as its hero," and Kliatt reviewer Claire Rosser praised the story's middle-school sleuth as "intelligent, articulate, and curious."

Jennings tells a characteristically unusual boy-and-dog story in Scribble. Lawson has been sad and lonely since the death of his best friend Jip after a long illness, and he finds consolation in the frisky terrier Jip gave him before she died. As months pass, and Lawson turns thirteen, he finds his memories of Jip fading, while he and Scribble become fast friends. When Lawson and his dog find themselves haunted by an odd assortment of important—but dead—people that no one else can see, the teen suspects that Jip may be trying to send him a message. Commenting on the "droll" tone used by the story's young narrator as the action moves between Jip's last days and Lawson's current haunting, Shelle Rosenfeld noted in Booklist that Scribble is an "inventive story of ghosts and loss and healing." "Lawson is a classic Jennings protagonist," asserted a Kirkus Reviews writer, the critic citing the young teen's mature perspective and "pure, unshakable faith" that things will work out for the best.

Animals of another sort entirely star in Ferret Island, a story that prompted Horn Book writer Betty Carter to write that Jennings "should win the Mel Brooks of the Middle Grade Novel Award any day now." Washed up on an island in the middle of the Mississippi River after falling overboard during a sightseeing cruise, fourteen-year-old Will Finn discovers that a reclusive local inhabitant is actually a terrorist. The looney islander plans to take on fast-food giant McDonald's by marshaling a trained force of giant ferrets, meat-eating creatures native to the island that have been conditioned to crave Big Macs. Befriended by a pacifist ferret named Jim, and by Julia, a girl who has flounder up on shore after falling from yet another riverboat, Will sets out to foil the terrorist plot. He hopes also to spare the lives of the region's gas station attendants, a species that the oversized and carniverous attack ferrets seem to find particularly tasty. In a review for Booklist, John Peters praised the "goofball goings-on" in Ferret Island, adding that in his novel Jennings cooks up "a surreal happy meal for fans of tongue-in-cheek fiction."

Featuring the author's "trademark wit and offbeat characterization," according to a Kirkus Reviews writer, Stink City introduces a slightly older protagonist in fifteen-year-old Cade Carlsen. Actively involved in the family business—manufacturing catfish bait—Cade often smells rather fishy. This fact makes narrator Leigh Ann Moore the perfect best friend, because with her sinus condition she can rarely smell Cade's fishiness. When Cade is inspired by a fish-rights activist to denounce the family trade and help put an end to a major fishing tournament, chaos and a terrible odor are the result. In Booklist, Todd Morning wrote that readers will enjoy the "exaggerated humor" in Stink City, while a Kirkus Reviews writer dubbed Jennings "the master of Middle-American whimsy."

Hunt praised Jennings' approach to writing for children, comparing the author to noted writer Daniel Pinkwater and noting that "his novels are laced with droll tongue-in-cheek observations, philosophical musings, and slight hints of absurdity" designed to challenge and entertain middle-grade readers. Perhaps explaining the basis for Hunt's observations, Jennings quoted twentieth-century French playwright Eugene Ionesco: "I still feel surprised, sometimes, that I am no longer twelve years old."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, October 15, 2000, Michael Cart, review of Orwell's Luck, p. 435; June 1, 2001, Ilene Cooper, review of The Great Whale of Kansas, p. 1884; January 1, 2003, Gillian Engberg, p. 890; September 15, 2003, Stephanie Zvirin, review of Mystery in Mt. Mole, p. 238; November 1, 2004, Shelle Rosenfeld, review of Scribble, p. 475; October 15, 2006, Todd Morning, review of Stink City, p. 45; July 1, 2007, John Peters, review of Ferret Island, p. 59.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 2003, Deborah Stevenson, review of Mystery in Mt. Mole, p. 108.

Horn Book, September, 2000, review of Orwell's Luck, p. 571; September, 2001, Jonathan Hunt, review of The Great Whale of Kansas, p. 588; January-February, 2005, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Scribble, p. 93; November-December, 2006, Betty Carter, review of Stink City, p. 714; May-June, 2007, Betty Carter, review of Ferret Island, p. 284.

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, May, 2003, Katie Thomason, review of My Life of Crime, p. 700.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 2003, review of Mystery in Mt. Mole, p. 1125; October 1, 2004, review of Scribble, p. 962; September 15, 2006, review of Stink City, p. 956; October 15, 2002, review of My Life of Crime, p. 1532.

Kliatt, November, 2003, Claire Rosser, review of Mystery in Mt. Mole, p. 6.

Publishers Weekly, September 11, 2000, review of Orwell's Luck, p. 91; October 28, 2002, review of My Life of Crime, p. 71; October 13, 2003, review of Mystery in Mt. Mole, p. 80.

School Library Journal, October, 2000, Judith Everitt, review of Orwell's Luck, p. 161; August, 2001, Ellen Fader, review of The Great Whale of Kansas, p. 184; December, 2003, JoAnn Jonas, review of Mystery in Mt. Mole, p. 152; November, 2004, B. Allison Gray, review of Scribble, p. 146; May, 2007, Elizabeth Bird, review of Ferret Island, p. 134.

Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2000, review of Orwell's Luck, p. 266.

ONLINE

Richard W. Jennings Home Page,http://www.richardwjennings.com (December 15, 2007).