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WORK TITLE: BAD BROWS
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CITY: Westchester
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LAST VOLUME: SATA 324
http://gothamist.com/2004/11/08/jason_eaton_childrens_book_author.php http://archives.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/jobenvy/02/09/freedonian/index.html * http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/jason-carter-eaton
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Married; wife’s name Lisa; children: two.
EDUCATION:Emory University, earned degree.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Author and screenwriter. Former director of development for film producer Scott Rudin.
WRITINGS
Author of scripts for Cartoon Network, Twentieth Century-Fox Animation, and Blue Sky Studios. Contributor to periodicals, including McSweeney’s.
SIDELIGHTS
SUBMITTED IN SGML FORMAT.
A screenwriter who has developed projects for the Sci-Fi Channel and the Cartoon Network, Jason Carter Eaton is the author of a number of comical picture books, including How to Train a Train, The Catawampus Cat, and Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians! Additionally, Easton has written The Facttracker, a middle-grade novel.
Eaton offers a humorous “guidebook” for the selection and care of a most unusual pet in How to Train a Train. The volume offers helpful hints for capturing a train engine (the recommended method employs smoke signals and coal), naming the locomotive (Smokey or Sir Chugsalot, for instance), and helping the train adjust to its new home (suggestions include a warm bath and a bedtime story). “Juxtaposing sensible tips with the absurdity of a huge pet locomotive creates a text that is at once believable and preposterous,” remarked School Library Journal critic Teri Markson. According to Booklist reviewer Ilene Cooper, “Eaton’s tongue-in-cheek—and eminently enjoyable—text is matched by [John] Rocco’s smooth and sleek artwork laced with whimsy.” A companion volume, How to Track a Truck, was described as “fun and lively” by Amy Shepherd in School Library Journal.
A cautionary tale about the perils of a messy room, Eaton’s picture book Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians! features illustrations by Mark Fearing. After ignoring his mother’s warnings that his sloppy habits could lead to an infestation of unwanted pests, a boy discovers that a horde of barbarians, drawn by cupcake crumbs and discarded juice boxes, have commandeered his bedroom and playroom. Soon, the noisy, oafish ruffians take control of the entire house, and after a number of ill-fated attempts to exterminate them, the youngster realizes what must be done to ensure their departure. “The story has the narrative momentum and comic beats of a cartoon short,” a contributor observed in Publishers Weekly, and a Kirkus Reviews writer stated that “Eaton milks maximum fun and humor out of his illogically logical situation.”
The Catawampus Cat provides a “fond portrait of small-town life reminds readers that a slight change in outlook can transform everything,” a Publishers Weekly critic remarked. Walking slightly askew, a gray cat wanders into town, its odd appearance drawing the attention of a grocer and his wife, who discovers her long-lost wedding ring while tilting her head to get a better read on the feline. The furry creature’s off-center approach to life also has a dramatic effect on a barber who creates a new coiffure and a lackadaisical student who solves a difficult math problem after viewing it from a new perspective. “The tale’s simple wordplay and upbeat sentiment are greatly enlivened by [Gus Gordon’s] clever, animated mixed-media cartoon artwork,” School Library Journal reviewer Luann Toth commented.
The distinction between the truth and lies is at the heart of The Facttracker. The good citizens of Traakerfaxx make their living selling facts collected and sorted by the Facttracker, one of the town’s residents. When an explosion damages the Factory housing the bits of information, the Facttracker’s odious twin brother, Ersatz, convinces everyone to begin peddling falsehoods instead. Only an orphaned boy whose personal history has been lost can set things to right. “The book proves cleverer than its concept, balancing child-friendly writing with sophisticated undercurrents,” a contributor noted in Kirkus Reviews.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, January 1, 2008, John Peters, review of The Facttracker, p. 74; July 1, 2013, Ilene Cooper, review of How to Train a Train, p. 78; December 1, 2016, Sarah Hunter, review of Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians!, p. 64.
Children’s Bookwatch, May, 2017, review of Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians!
Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2007, review of The Facttracker; July 15, 2013, review of How to Train a Train; November 1, 2016, review of Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians!; January 15, 2017, review of The Catawampus Cat.
Publishers Weekly, July 15, 2013, review of How to Train a Train, p. 170; November 14, 2016, review of Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians!, p. 55; January 9, 2017, review of The Catawampus Cat, p. 66.
School Library Journal, March, 2008, Eva Mitnick, review of The Facttracker, p. 160; August, 2013, Teri Markson, review of How to Train a Train, p. 72; October, 2016, Amy Shepherd, review of How to Track a Truck, p. 74; February, 2017, Luann Toth, review of The Catawampus Cat, and Mary Kuehner, review of Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians!, both p. 67.*
Jason Carter Eaton is, first and foremost, a carbon-based mammal. But also an award-winning children's book author and screenwriter!
But that's not all! He's also a dad, a son, a husband, a creative writing teacher, a gardener, an avid comic book reader, a barbarian, a decent cook, an excellent tennis partner, a weisenheimer, a showboater, a chocolate lover, a sucker for a good bowl of borscht (cold please), a huge fan of Douglas Adams, and the proud owner of a great, big, fuzzy golden retriever named Presto.
His children's books include the middle grade novel, The Facttracker (HarperCollins, 2009), and picture books, The Day My Runny Nose Ran Away (Dutton, 2003), How to Train a Train (Candlewick, 2013), How to Track a Truck (Candlewick, 2016), Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians! (Candlewick, 2017), The Catawampus Cat (Crown, 2017) Pop! (First/Second Books, 2018), and Bad Brows (Abrams, 2018). His books have won a host of awards and been translated into numerous languages.
Jason has written for countless odd venues, including McSweeney's, BBC Radio, Cracked Magazine, Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network, and MGM where he adapted his novel The Facttracker into a doomed live-action movie.
Jason also wrote the story for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, though that was entirely by accident.
Wondering whether I do author visits?
Good news: I do!
I LOVE speaking to both elementary and middle school kids, and specifically tailor my talks for each.
For younger kids, I strive to inspire their love for writing while showing them just how accessible creative writing can be. I talk about what inspired each of my stories, and reveal all the hidden Easter eggs. And perhaps my favorite of all, I take them through all of the various translations from the international editions of How to Train a Train, which have led to some of the most hilarious train names in the (arguably brief) history of train-naming!
And, of course, all of this is generally done while I'm dressed as a big, shaggy barbarian (though I am happy to come in my civvies as well).
For older kids, I talk about the art of writing the story for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and take them through the animation process. I also discuss my middle grade novel, The Facttracker (whose themes of facts vs. lies are more relevant then ever in this digital age) and what it was like developing it into a live-action movie for MGM.
And, of course, there's a slideshow with countless behind-the-scenes goodies. I'll also leave behind a digital copy of Facttracker, which you may freely distribute to as many of your students as you like, free of charge!
Hello, if you're reading this, that means you're not me. Cause I wrote it, but I'm not gonna read it. Same with all my books. I wrote each and every one of 'em. But I'll be damned if I'm gonna sit around and read 'em all again! Who's got time for that? But don't let that stop YOU from reading them. In fact, I encourage you to. Read them all and tell me what they're about, okay? Cause, um, there's a test on them on Monday and I'm not really prepared. Thanks!
Jason Carter Eaton is the bestselling author of numerous children’s books, including Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians!, The Catawampus Cat, How to Train a Train, How to Track a Truck, and the middle-grade novel The Facttracker. He has also worked extensively in television and film, where he wrote the story for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Jason currently lives with his family in Westchester, New York, where they have popped many awesome bubbles together.
Jason Carter Eaton
Jason carter Eaton was born in several small towns throughout the United States and one in Ireland. He is the author of the picture book The Day My Runny Nose Ran Away, which most children thought was a funny story, though it was actually a tragic autobiography.Jason currently lives in Sleepy Hollow, New York, with his beautiful wife, Lisa, their perfect son, Milo.
New Books
March 2020
(hardback)
Bad Brows
Novels
The Facttracker (2008)
thumb
Picture Books
How to Train a Train (2013)
How to Track a Truck (2016)
Great, Now We've Got Barbarians! (2017)
The Catawampus Cat (2017)
Pop! (2018)
Bad Brows (2020)
WELCOMING JASON CARTER EATON TO TRANSATLANTIC!
MAY 16, 2018|IN NEWS RELEASES|BY ANA BALMAZOVIC
A warm welcome to Jason Carter Eaton, who joins us as a new client. Jason is an award-winning author and screenwriter. His children’s books have won a host of awards, been translated into numerous languages, and have sold close to a quarter million copies worldwide. His bestselling picture book How to Train a Train (Candlewick) was profiled in both the NY Times and Washington Post, and was listed as one of the Best Books of 2013 by the NY Public Library. Its sequel, How to Track a Truck was on School Library Journal‘s Best Books of 2016.
SLJ listed his picture book Great, Now We’ve Got Barbarians! (Candlewick) as one of the Funniest Books of 2017, and it was just his week chosen for the International Literacy Association Children’s Choices Reading List. The Catawampus Cat (Crown) was on Huffington Post‘s Most Charming Books of 2017. Jason’s middle-grade novel The Facttracker (HarperCollins) sold to MGM and 21 Laps (Stranger Things, Night at the Museum) with David Silverman (The Simpsons Movie) attached to direct in a bidding war for $1 million.
Jason has three new picture books coming out in 2018-2019, Pop! (First Second) Fro (Macmillan) and Bad Brows (Abrams), as well as his second middle-grade novel, Rick Stickley. His various humor pieces have appeared in venues ranging from McSweeney’s to BBC Radio.
As a screenwriter, Jason has done extensive work at Fox Animation’s Blue Sky Studios, where he wrote the screenplay for in-house project Imaginary Friend and his original idea, Spartacus Lobster. He also wrote the story for Fox Animation’s biggest box office success to-date, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. Additionally, Jason sold his original screenplay The Snitts to Cartoon Network’s live-action feature division, and completed the screenplay adaptation of his novel, The Facttracker for MGM. He recently worked for a year at Warner Bros. TV Animation developing alongside the Roald Dahl Estate on a show set in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory universe.
Jason is proudly represented by Fiona Kenshole.
How did I come to find myself in
the middle of the Sahara Desert,
dressed as a leprechaun, riding
a stolen space-zebra on the lam
from an intergalactic zoo? Well,
that’s a very interesting question
and one I’m glad you asked.
You see . . . What? Oh, that’s not the
question? You say you wanted to know why I wrote How
to Train a Train? Goodness, how embarrassing! Well, then,
I suppose I should start at the beginning. . . .
I was born. Then not much happened for a while. Then
a bunch of things happened, but they weren’t really
relevant. Then I went to high school. I was voted class
writer, but again, none of this has anything to do with
trains or train-related activities.
Also unrelated to trains is the fact that I attended
Emory University, where I was a Stipe Scholar and editor
in chief of the award-winning humor magazine
The Spoke. As long as we’re on the topic of
unrelated things, upon graduation I began a
career in film as director of
development for
producer Scott
Rudin, working on such films as Clueless, The Truman
Show, and a whole bunch of others that I don’t really
remember because I hardly ever slept.
But while I was there, I met the Irish playwright Martin
McDonaugh, who convinced me that if I was serious about
writing, I’d have to take it seriously. So I quit, hopped on
a plane to Ireland, and honed my skills under the tutelage
of a mad genius.
When I got home, I tried my hand at humor books.
Alongside several old Spoke colleagues, I cowrote Chelsea
Clinton’s Freshman Notebook for Hyperion. Yes, it was as
classy as you think.
As penance, I began writing children’s books. My first
picture book, The Day My Runny Nose Ran Away,
received high critical praise. My mother also liked it.
After that I penned the YA novel The Facttracker. And
then penned it again for MGM when they bought the film
rights. And then penned it yet again when they asked for
a rewrite.
Along the way, I sold a bunch of films and received
story credit for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs with
20th Century Fox/Blue Sky Studios. Little known
fact: the opening is based on me and my wife when
she was pregnant with our son, Milo, and I was a
nervous wreck. Good times!
But I digress. I was talking about why I wrote How to
Train a Train. Hmm, let me think about it for a second.
Why did I write it? Hmmmmm. Well, I suppose it’s
because . . . I love trains! And when I was a kid, I wanted
a pet train more than anything. In fact, I daresay many
kids have that dream. And, frankly, there’s no reason
reality should get in the way of a good dream.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to feed my space-zebra.
How did you begin to visualize the way your art would
bring the idea of pet trains to life?
It was important to me from the beginning to make the
trains in this book feel real and not some cartoony version
of kid-friendly trains. I wanted them to have soot and rust
and rivets and look like those powerful trains that I fell
in love with when I was a kid. I also knew that capturing
and training a train is something only a child could do.
Parents would not approve of children running around
with life-size coal-burning, steam-billowing iron giants that
can barrel down the track at breakneck speeds. So adults
would not appear in the book. This would be a covert
operation. Once I started drawing different kinds of trains
(freight trains, locomotives, streamliners) I found that they
started to have different personalities, and the more I drew
them, the more their personalities would shine through.
You received a Caldecott Honor for your picture book
Blackout. How has that award changed (or not changed)
your life?
Receiving the Caldecott Honor was not only a huge thrill,
but it also affirmed that I was moving in the right direction
with my work. It also has given me more opportunities to
connect with kids all over the country and talk with them
about my experiences making books. I have collected
children’s picture books for the last twenty years, and
many of those in my collection have the silver and gold
stickers on them. To know that one of my books has been
honored as well is a wonderful feeling, and it inspires me to
want to make better and better books for children.
If you had your own pet train, what characteristics would
you want it to have? What activities would you like to
do together?
If I had my own pet train, I would definitely choose the
Union Pacific Big Boy locomotive. Built in the early 1940s,
this was a behemoth of a train with a massive network of
pipes and gears that exuded raw power. When this train
barreled down the track, you could feel it coming for
miles. I would love to go with my Big Boy through the
Midwest, charging through the countryside. Perhaps we
could pull a circus through the southern states and then
deliver goods throughout New England.
WITH ILLUSTRATOR JOHN ROCCO
Q&A
AUTHOR JASON CARTER EATON
A NOTE FROM
Illustrations copyright © 2013 by John Rocco
Eaton, Jason Carter BAD BROWS Abrams (Children's Fiction) $16.99 3, 24 ISBN: 978-1-4197-2537-1
Eyebrows run amok.
Bernard wakes up one morning to discover that his normally reasonable eyebrows have gone "BAD." His dad asks, "What's with the goofy face?" and his mom warns him to stop "making funny faces." Bernard assures everyone that it's not him, it's the strangely assertive eyebrows. Throughout the day, the brows morph into different zany shapes, expressing emotions that mask Bernard's actual feelings. His frustrated principal explains that "your eyebrows are your face's way of telling other people how you feel." The barber and the doctor can't help even as the eyebrows become dangerous, growing so long that they trip people and make mischief. A knock on his bedroom door signals the return of his "real" eyebrows, back from vacation. He vows to never again take them for granted, practicing "many exciting expressions that night." This frankly weird book requires readers willing to go with the outlandish premise. The eyebrows' eventual tentaclelike movement and ensuing chaos are, as the narrator says, "downright disgusting." The cartoon illustrations, like the odd premise, are reminiscent of an animated show on commercial TV--one can imagine sound effects. Bernard is biracial, and his family is interracial; his dad and grandpa present white while his mom has brown skin, as do many figures at Bernard's school.
For readers with a taste for the bizarre. (Picture book. 3-7)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Eaton, Jason Carter: BAD BROWS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Jan. 2020. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A611140363/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=9665afb4. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.
Eaton, Jason Carter POP! First Second (Children's Fiction) $17.99 7, 3 ISBN: 978-1-62672-503-4
On a beautiful day, Dewey sits under a shady tree, blowing bubbles by himself. "The best part of blowing bubbles is popping them," he declares.
One bubble gets away, and Dewey decides to give chase. As the bubble floats away, Dewey first jumps, then clambers to the top of a jungle gym and then to the rooftop in an effort to catch the errant bubble. His quest takes him to the top of a skyscraper, then into a hot air balloon, and then onto a helicopter, then a biplane, then a zooming F-16; not high enough! He'll never be able to catch it, unless...yes! It's the day of the moon launch, and Dewey hitches a ride on a rocket, landing on the moon. In his spacesuit, the lack of gravity allows him to reach high, but the bubble remains just out of reach. Defeated, he returns home. It's bedtime, but Dewey can't resist one last look through his telescope--which yields a big surprise. Eaton and Rockefeller introduce readers to various forms of transportation with Dewey's mad dash. Graphic panels speed readers through the story, but, rather like a bubble, it's ultimately insubstantial. Dewey has olive skin and black hair, and among the aviators he encounters are a confident older black man and a young white woman.
A swift and breathless tour. (Picture book. 3-6)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
"Eaton, Jason Carter: POP!" Kirkus Reviews, 1 June 2018. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A540723382/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7d9e1ac5. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.
EATON, Jason Carter. Pop! illus. by Matt Rockefeller. 40p. First Second. Jul. 2018. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781626725034.
PreS-Gr 2--"You don't need a friend to blow bubbles." Dewey believes that--he likes to pop all of them himself. But the last one just slips away, and no matter how fast he runs or jumps, from trampoline or jungle gym, it's just inches out of reach. As his telescope tracks its flight toward a "really tall" building in town, Dewey heads upward, traveling first in a slow elevator--then catching a ride in a hot air balloon, a helicopter, plane, jet, and rocket. None reaches the bubble, but Dewey sees its final "pop" through a extraordinarily unusual communication. Drawn and painted digitally, an easily identifiable Dewey with glasses and backpack lives in a world suffused with a soft natural daylight. Images in various sizes with multiple perspectives propel the action of the tale, even a distant bubble seen through Dewey's telescope lens. VERDICT A far-fetched adventure of perseverance and discovery, this book celebrates the joy of sharing new revelations and successes in a suggested general purchase for all libraries.--Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Piano ISD, TX
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
MLA 8th Edition APA 6th Edition Chicago 17th Edition
Elam, Mary. "EATON, Jason Carter. Pop!" School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 7, July 2018, p. 51. Gale General OneFile, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A545432325/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a6aad898. Accessed 25 Feb. 2020.