{"id":1186,"date":"2018-06-06T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.metrokids.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/06\/narberth-authors-work-chosen-for-pennsylvania-one-book\/"},"modified":"2023-08-16T19:23:43","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T19:23:43","slug":"narberth-authors-work-chosen-for-pennsylvania-one-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metrokids.com\/narberth-authors-work-chosen-for-pennsylvania-one-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Narberth Author's Work Chosen for Pennsylvania One Book"},"content":{"rendered":"

Narberth, PA resident Zachariah OHora’s My Cousin Momo<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is this year’s Pennsylvania One Book, Every Young Child<\/a> selection.<\/p>\n

The book, about a flying squirrel that isn’t what his cousins expect, will be used across the state to get preschoolers engaged with reading<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania picked Zach’s debut children’s book, Stop Snoring Bernard!<\/em><\/strong>, as a One Book selection in 2012, too.<\/p>\n

Zach is the father of 4th- and 2nd-grade sons, who still enjoy his books, for now. “I’ve got at least two years before they are embarrassed by me so I’m enjoying every minute of it,” he tells us.<\/p>\n

Here are a few things that we wanted to know:
\n <\/p>\n

What was your favorite book as a child?<\/strong>
\n“Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day<\/em><\/strong> continues to have a big influence on everything I do. I think the thing that appealed to me as a child was that it’s an entire book of well-dressed animals having one long accident, kind of like a Three Stooges episode but with a gorilla driving a banana car. As an adult I learned how house plumbing works from it.”
\n <\/p>\n

There is a Flyers pennant in the squirrels’ house. Shoutout to the hometown hockey team?<\/strong>
\n“That was a happy accident\/dad pun. I don’t follow any professional sports but I do try to throw in some jokes for the parents to catch one of the times they are forced to read my books. I call it the Pixar method, if you have a story that entertains kids on one level and cracks the parents up on another level then everyone wins.”
\n <\/p>\n

You toured libraries across the state for the One Book program. Did you learn anything from kids’ reactions to the book that surprised you?<\/strong>
\n“I was surprised by the amount of knowledge that kids had in general about authors and illustrators and book making as well as facts about flying squirrels<\/a> and the like. Thanks to all the amazing librarians and teachers across the state for that. I was also struck by the amount of empathy that kids elicited for Momo’s predicament and I find that encouraging for what I do but also for the whole human race.”<\/p>\n

Fun facts about squirrels<\/a><\/h2>\n

These are from an activity guide for the book that can be downloaded <\/a>from Pennsylvania One Book<\/a>.<\/p>\n