Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Autobiography: Nathan Rockledge of Nate Rocks the Boat



Hi. My name is Nathan Rockledge. I’m ten and a half (well really I’m ten and three quarters, but who’s counting?) I’m going into fifth grade this fall. When I grow up, I really want to be a comic book artist. I think I’m pretty good at it, and I love making up stories. I’ve actually done a few already. Maybe one day I’ll show them to you.

 Sometimes I get in trouble because I’m supposed to be doing something else, but I just can’t help myself. Once I get started drawing, I just get lost in what I’m doing. I usually draw myself doing awesome stuff as Nate Rocks. He’s me, only cooler.

I especially have to be careful in school. There is this one girl named Lisa Crane, and she is so annoying. Her mom and my mom are best friends. One day I got in trouble for drawing in school when we were supposed to be taking a spelling test. Do you know what Lisa did? She went right home and told her mom, who of course called my mom. Seriously – who does that?

Abby says my drawings are dumb, but I think they are cool. Oh yeah – Abby’s my older sister. Sometimes she’s okay... I guess. Most of the time I just try to stay out of her way. She’s always in some kind of a mood – Mom says it’s just a phase, but so far this phase has been lasting as long as I can remember. Older sisters can definitely be a pain sometimes. I was hoping to be able to spend the summer without her around, but as it turns out Mom & Dad decided to send us both to the same overnight camp! I mean can you believe that? Of all the thousands - maybe millions – of camps, you’d think they could have sent her somewhere different.

My dad is okay. He works a lot, but don’t ask me what he does – it has something to do with numbers and data. I used to try to ask him about it, but no matter what you ask Dad, he always ends up telling some story from his childhood that we’ve all already heard a million times before.

As it turns out, summer camp is actually pretty cool. I got to hang out with my best friend Tommy and I didn’t have to eat Mom’s cooking for six whole weeks. It’s true – my mom cannot cook. She tries and all, but no matter what she makes, there’s always something not quite right about it. Last night we had hotdogs. Easy right? Wrong! I had to chew each piece at least 100 times just to swallow it.

Anyway, at camp, I made some cool new friends. My counselor Matt was a bit of a flake, but I guess that’s what happens to you when you spend your summer cooped up with a bunch of ten-year-olds in a hot cabin.

So was overnight camp all it was cut out to be? Well now, you don’t expect me to give away all of my secrets do you? You’ll just have to read my book, Nate Rocks the Boat, to find out. I will tell you this... you are guaranteed to laugh and have a good time as you read all of my adventures.

Karen will be awarding a $25 Amazon GC to one randomly drawn commenter during the tour and an autographed set of books (Nate Rocks the World & Nate Rocks the Boat) to one randomly drawn host from the tour. Other stops in the tour can be found at http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/06/virtual-book-tour-nate-rocks-boat-by.html. 

About the Author:

Karen Pokras Toz is a writer, wife and mom. Karen grew up in Orange, Connecticut and currently lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband and three children. In June 2011, Karen published her first middle grade children’s novel for 7-12 year olds called Nate Rocks the World, followed in 2012 by the second book in the Nate Rocks series, Nate Rocks the Boat. Karen is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI). TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE NATE ROCKS SERIES VISIT WWW.KARENTOZ.COM

7 comments:

  1. This series reminds me of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and for me that's a good thing. You can never have too many books/series for young readers. :)

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  2. Thanks so much for letting me share Nate's story today!

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  3. Hi, Nate and Karen! Your story looks great!

    eai(at)stanfordalumni(dot)org

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  4. Hi, Nate! I've no doubt that you'll be a comic book artist when you grow up. Good luck with that sister of yours. I know my brother is just... *ugh*... ;-)
    This book sounds delightful!

    justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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  5. What a wonderful introduction to Nate. I'm going to love these stories.

    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  6. Just popping in to say HI and sorry I missed visiting with you on party day! Hope you all had a good time!

    kareninnc at gmail dot com

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