Howard Whitehouse

Howard Whitehouse was born in Birmingham, England on April 13 1958. He began school, as many children do, and didn’t much like it. They made him keep going, though, and after a mere four or five years settled in and got good marks. He enjoyed creative writing (they didn’t call it that) and was a master of the three-to-four page adventure story, by and for nine year olds. In fact, He couldn’t write anything else, and even when the assignment was to write a Christmas scene, there would at least be some villains lurking behind Santa’s sleigh.

As punishment for being the brightest kid in his class, young Whitehouse won a scholarship to King Edward VI School, which had been founded in 1552, and kept the same staff since that time. JRR Tolkien (the writer of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ had been there as a boy, but he’d left long before Howard got there.

Howard received his B.A. in History at the University of Warwick. After graduating in 1981, he took a job working with kids in trouble, most of it of their own making. Since Howard found these kids – mostly teenagers- immensely entertaining, this became his career for eighteen years. He met and married Lori, and moved to Savannah Ga.  Since that time the happy couple have lived in Georgia, Toronto, and most recently New York’s Hudson Valley. Lori is an ordained minister and church historian, with a PhD from The University of Toronto. They share a 1900 era manse opposite the church, while Howard clutters up the place with model soldiers, miniature buildings and himself. Several fine cats supervise his efforts.

‘The Strictest School in the World’, Howard’s first book for Young Persons of Discerning Taste, was published in 2006 to excellent reviews and sales. It’s set in 1894 and concerns a fourteen year old girl called Emmaline, whose ambition is to build a flying machine, and her pilot, the ‘indestruckible’ boy known as Rubberbones. It won a Bronze Award from ForeWord Magazine, and has been published in Australia and translated into German.

‘The Faceless Fiend’ (2007) follows the adventures of Emmaline and Rubberbones as they battle a criminal mastermind with no face whatsoever, and his Masked Minions. It takes them to London, to Sherlock Holmes and to the newly opened – and opening – Tower Bridge.

The third book, ‘The Island of Mad Scientists’ (2008) takes our friends to the Scottish island of Urrrrgggh (spelling varies) as a refuge from various people pursuing them. Of course, this is a terrible idea.

For readers in the Serbo-Croat language, all these books are undergoing translation at present.

“Bogbrush the Barbarian,” an unusually stupid book about an unusually stupid hero will be out in the autumn of 2010. Great things are expected.

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