NORWICH – McDonough children’s author, Suzanne Bloom, will be at First Edition Book Store on Saturday to sign copies of her 11th children’s book “A Mighty Fine Time Machine.”
“A Mighty Fine Time Machine” tells the story of three friends who struggle to assemble a time machine out of a large box and some other discarded items. While they struggle to make the machine work, they eventually manage to discover another way to transport themselves through time and space.
Bloom explained her inspiration for the book came from experiences from her own childhood and from watching her children grow up. “My friends and I used to play with boxes as kids. Anything from small milk crates to refrigerator boxes,” Bloom said.
While Bloom only recently completed the story, she said the characters in the book, Samantha the anteater, Grant the aardvark and Antoine the armadillo, had been in her mind for some time. “These characters, I don’t know where they came from, but they appeared. There they were roller blading in my brain for three years before they let on what the story would be,” Bloom said.
Once she decided she had a story, Bloom had to research her story. Her first trip took her to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania to visit a nine-banded armadillo. “The zoo keeper, the armadillo and I spent a long afternoon together, and I took a lot of photographs and sketches,” Bloom said. Locating an anteater took a little more effort, but eventually Bloom found a zoo in Jacksonville, Fla. where she was able to go behind the scenes and observe four different anteaters for an afternoon.
Looking through the book, Bloom said many people will notice an array of items that some would discard that could be perfect for building a time machine. “It’s fun to see how everyday, often discarded items can have new life in the imagination as part of creative art,” Bloom said. “In our throwaway society, it’s fun to find other uses for often tossed away items.”
When she wrote the book, Bloom said she was unsure what age group it would appeal to, but after speaking with friends who are teachers, the author said she has found the message is being understood by even the very young readers. That message, that anyone can pick up a book and transport themselves through time and space.
While “A Mighty Fine Time Machine,” was just released, Bloom’s work is far from over. According to the author, she just finished a new book featuring the goose and bear characters first introduced in “A Splendid Friend, Indeed.” In addition, she is currently working on another story called “Feeding Friendsies.”
“I’m just happy I have enough ideas to keep going,” Bloom said. The signing will be held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday at First Edition Book Store, 13 South Broad St., Norwich.