Gary J Spack

I am a recently retired elementary school teacher from the Council Rock School District in Bucks County, Pennsylvania where I had taught 5th and 3rd grades at Sol Feinstone and Churchville Elementary Schools. I was a teacher for 17.5 years. Teaching was a second career for me as I was a marketing researcher for 22 years prior to entering the education field. I went into teaching to have a positive impact on children and make a difference in their lives.

Writing is one of my favorite things to do and by publishing my stories, I hope to inspire kids to not only want to write, but to also love to write. When I'm not writing, I enjoy reading, music, fitness, sports, hiking, and the martial arts where I am a 3rd degree black belt and a tai Chi and qiqong practitioner. I am also a die hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan, along with my wife Michele, as we both grew up in Western Pennsylvania (Johnstown). I currently live in Newtown, Pennsylvania, with Michele and our two cats Pebbles and Bam Bam, the inspiration for my second book The Cat Burglars.

Things That Make You Go Hmmm! is my newest release. It is based on my actual interactions with my third grade students. I would say silly things to them and ask ridiculous, nonsensical questions to make connections, develop rapport, have fun with them, make them laugh, and most importantly, just make them think. The story is about a little boy named Freddie whose nick name is Faq because he is always asking questions. After asking his mom why peanut butter and jelly isn't called jelly and peanut butter, all his questions turn into a day of school that's filled with funny and clever play on words and figurative and literal language. As Faq goes about his typical third grade school day, his whole question asking world turns into something that keeps him pondering and wondering about all the things that make him go hmmm! Perhaps it will make you go hmmm too.

Maggie's Marvelous Misadventures was written during the the height of the COVID-19 pandemic stay at home order in 2020. I felt bad for my students not being able to attend school in-person and not being able to do their normal activities. The book is about a little girl named Maggie who is bored being stuck a home. Her mom suggests that instead of playing more video games, she should try doing all the things she's always wanted to do, but never had the time to do them. Maggie takes her mom's advice and sets off on her "things to do" list of adventures. Unfortunately, things don't quite work out the way she expects, resulting in surprisingly humorous mishaps. Within the story's humorous theme is a message of what it means to be responsible in the face of the pandemic.

The Cat Burglars is my second book. I wrote it during the summer of 2017 just after the release of my first book, The Snack Machine. My students wanted my second book to have animals as the main characters in the story. The Cat Burglars is about two cats who decide to become cat burglars to protect their humans' valuables when they learn that real cat burglars are stalking the neighborhood and that their owners don't seem to be concerned. The story has some twists and turns and a surprise ending.

My debut book - The Snack Machine, was actually written for my third grade class in 2012 when they couldn't decide on a Halloween story for me to read to them. I just decided to write them one. The story is based on interactions I had with a shy 5th grader when I taught at another school. I connected with her at snack time when I would try to "steal" her Goldfish snack, which she brought every day. Our snack time antics were entertainment for the entire class. A colleague encouraged me to publish the story after she read it to her second grade class.