THE SNOB SQUAD (or How Fifth Grade Boys Are a Rich Source of Story Material)

Twenty years ago when I first started writing, my monthly income was approximately $26.99 (during a good month), so I took a job in an elementary school working with at-risk youth. One day I was sitting at the reading table with a group of fifth grade boys, eavesdropping on their conversation. They were complaining about how this clique of popular girls was picking on them at recess. Complaining may not be the right word. More like boasting. They called these girls the Snob Squad. It cracked me up. I found a piece of notebook paper in the trash, jotted down, “The Snob Squad,” ripped off the corner, and stuck it in my pocket. When I got home, I added the scrap of paper to my Idea File.

Coming up with ideas for books or stories had never been a problem for me; I’m not even sure why I kept an Idea File because I never looked at it. Years went by. Then in 1995, my mother was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. I wanted to spend as much time with her before she passed away, so for the next eight months I drove to Lafayette where she lived, and we’d hang out. She loved to gamble, so we’d play bingo or go to the mountain casinos. Mom was a trooper to the end, but it was extremely difficult for me to watch her health deteriorate.

On the 45-minute drive home every day, I’d cry my eyes out. I knew my mother would be horrified to see this because she’d accepted her fate and come to peace with it. I needed to as well.

Writing a humorous book wasn’t exactly on my radar at the time, so I dug out my old Idea File and searched through it. Crammed in the middle was this scrap of paper that read, “The Snob Squad.” How perfect.

On my daily drives, I’d immerse myself into the world of Jenny, Max, Prairie and Lydia—my Snob Squad. Their antics made me laugh out loud, and forget, for a while, the sadness of my grief.

I think funny books are so popular with kids because they understand and acknowledge the uplifting power of laughter. The Snob Squad books had a profound impact on my life during a period when I needed humor the most. My mother would be proud to know that her legacy was a series of books about a group of girls who embraced life, and each other, with joy, tenderness and gusto.