It’s the birthday of the frankly astounding Canadian author Gordan Korman (b. 1963), who wrote his first book when he was 12, got it published by Scholastic at 14, published four more and was a bestselling author by high school graduation, and had 10 books published with more than a million copies sold by 21.

How did you spend your teenage years? Yeah. I thought so.

Korman was born in Montreal, Quebec; his family moved to Thornhill, Ontario, when he was about seven. In seventh grade, Korman was assigned to write a book report—but he didn’t like any of the books available, so he wrote his own. This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall (1978) was the story of the crazy shenanigans of Boots and Bruno, two best friends at a private school (though Korman always went to public school). Some of his classmates thought the story was terrific while others said, “Only a real idiot would write 125 pages for school.” Korman submitted his manuscript to Scholastic after his mom typed it for him because he was the class monitor for Scholastic Book Orders and “figured I was practically an employee. Seriously.”

Korman studied at New York University, where he tended not to talk about the fact that he spent his school breaks doing author tours in Canada.

Korman has written more than 90 children’s and YA books and sold over 30 million copies. His series include (just to name a few) Masterminds, The Kidnapped Trilogy, The Everest Trilogy, Swindle, The 39 Clues (written by a collaboration of authors), and—brace yourself—Nose Pickers, beginning with Nose Pickers from Outer Space (1999). (I’m sorry you had to hear that.) Korman’s most recent book is Level 13: A Slacker Novel (2019) about Cameron Boxer, a “video-game-addicted couch potato” trying to become a world-famous online streamer, which pretty much captures the hopes and dreams of many kids today. (NB: The excerpts I’ve read look hilarious so it’s now on hold at the library for my younger son.)

If you go to Korman’s website, you can find a picture of him as a 12 year old kid with bad 70s hair about to sign his first contract with Scholastic.

Korman lives in Great Neck, New York, with his wife and three kids. His favorite book is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams).

Have a fabulous Wednesday regardless of how much sleep you are or are not getting and stay scrupulously honest to the data.