The Original Mad Hatter?

My son John, who doubles as narrator in the Night Buddies series, is the namesake of our colorful ancestor, John Hetherington, a haberdasher of the Strand in London. Old John is my four-times great-grandfather, and may well have been the prototype for Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter. Surely Mr. Carroll knew about him, because they still […]

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Crosley’s Black Bottom Dance

I’ve heard that the Black Bottom started in Atlanta, in New Orleans, and in Jacksonville, Florida, in the first decade of the 20th century. It became well known by semi-rural blacks across the south then, and by the 1920s, it found its way up to Harlem where it was featured at the Apollo Theater in […]

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A Single Dad’s Memoir

It was a terrible shock when my ex-wife first told me that she was going to be moving away and taking our son John with her. I did everything I could to talk her out of leaving, especially since this was at a time when mothers were usually always granted custody by the courts, but […]

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Understanding the Iguana Gang

If you’ve read the Night Buddies books, you know that the iguana gang stirs up all sorts of trouble for John and Crosley. They are a greedy, manipulative, and evil gang—all the things that Night Buddies are not. But maybe we are just misunderstanding the iguanas because we don’t know enough about them! Here are […]

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Make Your Very Own Whatchamacallit!

Whatchamacallit: A small object having a special power and suitable for hanging on Crosley’s belt. If you’ve read the Night Buddies series, you would already know this definition. Crosley’s whatchamacallits are some of the most important things he and John need to be able to make it through their Programs. And if you’ve ever wished […]

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Do You Have What It Takes To Be a Night Buddy?

There are certain characteristics that make a person stand out to be a qualified Night Buddy. Take a look at this list and see if you have what it takes! 1.)    Patience—Every Night Buddy must have the patience to endure Crosley’s insatiable appetite for Pineapple Cheesecakes, to wait for his Black Bottom dance fits to […]

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What’s an I-D Grimcrack, You Ask?

This is Crosley’s little whatchamacallit card that not only identifies him as a member of Night Buddies Amalgamated, but works just the same as money. Since the Night Buddies’ mission is to “help out” situations in the borough, people everywhere give them free goods and services when they’re out on a Program and show the […]

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Why Is Crosley a Red Crocodile?

My six-year-old son John invented the red crocodile named Crosley, and I had to explain why Crosley was red. You can’t just drop a red croc into a story without explaining, right? So it was something I had to figure out before I could start writing the Night Buddies adventures. At some point it occurred to me: Crosley […]

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