A Pre-Teen Genius Cartographer?

Yes, he's all of 12 years old.

Not the author, no, he's thirtysomething, a writer and a filmmaker who's touring to promote this new book of his ~ The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet ~ and will be at Bookpeople on Wed., May 13, at 7pm, to do just that. His name is Reif Larsen, by the way: A blonde and dapper and rather Michael-Joplin-looking fellow. And, from what we've read thus far, one hell of a fine writer.

The 12-year-old we speak of here is T.S. Spivet, the book's protagonist, who receives an unexpected phone call from the Smithsonian because he's won the prestigious Baird Award for the Popular Advancement of Science. So he sets off from his parents' home in Montana to eventually incur the wonder and glories of Washington, DC ~ making maps of everything as he goes. Ah, but that's just one layer of this multileveled story, a story rich with historical and emotional layers and bordered (literally, on page after page) with the maps and illustrations and notations of young Spivet.

We imagine that if you set off on your own journey to Bookpeople this Wednesday night, you'll incur a few literary wonders and glories of your own as Reif Larsen shares with you a highlight or two from within his compelling work.