Congratulations to MBS graduate Eric Geron ’07, who recently published Poultrygeist, a ghoulishly funny children’s book that offers a creative new take on the chicken crossing the road story.
The fast-paced and punny book, which is a collaboration with #1 New York Times best-selling illustrator Pete Oswald, tells the story of a little spring chicken who crosses the road but quickly gets flattened by an oncoming truck. Instead of getting to the other side, he wakes up on “the other side.”
Geron said that he has enjoyed creative writing for as long as he can remember. “Even in the first grade, I’d take pleasure in writing and illustrating my own little story books about anthropomorphic animals going on grand adventures,” he said. “The more books I read over the years, the more I wanted to tell my own stories, and I kept notebooks full of ideas.”
Not surprisingly, Geron’s English classes stood out as his favorites during his days at MBS. “At Morristown Beard School, teachers like Dr. (Corey) Abate and (Mike) Dundas encouraged me to pursue my interest in creative writing, and the rest was history. I began to learn the craft, which only helped to make me a better writer,” he said.
After MBS, he earned a B.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Miami and interned at Scholastic in New York City. From there, he took a job as an editorial assistant at Disney Publishing in Los Angeles and began to voraciously write an array of projects. He has written more than a dozen books for children, including the #3 New York Times bestseller Descendants: A Novelization, which he wrote under his pen name, Rico Green.
“In the future, I hope to tell more stories that are impactful and inclusive, whether it’s another picture book, like my debut Poultrygeist, or a novel for adults,” he said. “I have a young adult novel coming out next year called A Tale of Two Princes, and a board book called Bye Bye Binary.”
To learn more about Eric’s books, visit www.ericgeron.com.