We’re excited that Scooby author Laurie Sutton granted 7-year-old Michael’s wish to include a spiky monster in her next book!

The Scooby-Doo! book, “Legend of the Gator Man” will be released by Capstone in October and features a monster that looks like this:

It all began more than a year ago. Michael and his friend, Levko, reviewed one of Laurie’s books on YouTube, giggling about the funny parts.  They also gave the book a 7-million-star rating:

Michael then asked Laurie if she would be open to a Skype interview, and she generously agreed to be interviewed. Here’s what happened next:

During the interview, Michael asked Laurie to include a spiky monster in a future book, and she said she wouldn’t forget his request. This week, she tweeted us the book cover, saying she included the spiky monster for Michael.

Needless to say, Michael was thrilled and requested that we order the book right away (which we did).

Michael began reviewing books on YouTube when he was 5, and was even featured on the Today Show for his book reviews:

http://www.today.com/video/today/53985936

Last year, we decided it would be fun to interview some of Michael’s favorite authors. We also interviewed Cynthia Bardes, author of the Pansy the Poodle series. We’ve got a long list of authors we’d like to interview, so stay tuned!

Our Roving Reader Leaders review books in gyms, parks, museums and on city streets and playgrounds. Our aim is to share our love of reading and get kids actively involved in reading and analysis. Here in Portland, our enthusiastic team of book lovers meets regularly.

If you’d like to suggest a book for our team to review or an author to interview, email us at RovingReaderLeaders@gmail.com. Please keep in mind that we receive many requests and can’t honor all of them–but love receiving your books!