The Power of Small

I was talking to a friend this week about Flipped becoming a movie, and it struck me that the path back to how this enormous film project began is worth retracing.

Worth remembering.

Starting at the end... How does a man like Rob Reiner get interested in your book?

I think the traditional route is that the book or story gets pitched, either by an agent or a screen writer...or it's a huge best seller that everyone's heard about. But the trail here is not a traditional one. It involves Rob Reiner doing a very un-Hollywood thing: He read the book.

And what would a man like Rob Reiner be doing, reading a "kid" book?

Spending time with his kid. Apparently his family was on a flight and his son was reading the book for school.

And why would his son be reading my book for school? It's a romantic comedy with a white cover and an upside chick on it--certainly not obvious "boy" material.

Because Flipped won the California Young Reader Medal and schools throughout California "adopted" it into their libraries, with some schools making it required reading the year of or following its win.

And why did Flipped win the California Young Reader Medal?

Hm. Well, the obvious answer is that kids liked it. This award is a kid-vote award, open to all books published in the US, and in California there are only 3 nominees per category and kids who vote are required to read all three. (Almost all states have a similar award, but in most states there are 10 or 20 nominees per category. However, kids only have to read three of the titles in order to vote. I think California's structure is fair...but the downside is it's hard to get on the list when only three titles are permitted per category.)

So a better question, then, is how did Flipped get on this short list in the first place?

A librarian nominated it.

So there it is, then. The reason Flipped is becoming a movie.

A librarian.

I like this thought. I like this path. I like remembering that little things can make big ripples. And I like to remember that all of us move through this life saying things and doing things...little things...and some of those things go on to affect other people in big ways.

It's good to remember.

It's good to believe in the power of small.