Thursday, April 2, 2009
THE GUY WHO JUST REVIEWED MY NEW BOOK SOUNDS LIKE HE’S STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL.
He is. His name is John Masse, and of the 40,000 fans on James Patterson’s Community website, John is the one whose blog reviews on the site are featured in Patterson’s newsletter.
He’s 16 years old (until next month) and lives in New Hampshire. He hasn’t been writing long. When I spoke to him last night, he said he only started writing outside of the classroom when he joined the Patterson site less than a year ago. Now he’s writing reviews, interviewing authors, and most fascinating to me, encouraging other kids his age to find their own potential.
“I want to help other kids find their focus, their drive,” he said. “What is it that makes you want to get up in the morning and go to work or go to school? I found what I want to do, and I want to help others do the same thing.”
Johnny is 16, going on adult role model.
His review for Flipping Out, was just posted on the JP community site. But because he is totally methodical and focused, John insisted on starting from Book 1. He read through The Rabbit Factory and Bloodthirsty, reviewed them both, and only then was he ready to tackle Flipping Out. It was a lot of work in a short time, and he still managed get his homework done.
As far as I’m concerned Johnny Masse is one special 16-year-old dude. I vaguely remember that when I was 16, I wasn’t quite that cool. Unless you consider getting suspended for running a sports betting pool a major achievement I could use on my college essays.
Marshall posted on April 2, 2009 3:00 PMWow, that's really amazing. My main concern when I was 16 was figuring out how to get beer. Glad to see times have changed.
Shelly posted on April 2, 2009 9:01 PMAre you going to be on the show "Castle" with James Patterson now? :)
Shelly posted on April 2, 2009 9:02 PMDoes he... uh, have some kind of strict definition of the "kids" he helps?
Just, y'know, asking for a friend.
harmzie posted on April 2, 2009 10:42 PMNice to see someone so young focused!!
Kelly posted on April 3, 2009 10:55 AMthis is the John Masse the blog is all about.
seriously, i'm a real person. not a character made up from the masterminds behind the JPC.
thanks bunches to Marshall for giving me the books to review, and for giving me homepage blog space on his site to advertise me. I feel quite special lol.
uhm, from reading the comments above, idk if one was to me or to Marshall, but I'm probably not going onto "Castle" anytime soon :p.
and there's no strict definition to the "kids". i'll help more than just kids. i'll help adults too if they need it. i just love to help :)
John Masse posted on April 3, 2009 2:35 PM