Phoebe Sinclair: Greetings. This is Phoebe Sinclair, author of Confessions of a Candy Snatcher, a novel with illustrations by Theodore Taylor III.

I want to share a few of the inspirations for the book. One is where I grew up, Neptune, New Jersey, near the ocean. When I was a preteen like Jonas, the main character in Confessions of a Candy Snatcher, I walked to school with my friends and we pretty much had the run of our neighborhoods. Afterschool programs other than sports didn't exist in those days, so we engaged in fun activities like going to the corner store to buy pickles out of a big wooden barrel, or hanging out at our local library until we got ejected for being too rambunctious.

Another inspiration is the trouble we'd get into on Halloween. My family didn't celebrate, so the treats my older brother and I had access to, we'd gather from going door to door. Groups of pre-teens and sometimes younger siblings went trick-or-treating together. We'd dress up in costumes, which was my least favorite part of the holiday. When it was just me and my friends, we knew to be wary of candy snatchers, who were usually kids our age roaming around looking to steal candy. If we spotted a group, we'd wrap our pillowcases full of candy around our wrists to keep them from getting easily grabbed and hoist our big flashlights in case we needed to bop somebody on the head.

Finally, the last inspiration I want to share are zines, which I first saw when I came to Boston, Massachusetts for college. As a little kid, I always loved drawing and making my own books. A zine is a DIY publication that can be about any topic you find important or compelling. They can be fiction, nonfiction, comics, poetry, even art books. In the novel, Jonas has never heard of zines, but his friend C. schools him on these important modes of self-expression.

All right, I'm going to read you the first scene, which is written in Jonas's voice. It's titled Contrary to Popular Opinion.

Contrary to popular opinion, I didn't keep all the candy for myself.

Most of it I gave to Rex. I know Mikey sells his, probably back to the kids he stole it from in the first place. Snatching is something you do on Halloween if you're big enough. You don't hurt anybody, just get their candy. Then once you've grabbed it, you run really fast. Most trick-or-treaters won't chase you because they're too scared. That's the other part of snatching, spooking. If you can scare people, then you have no business being out there. The other great thing about snatching is that it's like games on top of games. It's a real competitive thing.

For example, first person to snatch from a pirate gets dibs on the biggest piece of candy from the other snatcher's stash, or last person back to base has to run up to a house with a light on, ring the bell, and moon the front door. I learned how to snatch from my boy Mikey, who was all right at it. Mikey learned from his older brother who was a pro and retired because now he's too old. Me, Mikey, Darius, and our friend Aaron have been snatching since sixth grade. My conclusion is that snatching is a serious fun activity if you like to go out on Halloween, but don't want to mess with eggs or toilet paper, and can't see walking around like a shmo begging for candy. Plus, nobody ever actually gets hurt.