Press Release

ACTOR PENS INSPIRING CHILDREN’S NOVEL

Debut novel uses humor to address issues of self-worth for neglected kids.

If you could be the most average person in the world, would that make you exceptional?

Gary Schwartz got that idea when he was eleven years old: The quirky paradox made him laugh. The very idea made a shy boy who suffered from poor self-esteem feel suddenly special. A boy who wanted to be invisible and escape notice in an abusive home now had a mission.  Surprisingly, it led to a successful acting career.

One way Schwartz coped was by developing a sense of humor. By studying comedians on Ed Sullivan, and practicing impressions, he found he could make kids at the school lunch table laugh with him and not at him. Two years later at age 13, he was selected to perform up and down the Hudson River with Pete Seeger and the great folk entertainers of the 1960s. His show business career had started.

When asked how long it took to write his first novel, Gary quips “fifty two years”.

The King of Average combines the wit and wordplay found in The Phantom Tollbooth (his favorite childhood book) with the tale of James, an average boy travelling his emotional landscape in the Realm of Possibility. There he befriends a talking scapegoat named Mayor Culpa, a professional optimist and an equally professional pessimist called Kiljoy, and goes on a journey to reclaim his self-esteem.

“We take the trauma of childhood with us into adulthood and, without self-awareness, we can suffer our whole lives.” says Schwartz. “I hope this story will inspire children to better understand their feelings and discover their own truth in an entertaining and fun way.”

The King of Average, formerly published by Booktrope in 2015 is newly re-published by Bunny Moon Enterprises, LLC.
Paperback ISBN 978-0-9975860-7-7. The E-book is 978-0-9975860-0-8.
Both new editions are now available from major online sources.