In fifth grade, Tom Longano wrote a story about a chubby boy who bought a hippo. The boy tried to ride his new hippo, but he was so chubby that the hippo got squished and died. Tom remains convinced that this is the best story he’s ever written. A minute after Tom finished the brilliant hippo story, he called his friends so he could read it to them and make them laugh. Twenty years later, writing stories to make his friends laugh is still the one thing that makes him happiest in life. When teaching at an all-boys elementary school, Tom loved telling stories to his students, making the stories wilder and wilder to watch their reactions. He then worked hard to turn these stories into books, because he hoped that more energetic boys could fall in love with reading, and they have, which is a good thing. But mostly, if he’s being totally honest, he just wanted to make his friends laugh. Listen to Tom read his stories on the Boy Stories podcast (available on all platforms) and for more info check out his website!
