Martin Bridge’s world
Martin Bridge and his friends, Alex and Stuart, are big fans of Zip Rideout, a cartoon astronaut superhero. They eat Zip Rideout Space Flakes every morning and watch his television show every afternoon. They also enjoy launching model rockets, squirting Faster Blasters and humming Zip’s theme song. The trouble with Martin’s world is that these routine things often go wrong, or as Stuart would say, “Ka-boom!” Yet through it all, Martin discovers that he is so much more than his superhero.
Inspiration
I created Martin Bridge after my husband, who was a leader of a boys’ troop, described their latest misadventure that involved exploding rockets. ‘Smithereens’ is the result of that story.
Other Martin Bridge stories were developed following my travels and adventures that didn’t go according to plan, such as giving a gift to the wrong person; showing up for a birthday party on the wrong day; missing the bus for an important field trip; having a bicycle stolen; accidentally falling down a hole; or a pet parrot flying out the window in the middle of winter.
Everyday, all around me, things went wrong. I had lots of Martin material to choose from.
Published by Kids Can Press, over 190,000 books have sold to date.
Image used by permission of Kids Can Press. Text © 2008 Jessica Scott Kerrin, illustrations © 2008 Joseph Kelly.
