It’s a revolutionary idea: use cartoons to actually teach something to the kids of America. In the summer of 1972, the suits at a major television network bring together a motley crew of songwriters and musicians to work on Pop Goes the Classroom, a series of short, catchy, educational songs that will air during Saturday-morning cartoons. And so four young, talented songwriters find themselves in the basement studios of ATN, at the height of the Age of Aquarius, tasked with writing the songs that will come to define an entire generation’s childhood. Led by free-loving folk legend Pamela Sanchez, the self-styled prefab four –naïve, sweet, sheltered Sarah; Peter, a struggling Bob Dylan wannabe; Julie, who cut her professional teeth on commercial jingles; and Levon, a bassist most recently known by the stage name Apollo Von Funkenburg–struggle to stifle their uncertainty and tap into their creativity. With the help of an enormous amount of pot and a little sexual innuendo, they eat, sleep, drink, smoke, couple and uncouple–as they work to change the world, one song at a time.
I'm a writer and a teacher. I've written memoirs, novels for adults, and novels for young adults. I don't know if my interest in and talent at writing YA comes from my experience as a high school teacher or my immaturity. Either way, it's good.
I live in Boston with my wife Suzanne and our three children and our dog, Cooper.
