A CONVERSATION WITH
DAVID BORGENICHT
CHRO NICLEKIDS.C O M
David Borgenicht is the founder of Quirk Books and creator of the wildly
successful Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook series, which has spawned numerous sequels, calendars,
postcards, a TBS television series, audio books, T-shirts, posters, and even a board game. The bestselling
Junior Editions are chock-full of crucial information any kid needs to survive the perils of
childhood—real or imagined. The new Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Weird
Junior Edition provides kid-friendly, hands-on, step-by-step instructions for outwitting an
alien, vampire, werewolf, or anything that may be lurking in the realms of the unreal.
In the book, alien hunter Seth Shostak
states that his first question to
extraterrestrials would be, “Do you
have music?” This made us wonder,
what music were you listening
to when you were writing the weird
junior edition ?
I have pretty eclectic tastes, musically—the only
genre I’m really not into is Hip Hop. But for this
book, I prepped by listening to a lot of subversive
children’s music and poems. Where the Sidewalk
Ends, by Shel Silverstein, and I Eat Kids, by Barry
Louis Polisar.
So Dave, what sort of weird things
happened in your youth that you weren’t
prepared for?
Well, growing up in Utah was certainly a little odd
in and of itself, but there was one inexplicable thing
that happened to me. My cousins were visiting, and
my brother Joe and I got out our Ouija Board. I asked
to talk to my grandfather who had just died. I was
in fourth grade. We made contact, and I asked
him if he thought Grandma Ev should take over his
business (I guess I’d heard my father discussing this
with his siblings­—it was causing some controversy).
“N-O,” the pointer spelled.“Why not?” I asked.
“B-E-C-A-U-S-E-S-H-E-I-S-A-W-O-M-A-N,” the
pointer spoke. I guess Grandpa was very old-fashioned!
Any UFO sightings?
Alas, no. But I was once convinced that I was going
to f ind Bigfoot on a camping trip. Very disappointing.
So many people today are enthralled
by the Twilight films, so the entry
“How to Survive a Vampire Attack” is
perfectly timed! We have to know,
were there any bloodthirsty vampires
stalking you at your 8th grade dance?
Not that I know of. But I always had my suspicions
about a certain ex-girlfriend. You know who
you are. . .
I really don’t think we’d have come up with that on
our own....weird indeed.
CHRO NICLEKIDS.C O M
Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Team Jacob. I always root for the under, um, wolf.
Did you get to check out any of the
famous haunted places—The Tower
of London, The White House, or the
Catacombs of Paris—that you write
about in this new book? Where is the
eeriest place you’ve been?
I’ve been to the Tower of London, but it was on a
beautiful sunny day and was decidedly uncreepy. But
very cool. The eeriest place? Probably the night I
was nearly locked in the Med School Building at Penn
where they perform dissections on cadavers.
Any personal experience with ghosts?
No, alas—but I thought so when I was about eight
and was awoken by a very strange and violent
shaking in my bed. Turns out it was an earthquake.
This book is one of several Worstcase Scenario Handbooks that you
worked on with co-author Justin
Heimberg. What is it like having a
partner in crime?
These books seem simple and easy to write, but
because they’re so spare it actually takes a lot of
effort and creativity to hit things right. So two heads
are definitely better than one. Justin’s been a great
co-author to have on board. Plus, he’s good in a
metaphysical battle.
Can we expect more of these lifesaving and life-changing handbooks
for kids?
Absolutely—wherever something goes wrong,
whenever life takes a sudden turn for the worse,
we’ll be there to help. Or at least distract you from
the suffering.
If you could do some time-travelling,
where would you go and what would
you do there? We suspect your
answer is going to be something like
Philadelphia, 1986… But let’s get more
creative; any time, and any place, where
would you go?
New York in the 1920s. Seems like a great time to
be in The Big Apple, plus the Marx Brothers were on
Broadway, and everyone wore hats.
What would you do if confronted with
an all-consuming, unearthly blob of
unknown origin in your path?
Get the heck out of its way. I would definitely not go
into a phone booth, though. Those things are NOT
secure.
CHRO NICLEKIDS.C O M
Also Available
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
The
WORST-CASE SCENARIO
Survival Handbook:
0
0
0
0
0
0
>,09+
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
"/2'%.)#(47).4%23!.$%034%).4HE7ORST#ASE3CENARIO3URVIVAL(ANDBOOK-IDDLE3CHOOL
!
NEW
EXTREME
Junior Edition
Ipx!up
!Tvswjw
f;
s›K_
\=`
6AM
PIij
REkS;AN
XpDf:]OM
JZ_BIfES
s›@]4P
IMfE
fc
l4R
=fAV
i^
EL
\k
P
s
fli?fd
IRfE"REAT
›@]&P
\n
l
The Worst-Case Scenario
Survival Handbook: Junior Edition
$9.95 PB • 978-0-8118-6065-9
Ages 9 to 12
GXjjHI
fib
NG$RAGO
>Xj
P8
`e:cXjjNS
LJ
US
›
Z_3fPE
fcCI
; AL!LI
3
URVIVAL4 XeZ\ EN!BDUC
TION
Ho
w toIPSSu
rvive:
By David Borgenicht and Justin Heimberg
Illustrated by Chuck Gonzales
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook:
Weird Junior Edition
$10.99 PB • 978-0-8118-7438-0
Ages 8 and up
The Worst-Case Scenario
Survival Handbook: Extreme Junior Edition
$9.99 PB • 978-0-8118-6568-5
Ages 9 to 12
Coming Fall 2010
The Worst-Case Scenario
Survival Handbook:
Gross Junior Edition
$10.99 PB • 978-0-8118-7570-7
Ages 8 and up
For multimedia, interviews, contests and more,
visit chroniclebooks.com/worstcasejunior
The Worst-Case Scenario
Survival Handbook: Middle School
$10.99 PB • 978-0-8118-6864-8
Ages 9 to 12
CHRO NICLEKIDS.C O M