It's Cool in the Furnace

About the Book

It was four months before Valentine's Day, 2010, when I, Jackson Ruiz, started thinking about what I wanted to make for my classmates for their gift. Then I remembered the play our class had put on in third grade in 2009. I decided to make a comic book of "It's Cool in the Furnace" our play of last year.

So here is how I got the book together. I started drawing panels telling the story, and then I started adding my own comments about what some classmates had made up, and then I started adding some extra scenes that hadn't exactly been in the play. Guess I have to admit I added in Patrica and the guards and other random people who really weren't in the original play. Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you about the Banana Muffins. For my half-birthday party, my mom and I had made the best Banana Muffins in the world and everyone in my class wanted the recipe. So it seemed like a good idea to include the recipe even though it is pretty far removed from the story plot.

About the Author

I am Jackson Ruiz and I will be entering fifth grade in September 2010. I was born August 11, 1999 in Saint Paul, MN. I love comic books a lot! I always like to draw and work with clay. Actually I spend almost all my waking hours drawing and/or thinking of characters to draw or model in clay. Sometimes I move the characters around and have them talk to each other. Right now I am working on my next book, "It"s Cool on the Moon". The idea came from someone in my class who suggested one idea and then I kind of twisted it into another idea. I have an annoying little sister named Marsela, born November 14, 2002. Marsela wants me to teach her how to draw comics so that she can write a book, too. My thanks to my mom, Joe, Rudolf Steiner, and Grandma Kate.