Jeff Alt's Blog
February 5, 2022
Beaufort Books (BB) Interviewed Jeff Alt (JA) about his latest national park books series for children, The Adventures of Bubba Jones.
BB: Among many other things, you’re hailed as a hiking and camping expert. What first sparked your love of hiking?
JA: My parents helped plant the seed for my love of the outdoors. As a child, they took us kids camping, hiking, and fishing routinely. On one family adventure to the Great Smoky Mountains, my brothers and I packed provisions and hiked up the highest mountain along the Appalachian Trail for the night leaving behind our parents and a cooler full of food. That hike was the toughest hike I had ever done and I still felt it in my muscles a week later. I was so happy to be back with my parents and a cooler full of food the next day, but a feeling of accomplishment remained. My love for hiking grew from there, which led to my Appalachian Trail expedition and many other long-distance hikes.
BB: The first book in The Adventures of Bubba Jones series was released in 2015 and tells the story of two siblings who travel back in time to our nation’s national parks to solve a family mystery. Can you tell us more about what first inspired this idea?
JA: For me, national parks have been part of my life experience, but many children have never stepped foot in a national park. I also realized that there weren’t a lot of middle-grade books about our national parks. I created this book series to entice kids with cool park facts and exciting adventures so that they would want to go visit each park they read about. This book series is a fun way to fill the children with facts that they can share with their parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. The books are loaded with facts to also fill adults with information as they read the series to children as young as five-years-old.
BB: How have events and characters from your own life influenced The Adventures of Bubba Jones series?
JA: My own childhood national park adventures have influenced many of the stories in the series as well as the parks I’ve chosen. The characters in my book series are a loose mix of all the positive family members and friends that have been involved in my own personal outdoor adventures. A very fun aspect of creating fiction is that you can make your characters bigger than life and mold the character to fit your story.
BB: In each book in The Adventures of Bubba Jones series, you go into detail about the wide variety of plants and animals found in the national parks, as well as recount stories of each park’s first inhabitants. How much research goes into each story?
JA: The Adventures of Bubba Jones books involve several layers of research. Even though we have fictional characters and time travel, all the park facts are accurate. To make the story authentic, I explore each park I write about so I can get a genuine feel for what a family would enjoy (my favorite research step). My latest book in the series was especially enjoyable because my publisher and his son joined me for a Grand Canyon adventure. While in each park, I interview NPS staff, local experts, and historians. I comb through the park museums and attend presentations. I photograph important aspects of the park for later recall. I fact check using websites, books, and articles. Then, my manuscript is edited by park staff and other experts (geologists, historians, etc.) for accuracy. This assures that the reader is getting the most current and up-to-date facts about each park that I visit.
JA: My parents helped plant the seed for my love of the outdoors. As a child, they took us kids camping, hiking, and fishing routinely. On one family adventure to the Great Smoky Mountains, my brothers and I packed provisions and hiked up the highest mountain along the Appalachian Trail for the night leaving behind our parents and a cooler full of food. That hike was the toughest hike I had ever done and I still felt it in my muscles a week later. I was so happy to be back with my parents and a cooler full of food the next day, but a feeling of accomplishment remained. My love for hiking grew from there, which led to my Appalachian Trail expedition and many other long-distance hikes.
BB: The first book in The Adventures of Bubba Jones series was released in 2015 and tells the story of two siblings who travel back in time to our nation’s national parks to solve a family mystery. Can you tell us more about what first inspired this idea?
JA: For me, national parks have been part of my life experience, but many children have never stepped foot in a national park. I also realized that there weren’t a lot of middle-grade books about our national parks. I created this book series to entice kids with cool park facts and exciting adventures so that they would want to go visit each park they read about. This book series is a fun way to fill the children with facts that they can share with their parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends. The books are loaded with facts to also fill adults with information as they read the series to children as young as five-years-old.
BB: How have events and characters from your own life influenced The Adventures of Bubba Jones series?
JA: My own childhood national park adventures have influenced many of the stories in the series as well as the parks I’ve chosen. The characters in my book series are a loose mix of all the positive family members and friends that have been involved in my own personal outdoor adventures. A very fun aspect of creating fiction is that you can make your characters bigger than life and mold the character to fit your story.
BB: In each book in The Adventures of Bubba Jones series, you go into detail about the wide variety of plants and animals found in the national parks, as well as recount stories of each park’s first inhabitants. How much research goes into each story?
JA: The Adventures of Bubba Jones books involve several layers of research. Even though we have fictional characters and time travel, all the park facts are accurate. To make the story authentic, I explore each park I write about so I can get a genuine feel for what a family would enjoy (my favorite research step). My latest book in the series was especially enjoyable because my publisher and his son joined me for a Grand Canyon adventure. While in each park, I interview NPS staff, local experts, and historians. I comb through the park museums and attend presentations. I photograph important aspects of the park for later recall. I fact check using websites, books, and articles. Then, my manuscript is edited by park staff and other experts (geologists, historians, etc.) for accuracy. This assures that the reader is getting the most current and up-to-date facts about each park that I visit.
