Local kids’ author Dustin Brady reaches game-obsessed youth by using video games as the basis for his books - cleveland.com

LAKEWOOD, Ohio – Dustin Brady was like any typical boy his age. Growing up on the West Side of Cleveland, he says his "greatest accomplishment was avoiding the emergency room throughout my entire childhood." If he was "forced" to read a book, it had to be action-packed and funny.

"I remember thinking that I wanted to write stories like that someday," he explained as he set up for a recent visit with Harrison Elementary School's third and fourth graders. "Of course, I also wanted to be a professional baseball player and a spy, but at least I achieved one dream."

Achieve it he has. Brady self-published his first book, "Trapped Inside a Video Game" in 2016, partnering with his illustrator brother, Jesse. Since then, "Trapped" – the first of a five-book series -- has sold more than two million copies; and has been translated into a dozen languages.

"We put it up on Amazon and I sat, refreshing the page all day long, until I saw that I had sold that first copy," Brady recalled. "I was so excited that I was 'officially an author' -- now that I had sold a book. Then my mom called and said, ''Hey! I just bought your book!' I seriously was a little destroyed."

Undeterred, Brady has written an additional 15 books, including his latest, "World's Worst Time Machine," which will be released on April 25. In addition to the "Trapped" series, he has penned a four-book spin-off series called "Escape From a Video Game" --- all written for 8 to 12-year-olds; and a three-book mystery series, featuring his five-year-old daughter, Leila and the family dog, Nugget, for younger readers.

Dustin Brady's latest release is "World's Worst Time Machine." The book will be released April 25.

Brady, who now lives in Strongsville, began his writing career with a short stint at the News Sun newspaper, part of the Sun Newspapers chain. He covered Olmsted and Olmsted Falls, before moving on to edit STACK Magazine, a publication aimed at high school athletes. He quit his full-time job at the magazine and spent time buying products at wholesale, then reselling the items on the internet, to help support his family while writing his books.

Many families discovered the "Trapped" series during the pandemic, leading to it being one of the bestselling children's books of 2020, according to Publisher's Weekly.

"My whole goal in writing "Trapped" was to write my 10-year-old self's favorite book ever," he explained. I just wanted to write something I knew I would love.

"I later found that my series was drawing in reluctant readers because of its subject matter and my writing style," he says. "I've gotten a ton of feedback from teachers and parents saying this is the first series that has gotten their child excited about reading. Since then, I've made it my goal to reach kids who were struggling to read."

To give his readers an incentive to finish the "Trapped" series, Brady inserted an envelope in the box set marked "CONFIDENTIAL: DO NOT OPEN UNTIL FINISHING THE SERIES."

Stalwart readers are rewarded with a secret code that allows them to unlock small rewards -- including the opportunity to ask Brady one question via the publisher's website. Those fans will receive a personal video response to their questions. Brady has produced over 1,000 videos to date and has received "a ton of feedback from parents who said their child was overwhelmed by the gesture and it really encouraged them to keep reading."

But crafting stories kids want to read is now just a small part of Brady's mission. He enjoys spending days visiting his fans in elementary schools across Northeast Ohio to spread the message that reading, and writing, are "real-life magic."

"I want to show kids that even professionals struggle with doubt and self-discipline. I want to help them understand that it is totally OK to struggle, but it is not OK to give up, because every child has the potential to do something amazing." (Brenda Cain, cleveland.com)

During his class visits, Brady begins by telling kids about his first day as a "professional writer," including a battle with "a guy who lives inside my head, named Doug."

"Doug" enjoys distracting Brady from his writing and telling him he can't accomplish his goals.

"The first day I sat down to write the book, I only got two paragraphs, and then wasted a bunch of time, culminating in me cleaning my nightstand drawer," he told the kids at Harrison.

"I want to show kids that even professionals struggle with doubt and self-discipline. I want to help them understand that it is totally OK to struggle, but it is not OK to give up, because every child has the potential to do something amazing," Brady said later.

"These books come out of all those things I used to think about as a kid," the 37-year-old said. "I loved video games and even though I regularly get locked out of my accounts because I can't remember passwords, I do remember the Super Mario Bros. 3 game code for infinite lives – it's SLXPLOVS, by the way -- so I knew these stories would resonate with young readers."

While so many of today's gaming-obsessed kids have a hard time getting through even a few pages of a book, Brady believes stories about gaming can convince struggling readers to stick with it for longer than five minutes.

"I do understand the hesitation some parents or teachers may have with my books," he says. "It's easy to see how overexposure to video games at a young age can hurt kids' ability to focus on other things for long periods of time. I certainly don't have all the answers to questions about screen time, but I do think books that incorporate video games are helpful for connecting with today's youth."

Brady says that "no matter how many video games most kids play per week, they want more. Books about video games provide an easy hook for capturing their imagination and show that reading doesn't have to be a dreaded event.

"Once kids are truly sucked into the story, I've found they are much more willing to give other books a try because they see how much fun reading can be," he says.

When children's author Dustin Brady sat down to write his first book, he thought about all the things he loved as a child and used them to create a series of books which have attracted struggling readers by their subject matter, but retains them by showing them reading can be fun. (Brenda Cain, cleveland.com)