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What makes Bob and Rob Skead different is that dad is 90 years old. Bob Skead turned 90 January 26, and is looking forward to the next book.
What makes the partnership even more remarkable is that Bob was never a writer. They started working together about six years ago, after Rob described an idea he had for a different kind of work.
Rob had been writing sports books, but had an idea he’d like to write “Tom Clancy books for kids” based on stories that took place in the American Revolution.
“I had an idea, and gave him a 30-second elevator pitch,” Rob said. “But I never made the time to work on the ideas.
“The next day I got an email and it contained an entire treatment of what the story would be like," he said.
Rob started working on the book.
“That night, I banged out a big part of the first scene in a book format,” Rob said. “Then I emailed it and called him -- I couldn’t wait for him to call me back.”
He wrote: “That is fantastic. Keep going.”
So every few days, Rob wrote another scene — and then brainstorm with Bob.
“Patriots, Redcoats and Spies” came out last February; “Submarines, Secrets and a Daring Rescue” was published in August.
The idea for the first book came from a visit Rob made to the Van Allen House on Route 202 in Oakland.
“It sets your imagination off,” Rob said. “When I walked outside and looked at the historical marker, George Washington had been there the same day in 1777.”
The second book is based on the American turtle submarine, that was invented in Connecticut. A new book has a working title, and is based on the great chain across the Hudson River at West Point. Iron for the chain was produced in Ringwood.
The Skeads have a historical connection to the Revolution -- Bob Skead researched the family’s geneology, and found they had an ancestor named Lamberton Clark who was a Revolutionary War figure.
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