Oak Knoll teacher John Fuller writes a book inspired by his long commute

Oak Knoll School teacher John Fuller has a 100- mile round-trip commute to and from his home in Orinda, and that fact probably has a lot to do with the novel he’s just published.

The commute provided both inspiration for, and the time to ponder, the plot and characters of his book, “Fly Car.” The book is about a boy who invents a flying car to ease his father’s commute so they can spend more time together.

“Fly Car” tells the story of Eli, a sixth-grader who wishes his father wouldn’t spend so much time running the family’s car company. Eli is also having trouble at school because he is bored and afraid of being picked on for appearing too smart.

“I was really trying to find a book that would win boys over to reading,” says, Mr. Fuller, a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at Oak Knoll School in Menlo Park.

The book, Mr. Fuller’s first, is meant for 9- to 12-year-olds. He says he wanted it to be fun to read, but also to communicate a few universal themes. One is: “Just because you’re young doesn’t mean you can’t do great things,” he says.

The book is also about redemption and reconciliation, “and finding out what really matters in life,” Mr. Fuller says. “At the end of the day what really matters is family.”

Fuller’s own family, especially his daughters, Sophie, 19 and Hosanna, 20, inspired him to write the book. Well, actually, he says, they asked him to get a hobby, one that didn’t involve posting embarrassing photos of them online.

“That’s when Fly Car actually started popping into my head,” he says. He wrote for 6-8 hours a day during two summers, and nights and weekends during the school year.

Mr. Fuller’s students also inspired him. He teaches the same students for two years, starting in fourth grade and continuing through fifth grade. “I actually read them an earlier draft of ‘Fly Car.’ When they stood up and started cheering at the end of the story, I knew I was on to something,” he says.

Mr. Fuller has self-published the book, which is available on Amazon in a Kindle version or in softback. He has not tried working with a conventional publisher, but may do that later, he said.

“I probably need to figure out what’s the next step,” he says. “When you self-publish it’s a pretty steep learning curve.”

Mr. Fuller also sees his book as inspiring his students to know that someone who isn’t a “writer” can write a book. “That’s been a pretty powerful teaching tool,” he says.

Mr. Fuller was a business and finance major as an undergraduate, then got his teaching degree and a master’s in educational administration. But, he says, “I see myself as a story teller.” Good literature, Mr. Fuller says, is story-telling set in type.

“Fly Car” uses episodes Mr. Fuller remembers from his childhood, as well as those from his classrooms. “There’s a lot of goofy things that you get to see kids do over the years,” he says.

“For me what’s been really rewarding is that the kids who have actually read the book really liked it.”

Who knows what fantastic thing Mr. Fuller is thinking out on his commute nowadays? “I see a sequel to Fly Car for sure,” he says. “Once you have those characters inside of you, you kind of know how they think and feel.”

Critiques

Here’s what a few of John Fuller’s favorite critics, his fifth-grade students, had to say about “Fly Car.”

● Joe: “I really thought it was creative. Sometimes you’d think it would be over and then he’d add another part. “I couldn’t stop reading it. I stayed up until 9 o’clock reading it. I stayed in recess reading it.”

● Lucas: “It’s one of my favorite books now. I love airplanes and I love inventing things.

That’s part of the reason I like this book.”

● Ekta: “I had fun reading it. I liked how Eli and his dad became closer together.”

● Antoine: “It’s one of the only books that I can picture … in my mind.”

● Sohrab: “I think it was a really good book because it encourages people to think big. It made me more responsible as a person, because sometimes I forget to walk my dog and now I always remember.” Why? The book taught him, he says, “you should spend more time with your family and cherish all that you have,” and his dog is a member of his family.

● Maddy: “I liked how you can create stuff, like Eli created Fly Car. … like I can invent some stuff.”

● Dylan: “I really liked it because Mr. Fuller did a great job of getting to the point.” Dylan says his favorite part of the book was “when they designed the wings of Fly Car,” because it showed him how planes become airborne.

● Jacob: “I liked how it was a picture book but it was a chapter book with pictures.” Jacob says the book taught him to “never give up.”

● Spencer: “I loved the book.” The book taught him that “you don’t succeed every single time.”

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