When I Grow Up
Amazon Best Books of the Month, February 2011: Eight-year-old Billy gives a flamboyant show-and-tell presentation, reciting for the class and his hapless teacher Mrs. Krupp, all the professions he has in mind for his future.  From master snail trainer to dinosaur-dusting museum curator, the possibilities he imagines are seemingly endless.  Billy&#x2019;s great-grandfather is his inspiration, having had many different jobs and who, at age 103, still doesn&#x2019;t know what he wants to be.  Billy&#x2019;s carefree enthusiasm is contagious, and the bubbling rhythm ofWhen I Grow Upmakes it a lively read-aloud.--Seira WilsonAmazon Exclusive: A Q&amp;A with Al YankovicQ:Did you know what you wanted to be when you were Billy&rsquo;s age?Yankovic:When I was eight? I think chronologically that was sometime after I wanted to design miniature golf courses but before I wanted to be a writer forMADmagazine. I&rsquo;ll guess that was about the time when I wanted to be a fireworks-maker. Thankfully I didn&rsquo;t blow any fingers off.Q:What is the weirdest job you&rsquo;ve ever had?Yankovic:I was an accordion repo man. During my summer breaks from college, I had a job giving accordion lessons to kids at a local music school. The kids usually didn&rsquo;t own their own accordions, so we had to lend the instruments out . . . for as long as they were still taking lessons. If they everstoppedtaking lessons anddidn&rsquo;treturn the instrument, it was a job for . . . Accordion Repo Man!Actually, it wasn&rsquo;t all that difficult&mdash;usually they were more than happy to hand the accordions back.Q:Kids talk about being &ldquo;grown up&rdquo; a lot. Heck, we all do. What does it mean to be &ldquo;grown up&rdquo;?Yankovic:I think it somehow involves the ability to grow hair in disgusting places.Being &ldquo;grown up&rdquo; obviously means different things to different people. To most folks, I assume the definition has something to do with the added responsibilities of adulthood and the ability to make more important decisions about one&rsquo;s own life. Growing up is an important transition, and hopefully a very positive one&mdash;although, strangely, whenever somebody told me to &ldquo;Grow up!&rdquo; as a kid, it was rarely meant as loving, constructive advice.Of course, if you define &ldquo;growing up&rdquo; as having to jettison every last shred of one&rsquo;s childlike wonder of the world . . . well, then I hope Inevergrow up.Q:At one point Billy ponders becoming an &ldquo;artist who sculpts out of chocolate mousse.&rdquo; That sounds scrumptious . . . and hard! If you could sculpt something out of mousse, what would you create?Yankovic:Well, of course, I&rsquo;d make the mousse into a moose! What else? I mean, I hate to be obvious, but I just can&rsquo;t resist homonyms&hellip;Q:Do you have any advice for kids who are already thinking about what to be when they &ldquo;grow up&rdquo;?Yankovic:Hey, it&rsquo;s a terrific thing to think about. By all means, explore your options. Find your passions in life. And always remember: It&rsquo;s never too late to change your mind.