The Thrifty Guide to Ancient Rome

Author Q&A

How did you get the idea for the Thrifty Guide series?

JWS: One of my best friends, Zach Greenberger, hatched the idea when we were in high school. The concept nagged me for two decades. When I broke into children’s publishing, Zach gave me his blessing to run with it. For fun, I gave the lead character of “Finn Greenquill,” a slightly similar name to “Zach Greenberger.”


What other time periods do you want to write travel guides for?

JWS: There are so many! I’m hoping we discover time travel guides for different continents, covering African history, Asian history, and Native American history. World War One, World War Two, and the American Civil War are also hugely important topics, as well as the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and even the Impressionist period. For fun, I’d love to discover a time traveler’s guide to the future, so we can learn more about the strange world of Finn Greenquill and Time Corp.


What’s the weirdest fact you’ve found out in your research for these travel guides?

JWS: Probably the fact that my favorite Greek poet, Aeschylus, was killed when he was hit on the head by a falling tortoise.


We heard the Thrifty Guides might get made into a movie! Can you tell us a little about that?

JWS: New Line Cinema owns the movie rights to the book. The screenplay centers on a group of time traveling students who are on their Ancient Rome trip for history class. When Julius Caesar mistakenly attacks their class field trip, things go horribly awry. The students must go on a harrowing adventure through time to make it back home to the present. Along the way, they do their best not to alter the course of history.


If you could visit any historical event, when would you go to?

JWS: I might visit the Roman Forum where Mark Antony showed the Romans Caesar’s bloody toga and incited the mob to avenge Caesar’s assassination! For my second choice, I think I would really enjoy a dinosaur safari in the Jurassic period.