After working the night shift as a janitor in college, author and musician Tyler Whitesides said he was inspired to write the popular middle-school book series “Janitors.”
In his presentation to BYU–Hawaii students in the HGB on Thursday, April 7, he told students “ordinary things can become extraordinary.
“Kids sometimes think that in order to write a story they have to have something really cool happen to them or see something interesting, but that doesn’t have to be the case,” said Whitesides. He said he believes everyone has a story to build.
The presentation was held on behalf of the Education Society on campus. BYUH students said Whitesides’ presentation showed them a good story could come from anywhere.
Don Baize, a sophomore studying math from Kahuku, said the main idea he got from Whitesides’ presentation was, “If you want to be an author, you can always find things to write about. You can get an idea from anything.”
“Janitors” is about small, invisible monsters in schools who “inhale students’ brainwaves and exhale sleepiness and distraction,” according to Whitesides. The protagonists of the series, two fifth-grade students, work with the “secret organization of janitors with magic-powered cleaning supplies, who fight the monsters by night and keep the classroom safe so kids can continue to learn.”
Whitesides graduated from Utah State University with a degree in music but has a passion for writing. In his presentation, he said, “I remember I was a junior in the music program and my other musician friends were planning to be band teachers or music teachers, and they said, ‘What are you going to do?’ and I said, ‘Well, I want to be a writer.’ I decided I could be a writer, because what makes a writer is the time you take to write.”
Whitesides said he wrote his way through high school and university. He finally got his break as a writer while finishing college and signed on with Shadow Mountain Publishing in Utah.
Jasmine Tuckett, a senior studying math education and special education from Japan, said, “He’s an inspiration to just go for it and it will make a difference. If you go for what you want, it’ll work out.”
The BYUH Education Society Chapter organized the event. Tuckett, the Education Society Chapter president, said it was a blessing to bring Whitesides in while he was on vacation in Hawaii. “It was a super last minute thing,” she said. “He wanted to speak but nobody ever picked it up, and then we had a meeting and thought, ‘Let’s just try.’ And I got a lot out of it.”
Baize also said Whitesides’ presentation was engaging. He said the author “catches your attention and never lets go.”
Hawaii marks the 25th state where Whitesides has visited to talk about his books. He has been to more than 530 schools to do presentations and book signings.
Because he often visits elementary and middle schools, Whitesides said he liked making his presentations exciting for children. He demonstrated this idea by pulling out his own drumsticks and drumming out beats on one of the HGB trash cans.
When explaining why he does it, Whitesides laughed and said, “I’ll be talking about my books, and there are always a couple of kids who are not quite with you. They’re somewhere else. Then I start drumming, and I’ve won them over for the rest of the presentation. They’ll listen to anything I say after that.”
When the first book of the “Janitors” series was released in 2011, Whitesides said he had the idea to promote his book by incorporating music. He brought together some friends and formed a quartet called the Jammin’ Janitors.
He said, “It’s been fun to incorporate music into all the presentations I do because music is very universal, and it’s fun.”
The band performs percussion numbers across the country to promote the book series. They play by banging out beats with janitorial supplies ranging from trashcans and spray bottles to tin cans and toilet seats. The band has released videos of their performances on YouTube.
Whitesides had fun with the audience during his presentation by telling stories about some of his antics growing up, such as the time he and his friends fought each other with fake swords and shields. Whitesides also demonstrated his skill with shadow puppets, played a video of him playing trashcan drums, and recited a Shel Silverstein poem while impersonating Kermit the Frog, Yoda, Darth Vader, Gollum, and Jack Sparrow.
Along with work as a writer, Whitesides played the lead in the Logan Utah Music Theatre West production of the musical “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” in February this year. He said he enjoys doing character impersonations and has recorded his own audiobooks for “Janitors.” Whitesides announced a “top secret” book project in the works that he would be announcing within the next few weeks.