Novel for young adults · Harper & Row · 1976
The exhibits at the Museum of Natural History come alive as a young boy searches through the night for a stolen moon rock.
Tom on It Looks Alive to Me!
The young hero of It Looks Alive to Me!, Burdick, first appeared in my first published short story, “A Friend in Need.” I transplanted him from a New Jersey suburb, where I mostly grew up, to 77th Street in New York City, where I lived as a very young child, across from the Museum of Natural History, where I spent many hours along with my grandmother. I wrote the novel over a summer; eventually it sold to the movies. Several screenwriters were hired to adapt it (including me), but the movie version never reached the screen.
A framed letter from a fan sits on one of my office shelves: “This was one of my favorite books growing up… I’ve never seen the movie [Night at the Museum], dismissing it as a poor knock-off of your wonderful book.” In reality, the Fox movie is on record as being based on a book for very young children. But now and then I’ll run into people who assume I’ve reaped millions from the sale of It Looks Alive to Me!
From the archive: “Why I’ve Never Seen ‘Night at the Museum’”
