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  • What about Bob?

    This website features the work of Bob McKinnon. He is a writer, designer, podcast host, children’s author and teacher. What unites all of his work is the desire to help others move up in life – just as others have helped him.

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  • America's Dreaming

     

    The cover has just been revealed for Bob’s next children’s book!  America’s Dreaming tells the story of a child whose simple dream is to feel welcomed and seen.

    Now Available for Preorder
  • Three Little Engines

    New York Times’ best seller Three Little Engines, a  modern retelling of the beloved classic Little Engine that Could, is now available in Spanish!

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  • NPR Special Program

    On the 50th anniversary of The Piano Man, Bob interviewed Billy Joel to discuss his contributions to our ideas of struggle and success in America.

    The Piano Man at 50
  • New Series

    Check out Moving Up in Communities, our new  series sharing stories of innovation and advancement in communities across the country. This series is supported by the journalism nonprofit Economic Hardship Reporting Project

    Fast Company Moving Up in Communiities
Three Little Engines

From Bob McKinnon comes this modern retelling of the beloved classic, Little Engine that Could, that asks young readers, “How does your journey differ from others?” It also serves as a thank you letter to all the parents, teachers, role models, and even strangers, who help to clear the storm or pull the tree trunk from their track.

Available in your favorite bookstores.

How did you end up here?

Have you ever asked yourself this question?  Or wondered why your life turned differently than you expected or from others you know.  On this site, you’ll find tools, writing and podcast episodes that explores this question and others.  Watch Bob’s TEDx talk to learn about his journey and the science behind how we see our lives and those of others.

Children’s Books

I think I can, I think I can, I think I… can’t?  What’s an Engine to do when even believing in yourself won’t get you to the top of the mountain? In this modern retelling of the beloved The Little Engine That Could, The Little Blue Engine and her friends attempt to reach the town on the other side of the mountain, but they quickly realize that not every engine is on the same track, and they all face different obstacles in their journey. In Three Little Engines author Bob McKinnon asks young readers: How does your journey differ from others?

While paying homage to the beloved classic, author Bob McKinnon acknowledges that although positive thinking and confidence are important, they are not always enough to help you succeed. In many instances, success requires a helping hand. This book is a gentle introduction to the idea of socioeconomic mobility and inequality in America. Heavily inspired by his own experiences, McKinnon teaches the youngest of readers how to recognize opportunity and inequality in the American Dream, and, most importantly, how to extend a helping hand to those on different tracks of life. At its heart, Three Little Engines is a thank you letter to all the parents, teachers, role models, and even strangers, who help to clear the storm or pull the tree trunk from your track.

Three Little Engines is now a New York Times best seller!  Order your copy today from your favorite online bookseller or your local bookstore:

 

What is Your American Dream Score

What is Your American Dream Score?

Spend five minutes taking this quiz, and you’ll find out what factors were working in your favor and what you had to overcome to get where you are today. At the end, you’ll receive an overall score and a personalized summary of the results (and probably a big dose of pride and gratitude).

Newsletter

Relax

How easy is it for you to simply relax? By relaxing, I don’t mean falling into a heap at the end of a day tuning into something mindless on a screen of your choosing. I’m referring to the kind of relaxation that asks us to quiet our minds, to think of nothing, while presumably also doing nothing. To relax as a form of just letting everything go.

Quieting my own mind is no small feat. My inner monologue is incessant. This can be a good thing – in fact it’s how I write. It also serves as my moral compass and a critical tool for helping me manage and regulate my thoughts and actions. But my inner thoughts are also like a good friend who just can’t shut the hell up. He goes on and on and on. Chirping constantly, reminding me of what’s not getting done, how much more there is to do and how little time to do it.  He, or should I say I, just won’t let me relax.

When things are going well, my mind’s voice can be a welcomed companion. When they aren’t it can be a spiral of doom.

Yesterday, I took the rare morning off. My wife and I had a gift certificate to go to a Korean Spa, where they have ten types of sauna rooms intended to “relax the mind and body.”  It took me spending time in three rooms before the relaxation took hold and my mind cleared. At first, I thought I would use the quiet time lying in silence to sort out my thoughts, instead I just shut them out.

When it was over, I felt lighter. The proverbial weight lifted off my shoulders. When my mind began to talk to me again, I literally and charitably told myself to “shhh” and I obliged.

After returning home, my wife, youngest daughter and I took our dog for a nice walk. Ambling along listening to her recount the details of her day.  Me, in this moment anyway, without a care in the world

In the afternoon I had a little work that I wanted to get done. It was a beautiful day, so I grabbed a coffee from my diner and sought out a quiet place outside our library to work. I found a bench around a corner that I didn’t know was there. It looked out over the majestic Palisades. A flock of geese flew by in formation. As I went to sit down, I noticed a small plaque on the bench. It read “I thank you God for this amazing day; for the leaping greenly spirit of trees and a blue true dream of sky…”  Adding to that timely reminder of all that we have to be grateful for, I also thank  ee cummings who wrote those wonderful words and to Margaret and Bruce Jennings who dedicated that bench 20 years ago. Collectively they have afforded folks like me yet another well-needed place for relaxation.

I hope this week brings you at least a few moments of complete and utter relaxation.  If your mind is telling you that you don’t have the time for it, please just kindly ask him or her to be quiet.


See all posts from Moving Up Mondays blog

Monday Morning Notes

Delivered to your mailbox each Monday morning, these short notes offer an opportunity each week to reflect on who and what contributes to where we end up in life. Readers tell us it’s a great way to start their week on a positive note. See the latest note below:

Relax

How easy is it for you to simply relax? By relaxing, I don’t mean falling into a heap at the end of a day tuning into something mindless on a screen of your choosing. I’m referring to the kind of relaxation that asks us to quiet our minds, to think of nothing, while presumably also doing nothing. …

Continue reading

Attribution with Bob McKinnon

Attribution is a podcast, where people from all walks of life, reflect on who and what has contributed to where they ended up. Our hope is after each episode, you feel a little more inspired, grateful, or supported, then when you first hit play. Check out the latest episode below:

The Piano Man at 50

Fifty years ago, a performer called Bill Martin wrote a song about his experience playing in a bar. He introduced us to people he met there. A waitress who’s practicing politics, a real estate novelist who never had time for a wife, among others. They are sharing a drink they called loneliness, which as the song affirms is better than drinking alone.

Bill Martin was the stage name for Billy Joel and the song is, of course, Piano Man.

As Joel’s famed residency at Madison Square Garden comes to a close and a new exhibit looking at his legacy opens at Long Island Museum and Entertainment Hall of Fame’s Stony Brook museum, we reflect back on Joel’s contribution to our ideas of struggle and success in America.

Bob McKinnon, host of the podcast Attribution, talks to Josh Duchan an ethnomusicologist specializing in American popular music. He has published three books, including Billy Joel: America’s Piano Man and “We Didn’t Start the Fire”: Billy Joel and Popular Music Studies. You’ll also hear from the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel.

For more information on Piano Man @ 50 and the resources mentioned in this program, please visit:

Joshua Duchan

Billy Joel:  America’s Piano Man

We Didn’t Start the Fire: Billy Joel and Popular Music Studies

Billy Joel

Billy Joel: My Life, A Piano Man’s

Journey @ The Long Island Music $ Entertainment Hall of Fame

The Piano Man @ 50 is a WLIW-FM special program distributed in partnership with Chasing the Dream, a public media initiative from The WNET Group, reporting on poverty, justice, and economic opportunity in America. You can learn more at pbs.org/chasingthedream. Major funding for Chasing the Dream is provided by The JPB Foundation.