Katonah author: Kids, eat your vegetables or else!

Katonah author Pete Grossman in the recording studio. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Cover art for audiobook, "The Pea Is As Big as He Is!" by Pete Grossman. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

By ROBERT BRUM

Does this dinnertime standoff sound familiar? “I am NOT gonna eat these vegetables!” “You are NOT leaving this table until you do!”

Pete Grossman’s own childhood showdown with his parents dragged on for hours. “I finally gave in because I was getting a little tired,” he recalled recently.

The experience loomed large in Grossman’s imagination for years, inspiring his first children’s audiobook, “The Pea Is As Big As He Is!” a parable about a boy who literally shrinks after refusing to eat his veggies.

“That was the wellspring, the foundation of the story, and then to develop it into something that would be interesting and hopefully grab people’s attention,” said the Katonah resident, a voiceover artist in the growing children’s audiobook field.

In “The Pea,” Grossman voices both Colin, the recalcitrant 7-year-old who refuses to eat even one single pea, and his exasperated mom.

The audiobook, suggested for ages 4 to 8, is available for download on Purple Tie Publishing, his own publishing operation, to bypass industry giants like Audible, which swallow a chunk of an artist’s profits. 

Grossman’s eight-minute audiobook was a hit with Judy McCormick’s first-grade class at Katonah Elementary School.

“I wasn’t sure how they would do with listening and not having an actual book but we had been reading books to find the central message and this story fit in beautifully,” McCormack, who has since retired, wrote in an email to Grossman. 

She recalled recently that her students enjoyed Grossman’s narration: “It held their attention which was a little surprising since they were not usually asked to listen to something without pictures or video. Listening and being able to respond to something after hearing it is a skill that needs attention.”

Grossman records in a sound booth in his home, voicing different parts from a script displayed on a monitor. He brings a Granny Smith apple into the booth — the tartness tightens the salivary glands to keep his voice clear and dry. 

The 60-something writer and producer launched his career as a voiceover actor on the advice of a former girlfriend who was a speech therapist.

“She said, ‘You have a very good voice, you should take classes and learn how to use your voice,’ so that’s what I did.”

Grossman studied at the Weist-Barron-Ryan acting and casting agency and now facilitates an online class for fellow voiceover artists. He developed the voiceover department for the online brands and services company IAC, and is voicing interactive digital paintings created by Roz Dimon titled DIMONscapes.

Voiceovers are what Grossman calls the third act in a career that included working in film and television. He was a production assistant on director Sidney Lumet’s film, “The Verdict,” and was director Martin Scorcese’s personal assistant on “The King of Comedy” starring Robert DeNiro. 

Grossman has two other children’s audiobooks in the works. “The Mighty Oak and The Weeping Willow” is a short narrative extolling the virtues of being flexible. “Jeremy and The Clickety-Clack Bicycle” is the working title of a chapter book dealing with bullying. 

“Parents really like it because It gives them an image, but the kids learn to listen,” Grossman said of the popularity of audiobooks for kids. “But it has to be an engaging story, that’s the whole thing. Because kids are pretty distracted and it’s got to be really engaging.”

Grossman finds producing work for a young audience quite satisfying.

“I get joy from perhaps imparting some insight to children, something that makes them aware of something that they weren’t aware of, but tell it in a way where it’s palpable, not hitting them over the head, which is fun,” he said.

Robert Brum is a freelance journalist who writes about the Hudson Valley. Contact him and read his work at robertbrum.com.