Along with his wife Dorothy Hoobler, he was 82 years old, a biography of Margaret Mead's Young Awards, a mystery novel set in 18th century Japan, and the most recent high-profile title, “Did you prepare for the Love Making of Love Making?”
His wife and daughter Ellen Hoobler Banabadichal said the cause of his death in the hospital was a stroke. His death was not widely reported at the time.
Hoobler is a Journeyman author and contributed to a series familiar to parents a night ago or parental parents, including a penguin's hugely successful history book known as the “big head” of cartoon-style covers. (2015) and “What was the San Francisco earthquake?” (2016).
The couple also wrote their own series. They were the most proud of the ten “American Family Albums” they wrote for Oxford University Press, starting with “The Chinese American Family Album” in 1994. The series won the honor by drawing diaries, photos and newspaper clippings to tell stories of American immigration experiences.
Such perceptions were typical of Houbler's output for younger readers and were based on large-scale research, but presented history and personality in a compelling age-appropriate language.
Given their prolific output and the respect they gained among teachers, parents and librarians, it is a good bet that a significant proportion of certain primary libraries were written by the Houblers.
They take their subjects and readers seriously, and assume that storytelling can mix with appropriate facts and make them interested, for example, in China's Communist leadership (Zhou Enlai, 1986) or the World War (The Trench: Trenches: Warting figning figning figning farting).
Although most of their works were non-fiction, they wrote novels: “In Darkness, Death” (2004) was part of a seven-book series on Samurai detectives and won the Edgar Award from the American Mystery Writers.
Despite his extensive writing, Mr. Houbler was by no means a famous name. However, he gained a bit of fame when he appeared on the TV quiz show “Who Wants to Be a Billionaire” in 2001.
Wearing a black sweater made by Mrs. Hoobler, he ran through enough rounds to win $500,000.
It also gave them enough financial cushions to expand their audience to adult readers. This is a market where you cannot rely on multi-book contracts.
They wrote books with Mary Shelley about writing “Frankenstein,” “Monsters: The Curse of Mary Shelley and the Frankenstein” (2006) and “The Crimes in Paris: True Stories of Murder, Theft and Detection” (2009).
Their 103rd final book, about the President's love, was born almost by chance. When Hoobler came across a letter he wrote to his wife Patricia before becoming president, he was researching it in the archives of Richard M. Nixon.
The book, published last year, received positive reviews from novelist Wm Akers, who wrote in the New York Times that he answered the question “What is the President of Love like?” With a refreshing “dopey just like everyone else.” ”
Thomas William Hoobler was born on June 12, 1942, in Cincinnati, the son of printer John Hoobler, and Jane (Pachau) Hoobler, who managed the house.
His life with letters began early. He worked with his father as a child and at age 10 he got his first payment job as a copy leader.
He studied English at Notre Dame University, graduated in 1964 and graduated for a year at the Iowa Writers Workshop. He then returned to Cincinnati where he taught high school English and coached basketball.
Wanting to advance his writing career, he moved to New York City in 1971. He met Dorothy Law on his first day in town. They got married that year.
Mrs. Hoobler and her daughter survive him. His brother, Jerry, passed away in 2016.
Hooblers spent most of the 1970s as magazine editors, even after he began writing books. All their first three books appeared in the mid-1970s: “House Plant”, manual. “Frontier Diary,” a story about young girls' travels in the 19th century across America. “Margaret Mead: Life in Science.”
That last book in particular set a template for their approach.
They sat side by side and stuffed manuscripts with typewriter matching, as enquiries had envisaged. They worked in separate rooms and brought separate responsibilities. They both wrote research, but Mrs. Houbler got better in the former — she even interviewed Ms. Meade — and Mrs. Houbler led the writing.
“Sometimes, I do a very rough draft, and then he'll write that final script – it was really dependent on me,” Mrs. Houbler said in an interview. “I think we worked together pretty well. Obviously we've completed these projects.”
