GETTING IN TOUCH WITH KIDS' DOUBLE DIGITS.

Byline: Evan Henerson

Staff Writer

A memorable birthday party is a thing of beauty. Particularly if it inspires nightmares.

That's the opinion of newly minted kids' book author Dean Pitchford, the Oscar-winning songwriter best-known for "Fame" and most of the "Footloose" songs.

Pitchford, who grew up in Hawaii, recalls convincing his parents to take a bunch of kids to a screening of the B-grade horror film "The Giant Claw" for his older brother's seventh birthday.

"We loaded everybody into two station wagons. The guys loved it. The girls were grossed out, and everybody went home afterward to eat cake and ice cream and play pin the tail on the donkey," recalls Pitchford.

"It all seemed fine. Then the next morning, the calls started coming. 'What movie did you take my child to?' All these kids were waking up in the middle of the night, pointing to the ceiling, screaming 'The claw! The claw!' "

"My brother and I were secretly pleased we had created such a ruckus."

"The Big One-Oh," Pitchford's first novel, was partly inspired by this memorable feat of his youth. The idea of a child facing a milestone birthday -- in this case, protagonist Charley Maplewood leaves single digits to turn 10 -- intrigued Pitchford as well.

Charley is a fan of horror-themed comic books, and the party he orchestrates ... well, let's just say it becomes the event of the season for some rather unanticipated reasons.

"The concept of a kid planning his own birthday party was something I had never seen before," says John Rudolph, senior editor at G.P. Putnam's Sons, a division of Penguin Young Reader's Group, which published "The Big One-Oh." "It's one of those classic high-concept novels, like, 'How to Eat Fried Worms' or something."

While the idea was percolating in his brain, real life took a turn that spurred the author forward.

His sister, Patricia, was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, leaving her husband a widower and her songwriter brother Dean -- who had been named legal guardian in the event of both parents' death -- one step closer to becoming a parent.

Pitchford's niece, Colby Colodner, was 9 at the time of her mother's death, and Colby's brother, Jordan, was 3. The author says he wrote "The Big One-Oh" "kind of as a way of to talk to my niece."

Colby read drafts of her uncle's novel and gave him notes. She also is the inspiration for Donna Pointer, the pined-for object of Charley's affection.

"The Big One-Oh" is also Pitchford's entree into what he calls the "bunny-eat-bunny" world of young-adult publishing after 30 years spent first in music and then in film. He won an Oscar for writing the "Fame" title song, and he wrote both the screenplay and much of the music for "Footloose" in 1984 as well as the film's Broadway musical adaptation.

He says the readings and book signings he's been doing on behalf of "The Big One-Oh" have brought him back in touch with some rather enthusiastic fans in ways that film and music don't.

"When I wrote all those millions of songs, I didn't see those people listening to the radio and snapping their fingers," Pitchford says. "You rarely get to stand back and watch an audience groove to something you've done.

"Now I'm going into places where people really want to hear what I've written. It's kind of exciting and very wonderful."

Evan Henerson, [phone]

[e-mail]

DEAN PITCHFORD

What: The author will read from and sign copies of his new kids' book, "The Big One-Oh."

When: 11 a.m. Saturday.

Where: Storyopolis, 12348 Ventura Blvd., Studio City.

Info: [phone]. www.storyopolis.com.

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Photo:

Childhood adventures inspired Dean Pitchford to write "The Big One-Oh."