Blog Archives
Transmogrified into a Novella
Gary Noland Author Interview
Jagdlied is a genre-crossing novel with elements of a satire, drama, and erotica as well. Did you start writing with this in mind, or did this happen organically as you were writing?
I began this project in 1991 with no intention other than to sketch out a salacious five- or six-page short story as a brief diversion from other more ambitious musical projects I was engaged in at the time. It grew into a twenty-page story, at which point I decided to set it aside as a “completed” work, even going so far as to affix an opus number to it in my otherwise (mostly) musical oeuvre. I moved on to other projects. When I returned to the story about eleven years later, I was dissatisfied with what I had written. I felt the characterizations were flat and the use of language too bland and conventional to suit my tastes, so I performed some deeper edits and revisions until the piece transmogrified into a novella of approximately 60 pages. Vaguely satisfied with what I had done, I set the text aside for another eight years or so and when I returned to it I thought it might need a few additional minor edits. Little did I know then that I would be embarking upon the creation of a 230,000-word magnum opus containing 290 graphic scores, an elaborate system by which musicians could extemporize against the text while it’s being narrated, as well as 108 Youtube links to performances of my musical compositions to enrich the piece even more. To answer your question: I never know in advance exactly how a work (whether literary or musical) will turn out. It happens, as you say, organically while it’s being created. I learn more and more about the characters of a novel as the situations and dialogues are interpolated into its structure. My own life experiences inform the transformation of a work’s gestalt to a certain degree. There are many creative people who plan their pieces meticulously in advance of writing anything down. Such an approach has seldom (if ever) been my mode of operation.
The characters in this novel, I felt, were intriguing and well developed. Who was your favorite character to write for?
Thank you. My favorite, perhaps, is one of the more unmitigatedly evil characters in the novel: Chief Justice Dizzy O’Nance. He oversees a kangaroo court in the “Hall of Injustice,” where the questionable protagonist Melody is put on trial without any form of due process. He is a veritable Dr. Crucifer, Judge Holden, and Iago compounded into one.
This book was a collective effort between you, Dolly Gray Landon, and Lon Gaylord Dylan. What was the collaboration process like?
Were we actually three separate entities, the collaboration would have been a much happier one. I think your question tongue-in-cheekly references the anagrams I devised as the two separate pen names I employ for the author and illustrator (I go my own name as the composer). It is difficult to compartmentalize writing text, composing and performing music, drawing graphic scores, and even making original films of one-man performances of this piece. I am now very much in a temper to collaborate with other performers (perhaps a narrator other than yours truly) and a variety of instrumentalists. I enjoy participating as both narrator and pianist simultaneously but I don’t mind engaging (read: luxuriating) in only one of these roles. Pantomimists, dancers, and culinary artists are an extravagance that would require a massive budget. Intimate chamber groups of, say, three or four musicians, are far more practical.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be published?
I have another magnum opus that has been on and off the burners for upwards of 24 years. It is entitled Venge Art, and is, in certain respects, even more megalomaniacal than Jagdlied insomuch as the improvisational cues are interpolated within—as opposed to being separated from—the text, as are the conventionally notated scores, some of which require super-virtuosic skill on the part of their executants. I am hoping to return to Venge Art to revise and round it off some more. It is a text piece of approximately 300,000 words and 500 pages of notated music (including a 2-hour long string quartet that was my Harvard dissertation back in 1989). A book on my idiosyncratic harmonic method is also in the works. At this point in time, however, I am more interested in tying up some loose ends: various chamber works awaiting completion, a couple of plays in verse, and numerous other projects. It is, unfortunately, impossible for me to give you a precise timeline.
Jagdlied officially goes on sale August 30th, 2018 and will become available in several printed versions. One should be able to pre-order it by August 15th, if not sooner.
Author Links: Twitter | YouTube | Facebook | Website
![Jagdlied: a Chamber Novel for Narrator, Musicians, Pantomimists, Dancers & Culinary Artists (color paperback) by [Landon, Dolly Gray]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61zL%2BQ6E4RL.jpg)
This musically and graphically enriched chamber novel is an over-the-top black and blue comic extravaganza about the conspiratorial undoing of a teenage entitlement princess. The story throbs throughout with an undercurrent of apocalyptic motifs related to the extinction of art, fall of empire, and coming of the Antichrist. It is an epic farce that reads like an erotically supercharged psychological suspense thriller. The narrative takes the reader/audient on a veritable boomerang roller-coaster ride (with multiple inversions) through a reputational strip-and-whiptease of the novel’s malignantly artful (albeit ingenuously doe-eyed) protagonist: a wealthy young heiress and socialite who boasts an exclusive claim to her progenitors’ munificent estate. Her inheritance comprises an immense fortune amassed through shareholder investments in the world’s largest employment recruiter: the multi-national temp agency behemoth known as the Pleasant Peasant Corporation.
The character-driven narrative of Jagdlied explores themes of jilted love, misinterpreted motives, paranoid ideations, bombastic egos, ghoulish envy, smoldering jealousy, unconscionable revenge ploys, extravagant public humiliations, ruthless power games, insatiable greed, pernicious corruption, feigned moral outrage from all sides, and even (Heaven forfend!) coldblooded murder—all the type of stuff pre-calculated to magnetize your run-of-the-thrill-seeking bookworms and bibliophiles.
A rich repository of tongue-in-cheek nonce words, malapropisms, neologisms, archaisms, spoonerisms, slanguage, and whole swaths of unintelligible nonsense, the text of Jagdlied is also replete with irreverently lurid, salacious, and scatologic elements, which serve to set it in motion as a formidable contender for the distinctive cachet of being regarded (by cultivated aesthetes of omnifarious persuasions) as a momentously serious dirty book. It is targeted towards percipient readers and audients in possession of a well-seasoned sick and—dare it be said—cruel batch of funny bones inflected with a gallows-cum-smoking-room bent.
Whilst the plot of this story (grotesquely absurd as it will undoubtedly be esteemed) embraces reflexively cringeworthy sadomasochistic motifs, its author would hesitate to instyle it as porn, yet he would not be wholly disinclined to characterize it as a farcical parody thereof. And whilst at the same time its author is admittedly predisposed to eschew ascribing labels of any kind to this opus (especially seeing as what he has concocted is so rarefied in its formal structure that it cannot be facilely pigeonholed), it may not be altogether off the mark to view it as a form of literary neurotica (if, indeed, there is such a genre) as opposed to the more boilerplate literotica—or what in sex nazi circles is dysphemistically adverted to (in no uncertain squirms) as “filth.”
Whilst the text of Jagdlied may be read in silence as a novel in the traditional sense, it is ultimately written for the purpose of being recited by a skilled elocutionist to the accompaniment of extemporized music by ad hoc variable ensembles in relatively brief, self-contained or—depending on how one looks at it—semi self-contained episodes with the aid of a do-it-yourself improvisation kit provided in its appendix. This “kit” is likenable to a Baroque-style table of ornaments, albeit comprehending specific sets of chance operations for each and every participant involved in renditions of individual fascicles of this work. Aside from entailing a professional narrator and musical extemporizers, the score discretionarily calls for pantomime actors, dancers (hence choreographers), set designers, culinary artists, and even members of the audience itself.
Beguiled
Beguiled by Karma Kitaj is definitely a MUST read. One of the greatest things about Beguiled is it hooks you right from the start. Within reading the first two paragraphs I was hooked, I knew right away that this was going to be a book that I couldn’t put down until I had finished it.
The story of Beguiled starts out with a young woman leaving her husband. Upon leaving her husband with her young son this woman finds herself on her parent’s doorstep as she really has no other place to go. As the first chapter closes the reader is taken back in time to this young woman’s childhood. Beguiled isn’t just a romance story, it is a story about growing up and finding your own way in the world.
Beguiled follows the life and adventures of a young girl named Miriam and follows her story as she grows into a young lady. Miriam is a young Jewish girl with Russian immigrant parents who grew up during the 1920’s. The story goes into the hard childhood of Miriam and how no matter what she did she could never please her mother. Miriam’s father loved the theater and took Miriam to as many shows as he possibly could. The love of theater instilled a strong desire in young Miriam to become an actress, despite what her mother thought.
The story takes place during the 1920’s where women were not seen as equals to men. Beguiled does touch upon some political aspects, but the story is not overly political. Beguiled is filled with historical events and is written in a way that allows you to really connect with the characters. Women’s suffrage is touched upon in Beguiled and the author also tackles some other social situations.
As you progress deeper and deeper into Beguiled you will find yourself pleasantly surprised at the way the story is told. As you read one page and then another you can’t help but find yourself wanting to know what is going to happen next in Miss Miriam’s life. Beguiled isn’t a typical romance story filled with wanderlust and girls who are seeing stars; there is only the slightest suggestion of romance towards the very end of the book. The main story behind Beguiled is that of a young girl who grows up and finds out just who she really is and how she can actually make a difference in the world.
Although this story does go back in time, it doesn’t jump around from past to present as many other stories do. Something else that I really like about this book was how each chapter identified the year it was taking place in. If you know your history you can easily follow along with the events that were taking place and perhaps anticipate what was about to happen next.
Pages: 349 | ASIN: B079924GDK
Seven Beyond
![Seven Beyond by [Atrium, Stella]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51zDO3d1GLL.jpg)
Dr David Christopher Meenins finds himself haunted. Haunted and disturbed by his past. He needs to reconcile with that past in order to move forward to a new home world. On the journey to self-discovery and a somewhat clean conscience, he is accompanied by mysterious Linda Deemer and the fabulous Lady Drasher among others. These people will all grow closer as the journey progresses. They will help the good Doctor unravels his past and come to terms with it. They will grow to become good friends and their friendship will lead to finding a new home, one that they will all revere.
The relationship between the characters is especially heartwarming. It is a beautiful friendship between inherently different people. All with different patterns of thought but are similar in the quintessence of human nature. The characters are all loveable and relatable to the reader. Their warmth and personalities jump off the pages and wrap the reader in a halo of joy. Lady Drasher is a particularly outstanding character. Her strength and stance are inspiring and mesmerizing. The author has made the female characters into pillars. They are not merely damsels but strong women who rely on their own capabilities.
Stella Atrium executes the plot with lustrous expertise and flair. Her writing flows effortlessly. She effectively captures the attention of the reader and keeps it hostage until the very end. The book is colored with intrigue, adventure, and a splash of humor. Maybe a dollop of romance on the side. The plot is quite original. For a fiction fantasy book, this story is quite enthralling. Weaving in fantasy worlds can be quite tricky and most probably doomed to fail but the author has handled it very well. Her portrayal of the characters in their natural (or unnatural) forms is impressive and masterful. This book is evidence of the vast level of creativity the author holds.
Dr Meenins is a wonderful character. His disposition works to gain the allegiance of the reader. One will find themselves cheering him on as he escapes assassins and works hard at his mission. At the beginning, the reader will have a little trouble staying on track but that situation dissolves quickly. It may also be problematic to keep up with the characters. This does not influence the literary experience. The book still holds charm and just enough mystique to look past that issue.
You will experience a cornucopia of emotions with this book. This is not the book you idle about with by the pool. It is a book you take seriously. A book you read intentionally and with fervor. The author will display exactly how deep her well of vocabulary runs. Either you can enjoy that or let it daunt you. If you choose the former, a scintillating experience is in store. There is nothing like it. Take the trip with Dr Chris.
Pages: 290 | ASIN: B00ICTAIN0
Tales from the Kingdom of Telidore Book Trailer
She traveled to a new world to find her sister. She left her whole life behind. Now, to keep Emily safe, Alicina must pose as a wealthy aristocrat. Plunged into a royal court steeped in intrigue, she is forced to do battle with someone she once called a friend. Will her belief in herself and the magical powers she has found be enough to save them all?
Welcome to Telidore.
How do you Define the Greater Good
John Joseph Teressi Author Interview
Portals in Time follows ten time travelers on their quest to find a cure for an epidemic of people who are aging prematurely. What was the inspiration behind the idea for this novel?
There is no doubt that those of us living in our modern world feel and sense the compression of time upon our lives. Not only are we in competition with our unknown and fast developing high tech future; but we are also aware, perhaps more than ever, of our personal limitations as human beings. Our sense of identity and belonging no longer comes from the village and its elders nor the wisdom that they might bestow upon us as we question our role in society.
We are rapidly becoming separated from who we are as social and soulful beings and are now being asked to interface with computer systems which are constantly evolving. As a result, we are feeling alienated and disempowered. There is no heart or soul within a machine; and yet, we are witnessing the acceleration of High Tech into all aspects of our lives.
The beings called Gripps in the novel, “Portals in Time: The Quest for Un-Old-Age” have become victims of an advanced society in which all forms of personal expression have been labeled as possessing only extraneous and superficial values. All values of the heart and soul are considered ephemeral concepts that no longer serve the ongoing process of the Greater Good. They chant slogans created to impose internal law and order in each and every Gripp citizen: “We grab on! We grip on! We grind on! Because that is our way!”
Quite simply, their overwhelming desire to conform has left them devoid of all their natural impulses and sensitivity. Stripped of positive thoughts and self-reinforcing feelings, they have begun to age much faster than normal.
It is time for us to reflect upon how we as human beings define our future! At the moment we are being asked to interface with machines as if those machines represent our Greater Good! The only question that remains is how do you define the Greater Good?
The ten characters we follow are prisoners with specific skills and various backgrounds. What was your favorite character to write for?
The main protagonists in the book are ten prisoners from Grippland who volunteer to become time travelers with a mission to locate and return with the Secret to Un-Old-age! Their rewards for a successful mission will be freedom and a new identity. Their names are Grist the Commander, Twist the Politician and Scheme the Businessman, Babble the Publicist, Stare the Engineer, Dr. Grouse, Grubb the Biologist, Gritt the Geologist, Grimm the Psychologist, and Grind the Archeologist. They are numbered one through ten according to their perceived value on the mission.
The Team members were chosen for their specific skills and abilities to work together and explore any new worlds they might encounter. Most are mature and hardened individuals who are definitely capable of adding to the success of the mission. A few of them only volunteered for the Eye of Time Exploration Team for personal gain and/or to escape Grippland!
Grist, the military leader and former General, has earned the rank of being number One on the Mission. Twist as the name might imply is a politician who is well experienced in twisting the truth. He has earned the rank of number Two and has been deemed valuable as one capable of conjuring up plans which might deceive any unsuspecting and naïve society. Number Three, Scheme Businessman was chosen for his ability to exploit anything of potential value.
As you can imagine with ten principal characters it is difficult to develop them all completely, however, they are each highlighted in various scenes throughout the book when they encounter their own misadventures and inspirations.
Stare the Engineer is number Five; and as his name implies, he appears to always be in another world even though you may be talking directly to him. He is considered extraordinarily valuable to the team since he is the only team member who possesses advanced engineering skills. His character is highlighted several times in the book when he encounters a trans-dimensional entity by the name of Delphos who can enter dreams and so much more.
It is very difficult to determine any particular favorite character. Perhaps it would be number Seven, Gripp Grubb the Biologist. I favor him because he endures so much and helps to bring the storyline forward in many different ways.
I enjoyed creating all the Gripp personalities and using their unique characteristics to develop and move the action forward in a believable fashion.
In the beginning the Gripps are perceived as ruthless and senseless beings without feelings or introspection. As they progress throughout their adventures, they all encounter different aspects of themselves, which allows them to gain greater insight into their being. The last chapter of the book demonstrates that no matter how stubborn and shut down they have been, the Gripps did learn and begin to understand a new way of thinking and being. They left with hope and inspiration in their hearts.
This is a fascinating novel that is high in social commentary. What were some themes you wanted to capture while writing this book?
“Portals in Time: The Quest for Un-Old-Age”, is an allegorical adventure based upon an advanced culture in which the human element of society has been deemed irrelevant by the edict that each must bow to the Greater Good. This concept ensured that High Command could dominate all aspects of Gripp life.
Part of the autocratic ideology was that all individuals were considered guilty of something until proven un-guilty. It was impossible to proclaim innocence since High Command was certain that it would only be a matter of time before your crimes were uncovered. Laws and regulations were being devised, implemented, and changed daily and all statements and even thoughts were suspect. Thought Stalkers were immediately rewarded for reporting on their fellow Gripps.
Eventually, Grippland citizens lost all sense of who and what they were, but more importantly, they were also unaware of what they were becoming. Without joy and wonder, humor and laughter, they began to age rapidly as more and more restrictions penetrated and encircled their lives.
The Quest for Un-Old-Age compelled scientists to find a cure for the rampant, premature aging of the population. They send ten members of the expendable community of prisoners through time, hoping to find a solution. These members arrive in a beautiful land on another dimension called Acronos. It is a magical place where nature is intelligent and aware of All That Is.
This book was designed to show that we must be far more aware of who we really are as a humans, possessing our precious sensitivities, feelings and soulful expressions.
On their journey of exploration of Level Seven, the Grips are exposed to the Seven Harmonies of Live which represent the rediscovery of what they had lost as a society. The Harmonies are (1) Inner Tone, (2) Rhythm and Rhyme, (3) Trust and Intuition, (4) Knowing Your Heart, (5) Joy and Wonder, (6) Humor and Laughter, (7) Forgiveness and Letting Go.
The principle theme that runs through Portals in Time is that we are indeed all travelers through time. We want to make the most of our lives and be empowered by what we know and experience. If we lose our sensitivity and awareness of our core values as human beings, we may be transforming ourselves into something more compatible with a Machine Culture than with each other.
What is the next book that you are writing and when will it be available?
The sequel to “Portals in Time”, sub-titled, “The Prophecy” finds the Eye of Time Explorers back in Grippland, but they are experiencing a time warp, which advanced them more than three hundred years into their society’s future. Everything they knew about life in their former world is gone. As they struggle to comprehend why their society vanished, they eventually realize that information and the processing of that information became far more valuable than any member of Grippland.
Gripps were eventually replaced by working machines and those machines were replaced by even more advanced machines.
The ten surviving members of the Eye of Time Exploration Team managed to successfully return to their point of origin, but in reality their point of origin no longer exists. They try to comprehend what occurred and ultimately discover that groups of robots went to war against more advanced robots.
The Gripps arrived in an the future after the great Robot Wars, when the remnants of Gripp society existed only in small, scattered groups in tunnels, caves, and in the forbidden zone deemed to be radioactive and dangerous to all synthetic beings, i.e. the Robots.
The principal themes in the sequel will test the Gripp’s resolve and creativity as well as the values of humanity that may still lie dormant within them. Will they remember those adventures on Level Seven and will their exposure to the Seven Harmonies of Life empower them with renewed strength and resolve which they might potentially share with the remnants of Gripp society?
Will these ten former prisoners become the heroes of a defeated society in an advanced future and will they be capable of reclaiming that future from the tight grip of powerful and advanced machines?
At present there is no specific timetable for the release of the second book. It is still in the design phase.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Website
![Portals in Time: The Quest for Un-Old-Age by [Teressi, John Joseph]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51YePdsTj1L.jpg)
If you enjoyed, The Alchemist, A Wrinkle in Time, and The Celestine Prophecy, you will love this book. If you thrive in nature and appreciate a spiritual journey leading to wondrous discoveries that can change your life, you will be amazed by this exciting adventure that engages and entertains readers of all ages.
The story begins with ten volunteers, the Grippland Eye of Time Exploration Team who are former prisoners sent via time-travel to discover the Secret of Un-Old-Age. Grippland High Command rules with an iron fist, using thousands of laws, censorship, and intense surveillance. They reward Thought Stalkers and have eliminated the use of positive words that are now hidden away in the Word Museum. The Gripps Exploration Team’s mission is to save their civilization and find a cure for the citizens who are aging prematurely.
The Gripps arrive in another dimension, a mysterious land called Acronos filled with natural beauty and harmony. They encounter many intelligent and unusual life-forms and are shocked by nature’s amazing awareness. They are greeted by the Guardians of Acronos, two highly-evolved time-travelers who attempt to share the wisdom of The Seven Harmonies. The Gripps experience one surprising event after another in which time changes, twists and turns until they begin to realize that their thoughts are creating their reality and reality is mirroring who they are and revealing their true nature.
There are few times in our lives when we can become lost in a fantasy that can affect our lives in such a meaningful and positive way. You will not forget the characters and the wonder of nature in this story of love, patience, understanding, and redemption that will enhance your life and live in your heart.
Surrender to You
Mellie is not the average twenty-something. Her older brother, a SWAT member, and all his fellow officers inundate her day-to-day life. Though Mellie has her sights set on Morris, she can barely bring herself to function when she is in his presence. Morris, her brother’s best friend, is also a SWAT officer and, amazingly, has the same stunned-into-silence demeanor toward Mellie. When the two are finally forced into an initial date, it seems the stars are aligned for the beyond-perfect couple. Before Mellie and Morris can begin their life together, they must overcome one glaring obstacle–the one person who knows no boundaries when it comes to keeping Morris from being with the one woman he loves more than anything.
Surrender to You, book one in Nikki Mays’s SAPD SWAT Series, introduces two main characters beginning an intensely romantic life with one another. Mays’s first in a series is primarily a romance novel peppered with a hint of mystery and a moving commentary on mental health. Mays incorporates concerns over addressing mental health needs via her antagonist who is not revealed until late in the story line. Though the plot takes a harrowing turn, Mays makes sure to tastefully deal with her character’s failing mental health and the various ways those around the character missed cues.
The author does a nice job of keeping readers guessing as to the identity of Mellie’s stalker. I found myself guessing the culprit’s identity based on three different motives as the reading progressed. I was not completely surprised to find out who had been harassing Mellie. However, I was impressed by Mays’s ability to redirect my attention to and away from three characters simultaneously.
For fans of romance novels, Surrender to You contains it all. I was more impressed with the style in which Mays has chosen to use in her writing. The bounce back and forth between Mellie and Morris’s first-person accounts is highly effective in engaging the reader. The first-person narrative provides a much more intimate look at the characters’ thought processes and allows the reader to both sympathize and empathize with their struggles. In addition, Mays makes use of a relatable conversational tone in her writing that keeps the reader involved and invested in the budding relationship and the mystery surrounding Mellie’s unwanted attention. All in all, Surrender to You is an easy and fast read due to Mays’s ability to reach her audience so quickly in the opening chapter with Mellie’s heartfelt confessions.
Mays gives readers well-drawn characters and has established a wonderful cast readers will be eager to see again in the next installment. Mays has tapped into a target audience who will most definitely agree with Mellie in her assessment of the prowess of the members of the South Amberly SWAT.
Pages: 267 | ASIN: B07F8FVHNQ
Unsteady
![Unsteady by [York, Elizabeth]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/516hFjyPcPL.jpg)
Unsteady kicks off in chapter one by giving us a glimpse into the childhood lives of its main characters, London and Logan. London and Logan both attend a Catholic boarding school and have similar backgrounds in that they both feel utterly abandoned by their families. The connection that they share as children is very heartfelt and the author does a good job of portraying this. Despite the book seeming rather rushed (which is to be expected from its 313 pages), I think the author also does a fantastic job of getting the reader attached to the characters. I was sufficiently swept away and invested in these characters and wanted to keep reading to see what happens to London and Logan and see how their story unfolds.
Unsteady is a steamy romance novel. As for the adult relationships that occur in this book, several of them are of an erotic nature. Logan is certainly a ladies man, there is no mistake about that. He is an airline pilot that tends to have lurid relationships with women all over the world. His behaviors aren’t completely debased; well actually…they are, but rather the reason is somewhat understandable. However, the aspect of the book that I thought could have used some polish was the language used in the erotic encounters. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say that when I see the term “one eyed snake” it doesn’t evoke ideas of romance. The novel is filled with these hot and heavy moments that turn this steamy romance into a erotic story that will keep you wide eyed. This combination will be welcomed by any fan of the romance genre and it is certainly intriguing, but it’s marked by a change in tone and story telling. The romance part of the novel is well done, as stated earlier, I was invested in the characters and couldn’t wait to see how their relationship turned out. But while the expert writing skill displayed in these romance section easily gets you invested, the writing in the erotic sections of the book doesn’t seem to match. I felt like most of the story was written by someone with superb writing skills while the erotic sections were written by a teenager with raging hormones.
But I don’t want to make it sound like the book was unreadable though, I enjoyed the suspense of the story and the action surrounding London’s job with the CIA. Overall, this book contains an entertaining story that will leave you biting your nails. Romance novels are about the characters and their relationships, and this book has some alluring characters that get into some… sticky situations.
Pages: 436 | ASIN: B07C1V1TS8
The Day That A Ran Away
![The Day That A Ran Away by [Fegan, B.C.R.]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Rs%2B3rXL%2BL._SX260_.jpg)
The Day that A Ran Away is an adorably witty story about the letters of the alphabet just deciding not to report for duty one day. Master Jet is trying to write the alphabet and he just can’t do it with all the letters on holiday. Each letter has either decided not to show up or has had something that prevented it from showing up. Understandably, it’s hard to write the alphabet without even one of the letters. Master Jet may think he is fooling his teacher, but Mrs. May is way too smart to fall for his creative tricks.
My kids are much older now, but they would have loved this book when they were little. The writing is catchy and flows well for reading aloud. The rhymes are cute. The colors are bright and eye-catching. This was especially always a hit with my own children. The illustrations are beautiful. It is very visually pleasing. It is also funny. It made me laugh a couple of times. I actually think it would be fun to read aloud. Any parent who has had to read the same book one hundred times can tell you how important it is to have a story that flows well verbally.
My favorite part of the book is the beautiful illustrations. They are by Lenny Wen. As with most children’s books, the illustrations are a huge part of whether the book is a hit or not. Since most kids are being read to at this stage, the illustrations have to really appeal to them. A nice touch was adding a few “hidden” images within each letter’s page—having the kids match the letter with the object. My kids would have loved trying to find these little gems. Overall, the artwork is beautifully done.
Together B.C.R. Fegan and Lenny Wen have created a catchy, appealing story for little kids and their parents. I really enjoyed it. I believe kids and parents everywhere would enjoy it as well.
Pages: 33 | ASIN: B07DMN4VVP
LITERARY TITAN 