After this poem came to me yesterday I was forced, after much introspection and self-examination, to come to the inescapable conclusion that I am, in fact, a 9-year-old boy trapped in a grown man’s body. Again, you have been warned…
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Book Information: 40 pages, Age 6+. Written by Sandra L. Westendorf, illustrations by Tracy Rand. Available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
The story is based on a real boy, who has autism, and the trials and tribulations he faces at school, and particularly when he is asked to present a science project to his class. Like all of us he faces obstacles, craves friendship, and seeks to find acceptance from those around him. His story is told here, in a way that is accessible to children. Continue reading
BOOK Information: 38 pages, Age: 4+. Written by Magda Olchawska, illustrations by Joanna Gniady. For a free download of the ebook, click here.
Mikolay is a boy who, like a young Harry Potter, can do magic, but isn’t supposed to when he is out of school. Always driven to find an adventure, as he plays with his friend Julia he is irresistibly drawn by the voices in the wardrobe. Reluctantly Julia agrees to investigate, and inside they find fairies, who are hiding in there from a monster which is destroying everything in their homeland. There is no way they can ask their Moms, the witches, to help, so using a crystal ball they travel to the fairies’ homeland to try to get rid of the monster.
Once there they find the monster is a machine, driven by humans, set on destroying the forest for the resources they find there. There is only one choice, Mikolay will have to attempt some advanced magic to banish the humans, protect the fairies and the forest. Will he succeed? Will they get home safely? Will they be eaten by the guard dogs? I recommend reading this charming little adventure to find out…
I often feel the best reviewers of children’s books are children, so I decided to read this to my four-year old son to see what he made of it. Not long after the story started so did the questions. What are fairies wings like? Is Mikolay’s school like mine? Are fairies animals? Where do crystal balls come from? What do witches do? Why are the fairies in the wardrobe (before the story explains)?
These were just a few of the questions he asked, which tells me one thing… the story grabbed him, and held his interest to the end. The story flies from one imagining to the next quite quickly, and his imagination took flight along with it.
I wondered before reading if the story was a little old for him, and he didn’t respond to the environmental message it contained, but the characters, events and places really came alive for him. This was also helped by the colourful and stylised pictures, which he really liked, constantly asking to turn the page to see the next one.
"'I love fairies so much. I would so love to touch one,' whispered Julia in excitement when she saw that inside the wardrobe lots of fairies were hiding. 'You can touch me. But please do not touch my wings, they are very fragile,' replied one fairy. 'I’m Farina, the fairy queen,' she introduced herself."
"'Julia, Mikolay, look!' screamed Farina pointing her finger towards the lake from where a group of people with huge dogs emerged."
I think if my son was a little older then the ecological message central to the book, and the ‘Find Out’ family activity suggestions at the end would have got him thinking. As a bedtime story though, it thoroughly engaged him, and he wanted to read it again. My son approves, and a higher recommendation I cannot think of.
NOTE: All images and quotations were included with the kind permission of the author, Magda Olchawska, and remain © Copyright of Mayan Books, 2010.
Below is something a little more serious than my normal offerings, and in all honesty I’ve got no idea if it’s any good or not…
I am but a bug,
Crushed by the shoe of my conscience.
Kindness, and decency are only a thin façade,
A broken and superficial shell,
Cracked irrevocably into thousands of pieces.
Forgiveness through atonement: to be carried and scraped a little on every surface,
Thinning, until all that is evil is gone.
A poem by T. James, September, 2011.
Ah, my first award 
No money, illicit favours or other nefarious activities were undertaken to secure this honour, honestly ;). Instead it was in a rare, and wonderfully heady state of giddy girlish delusion that Angela Addams did consider me worthy to receive this accolade (if you know Angela you will know that neither giddy nor girlish are her usual state-of-mind). Still once given, this award cannot be revoked. It is mine, Mine, MINE I SAY…. HahahahahHAHAHAHA!!!! Continue reading
For those reading this who have never heard of the OWG it’s an online writing group I was kindly invited to join several weeks ago. I met some great people there, and thought I would attempt to immortalise those I know well enough in verse. I make no apologies for the fact that some of the humour consists of ‘in jokes’, so feel free to ask them what it means on Twitter, and explore their websites to find out a little more about them.
Blame what happens below on Tammy Crosby who tried to teach me about haiku last night, but it was too complex for my little brain, and so I wrote this instead. A tribute to online friends in verse, written in a style suited to their general fun bonkers-ness. Let me know what you think, and if you’re not on the list and want to be, just let me know in the comments… I hope you enjoy it. 
Continue reading
The Bodacious Bloomers: An Award for Writers and Bloggers.
Recently I discovered that there was such a thing as a blog award when I was kindly nominated for ‘The Cute Blogger Award’ by Angela Addams (which I shall accept officially in a future post). There are other ones, but generally they celebrate achievements like being a ‘Versatile Blogger’, or reaching targets and goals like the ‘CampNaNoWriMo’ awards. Some awards cater for the cooler, darker side of the web, like the ‘Minions of Misery‘ award.
This is all wonderful, and encourages writers to reach for the stars, surpass themselves, and achieve the seemingly impossible. Then they get to brag about it to all their writing mates, whispering, “Nah, Nah!, I’m better than you…loooserrrrs!” behind their backs, but what about the looooserrrs? Is there nothing for them? Continue reading
This is my first attempt at writing something in the horror genre, and at writing a short piece of flash fiction. Please feel free to leave any comments below, I’d love to know what you think. I hope it makes your toes curl.
Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats is a collection of whimsical poems by T. S. Eliot about feline psychology and sociology, published by Faber and Faber. It is the basis for the record-setting musical Cats.[1] The poems were written during the 1930s and included by Eliot, under his assumed name “Old Possum,” in letters to his god-children.[2] They were collected and published in 1939 with cover illustrations by the author (Source: Wikipedia, Aug. 2011).
These poems are beloved by readers, and cat lovers, the world over. Few would criticise T.S. Elliot’s credentials as a poet. So only a fool would try to re-write his work given such well-loved subject matter, and the prestigious status of the original author. Only a fool, and me.
I do not contend that my attempt is of the same quality as the original source material. In fact, I offer no guarantee as to the quality of my effort, and I leave it entirely up to the reader to judge. Please be kind, as anyone who attempts something like this must clearly be a little ‘off their rocker’.
Is Andy Warhol a good painter? Some have argued that a talented teenager could replicate his work. If one of his paintings had been taken back in time, before he became famous, and was displayed at a high-school art show, would it even be noticed? Years later he became a darling of the media, and acclaimed by celebrities. Then, any piece of work done by Andy Warhol could be displayed anywhere, and would be admired, simply because it was an Andy Warhol. In writing, as in the visual arts, the context of a piece of work can change everything. Ignore it at your own risk.
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