Coloring Animal Mandalas / Wendy Piersall - Book Review

Who ever thought that, as an adult, you could self-administer art therapy through opting for coloring in pictures? If you haven’t heard about it yet, doing so might seem too close to retreating into one’s second childhood for comfort. However, one of the most sophisticated nations, if not the most sophisticated nation, on earth, France, has come up with just such a form of seeking stress relief. With over 350,000 sales in the bag, the publishers of 100 Coloriages Anti-Stress are coining the market in creating therapeutic manuals featuring the most involved pictures of artworks from the Middle Ages, patterns that are enough to turn Austin Powers think-alikes into spasms of ecstasy, and the most apparently intricate landscaped gardens that have ever been framed.

Now, from the pen of the lifelong artist, Wendy Piersall, comes a collection of thirty wildlife designs that will have you reaching for your crayons, paints, and felt-tip pens in the blink of an eye. Not only will coloring these wonderfully seductive and intriguing pictures in provide you with relief from the hurry and scurry of everyday life and its seemingly ever-present demands, but you will also be able to reach a little closer to your own personal Nirvana. Each of the pictures is, in fact, a mandala (Sanskrit for “circle”), which is a means of retreating from the world that has been used for eons as an aid to meditation and healing. So both old and new impulses are catered for in this diverse mix of lions, dragons, peacocks and unicorns, among other creatures of both real and fantasy worlds.

If you are a parent, why not join your kids in their coloring-in activities—after all, you can legitimately give yourself time off, while participating in an enjoyable pastime with them as well. If you are a harassed employee, who desperately needs to put your feet up at the end of a hard day’s work, yet who cannot abide to face another evening of same old, same old TV, why not relax by focusing on a quiet and soothing way of spending some hard-won “me” time, helping to create an artwork that will look beautiful with minimal effort, and experience, on your side? 

Coloring Animal Mandalas (Ulysses Press; ISBN: 978-1-61243-350-9) might just also set you free from stereotypical thinking regarding “age-appropriate activities,” and open you up to a whole new world of self-exploration and delight. Just give Piersall a chance to take you there, and you won’t be looking back, but only forwards to your next colorful creation!

Experimental Ruminations / Ali Znaidi - Book Review

The Prologue to renowned Tunisian poet Ali Znaidi’s Experimental Ruminations (Fowlpox Press, 2012), which consists of two lines from Leonard Cohen’s Book of Longing, suitably sets the tone for the poems, including a number of sonnets, that are contained in this chapbook: “I followed the course / from chaos to art”. That the current work is, most clearly, a work of art, can be seen in the great care that is taken by Znaidi in presenting the poems, both sequentially, within the book as a whole, and structurally, in terms of each individual poem.

From emptiness emerges “full dream”, as the first sonnet in the five that start this chapbook proclaims. The sonnets, although not in traditional sonnet form, but written in free verse, as many of Znaidi’s poems are, nevertheless have the intent of sonnets, in that they focus on conveying an overwhelming emotion, which is, essentially, based on a paradox that is implicit in the human predicament.  The poet’s brave and confrontational approach to life can be seen in the climax to Sonnet 2, where he welcomes the daylight that follows on “the murk of the night”.

Znaidi’s sensitiveness to the deeper workings of an artist’s mind are voiced in his third sonnet, which compares smashed butterfly corpses adorning the walls, mural-like, as a result of the insects having lost their way during a solar eclipse, to a canvas that might astound even Salvador Dali. The greyness and bleakness of life to an individual who longs for the greenness and freshness of the prairie is heightened by Znaidi’s repetition of “grey” in Sonnet 4, where the monotony of the landscape is only alleviated by the inner eye of the imagination.

The poet’s appreciation of the vulnerability of the downtrodden is expressed through the startling juxtaposition of “giraffe people” with “The little snail / [that] doesn’t like to be trodden”. His urgent appeal to “autograph lovers” to “Please, think of little snails!” is striking in its poignancy. That Znaidi is at home with elements of domesticity can be seen in his “A Sonnet for a Clothesline”, where a preoccupation with a clothesline embodies his concern with the linearity of life’s progression over the fluttering transience of “[b]eautiful sparrows”.

The grittiness and depth of Znaidi’s grasp on the fundamental wellsprings of life (which he holds in common with Leonard Cohen, so little wonder for his appreciation of the singer-songwriter, as evidenced in the Prologue) is conveyed in terms of “an endless orgasmic trembling / of lust” in “A Dying Lust”. The elemental nature of things stripped bare of the need to conform to the stifling demands of a society that is concerned more with external show than inward emotions and feelings is revealed in the personified encounter between clothing and the body in “against suffocation theory”. A riveting contrast between maturity, in the form of spent passion, and the lightness and fleeting happiness of youthful fancy can be seen in “Snow Is Made up of Aphrodite’s Teeth”. 

The seriousness of “A S/tar”, which reflects how the world besmirches that which is essentially refined and noble, is alleviated by the relative levity of “Stainless Wit in Every / Direction”, which is an ironical reflection on the questionable uniformity of structure that an electronic networking medium, such as Twitter, has on the multifariousness of messages that it relays. Znaidi’s delight in playing with words can also be seen in “A”, where homophones are bandied around with glee. That the poet has a penchant for experimenting with poetic form as well as with poetic diction can be seen in his use of “A Little Haibun”.

The political undertones of “a new kind of brew”, in his awareness of the presence of “infusion+fermentation”, show that his interests are anything but ephemeral. The immediacy of the visual imagery that permeates Znaidi’s work is explored in the many aspects of the colour blue that he evokes in “a blue composite”. In addition, the fecundity of the poet’s sensual awareness of the body corporeal once more comes to the fore in “Ease is a Pair of Stockings Torn Away”.

Ali Znaidi, a Tunisian secondary school teacher of English, lives in Redeyef, Tunisia, and has had many of his poems published in a wide range of magazines and journals worldwide. In addition to Experimental Ruminations, Znaidi has published three other chapbooks: Moon’s Cloth Embroidered with Poems (Origami Poems Project, 2012), Bye, Donna Summer! (Fowlpox Press, 2014), and Taste of the Edge (Kind of a Hurricane Press, 2014). His collection of flash fiction, titled Green Cemetery (Moment Publications, 2014), is of landmark importance, as it is the first Tunisian flash fiction collection to be originally written and published in the English language. The diversity of his interests and the fundamental universality of his concerns make him a poet to be reckoned with on an international front.

Sceadu: Your Shadow Holds a Secret / Prashant Pinge - Book Review

In Sceadu: Your Shadow Holds a Secret (Prashant Pinge; ASIN: B00NVCV0I0), award-winning author Prashant Pinge brings another world to life, inhabited by fearsome beasts and magical creatures, in his latest novel for young adults. On his website, he utters what might, at first glance, appear to be a disclaimer. While waiting to write his magnum opus, which drew him out of bed in the middle of the night, but which he has still to write, he states, “I happily string words together in my quest for Nirvana.” As with his writing, although what he has to say appears, on the surface, to be simple and straightforward, yet the inner depths of the tale that he has to tell soon emerge. In short, you can regard Sceadu: Your Shadow Holds a Secret as an adventure story, and stick with that, if you like, but you would be far better off being aware of the magic and mystery of his source material, which should enrich your reading experience immeasurably.

That Pinge also has an abiding interest in psychology, mythology and ancient history comes as no surprise, in that he delves into the depths of his human characters psyches in revelatory detail. Each such character is well-rounded and soundly reasoned out in terms of motivation, with Sceadu being multi-layered in texture, as well as in plot. When Matilda, frustrated by her siblings’ and cousins’ inattention to her discovery of another world, goes there by herself, leaving them to follow in her wake, she opens up countless opportunities for them to explore a fantasy world filled with goblins, imps and faeries, as well as many other lesser known creatures of myth and legend. The world of the extraordinary and fantastical definitely holds appeal for Pinge, as he has already had a short story “The Dark Rising” published in a collection on the paranormal, entitled The Killer App and Other Paranormal Stories: Look Beyond the Normal.

Even though Sceadu is aimed at a young adult audience, where the text is also likely to go down well is in the older learner’s classroom, where discussions can be held regarding the use of imagery and metaphor, and where the meaning of some of the more advanced vocabulary used can be explored. Pinge’s keen-eyed and sensitive description of the environment and the setting in which the action takes place is alternated with heated exchanges between the human characters, which might also be fun to role-play. His dialogue is true-to-life and nuanced, clearly showing the differences between the older and younger members of the family.

Sceadu is such a worthwhile and invigorating read that it is quite likely to spawn a cult following, who will soon be asking for more stories in the same vein. It also holds great potential for being converted into a screen play. For a glimpse of what the book holds in store, why not check out the book’s enticing preview at http://www.prashantpinge.com/?

I, Emma Freke / Elizabeth Atkinson - Book Review

For anyone who has ever felt out of place growing up, I, Emma Freke (Carolrhoda Books; ISBN: 978-0-7613-5604-2) is an absolute treat. The novel starts with the central character, Emma, feeling totally out of sync with her world, a world that she shares with her bohemian and irresponsible mom, who is a single mother, and her maternal grandfather, an Italian immigrant known as Nonno (whose nickname for her is Emma-roni). Her only friend is a Liberian, Penelope, who was adopted by a lesbian couple whom Penelope calls the “Grey Moms because they both had gray hair and looked more like grandmothers than mothers.” Emma spends all her spare time looking after her mom’s bead shop. As a keen organizer, she thrives on the sense of responsibility that doing so nurtures in her. If she is not sorting beads into their right compartments, Emma is forever making lists: “What You Need to Be an Adult”, “How to Sound Normal” and “Which Subjects are Off-Limits with Donatella”, among others. In fact, one could almost swear that she suffers from OCD—that is, until one day she goes off to attend a family reunion that is so strictly run that she rebels against the rules and makes friends with a cousin who is hiding away in a cabin in the adjoining woods.

 

Despite (or perhaps because of) the eccentric and idiosyncratic behavior of many of the characters that populate I, Emma Freke, a great deal of down-home common sense fills these pages, so that reading them is not only an enjoyable but also an enlightening experience. Although aimed at a pre-teen audience, baby boomers who grew up in the 1960s are just as likely to enjoy this unconventional and stimulating tale. The characters, no matter how ostensibly whacky they are, are well-rounded and thoroughly credible. The pioneering spirit of both the female and male protagonists are likely to hold great appeal for any youngster who thinks outside the box and who has difficulty with conforming to the expectations of a norm-driven society.

 

No stranger to small town life, Elizabeth was raised in the town of Harvard, a cozy New England village in central Massachusetts. As well as working as a freelance writer for the past two decades, Elizabeth has taught English Literature, as well as worked as a children’s librarian and co-executive director of a local arts foundation. Her debut middle grade novel, From Alice to Zen & Everyone in Between, was included in the Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of 2009. I, Emma Freke has been awarded the Gold Moonbeam Medal for Pre-teen Fiction, as well as having been nominated for a number of other prestigious awards.

Enough Salt and Pepper: A Mischievous Dog Adventure / Janice Stump Clark - Book Review

Enough Salt and Pepper: A Mischievous Dog Adventure (Tate Publishing; ISBN: 978-1-61739-011-1) is a tale of three dogs, an English bulldog and two Scotties, is both enjoyable and instructive. Told in five-line rhyming stanzas, the picture book is colorfully illustrated and should both amuse youngsters as well as encourage them to want to try hard to be good and to care about others. Each stanza is accompanied by an appropriate biblical verse taken from the Amplified Bible version of Psalms, 1 Samuel, Proverbs, Isaiah or Galatians.

The three dogs, Sergeant, the bulldog, and the two Scotties, Salty and Pepper, all have unique characters. While Sergeant is selfless and giving, the two Scotties are forever getting up to mischief, for which they let Sergeant take the blame. Sergeant’s modest character is revealed in that he prefers to wear nothing at all, unlike Salty, who likes to have bows in her hair, and Pepper, who proudly sports a red collar. As an example of the appropriate use of biblical verses, the verse accompanying the stanza describing their outfits is one taken from 1 Samuel 16:7b: “For man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” Clark tells not only of what they get up to in their yard, but also of their adventures one day when they decide to embark on a tour of the neighborhood. And, don’t worry, they all do come back home safely afterwards!  

 

Janice Stump Clark is a multidimensional author, artist and educator, who has spent three decades motivating learners to strive to attain their best and to abide by sound ethical principles. Her love for dogs is borne out by her sharing the Ozark tree farm on which she lives with her husband and grandson with several exceptional dogs. Her key mantra, according to her Facebook page, is “Life is amazing. Savor each moment. God is good!” I do hope that Janice has more stories about the fun threesome to share with her readers, as children will most probably easily become attached to the spunky trio. In addition to making perfect bedside reading, Enough Salt and Pepper should make ideal reading for quiet time at Sunday school outings.