Flash back to the beginning of June. June 1st was Hulk Hercules‘ book day. It was also the book day of fellow author Jon Gibbs‘ Fur-Face.
Jon is a writer’s writer. He runs a very interesting blog about writing, and works hard to help other writers find critique groups at Find a Writing Group. He’s an active member of writing groups and organizations, and writes the occasional column over at Apex. I’ve linked to Jon several times.
It seemed logical for me to revise Fur-Face for a couple of reasons: we had the same book day, Jon is also writing middle grade, and I admire Jon as a writer.
Just in case your interested, you can purchase Fur-Face at Amazon.
So, Fur-Face. Man, I wish I could write like a Brit! It’s not fair! I have half the genes, and I’ve read enough classic literature to choke a horse. However, because I want to choke horses in my idioms, I guess I’m American.
Fur-Face has the feel of British children’s literature. And your kid is going to like it. If’s a fine book to share with your child as the first ebook story you read together. The only way I could imagine the experience being more fun is if there were illustrations of cats in sunglasses.
Rough sketch. Billy moves from the city to the country. Billy has a hard time making friends, but he has supportive parents and a loving family. He’s a likeable kid, he’s just a bit introverted.
And he’s just walked into a little adventure. You see, his new home is inhabited by talking animals and surrounded by surreptitious animal experimentation.
Jon’s prose is easy to access. There’s a lot of flavor as he plays with the different accents. Snowy (a black cat–read the book) is definitely on the colloquial side. The main bad guy reminds me of a Texas oil man, and Aggie, the owner of the the animal park, marches to the beat of a very different drummer.
In the book, Billy makes friends for the first time. Besides Snowy, Aggie’s granddaughter Carmen helps save the day. The book is pitch perfect for its middle grade audience, with memorable, colorful characters.
All in all, for me a very satisfying read. Not only do I detect Roald Dahl overtones, but I am very reminded of Terry Pratchett’s book about Maurice. I hope you’ll consider picking it up.
Catherine
