Swine Flu and a Sense of Wonder on Thanksgiving

So here we are again - Thanksgiving in the United States - and as I write this I'm in my pyjamas in bed, Tylenol on one side of me, throat lozenges on the other, and tissues scattered all over the bed; I have swine flu!

It hit about 3 days ago and I ended up spending the night before last in the ER at Greenwich hospital reacquainting myself with the lovely Dr Stacy Donegan who has treated me there twice before; why *is* it that emergencies always hit in the middle of the night? Once again, the people there took great care of me, sent me away better than I arrived, and I seem to be slowly on the mend.

But not so mended that I was up to doing anything substantial for this Thanksgiving. Consequently I ate a lovely turkey roast dinner in my pyjamas in front of the tv, and am now propped up back in bed. The good thing about being sick is that it gives me time to write. Unfortunately, the bad thing about being sick is that it gives me no energy to write with. Consequently there will be a post this Thanksgiving, but a short one.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have journeyed with me to Prism. This year has been an enjoyable one. I've spoken in schools, had Prism read at book clubs, done my first ever radio interview, and had more positive feedback and contact with readers than I ever thought I would when I first picked up a pen and said to myself "I think I'll write a book..." People have reached out to me and to Prism in wonderful ways, and this Thanksgiving I'm grateful for anyone who has joined me in that wonderful world.

To that end, I wanted to include a book review I received from Jake, a 10 year old boy from New South Wales, Australia, who sent me a book review last week.

Jake - Prism was written for people just like you, and this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for you and for everyone like you who has visited Prism and enjoyed the color, the adventure, and the love that makes Prism the magical creation that it is.

So with no further ado....this, in its exact form, from Jake...

"The terror of prism fading – a book review by Jake Evans, November 2009

This book is one of the best books I have ever read.
It combines real world troubles with mythology and adventure
It’s also strange how red represents courage and the colours represent their emotions and feelings, green-intelligence, blue-joy, yellow-love

In the beginning Rabbit and Rupert get paired together in a school excursion to the coast and take a canoe and attempt to get to the other side of the river but half way across a group of bullies started chasing them and suddenly they were knocked into the water and couldn't breath. The storyline then switches to Prism and princess Aden wakes up after having a bad dream. Jasper a good friend of the princess then comes bursting into the room and tells her that 2 strange people have washed up onto the beach. The 2 people were Rabbit and Rupert. The story then continues with their adventure to try and retrieve the red crystal to help restore courage and the colour red to Prism after having previously been stolen by Addreadon le Griss. The reader is led on a journey with the main characters, Rabbit, Rupert, princess Aden, Jasper and Taw who is Aden’s chosen.

Rupert is my favorite character, because he is little like me.- he is smart and funny and he he loves his food
It’s amazing how all the animals talk, I especially like Taw who is a bull and he is a strong leader and helps the children on there quest to get the red crystal

I also like the griffons who have the body shape of a horse but look like eagles and attack the children many times throughout the book and they carry off Taw to Addreadon’s fortress to lure in the children who were already heading that way.

One thing I don’t like is that a lot of the animals have very long unusual names which are difficult to remember, like Merryweather – a horse and Beaufeather – a peacock

I think it’s funny that Rabbit, Rupert, Aden, and Jasper thought they would have to scavenge for food but the animals in the forest befriended and helped them and gave them a lot of food, weapons and armour.

I can’t wait for the next book"

Neither can I, Jake. Neither can I.

Yours gratefully,

K.E. Stapylton