"Once Upon a Twice" book review....you are going to love it!

                                                    The poet doesn't invent. He listens.
                                                                 *Jean Cocteau

I fell in love with this book for many different reasons.  The creative writing of the story in rhyme, is gorgeous, the eery illustrations and the imagination of the author is a delight to experience.

The author, Denise Doyer directed children's t.v. for Disney and took a sabbatical to raise her two sons, Paul and Max.  "But I'm a writer at heart," she says, so when my boys hit that age when they pretend they don't have mothers, I went back to school to study writing for children."  She lives in Pacific Palisades, California with her family.  Once Upon a Twice is her first book.

The brilliant illustrator, Barry Moser says it simply: "Once Upon a Twice is a delight."  The book, with its moon character, seemed made for him.  "All my life I have been fascinated with the moon," Mr. Moser explains, "and have made lots and lots of pictures of it. I never tire of watching its passing phases and its seeming playfulness among the clouds as it makes its way across the starry sky."

Some have compared this book to Lewis Carol's, Jabberwocky.  The words are crafted so wonderfully well, a mixture of sound and true words that are a delight to read alone or out loud.  Some examples of these wordplays are:  "whisipercroons," "riskarascal,"  and "scritchscrambles."  Despite the creative, imaginative language, the story rolls off your tongue like a drum roll.

The swamp at night is a dark and dangerous place to be, but Jam Boy refuses to listen to his elder's advice and heads off anyway to explore what all the fuss is about.  He is portrayed stubborn, careless, strong, and brave by the author.   Even so, you can't help pulling for the little guy when the chips are down.

Colour is imperative in this story.  The darkness of the swamp contrasted to the moon's illumination is perfect.  You get pulled into the night along with Jam as you read on in the story.  The colours create mood and ambiance.  The marriage of art and words is stunning.  Nonsense words match with illustrations that have been somewhat of a serious quality.  I know you will be thrilled with this book.  Can I give you a suggestion?  Buy two copies, one for you and one for a gift.

Book review scale:   9   (close to perfection)

Read on and read always!

Читать и читать всегда  (Russian)