The Not so True Adventures of Brandon,
Josh, and Adam
by Barry Fellinger
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GENRE: Children's Fiction
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BLURB:
Eleven-year-old cousins Brandon and Josh return home
safely at the end of their Almost True Adventure, only to discover that their
cousin Adam has been captured by the very same aliens from the Intergalactic
Council on Obedience to Parents they just escaped from!
Now the boys must figure out how to get back into
space, rescue Adam, and return home safely again!
It's a Not So True Adventure full of action,
surprises, old friends, new enemies, frenemies, and what's that about doubles
troubles?
A hilarious and once-in-a-while serious story of
past, present, and future antics, based on some of the three cousins' escapades
in real life!
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Excerpt One:
I Wish I Would
Have Just Eaten My Dinner OR ADAM MEETS THE COUNCIL
Twelve-year-old
Adam was mad. He was very mad. He was in a cage with bars and not happy about
it at all. With every bit of his 120-pound might and five feet two height, he
gripped the bars and tried twisting them loose until his hands hurt. No use.
They would not budge.
Adam was not sure how he ended up in the cage.
Last thing he remembered, he had been horribly angry at his mother, stomping
away from the supper table and up the stairs towards his room. Next thing he
knew, he woke up in this dark place. Only when his eyes became accustomed to
the darkness could he tell he was in some kind of jail. Still, he refused to
believe it.
At first, he
thought he was dreaming. He tried to wake up by pinching the skin on his arm.
That hurt! Next, he shook his head back and forth, his curly brown hair waving
around until it fell over his eyes, and he felt dizzy. Nope, that didn’t work
either because he was already very much awake. Then he thought his two older
brothers might be playing a trick on him. He yelled as loudly as possible,
“Danny! Ken! Is this one of your dumb jokes? It’s not funny!”
No one came.
Next, he tried
walking away but found he ran right into the bars and bumped his forehead.
Ouch! He rattled the bars again. Nothing changed. This was not a nightmare. It
was not a trick. It really was a cage. Adam was getting nervous and his hands
felt clammy. He could feel the sweat on his forehead. He sat down and tried to
think. His mind started racing with all kinds of crazy thoughts. Was this some
weird punishment for leaving the dinner table? Where was he anyway? Was he
being pranked? Maybe he was on one of those TV shows where a friend or family
member plays a prank that is filmed on an unsuspecting victim. He wouldn’t put
that past his brothers or his cousins, Brandon and Josh. He concluded he had to
slow down and think things out and not jump to conclusions about what had
happened to him.
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Review: Waking up in a cage was very strange to Adam. How did he get there? Was this a dream? Apparently, he was to meet before the council. What council? What was going on here?
The Intergalactic Council on Obedience to Parents (ICOP) was in session.
The narrative was nice n’ easy, but it was rather slow as it was often a big too descriptive. At first, we don’t even know what these creatures of ICOP were talking about. A lot of the trivial nonsense took up more time than it should’ve. Was Adam a pup? Was he dog food or what? I mean, we still don’t know how Adam even got there.
Things get a little clear in chapter 2 when the cousins back on Earth reveal that Adam was taken by aliens to their planet—the very same planet that they themselves escaped from. Okay, but still, that leaves a lot more questions unanswered. At times, the prose was a little odd. For instance:
“There’s the going-up-the-stairs boys; let’s call them Brandon #1 and Josh #1. And there’s the coming-down-the-stairs boys, Brandon #2 and Josh #2. The going-up-the-stairs pair acted quickly. Josh #1 put his hand over Brandon #2’s mouth, and Brandon #1 did the same to Josh #2, motioning for them to come up to Brandon’s room.”
When did the boys split? Why were they four of them?
The whole thing was long and slow. The black-and-white illustrations were a good distraction and a refreshing change of pace.
The story was certainly zany with wild scenarios and antics. It was quite imaginative, I’ll give it that. But it just wasn’t that easy to follow. It would’ve been nice to have an explanation to all this. It just felt that we got dropped somewhere in the middle of the story without any background info.
A fairly nice read. Good for
sci-fi kids that like crazy, out-of-this-world stories.
Rating:
3 stars
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Barry M. Fellinger resides in St. Thomas, Ontario, with his wife
Beth, and currently works as a director in health care and also teaches
leadership courses and seminars.
He loves spending time with his adult children, grandchildren,
extended family, and friends.
He enjoys reading, writing, watching superhero television shows
and movies, collecting comics, attending the occasional Comicon and, for
inspiration, relaxing in Sanctuary II, his comic book/man room.
He has a few more books in the works which he hopes to complete
before or during retirement.
Social Media
Barry Fellinger - Facebook
www.instagram.com/barryfellinger
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GIVEAWAY:
Barry Fellinger will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC
to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteGreat book for kids.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a wonderful read.
ReplyDelete