|
The paperback cover design by David Rauscher for A Ghost in Silence. A Ghost in Silence(Ages 10 up) A Ghost in Silence will no doubt be a controversial book because of the same-gender marriage issue confronting our nation currently, and this book will open eyes—and, one hopes, mouths—of both children and adults. Most certainly this issue is not going to go away, whatever the outcome of votes, elections and court cases. I love this book because of the voice of the ten-year-old narrator, Dillon, whose words and thoughts kept surprising me even as they sprang out of my head. Dillon is a delight, and yet in great pain at the idea of his family breaking apart. When Dillon’s beloved big brother Chazz quietly announces at Sunday dinner that he is gay, their mom and dad first explode into uproar and then implode into silence, a silence through which Dillon wanders like a ghost, seeking truth and resolution. Being only ten years old, Dillon doesn’t really understand the issues fully, yet he is also surprisingly mature, both as a writer who sets out to tell the story of his family’s breakdown, and as an artist who fills the story with his own illustrations of the characters and events. Dillon has already composed several comic books (with a lot of unacknowledged help from big brother Chazz) featuring Dillon’s splendid superhero and alter-ego PantherBoy. Dillon’s character is fresh and wholesome but not yet able to understand and properly articulate all his thoughts, with the result that his storytelling and drawings often provide some very nice comedy to leaven the seriousness of the theme. For example, when he gets in trouble for fighting a boy on the playground who is yelling “Fag!” at another boy, Dillon first goes to his teacher and asks, “What’s a faggot?” She responds, “We don’t use that word! We don’t even think it!” So Dillon goes to his favorite librarian, Mary Moppin, and asks, “Do you have any good books on faggots?” “Not ... for ... your age.” “How come?” “They don't make them.” But then Dillon discovers that the library does have two picture books for much younger children on the subject, but they are both locked up. ”My brother is that bad?” he wonders. That’s why I wrote this book, because there are no books for this age child on this subject. I was a judge for three years for the Once Upon a World Book Award, sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance and given annually to a children’s book on a theme of tolerance, human understanding or social injustice. In those three years, in the hundreds of children’s books submitted, there were only two (not very substantial) books about any aspect of gay family issues. The illustrations by David Rauscher are, by turns, full of tension and humor, just like Dillon’s narration. And the illustrations are plentiful, making the book almost a graphic novel which should be very gratifying for middle school readers who mourn the loss of picture books while wanting more serious themes provided in a chapterbook packaged in an age-appropriate size and shape, 5 ½ by 8 ½. The text and illustrations are already in their final page layout, 121 pages, and ready to go to the printers. Read the first chapter of
A Ghost in Silence. Takes about ten minutes: Large print and chock full of pictures. Because many of the pictures span both pages, it is important to view facing pages, as if with the open book in front of you. If your browser gives you sequential pages, look for four icons that will appear briefly toward the bottom of the screen. Click the third icon from the left (it looks like a camera) and the mode will change to Preview facing pages. Note: if the four icons disappear, drag your cursor across the bottom of the screen, and they should reappear. If not, click back-arrow at top left of screen, reload the page and the icons will return.
If you would like to read
the entire book, here are Part Two and here also Part Three. It takes perhaps an hour for fast readers to read the entire book, 121 pages with lots of pictures. Follow the instructions in the paragraph above to get facing pages and view the pictures correctly. Here is a link, too, to the original very short story I wrote of A Ghost in Silence before I expanded it into a chapter book. I think it might be interesting for budding authors to see the way a book can grow as new ideas come upon the open-minded writer, also to see the reasons why a writer would want to make such changes. Please help me share A Ghost in Silence with others, in a responsible way, through the links above. I hereby give each reader permission to make a single print copy for yourself or as a gift to another who might benefit from reading it. Perhaps you know someone who has Chazz and Dillon's problem with their parents. Perhaps the parents could use a gentle reminder of what it is to be different, and how best to come to terms with that. WHAT READERS SAYYOUNGER READERS 
Dave’s original cover design for A Ghost in Silence. which I felt was both too dark and lacking in action. Dave has been heroic in providing fresh art in every effort to please this painstaking author of his.
Copyright © 2008, rev. 2009, Robert Locke |