Hey, guys, our operative phrase is “at last.”
It took more than five years to actually launch Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a kids’ fantasy book that I co-wrote with my granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin, when she was eight and I was 78 — a mere 70-year difference if you weren’t doing the math.
The book was midwifed by BAIPA stalwart Ruth Schwartz, who saved me the agony of dealing with all the technical details and procedures I abhor, with formatting assist by another BAIPA regular, Lorna Johnson.
Happily, my new website — woodyweingarten.com — took only a fifth as long to get online. John Byrne Barry, BAIPA member No. 3, held my hand throughout the process as he designed the glorious thing, utilizing to best advantage the book’s colorful illustrations by Joe Marciniak, the only non-BAIPA guy on the team (if you don’t count Hannah, that is).
For those who didn’t bother to read my eblast, the four-part book is about a sorcerer, two fairies, spells, unicorns and a magic carpet. Among its highlights are an eight-year-old fairy winning her division of the Unicorn Racing Championships, baby chicks singing jazz instead of cheeping, a wizard making robot movie characters less scary, and two girls wanting to stop thunder-and-lightning storms, floods, earthquakes and tornadoes all over the planet.
The book, aimed at kids 6 to 8, was fun to write with an ultra-sharp girl with a well-honed sense of humor. I believe it’s a fun-read, too.
