Writers of any age are encouraged to write about what they know and love. Interests, experiences, and expertise infuse a piece of writing with depth and authenticity. Passages and chapters are driven by a plot that is partially recalled in the author’s mind. That becomes a basis for embellishment, imagined dialogue, and fictional actions. Real incidents are the stuff from which creative material is hung. Such is the case with the new novel by Morrison, IL, resident Josh Hollister.
He is shown with sons Brendan, 12, at left, and 11-year-old Jacob and Slim, the sire of the book’s main character, Basset Hound Max. Book one in an intended series–The Adventurous Imagination of Max the Basset–is titled Luke Long Ears & The Eyes of Aten.
Odell Public Library will feature Hollister and Slim at an author reading Saturday, October 3, 2015, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. Copies will be for sale at $10.
Readers follow Max on a dangerously fun–and funny–adventure, to uncover a mythical Egyptian artifact, that may have belonged to Pharaoh Akhenaten. Max must outwit foes with his knowledge of ancient history, to escape the perils ahead.
You will not be surprised that this author is a Special Education and Social Studies (Human Civilization, Economics, and Psychology) teacher at Clinton, IA, High School. His history curriculum stretches from “the cradle of life to the formation of the United States.” He also teaches skill development in the Reading Lab and runs an extra-curricular History Club.
Ten students are required to “educate the public on two occasions. [We] get our hands dirty with history. It’s really a treat watching the light bulbs go on and [seeing students] make those connections.” He enjoys how they “embrace history. Promoting history can be beneficial to those around them.”
Also not surprisingly, Max must use “his knowledge of ancient history” in this “revisionist historical fiction” adventure. “Some elements did not occur,” Hollister admits. He wanted to “make history more like the dessert” and “didn’t want to get the facts wrong.” He “attacks the five senses in each chapter,” as he does when telling stories at home, to engage the reader/listener. “To dispel fact from fiction” he included a six-page Glossary.
There is a further “back story” to Hollister’s book which involves the boys, the late Max, Hollister’s teaching experience, wife Laurie’s artistic talents, and the author’s compelling desire to encourage parents to read to their children.
Hollister reads to Brendan and Jacob every night. He is passionate about reading together, especially books that may be above the child’s independent reading level. This encourages “family bonding,” shared pleasure in literature and humor, “listening, getting imagery going, and learning [rich] vocabulary.” Luke Long Ears originated from storytelling to Jacob in 2011, but there was a serious motive, too. The boys had lost a family pet, and Hollister “wanted to immortalize the dog’s personality for my son.” What better way to keep Max present than to put him in a series of books, where memories could be revisited and enjoyed?
In 2012, the stories entered a written format as a birthday gift to Jacob. It would be three years before the fully-formed novel appeared. Wife Laurie was his sounding board and critic. He asked her to be the illustrator, too. She chose “what the kids would like to see” as well as “what she was able to draw.” She home schools the boys and has drawn for them as they grew. Jacob was particularly “fascinated and draws well,” his father stated. “He has been excited to be the [future] illustrator of the second book.”
The setting for book two “is entirely different.” The main “character[, Max,] stays, but new characters and other animals are” included. “It’s much bigger in length and scope…but the vocabulary is manageable,” Hollister said.
Luke Long Ears & The Eyes of Aten is available at Amazon America and Amazon Europe and is now available to libraries and schools. Locally, you can purchase it at the Odell Public Library on Saturday, October 3, or on Saturday, October 31, in Moline, IL, at Have Fun Collectibles.