[Please read the author's words before beginning this post]

Take any 7-year-old and start his feet moving, his wet-kneed jeans pushing through a morning-filled pasture; or along a path—yes, yes, wind him along a path through a critter-friendly woods, buds bursting into perfumed blooms, squirrels chittering, and birds chirping in a language that he is on the verge of learning. And all around him is a burgeoning magic.

We have to limber our stiff minds, first, don’t we—something akin to meditating—just to cast the nets of our minds back to when we were 7 years old. You might be meeting your little girl self. Mine is a little boy. Here, we can go our own way, or we can meander together. It doesn’t matter, as long as we don’t bring anything from our future selves to weigh us down.

Until we’re able to reclaim our own innocence, there is a book I read the other day that helped me see that it might be possible and that it is a worthwhile journey. Now, this is not one of those cheap recipe books that promise a successful enterprise by linking X with Y while manipulating our Z through a precise sequence … over time.

No, the book I read offered no such promises. It is a simple book, and it is simply written for a 7 to 9-year-old audience. Its magic comes from the pen, or key taps of a woman her young audience can trust in, and they can be a sister or a brother to ….

And that’s enough. That’s everything to her audience.

The book I read is titled, Explore New Worlds. And it’s written by someone among us. Her name is Pam (respa). You’ve probably connected with her poetry and stories here on FanStory—and now, she’s opened her heart and soul in this book and she couldn’t have done it without tapping into the sap and marrow of her own younger self.

If you are a younger Fanstorian, consider getting this book for your child. If, on the other hand, your tree of life is starting to creak and the bark chipping off, you might think of getting Explore New Worlds for your grandchildren or your great-grands.

But as a creative person, whatever your age, you might find yourself closer to its audience of readers than you think.

So, reach out to Pam (respa) here, won’t you, or click on the link I’ve provided for her book.

We'll talk again.

Jay