Publications

The Secret World of Yondhaven

The Secret World of Yondhaven is a children’s middle-grade fantasy/adventure novel. I started it when my daughter, Rose, was about eight years old and it went through many many drafts until I eventually published it. I asked my friend, Gwen Gribok-Lipari to illustrate it and we collaborated closely on it. She is a retired elementary school art teacher with an emphasis on design and together we determined what parts to illustrate. She used charcoal and pencil predominantly, producing delightful line drawings.

Brief Plot Description

Ashley (12) and Joshua (9) follow a mysterious ball to Yondhaven, a magic world threatened by pollution that escaped from Earth and has turned into into monsters, called Orts. Chased by the hungry Orts, they come upon Yondhaven’s ragtag inhabitants from Earth: endangered wild animals, guinea pigs, cats, mermaids, a flying unicorn, a wicked fairy, and Gaela, a wise woman they must find to ask for help. This humorous and exciting tale of adventure tells of a beautiful but fragile world that will need the help of something much more powerful than magic to survive.

INTO THE ELEMENTS

INTO THE ELEMENTS is a book of 30 poems with its theme being the connection between nature and the spiritual as transformative experiences. It began as a zoom presentation for the Vespers Poetry Program of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit. I divided the reading into the five parts of the natural elements: earth, water, fire, air, and space. The five poems I read for each part were accompanied by relevant video recordings.

Subsequently, I was asked to print the poems so they could be read on the page, so I published them as a small chapbook, this time illustrated by Tara Marvel with her calligraphic artwork appropriate for each natural element. The cover illustration is a section from her image of Air, showing her fine brush strokes.

An excerpt from the poem, Nash Point, Wales

I stand in a gale on a cliff.

Below they have gone down the steep path to the shore,

but I know I can’t follow, must stay put.

The wind buffets my face,

my white hair grows wild.

I become the grass

as it bends to the ground with each gust.