Book Review: “A Beautiful Day for a Trip to Loxter” by Kenny Boreham.
We have a new children's book author in our midst. 36-year-old Acton resident Kenny Boreham has just published ‘A Beautiful Day for a Trip to Loxter,’ concerning the adventures of Lukey Buke (rhymes with “duke”), a six-year old boy with a fervent imagination and his four-year-old sister Smella.
The story is about Lukey's dream-time friendship with Dras a red dragon who inhabits a magical forest of purple trees. In his sleep, Lukey goes looking for his friend, but instead encounters a snake. The snake knows where Dras is but won't tell the boy unless he can beat him in a race. This goes on for several nights, before Lukey trains hard enough and finally beats the snake. Dras the dragon appears, the snake is vanquished and the two friends are re-united on a beach in the magic land.
As the back cover proclaims, the book is inspired by many, but mostly by Boreham's children. He has a six-year-old boy and a four-year-old daughter, as well as a one-year old baby girl. “I'm a kid myself; I see things happening with my kids and ideas pop into my head. My son plays hockey and the story is about working hard to succeed,” he said.
‘A Beautiful Day for a Trip to Loxter,’ is only the first book in the “Adventures of Lukey Buke” trilogy planned by the author. This first book features a cover designed by the author and some computer-derived images scattered throughout the 48 page offering. “ I wanted to get away from the full drawings, because the next two books are going to have less and less drawings, but I wanted kids to have something to look at,” he said.
Indeed, Boreham sees this as a transition book for parents and kids five to eight years old. “It's more for kids looking to move from the picture books to the chapter books. They can feel they have accomplished something after reading a chapter. By the time they get to the Harry Potter books there are no pictures at all.”
Lukey's sister “Smella”, is actually the real nickname of his four-year-old daughter. “The name seems to be a hit with the kids that read it, so we left in it there,” he said.
Boreham cites two major children's writers as major influences: Dr. Seuss and Mary Osborne, author of ‘The Magic Treehouse’ series. He also had help editing the manuscript from two teachers, Leeanne Neal and his wife Christine Boreham.
Boreham self-published the book on Amazon, and the volume is available in paperback version or as a download-able e-book. Published just two weeks ago, he's already had some success selling over 200 copies, most of them as e-books.
“It's my first book so I'm trying to build an audience,” he said. “I'm trying not to spend too much on advertising. For now, I'm putting out small ads on line, relying on word-of-mouth, and reaching out to you guys in the media.”
Boreham is half-way through the second volume of Lukey Buke series which will be published on November 1. He's also hoping to put out a puzzle book for kids before that time.
And what advice does he have anyone wanting to try their hand at writing a kid's book? “I would say stick with it, no matter what. It's going to be difficult, but it's really cool selling some books and seeing your first book published.”
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