ZYX: THE ALPHABACKWARDS BOOK FOR LITTLE KIDS

I recently read an email newsletter about proofreading and editing that included an interesting idea—that is, read your story backwards. Yes, read it aloud, beginning with the last sentence and making your way backwards to the first. Apparently, you’ll catch errors you hadn’t seen by reading it the proper way, from beginning to end.

Sometimes I read a book that way. Not that I want to spoil the ending, but I want to see if the ending is happy, satisfying, complete.

I’ve written a Picture Book called ZYX: The Alphabackwards Book. Friends tell me I must hurry and get it published. Hurry is not a good word for me right now, as I’m just beginning to market Trouble at Fish Camp and mentally preparing to write the third in my “Ways of the Williwaw,” Survival at Chugach. So, ZYX sits on my table glaring at me. Perhaps what I need is a week off by myself to JUST DO IT. But that takes money. Ah, me. Money and time never seem to even out, do they?

Anyway … here’s a short excerpt from ZYX: The Alphabackwards Book.
Trudy the Turtle sat on a short log
That lay in the water of a big bog.
Ten sat behind her, filling the spaces,
Sunning themselves with uplifted faces.
Tiny the Turtle couldn’t quite fit.
Trudy said, “Climb on my back and sit.”
Tiny crawled up and, oh! The sun shone.
Trudy had given him a place of his own.

I solicit your comments, please. Read it to your young child or grandchild. Do they like it? Let me know what you think.