Synopsis
Chickadees, Bumbelbeez, Pussy-Willow Trees and Two-And-A-Half, by Jeffrey Politsky, is a vibrantly illustrated adventure book meant to inspire children to follow their urges to explore and to appreciate diversity. It is recommended for ages 4-9.
“Kids who still have their parents read to them really like the book, as do kids who are independent readers,” says Dr. Politsky. “The reviews of parents and children who have read the book are very favorable: adults really like the message and the children just love the story. I hope many more children will get to read it.”
The book starts off when “One day a little brown monkey with dazzling olive green eyes, a friendly smile, and a long curly tail asked his father if there was more to the life than just hanging around with other monkeys and eating bananas.” Before long he meets a lovely grey cat and a majestic blue pelican each on their own quests. Together, they explore a foreign island and when their journey takes them into a private swath of land, they befriend a local dog who takes them further than they ever imagined.
Chickadees, Bumbelbeez, Pussy-Willow Trees and Two-And-A-Half emphasizes several significant values, which help us subsist and ultimately thrive: learning through independent exploration, the need for friendship, the importance of respect and tolerance for other cultures, languages, and lifestyle diversity, along with a healthy understanding of the powers of mother nature.
Buy the Book – Fifty percent of the proceeds of the sale of each book will be donated equally to research programs dedicated to the study of dementia and memory dysfunction, and to the study of breast cancer.
Review
This may be a children’s book but what a tale it weaves with some good life lessons disguised within the pages about diversity and acceptance.
This is the tale of 3 animals that take a journey to an island off of Maui to see another part of the world than where they live. Along they way they meet up and experience the island together and come in contact with other animals and learn something from each of them and each experience.
This would be a great book to read with your children because it is longer (but at most a paragraph per page) and discuss the adventures of the animals.
The illustrations are beautiful and depict the stories well and we give it 5 paws up.
About the Author
Dr. Jeffrey Politsky grew up in Toronto, Canada. He obtained undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of Toronto and his medical degree at the University of Western Ontario before moving to Vancouver for his residency training in Neurology. He moved to Boston in the late 1990’s to complete his epilepsy fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital and has lived in the United States ever since. Today, Dr. and Mrs. Politsky live in New Jersey with their two children and two giant schnauzers. While he has written numerous articles and chapters related to the neurologic sciences, Chickadees, Bumbelbeez, Pussy-Willow Trees and Two-And-A-Half is Dr. Politsky’s first serious non-academic venture.
Dr. Politsky began writing Chickadees, Bumbelbeez, Pussy-Willow Trees and Two-And-A-Half on Formantera, one of the Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean Sea off of the east coast of Spain.
“As I began pondering what makes free-form travel so interesting, I decided to try and create a story that would be appealing to youngsters. All of my back-packing adventures, like so many other travelers, had common themes: selecting a location, landing in a foreign place and feeling very foreign, attempting to understand the culture and fit in, survival, discovery, problem solving, raw happiness. I incorporated several of my own experiences in the text,” says Dr. Politsky. “I decided to weave into the story the linguistic nuances that my grandfather used when he would joke with my brother and me when we were youngsters – in essence we would ask him a question and he would answer using neologisms and in a manner that made absolutely no sense at all and then start laughing in a jolly fashion, quite amused with himself. I cherish my memory of my grandfather. His good nature and terminology stuck, much of it is incorporated in the book. In fact, some of his favorite expressions make up the book’s title.”
Dr. Politsky’s grandfather died in 1989 of complications related to multi-infarct dementia.
Tony Santiago illustrated the book with Dr. Politsky’s children and grandfather individually represented in the characters.
In 2011, Dr. Politsky’s wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is fine now; but the process was quite an ordeal. Anyone who has been through this or a similar experience understands this. Dr. Politsky sees and treats patients every day with epilepsy and related neurologic & medical conditions – in many cases illnesses appear like an unexpected storm and can turn people’s lives upside down and inside out like a tornado. By the end of 2012, Kim had been diagnosed, treated, and had achieved full physical recovery.
Mother and daughter team Erin Kurt, B.Ed. and mom, Laara Exsnar, B.Ed, RHN, have joined forces to write fun, adventurous stories with their little characters Celia and Cedric. Erin, a former school teacher and mother of two young kiddies, and Laara, a retired school teacher and now nutritionist, have a passion for families, health and yummy food. Bringing their combined experitise together they’ve created a Read and Bake Series they hope will bring families continuous hours of fun and enjoyment.
blogs. Laura is also a full-time mom of two, school-aged boys; when she’s not providing their personal shuttle service, she operates WriteLifeStories and Passionflower Press, creating premium memoirs, children’s books, and more. and children’s books, and is the author of the award-winning holiday picture book series, “The Santa Switch”, published by Passionflower Press in 2012. Her most recent creation A Trip for Mrs. Claus is the second in The “Jessica Claus” Series She lives (Laura not Jessica)in a suburb of Portland, Oregon with her husband and two, school-aged sons. Jessica Lives up North with her Hubby and soulmate Santa.
