Please meet a wonderful Middle-Grade book that’s an exciting, classic adventure story, and a real page-turner that readers from 5 to 95 will enjoy. I love it, because the story promotes good values such as girl power, integrity, loyalty, doing the right thing, perseverance and ingenuity, forests, nature, and fun. I am surprised how many kids find it funny too!
Beryl and Carol are twelve-year-old best friends living in England in 1997. They love their river and their beautiful little town. But there is a real threat that they will soon be separated, and their parents sell their houses. Worse, they are constantly tormented by bullies, and one day they are cornered with no way out. To evade the bullies, they escape into the nearby ‘Forbidden Forest,’ where their terrifying, exhilarating, and noble adventure begins. Armed with toolkits, cake, and a half-baked plan, Beryl and Carol embark on an exhilarating and noble adventure that will change both their lives forever.
Beryl is half Finnish, blond, tall, sporty rebellious, and a charmer. She can talk to anyone, and her athletic abilities help the two friends through their adventure. Carol is the responsible adult, being three months and one week older. She has a keen mind, knows how to plan ahead and connect the dots, and when things get really dangerous, she is full of courage. The two girls love to laugh, play and, as the story evolves, take on the toughest challenges.
A little about himself directly from the Author
While I have written many professional books, this is my first fiction, and I really enjoyed writing it. It is such fun to create your own world, and I am inspired to see kids and adults alike reading and loving the book. Such a blast!
I have six kids, four of whom are girls, and I told them this story over many years. I finally wrote the book while living in Tanzania, East Africa, where country life and adventure helped inspire my writing. Every day when I drove to the clinic, I would make up the next chapter, always ending in a cliffhanger, so the plot evolved as I went along. I knew a chapter was a hit when the girls refused to go to sleep, begging for more. I had no idea where it was going, but it all worked out, though editing the story took another 9 years!
If I had one tip for a fiction writer, I would say do not show it to anyone until the book is cooked. You do not want to write for others, because to be unique you need to stay true to your own voice, however quirky. Just let it flow, with no thought for your reader. All that will come later, and later will be painful, so ride the tiger while you can.
Once the book is ready, editing and ‘killing Darlings’ is the most painful bit. I had to chop 30,000 beloved words and storylines off the book, and I hated that. But everyone knows that less is more.
Personally, I don’t read much fiction anymore. I used to, but at the moment I prefer to read non-fiction, mostly about Fungi. I actually think that is an advantage, because I do not subconsciously copy other fiction authors’ patterns.
I spent thousands of dollars on a content editor, and that was well worth it. But I also spent a lot of money and 4 years trying to find a literary agent, and that was not worth it. It seems to be impossible to get anyone to read your book, especially post COVID. So why not just self-publish. I did, and it was easy.
I can’t wait to write the sequel, which promises to be even more exciting. This time I will have an outline!
A Mantra I live by is: Every act of strength leads to another act of strength Every act of weakness leads to another act of weakness Courage begets courage Fear breeds fear.
That’s a quote straight from a poem written for the book- and I love it!!
Every act of strength leads to another act of strength
Every act of weakness leads to another act of weakness
Courage begets courage
Fear breeds fear.
Small acts generate bigger acts
Big acts generate greatness
Facing pain and overcoming difficulties
Enhances freedom and power.
Unexpected solutions are given by heaven
As a token of
Appreciation for honest endeavours
Humility and goodwill.
Life spirals up and down
Snakes and ladders.
At every moment,
Choose your path.
Once decided, don’t look back
Move on. Gateways will open.
At all times
The universe is unfolding as it should.
Jeremy Sherr’s BIO
Jeremy Sherr was born in South Africa in 1955 and grew up in Israel. He began formal homeopathic study in 1980 at the College of Homoeopathy, London. and simultaneously completed a degree in Acupuncture at the International College of Oriental Medicine.
Jeremy has taught in most of the British schools of homeopathy and founded the Dynamis School for Advanced Homeopathic Studies in 1986, now the longest-running post-graduate homeopathic course in the world. He has taught the three-year Dynamis curriculum in England, Ireland, Holland, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Israel, Canada, Japan, and throughout the United States. Jeremy has also given seminars in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Morocco, China, Russia, India, South Africa, Mexico, New Zealand, Argentina, and Australia. He maintains busy practices in London, Tel Aviv, New York, and Africa.
He was awarded a fellowship from the Society of Homoeopaths in 1991 and a Ph.D. from Medicina Alternativa and from Pioneer University. He is a member of the North American Society of Homeopaths and the Israeli Society for Classical Homoeopathy. Jeremy is an honorary professor at Yunan Medical College, Kunming, China, and an Associate Professor at University Candegabe for Homoeopathy, Argentina.
Jeremy is the author of ten homeopathic books and many published articles and research papers and has proved (a process of shamanic and academic research) and published 38 new homeopathic remedies. His books The Dynamics and Methodology of Homoeopathic Provings and Dynamic Materia Medica: Syphilis are homeopathic bestsellers and are used as textbooks in many schools. He is currently working on a series of books on the Noble gases of which ‘Helium’ ‘Neon’ and ‘Argon’ have been published, followed by Krypton. He is the author of the Repertory of Mental Qualities and of ‘Homoeopathy for Africa’, a free teaching course for African homeopaths. He has published three extensive (over 40 hours) online video courses which he edited by himself, including ‘The homeopathic Treatment of epidemics and of AIDS in Africa.’ He has worked as a consultant for several homeopathic software companies. Jeremy is about to publish his first novel for children.
During the last 13 years, Jeremy has been living and working in Tanzania with his wife Camilla, also a homeopath, on their voluntary project ‘Homeopathy for Health in Africa’ treating AIDS patients for no charge and researching remedies for AIDS. They have established 19 clinics and a homeopathic center, including work in two hospitals and with rural Maasai tribes. They have trained many local homeopaths and together they have treated over 20,000 patients. Jeremy and Camilla have founded several food projects, a daycare school for children with AIDS, and a secondhand eyeglasses program for Africans.
The Linkage 🙂
Homeopathy for Health in Africa
Discover more about the book, view additional pictures, and read reviews about Beryl and Carol
I’d like to thank Jeremy for sharing his lovely middle-grade story with Word Mongery and Musings. I’m always delighted to share books that more people really ought to know about!
~Morgan~
If you have written or know a book that more people should read, let me know. I’d love to add it/YOU to my spotlights 🙂
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